East Ruston Village Hall  reached  its centenary in 2025.  Our unique village hall was built to provide a meeting place for the people of East Ruston and adjacent communities which at that time did not have their own facilities. It was paid for and donated to the parish by Sir James Roll, who attended the village school, and who later became Lord Mayor of London in 1920. 


Between 2019 and 24 the Committee raised sufficiant funds to complete some much needed improvements. 


We have now started a further phase work aimed at providing easier access for all. These improvemnst will cost in the order of £62,000 

We exceeded our original project ambitions!

Phase 1:  was to secure sufficient funding to re-roof the hall and replace the two sets of main doors - completed  spring 2020

Phase 1a: was to refurbish and improve the kitchen facilities- completed

Bonus improvements made possible by Government funding, additional contributions and the work in kind by volunteers and trustees

  • new lighting within the main hall, kitchen, bar and lobby areas
  • new pull cord curtain rails to larger main hall windows
  • sanding and lacquering of main hall and stage floor
  • installation of new water heaters for hot water in bar and kitchen
  • kitchen  equipped with fridge
  • bar area refurbished and drinks fridge installed along with double sink
  • hall walls partly re- plastered, partly re-papered , decorated
  • doors stripped and some re-painted
  • entrance lobbies completely redecorated.
  • notice boards erected internally and externally
  • new ceiling to kitchen vestibule
  • toilets redecorated
  • external wall insulation installed
  • new external sign board to village hall.

Some photos of what was achieved  are at the botton of this page.

Phase 2: improve access for all at the hall.

Phase 2 project - ACCESS FOR ALL

Anyone who have visited our hall will know of the problems we need to address with in the car park and at the entrance ways.

  • Ponding of water against building and entrance doors in times of heavy rainfall

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  • Difficult and unevent access into hall at the main doors

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  • Uneven step access from secondary doors

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  • Badly rutted and uneven car park surfacing 

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  • Badly rutted and uneven car park surfacing 

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  • Badly rutted and uneven car park surfacing 

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 Access for All 

The project aspects will involve providing a paved area to the hall frontage which will incorporate a ramped access to the main hall entrance. The secondary entrance will have a new set of level steps.  The paved areas will be designed to shed water away from the hall towards a french drain. Severe “ponding” occurs at the hall frontage after heavy rain which is damaging the building fabric. This paved area will be protected from vehicles by the installation of bollards to ensure that there is segregation between vehicles and people. Tables and chairs will be able to be set outside during events. The car park, which is extremely badly rutted and difficult for even able bodied people to cross, will be leveled, re-compacted and a new gravel surface laid which will incorporate a reinforced "ecogrid” matting. This design approach has been chosen as it is a sustainable method to deal with rainfall run off which will be dealt with by the incorporation of a french drain leading to a soakaway within the surfacing. 


We have had all the works proced up by contractors and we need in the order of £62,000 to complete  the project.


We have been offered financial support for the project buy Norfolk County Council from their Community fund and East Ruston Poors Trust. We have alos already received a number of donations form local people. To date we have received in the order of £14,000.


We still have a long way to go though and we are applying for grant funding from a number of bodies.


Should we obtain suffient funds we would like to have the work completed by summer of next year.

A few snapshots of the improvements that have taken place over the past few years.

  • Before

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  • After - but prior to external wall insulation

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  • External wall insulation being installed now!

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