A short history of the hall August 2022

The hall is owned by four trustees as a non charitable facility for the benefit of the village as a whole as well as for other local users. Since 2006 it has been run by a new management committee who answer to the trustees. 

After the First World War Bloxham’s ex servicemen used to meet in the Red Lion and in 1923 negotiations started to secure a site for a public hall. Proceedings were led by the RBL Branch President, Colonel McLean, who lived in Godswell House. Eventually the current site was acquired for £40 in July 1924. Once built it was to be called Bloxham Ex Servicemen’s Hall Club though it would be a separate organisation to the local RBL Branch.

During 1924 monies were raised via a grant from the United Services Fund, a house to house collection, an enormous fete at Godswell plus various other personal loans. During 1925/26 the hall was built by Messrs Kimberley of Banbury and the total cost including legal fees was £1500. It was officially opened on 11 October 1926 by the GOC Aldershot Command, Lieutenant General Sir Alexander Godley.

Its first post completion external redecoration in 1930 cost £7 13s & 0d! Electric light was installed in 1932 costing £30 which was paid for from the letting of the hall plus events staged by club members. Broadly speaking this method of maintenance and fund raising continues to this day. Until the store extension in 2020/21 the most expensive recent improvement was the double glazing in 2013 which cost £9,000 helped by grants from Bloxham Parish Council, Banbury Charities and Oxfordshire Rural Community Council (ORCC).

The oldest regular users are the Table Tennis Club who started in 1939. During the Second World War the hall was used for school teaching of evacuee children from London with the hiring costs being met by London County Council. In 1939 the then trustees made it clear that, “it is definitely not a British Legion Hall (rather) that it is a hall for the use of Bloxham people and parties that wish to hire it under the title of the Bloxham Ex Servicemen’s Hall Club”.

More recently with the increasing size of the village and with the various other facilities around the village, it was decided in 2009 to minimise possible confusion by dropping the word Club and replacing it with Village. This seems to have worked well both in peoples’ perceptions and when we apply for grant assistance.

Prior to the current committee being formed in 2006 a number of people ran the hall almost single-handedly and particular mention should be made of Maurice Welch and latterly Tony Ashton until 2005. A particular benefactor was Chas Finch (Simon’s father) who was a constant supporter of the hall. Simon has continued the family tradition aided and abetted by Lynn Andersen for which we are very grateful.

A new body of trustees was formed in 2013 and these are Simon Finch, Bob Dunkin, Rod Wallington and Robert Aplin.