In 1847 the Diocese of Gloucester built a school in Poole Keynes but, like so many others, this was closed in 1922 when the roll fell to 20.

The old school building, whilst still owned by the church, is now used as our village hall, on condition that the villagers continue to maintain it.

Since then the hall has become a focus for the community: being used for meetings, clubs, classes, family gatherings & birthday parties.

Fundraising events which take place in the hall raise considerable amounts of money towards the maintenance of our church as well as for the hall itself. This requirement to raise funds has an additional benefit in that it provides the very reason for us all to socialise and work together.

The hall was extensively rebuilt in the early 1980’s at a cost of £12,000. This money was raised by the villagers and included labour from the Youth Employment Scheme.

In 2003 further work took place to provide facilities for disabled. Part of our current refurbishment project will complement this work by rebuilding the outside wall of the disabled toilet and installing a heater to ensure the room is kept at a comfortable temperature.

The need for further expansion and development of the hall was identified in our recent Parish Plan; eighty per cent of households showing their support for this project reflected the importance of the village hall as the only community venue within the parish. After studying the information gathered from the “Interests and Hobbies Survey” circulated with the Parish Plan questionnaire, and following consultation with Gloucestershire Rural Community Council’s Village and Community Halls Adviser, it was suggested that we develop the upstairs store room into a comfortable meeting room. In this way we would be able to accommodate smaller groups such as the Youth Forum, Parish Meeting, Sunday school, Parochial Church Council, Saturday Morning Club, book club, and those interested in board games, crafts and other hobbies. It would also provide a meeting venue for use by our many home-based businesses.

However, subsequent surveys and evaluations identified that the lack of heating, insulation and ventilation in the hall had resulted in significant problems with damp, and that this was in turn contributing to a serious degradation of the fabric of the building.

After monumental community fundraising efforts, we are now close to reaching our target of £57,000 needed to complete the development and remedial work.

Grant funding has been secured from the following organisations: Aggregates Levy Fund, Awards For All, Cotswold District Council, Entrust, Rural Renaissance and the Summerfield Charitable Trust . We are now working to raise the remaining several thousand pounds through village events. Rural Cinema has donated £400, £360 was raised at a village Bingo evening & the sale of plants and cakes last Spring raised a further £450.

Our Family Fun Day in early September 2006 was a great success and contributed just over £500: bringing us ever closer to our target.

We are pleased to report that work on the hall started in October 2006, and we look forward to completion of the refurbishment within the next month (Nov/Dec 2006).


These improvements will not only safeguard the structure of the building itself, but also make it a more tempting prospect for hiring both inside & outside the village. This will help ensure that Poole Keynes has a viable Village Hall for generations to come.

If you would like to hire our hall for a private function or business meeting, or have ideas for a club or society that could make use of the facilities, please let us know. For a small hire charge we can also provide tables, chairs, glasses and crockery for use outside the hall.