The Hallraisers
St Michael’s Church Hall Upgrade Project
Melanie Edge, in her role as Churchwarden of St Michael’s Church in Amberley, set up the Hallraisers in 2023, to raise money to fund the refurbishment of the Church Hall. The core group consists of Mel, with Michael Donovan, Sheena Skinner and Susan Watson, who are all Amberley residents, with many friends and supporters.
We work together collaboratively but have assigned broad leads to each of the main areas of work:
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Decision making and liaising with the PCC – Mel Edge
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Design and project managing the work – Michael Donovan
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Fundraising events – Sheena Skinner
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Community survey, grant applications and communications – Susan Watson
Our ambition is:
To create a modern, welcoming and comfortable Hall that is financially sustainable and sits at the heart of the community.
St Michael’s Church Hall provides an important community meeting place in Amberley village. It was built in the 1960s and whilst it has been well maintained over the years, it now needs significant capital work to ensure it continues to be welcoming and accessible to all villagers.
The first part of 2023 was taken up with benchmarking visits – we visited Bury, Coldwaltham, Pulborough, Rackham, Storrington and West Chiltington Village Halls to see their facilities and learn how they maintained and replaced them.
Next, we ran a survey, to understand the Amberley community’s priorities for the Hall refurbishment – you can see the results of the survey here.
Community feedback identified four priorities and we divided the work into two phases:
Church Hall Upgrade - Phase 1
Unblocking the drains
After several decades, Michael Donovan and the clever people from Coastal Drains solved the mystery of the blocked kitchen drains. They found a hidden pipe buried underground and extracted a calcified sausage of soap and calcium deposits that measured over 12 inches long. It is believed that it took over 30 years to build to its megalithic proportions.
The kitchen sink now flows freely and the issue, now that it has been identified, will be easy to remedy in the future. The work was funded through a grant by Amberley Parish Council and The Hallraisers thank them for their support, which is much appreciated
Upgrading the toilets
Our work to upgrade the toilets was completed in December 2023 – and we held a ‘grand opening’ at the Christmas Village Lunch, where villagers had the opportunity to see the work – and perhaps even use the new toilets themselves.
To fund this work, we won £10,000 in grants from Amberley Parish Council, Horsham District Council and the National Lottery. Our fundraising events, together with donations, raised the remaining £7,000.
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Guided Tree walk (Pam Keeble)
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Wellbeing Fair (Sheena Skinner)
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Michael Blencoe nature talk (Mel Edge)
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Roving Supper (Dave & Lynne Curry and Mandy Fay)
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Scent Soiree (Michael Donovan)
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Eurochristmas Open Doors (Susan Watson and Drewitt’s Farm)
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Christmas in the Square (Mel Edge)
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Knock! Knock! Christmas Theatre Production (Suzie Coates and Chalkpath Theatre Group
See the buttons at the top of the screen to see photos and information of many of these events
If you would like to support the team or donate to a Hallraiser's event, please contact us:
Mel Edge - amberleystmichael@gmail.com
Church Hall Upgrade – Phase 2
We are currently fundraising for Phase 2 – the new kitchen.
The design has had input from our kitchen heroes Sandie Conlon, Adrienne Greenwood, Pam Keeble and Sarah Wheeler and we look forward to transforming the Church Hall kitchen into a modern, commercial kitchen where meals and snacks can be prepared for Church Hall events. Currently, the kitchen is unusable and meals have to be cooked in neighbours’ kitchens, then rushed to the waiting guests – most famously, roast potatoes were once delivered in a wheelbarrow!
January 2025 update: we have now raised £31,800 toward the kitchen refurbishment, thanks to individual donations of £1,300, £8,000 from our community events and grants totalling £22,500 from ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England), The Benefact Trust, The Bernard Sunley Foundation, THe Garfield Weston Foundation and Horsham District Council - with a new fridge donated by Howdens.
Our community fundraising events:
- Sound Bath (Sheena Skinner)
- Burns Supper & Ceilidh (Susan Watson and Claire Bruce)
- Wellness talk by Gemma Ogston (Sheena Skinner)
- Scent Soirée II - The Darling Buds of May (Michael Donovan)
- A Midsummer Celebration (Don Gallagher, Jeff Feakins, Sarah Wheeler and Susan Watson)
- Bastille Day Lunch (Catherine Cunningham, Alistair Sherwood, Sarah Wheeler, Susan Watson and Michael Donovan)
- The Sound of Painting (Michael Joseph and Michael Donovan)
- Christmas Fair (Mel Edge and Sheena Skinner)
- Joy Cameron's Christmas cards (Mike Toynbee and Susan Watson)
- A Christmas Cracker - Chalkpath Theatre Group (Suzie Coates)
- Tunics Galore (Stella Kemp and Susan Watson)
- Drewitt's Farm Christmas Around The World (Susan Watson, Sheena Skinner and Drewitt's Farm)
Next Event
SAVE THE DATE!
28th June, 2025, Back by popular demand... Amberley's Second Roving Supper
Watch this space for details!
We hope to see you at our next event – so why not note it in your diary today? More details will follow in Wildbrooks and on Gaggle.
Phase 1
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Unblocking the drains permanently, so that waste water no longer needs to be poured away outside.
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Replacing the toilets, including fitting an accessible toilet, so that everyone can confidently use the hall.
Phase 2
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Creating a modern, commercial kitchen that enables us to prepare food for up to 70 people on site.
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Replacing the wobbly and rusty access ramp with a new, concreteramp with handrail, to enable safe access for all.
We aim to raise 75% of the money through grants and the remaining 25% through local fundraising events and donations.
We have now completed Phase 1
