Stroud Village Hall – A Year in Review
A look back over the past twelve months at the village hall from April 2025 to March 2026.
Highlights:
Six events organised by the Trustees at the village hall including four free community events:
*VE Day Celebration (May) FREE
*Hampshire Open Studios (Aug) FREE
*Harvest Barn Dance (Oct)
*Christmas Fair (Nov) FREE
*New Year Quiz (Jan)
*Coffee Morning (Mar) FREE
As well as supporting our fantastic Social Committee with the annual STROUD REVELS 2025.
£2,900 raised in grants – supporting improvements & running costs. Including £2,000 from South East Water for the Community Garden.
Two new Trustees joined the board – thank you Chris Holt and Heather Coulson! Both bring a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to the team.
______________________________________________________________
Hall Use
Total booking fees for the year are £24,428.
Most of this comes from our regular commercial hirers who run a weekly program of clubs and classes at the hall. These classes bring a lot to the village and offer something for everyone from baby groups to craft clubs and fitness classes.
The remaining bookings come from private customers booking the hall for birthday parties, weddings and other events.
_____________________________________________________________
New Classes
New Toddler Sense Class with Hayley on Fridays (in addition to the popular Monday morning session).
New weights class on Monday evenings with Chandni (in addition to her weekly yoga class).
New monthly Yoga Therapy class on Fridays with Lou Rose (in addition to her weekly Pilates class).
A big thank you to all our wonderful regular hirers. Your support helps to keep the hall open!
______________________________________________________________
School Donation Scheme
Customers who live in Stroud and/or with children at Langrish Primary School are currently entitled to a 10% discount on their booking fee.
From May they will have the option to donate their 10% discount to Langrish Primary School.
The aim is both to support our local village school AND to incentivize more private bookings.
______________________________________________________________
Financial Update
At the time of writing our financial accounts for the year just ended 31.03.26 are still being finalised, but currently they are showing a break-even position before depreciation. The main pressure on expenditure is the increased price of gas and inflationary pressure on day to day running costs. The biggest single increase has been in gas prices, which has risen by 98%.
Our income comes mainly from hall hire (78%), supported by grants (9%), fundraising (7%), and a small amount of other income (6%). More detailed reports are available on request from the Hall Manager.
______________________________________________________________
What’s Next
Increase private bookings
- In line with our long-term goal to become financially self-sufficient without reliance on grants.
- The school donation scheme is part of this plan.
Community engagement
- We’d like to run more free community events to help bring people together.
- This will depend on volunteer capacity, so we’ll be encouraging more people to get involved.
Communication
- We’re planning to improve how we communicate both offline and online.
- We’ll be setting up a postal distribution list for residents who don’t use the internet.
______________________________________________________________
In Summary
Our financial position is stable And we are working towards full financial self-sufficiency | We’d love more people to get involved Even a little bit of help makes a big difference |
A mix of community events Continue to bring people together and ensure the hall is accessible to all | This is your community space We’d love you to get in touch and share your ideas. |
The community garden is thriving Thanks to the hard work of our gardening volunteers | A huge thank you to all our volunteers We couldn’t do any of this without you. |
