News
COVID-19
WHVH is a community facility with many vulnerable users whom we wish to keep as safe as possible. With COVID-19 having not gone away completely, we are still being sensible/careful. In particular, no-one may come into WHVH if they have COVID symptoms or their recommended self-isolation is not complete following a positive test. This is for everyone's benefit.
Wood fired pizza van at West Horsley Village Hall!
"Mamma Lourdes" bring their wood fired pizza van to the car park at West Horsley Village Hall every Sunday and sell to the general public between 4pm - 8pm. They are located in the space closest to the Main Hall which is opposite the Methodist Chapel. Look out for their bright orange van - you won't be able to miss them!
Authentic, wood fired Neapolitan style pizzas only a few minutes away from home! To find out more about Mamma Lourdes and view the menu, check out the website at www.mammalourdes.co.uk. You can either place an order in advance by WhatsApp, ring them or just turn up and order there and then. They will give you a buzzer which will tell you when your pizza is ready. All details are on their website.
Refurbishment of the planters outside WHVH (February 2021)
The two large planters situated outside WHVH were rebuilt recently by Tim Skerritt Landscape & Groundworks. The new planters have steel corner posts as well as a steel post halfway down each side. Oak sleepers were slotted in between the steel posts and a Damp Proof Membrane inserted before being capped with oak planks with rounded edges. Hopefully they should last for many, many years to come. However, because of the way they have been constructed, if one of the sleepers was to become damaged, it would now be possible to replace one sleeper without having to take the whole thing apart. We are delighted with the work that Tim has done for us and would happily recommend him to anyone who is wanting some landscaping or groundworks done. Tim can be contacted on 07871 051661 or 01372 458616 or drop him an e-mail at info@timskerrittgroundworks.co.uk.
The cost of this work has been met, under the planning regulations, by the developer of 20 The Street in West Horsley. We are very grateful to both West Horsley Parish Council and Guildford Borough Council for their help in securing these funds for this project.
Another playground update (January 2021)
We are pleased to announce that the train in the WHVH playground has been replaced with a modern, colourful toddler multi-play unit, much of which is made of hard-wearing, eco-friendly materials. We know that many loved the train but it was old and rotting in places and required more and more spent on it every year to get through the playground's annual safety inspection so it was time for it to go! After consulting with several specialist playground companies, it was agreed that a toddler multi-play unit would be the best addition to the playground since we did not have much equipment suitable for independent play by toddlers. From looking through some old records recently, it transpires that, before the train, an old-fashioned wooden toddler unit was in place so, without realising, we have replaced what was there about 20 years ago!
The cost of the work has been met, under the planning regulations, by the developer of 20 The Street in West Horsley. We are very grateful to both West Horsley Parish Council and Guildford Borough Council for their help in securing these funds for this work. We have received some very positive feedback about the new unit which is proving to be very popular.
The cost of the work has been met, under the planning regulations, by the developer of 20 The Street in West Horsley. We are very grateful to both West Horsley Parish Council and Guildford Borough Council for their help in securing these funds for this work. We have received some very positive feedback about the new unit which is proving to be very popular.
COVID-19 UPDATE (5th January 2021)
West Horsley Village Hall closed during third national lockdown
With the Government's announcement on 4th January 2021 about the third national lockdown, WHVH is closed until further notice. We continue to monitor Government rules and advice and will be ready to re-open to regular hirers as soon as we are permitted to do so.
West Horsley Village Hall re-opens again after second national lockdown
Following the end of the second national lockdown, WHVH has re-opened and is strictly following all the requirements in order to allow it to continue to be a "COVID-19 Secure" venue. As happened after the first lockdown, WHVH will be available initially to regular hirers only. Due to the additional safety requirements and the complexities involved in keeping WHVH "COVID-19 Secure", the WHVH Trustees have decided that no bookings can be accepted from non-regular or "casual" hirers for the foreseeable future. We are sorry to say that, for the moment and in accordance with Government rules, this includes all party bookings. We are keeping this decision under review and continue to monitor the Government guidelines but when this policy changes, an update will be posted here. If you wish to discuss this with the WHVH Manager, please e-mail whvhbooking@gmail.com or call 01483 285454. Thank you for your understanding at this challenging time.
West Horsley Village Hall re-opens after first national lockdown
We are pleased to announce that West Horsley Village Hall re-opened its doors to regular hirers on Monday, 24th August 2020. A great deal of work has gone into getting WHVH "COVID-19 Secure" and a visit to WHVH will be quite a different experience now. We have reduced maximum capacities in all three rooms (to enable social distancing to take place), new one-way systems, social distancing signage up and we also have markers on the floors in each of our three rooms to give people a visual reminder about where chairs and tables should go as well as socially-distanced hexagons for exercise classes. We have done everything we can to make WHVH as safe and compliant as we possibly can in line with guidance received and we hope that people will now feel able to start coming back to us. Of course, we are keeping the situation generally under review as well as all the Government guidance and we will make any changes which are required if/when we need to.
COVID-19 UPDATE
(13th July 2020)
Playgro und
The playground re-opened on Monday, 13th July 2020. Please always remember to bring your own hand sanitiser with you, read the safety notices
and clean your hands before and after using any of the equipment. If you develop COVID-19 symptoms within 14 days of using the playground, you MUST let us know - ring 01483 285454.
Neither the playground nor the equipment has been disinfected. The playground will be locked every evening at 6pm
or dusk, whichever is earlier. Here are the new guidelines:
P L A Y S A F E, ie
Play 2 metres away from others not in your household/bubble
Leave no germs - wash your hands before and
after use
Always clean equipment before use
Young children to be supervised carefully to maintain hygiene
Suggested maximum time in the playground is 30 minutes (to give everyone a fair chance to use it)
And only ONE household/bubble on each item of play equipment
Family members - only one with each child please
End your visit if the playground is too busy or becomes busy. Come back another time.
Please give priority to disabled users.
Hygiene Guidance:
1. Please clean contact points on equipment before use
2. Do not let children put their mouth on equipment or their hands in their mouth
3. Do not eat food or picnic in this playground
4. Do not touch your face and always cough or sneeze into a tissue or your arm
5. Please take your litter home.
The advisory maximum capacity is 16, to include children and adults.
IMPORTANT: We ask that children's parties are NOT
held in the playground please. If you do this, it is likely to mean that others cannot use it and, as a public space, it should be available to residents and visitors whenever it is open. You are also likely to breach the advisory maximum capacity of 16
which has been set for everyone's safety. In the event that the playground is used for children's parties, WHVH reserves the right to close the playground to everyone.
More upgrades to the playground (July 2020)
The safety surfaces under the red swings, the train and the small elephant rocker have been refurbished and the matting in front of the goal has also been replaced. We are very grateful indeed to West Horsley Parish Council for funding the cost of these upgrades. We have now completed the refurbishment of all the safety surfaces in the playground - it has taken us 5 years because it's expensive work! We continue to monitor the items of play equipment and safety surfaces carefully in case further work is required.
CCTV (February 2020)
CCTV has been installed at WHVH and we are enormously grateful to Horsley Community Fund for the grant of £1,000 towards the cost of this work. This wasn't something we really wanted to have to do but it would seem to be part of modern life now. The CCTV is there to provide a safe and secure environment for all our users as well as deter, detect and prevent any crime or anti-social behaviour.
Car park re-lining (November 2019)
Another essential job was to refresh the white lines, arrows and words in the WHVH car park. We hope that this will help people to use the one-way car park correctly – it’s one-way for very genuine safety reasons but we have had concerns about this for a little while with some visitors driving in and out the wrong way.
More upgrades in the WHVH playground (October 2019)
We have replaced the old wooden children's picnic table in the WHVH playground with a fantastic, multi-coloured picnic bench. It's eco-friendly and is made from 100% recycled materials.
During the summer, the safety surface under the large Multi-Play Unit was also replaced and is now blue/black flecked. Thank you to West Horsley Parish Council for their help with funding the cost of the upgrade of the safety surface.
We continue to be busy in the WHVH playground and are working our way through a programme of upgrades and improvements. It's an expensive business though so it'll take us a little while to get through everything!
Roof refurbishment (May 2019)
An extensive (and expensive!) refurbishment of the large flat roof over the Main Hall kitchen was carried out in May 2019 – boring but essential! The previous roof was ancient and had been patch-repaired so many times that it was no longer viable to continue in this way.
The WHVH playground has some new equipment! (July 2018)
We are pleased to report that the WHVH playground refurbishment has been completed on schedule and the playground is now open again as normal. We have replaced the two toddler swings and the old timber kickwall with basketball hoop has also been replaced but with a steel goal and basketball hoop. We hope the children of the Horsleys as well as any visiting youngsters will very much enjoy the new equipment!
We are very grateful to West Horsley Parish Council for a grant for the toddler swings and to The Community Foundation for Surrey for a grant towards the bulk of the cost of the new goal.
Grant news (February 2018)
We are thrilled to report that West Horsley Village Hall has been awarded a grant from The Community Foundation for Surrey for £5,399. The bulk of the grant will go towards replacing the ageing wooden kickwall in the playground with a modern, welded steel goal and basketball hoop.
Included within the grant is an amount from The Horsley Community Fund for a contribution towards the new goal but which also covers the cost of the supply and installation of some mirrors along one wall of the Cedar Room. This should be useful for our dancing and exercise hirers and will enable them to watch themselves to assess and improve their technique. However, a curtain will also be installed to cover the mirrors when not in use because we understand that there will be some hirers who won't want to look at themselves in the mirrors when using the Cedar Room for other purposes!
The mirrors will be installed during the Easter holidays and the playground work will take place in the summer during, hopefully, better weather.
Everyone at WHVH is so grateful to The Community Foundation for Surrey and the Horsley Community Fund for this invaluable support. It means so much to a small registered charity which mostly relies on hire income to maintain and repair the place.
Information about The Community Foundation for Surrey
An independent charitable trust established to inspire local giving for local need. The Community Foundation works both with donors who want to give something back to their local communities and the voluntary groups providing vital services for local people. For more information about The Community Foundation for Surrey, please visit www.cfsurrey.org.uk.
More playground news! (August 2017)
Bright, new toddler swing seats have been installed in the playground. The old ones, although safe and serviceable, were starting to look a bit tired but these are a huge improvement and we hope will be enjoyed by many young children for years to come!
West Horsley in Bloom (July 2017)
WHVH has two very lovely, big planters in front of the Main Hall which are lovingly tended, voluntarily, by Chris and Judith Scarlett who are members of Horsley Garden Society. The planters were entered into the annual West Horsley in Bloom competition again this year and the presentation evening took place on 7th July 2017 at WHVH. We are delighted to report that WHVH won 3 awards ... a Gold Award in the Non-Residential category, Class Winner of the Non-Residential category and we also won The Iliff Community Cup for the second year running. We are thrilled that the enormous amount of work put in by Chris and Judith has been recognised and rewarded. We hope you enjoy the colourful planters as you drive past or visit WHVH!
Playground update (April 2017)
We are pleased to say that, in the lovely WHVH playground, the surfacing underneath the roundabout has been upgraded as has the safety surface under the two toddler swings near the train, both of which now look really smart. We have ongoing playground maintenance planned but resurfacing playground surfaces - which obviously has to be done properly and by professionals - is an expensive business so we are having to prioritise according to the funds available.
New online diary and booking request system (February 2016)
At the end of February 2016, WHVH introduced a new online diary and booking request system. This means that anyone can now look to see when each of our three rooms are free for hire and, if they wish, can also make an online booking request (although we do still take bookings by e-mail and telephone!). We really hope this will be helpful for those wishing to see if we might be free for an event/booking. It's early days yet but we've already had our first booking through the online system ... and it worked beautifully!
Full details are on our Availability page - please click on the Navigation bar to the left.
New serving hatch blinds (December 2015)
New electric, insulated blinds were installed in the serving hatches in both the Main Hall and Cedar Room kitchens. As well as looking smart, they should really help with insulation from noise as well as heating.
Upgraded wooden floor surfaces (August 2015)
The wooden floors in both the Main Hall and the Cedar Room were refurbished at the end of August 2015 and have been professionally treated with a new anti-slip dressing which should also protect the lovely maple strip and oak parquet floors that we have in the Main Hall and Cedar Room respectively. Funds permitting, we plan to spruce each floor up every 3 years from now onwards to keep them in tip-top condition.
Public Access Defibrillator (February 2015)
We are delighted to announce that The Horsley Countryside Preservation Society ("HCPS") has presented a "PAD", a Public Access Defibrillator, to West Horsley Village Hall in memory of the late Miss Enid Horsey. Miss Horsey generously left a bequest in her will to be spent on any village improvements. Given that Miss Horsey was the local midwife for many years, it was thought that the purchase of a defibrillator for public use would be befitting of her profession.
The defibrillator is sited in a bright blue, secure cabinet on the outside of the Main Hall. Mike Rushby of the HCPS said "We are delighted to receive this donation from Miss Horsey's estate and feel that it will be an asset to the village. I urge everyone to attend the training provided as knowledge gained could one day save someone's life."
The defibrillator is for the use of all members of the general public but it would obviously be of particular benefit to anyone attending an event at West Horsley Village Hall ... although we sincerely hope that no-one will have need of it at all! For security reasons, the cabinet is locked but if you need to access the PAD, just ring 999 and give the operator the postcode (KT24 6DD but on the front of the cabinet) and you will be given the code to the cabinet to retrieve the PAD. The machine automatically gives easy-to-follow instructions when in use.
