So what is the South Cerney Village Hall Club?

South Cerney Village Hall has been a much loved and used place of entertainment for almost a century. As the years have gone by the facilities provided have changed and much improved. Now the Hall offers a good, modern and comfortable environment making it an ideal venue for many types of entertainment. The recent upgrading of the audio-visual system with its state of the art overhead projector, big screen and wrap around sound speakers enables users to enjoy live TV programmes, to use Power Point programs to illustrate talks etc and to show DVDs.

Until a few years ago regular film shows were held in the Village Hall as part of the CDC Rural Cinema scheme which supplied not only the actual films but also a projector, portable screen and a control unit, plus speakers. This equipment went around the Cotswold area to villages taking part in the scheme with each participant having to fetch the equipment from the village where it was last used. This meant a late night drive to places as far away as Withington! Not much fun in the depth of winter! As we already had a full Audio/Visual system fitted in our Hall, all we actually needed was the disc containing the film. To continue the type of event and to make things easier and more profitable, we set up the Village Hall Club.

As a social Club, we pay for an annual Public Video Screening License permitting us to use our audio/visual system for showing DVDs. The license has very specific terms and conditions including a restriction preventing us from advertising that we show DVDs; nor can we advertise to the general public, details of whatever entertainment we are about to show at our meetings. However, all members of the Club are sent details of the entertainment a few days prior to the meetings.

Membership of the Village Hall Club is open to anyone over the age of sixteen. There are monthly meetings, usually on the third Friday evening . Occasionally there are additional events, for example Royal Weddings (!), which are shown on the big screen using live TV. There is a fully licensed bar serving drinks at very realistic prices, plus a raffle, but mainly we meet up for a chat with other members and then watch entertainment whatever that may be.

The objectives of the Club are to provide a convivial evening's entertainment for club members and at the same time raise money for the upkeep and improvements to our old Hall.

Membership is paid on an annually, currently at only £12.50p. This gives members access to twelve meetings each year with no extra entry charges. Guests accompanied by a member can become temporary members at a fee of £3.

New members are always welcomed either as full members or temporary ones. For more details please contact Mike Stuart 01285 860439