Community urged to take action to secure future of village institute

More than 100 people went to an emergency meeting of the Trustees of the Weston Rhyn Village Institute when the building's finances were outlined.

Trustees said they had worked hard to keep the institute running over the last two years, including raising £5,000 from various fundraising events.

However, it was still losing money each week, the trustees said.

Chairman of the trustees, Polly Smith, said it was the caretaker's house that was draining the resources.

The institute is having to pay monthly council tax on the building even though it is empty, she said.

Villagers were told that the building is now unfit to be lived in without tens of thousands of pounds of work to bring it up to a standard where it could be rented out.

Residential

"This is money we do not have," she said.

It also does not qualify for grants because it is seen as residential and not a public building.

One of the options looked as was whether the house could be sold, possibly at auction.

However, an alternative option of turning the house into part of the community hall was also discussed and the public at the meeting voted against selling the house and instead were in favour of converting it into part of the institute.

The trustees have now urged everyone in the village to attend the public institute's annual meeting on February 24 and also to consider becoming a trustee or getting involved in fundraising.

People are also being asked to support the hall by booking it for events and going along to things that already take place there.

The House will be open to view on Saturday between 2-4pm.

The Village Institute was built in 1908 from public donations to serve the mining community in the village.