The New Hall.

I  was reminded the other day, that to many newer Silvertonians, The New Hall is little more then just a name and some are not even sure where it was located. I thought therefore, that it might be worth posting something about the Hall and some of what went on there, without getting too sidetracked with the controversy that surrounded its clusure in the late eighties, a matter that may well be  worth a post in  itself on another occasion, 

What was known as The New Hall was in fact, two buildings that stood on what is now the vacant plot opposite The Silverton Inn.  The building that faced  directly onto Fore Street was the older building, probably a couple of hundred years old at its demolition, that was known toolder villagers as 'The Audit Rooms'. This was a two storey, yellow plastered building that you entered via a passage which had two meeting rooms one on  either  side near the main entrance. besises meetings of the parish council and other bodies, the rooms were also used for whist drives and bingo, My earliest memories of whist drives in the neeting rooms was when my grandmother, Mabel Rutland (1892-1981) ran weekly whist drives there on a friday night in the 1950s and early 60s. If you ventured into the room during these events it would be through a thick haze of tobacco smoje and you would see the likes of mt gran and her pals such as Lil Andrews, Kate Warren and Mary Sutton playing their cards and exchanging the village gossip of the day. All were characters worthy of blogposts in their own right,

Beyond thge meeting roos, on yhe right hand side, was a kitchen and around a sharp left had cornerm werre the stairs to the upper floor and also the lobby that led to the New Hall proper and toilets.

The upper floor of the old building consisted of one long room that had been used for the village dances prior to the construction of the New Hall proper in 1928.  Wnen I was young the upper room was used by The Mens Club and contained two full sized snooker tables which remained there until the building  was demolished.  As far as I know the tables were then removed to The Silverton Mill Social Club but I dont know what became of them after the closure of the mill and the club. After The Mens Club folded the room was used by the Boy Scouts and The Silverton Youth Clun of the late sixties, I believe it was still osed by youth organisations in the seventies and eighries.

Back downstairs and rgeough the lobby you entered The New Hall proper, This consisted of a long room with a substantial stage and changing facilities at one end. The building had been opened in 1928 and donated to the village by The Reed and Smith paper company, then owners of The Silverton and Stoke Canon paper mills. The Mew Hall was the main venue for dances, concerts and plays and frequent jumble sales. When young, I can well remember the concerts which featured our local performers, although I doubt if any of them would have made it to 'Britain's Got Talent'.  I am sure that Silvertonians of a certain age, will never forget Flor Vittles performing the 1950s hit 'Tom Dooley' complete with noose or the rendition of 'Danny Bot' by Sid Hutchings accompanied by the reverend Guy Sanderson on piano, who later became Bishop Of Plymouth.

Other highlights of the hall, that I can remember, were The Twist Club of the early 1960s Where the teenagers of that period twisted the night away to the sounds of Tim Tree and The Thunderbirds  A shadows inspired local band and later in the decade The Silverton Youth Club events of which I was a part. The Royal British Legion also held their dances there before the advent of The British Legion Club, and of course, there were the hunt balls but they were not something that many of the local youth participated in.  In the eighties the hall was the venue for performances by the much loved, and missed, Silverton Players who produced a series of well suppported pantomimes.

The New Hall and The Audit Rooms played a large part in the history of the village and pieces of history could be found in the halls from the plates marked as the  one time property of The Silverton Temperence Society that were to be found in the kitchen, to the paintings of Lucy ward that were rescued when the hall was demolished to parish records that were found in an old cupboard.  I suspect it will ne a long time before yje Community Hall gains the same place in the affections of the people of Silverton as The New Hall and The Audit Rooms gained over the generations.