Grand Opening 2015

Jayne Torvill was the guest of honour at the official opening of the recently refurbished and extended village hall in Five Ashes on Saturday 28 March. Jayne, best known for her gold medal winning performance with her partner Christopher Dean in the 1984 Olympics, cut the ribbon to mark the beginning of a new era in village life for the residents.

The village hall was awarded a Big Lottery award towards the cost of the improvements in December 2013 and work started in March 2014.

A second grant award from Wealden District council ensured that the completed building was finished to the highest specification. The completion and handover took place in October 2014.The work included the complete rebuilding of the Southern end of the hall to provide a much needed second hall along with new toilet facilities. The building features state of the art air source heating, LED lighting and photovoltaic cells as well as being built to the latest regulations for insulation purposes and compliance to disabled user requirements.

Jayne has been connected with the village for a number of years and has had links with the Heathfield School of dance who are based at the hall. Following the opening, the school of dance performed a series of routines to a packed hall under the critical eye of the special guest who was suitably impressed with the standard and spent time talking to the principal of the school (Jenna Crescenzo) afterwards.

A special award was presented to Sue Wren who was a founder member of the hall committee and is still very active after 40 years, playing stoolball and table tennis as well as anchoring the fund raising ‘300 club’.

Hosted by hall committee chairman Geoff Gregory, Jayne was then taken for a brief tour through the building to the larger of the two halls where the Annual Spring Show was being held. Here she presented the cups to the winners of the various categories before being escorted around the exhibits by show chairman Graham Playfoot.

The last presentation was made by Tilly Mercer to Jayne as a parting gift for her attendance for the afternoon which everyone agreed was a great success.

The evening continued with a barn dance with over a 100 people enjoying each other’s mistakes as the dances got increasingly more complex or the level of alcohol increased.