East Boldre Village Hall 2026

Aim

Help us raise £35,000 to get us over the finish line to complete the works on the village hall & rejuvenate the social heart of the village.

Preserving our Hall for Future Generations

We’ve raised over £450,000 for much needed repairs, modernisation and improvements to make the hall a safe and welcoming venue for a wider range of activities ready to serve the community for the next 100 years.

We now need your help to raise £35,000 to complete the hall with AV equipment, comfortable chairs, furnishings, kitchen crockery and CCTV.

Our village hall is unique and an important part of local aviation history which must be preserved.  It was built by the YMCA as a concert hall in 1918 on the Royal Flying Corps training airfield. It’s the only surviving WW1 building on the New Forest heathland. During WW2, it was used as a base by the local Home Guard.  For the last 100 years, the building has been used variously as a parish hall, a church hall, a cinema, a WI hall and a village hall.

The stage is unique and must be preserved

The village hall has always been more than just a building with an important history – it’s where friendships are formed, celebrations are shared, and our community comes together. From children’s activities and local clubs to family events, the hall has been at the centre of village life for generations.  The local history talks organised by Marc Heighway sell out in just hours and last year’s fun Mamma Mia Film night raised over £700 for the hall.

Planned improvements

We’ve listened to the community. The building project will address feedback from the last survey by enhancing the hall’s appearance, improving the facilities and offering a wider range of activities.

A team of volunteers from the village has helped us to redesign the kitchen, toilets and lighting and the community was involved in choosing new chairs and the colour scheme for the décor.

Being on New Forest Park grazing land, we can’t enlarge the physical footprint of the building but the new internal layout increases the size of the main hall by 50%.

Major improvements include:

• A larger hall with new, cushioned flooring – this will be more suitable for exercise and dance and allow for a much broader range of activities.
• New state of the art AV equipment to make films nights viable and facilitate talks and training. A dedicated room to operate the new AV equipment along with acoustic panelling to greatly improve the quality of the sound in the hall.
• A corridor linking the main hall with the Robert Coles Room, removing the need to go through the toilets to get to it – this will allow it to be used for refreshments and make it useable for more activities.

Reconfiguring the internal layout will increase seating capacity by over 50%

Why we need to raise £35,000

Building costs have escalated dramatically since last year and we need to raise another £35,000 to finish equipping the hall. This money will help to pay for: 

• Audio visual equipment and acoustic panels critical to provide the right sound and visual quality for all types of activities
• Comfortable new chairs, new curtains and blinds to fit in with the new décor
• Stage curtains and track
• Kitchen crockery
• CCTV

How You Can Help

Every contribution—big or small—will make a difference. For example, £10 would buy a set of crockery, £50 would buy a chair. If you’re unable to donate, sharing this page with friends, family, and neighbours would be much appreciated.

Together, we can preserve and improve our village hall for future generations as the social heart of the village whilst preserving the heritage of East Boldre.

We've chosen not to offer rewards because we believe every penny should go directly to the refurbishment project. Your "REWARD" is a lasting community asset.

Please donate using the link. If you are a taxpayer and pay sufficient tax, please Gift Aid your donation as we will benefit even more from your generosity.

BEWARE: When you donate, Crowdfunder gives themselves a generous tip. You can set the tip to zero or any amount you want but note they don't pass on any of the tips to us.

We'll be delighted with your support and would like to recognise it.  If you'd rather not have your name published, please remain anonymous.

More Information

You can more information about the hall and the project at:

East Boldre Village Hall - Website

Thank You

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 12th July 2026 at 12:00am