In May 2009 St Martin's Hall, Lower Bourne, Farnham, Surrey was put up for sale by The Diocese of Guildford. Alarm bells rang within the local community and a public meeting was held in the Hall to gauge people's feelings. The main fear was that the site would be sold to a developer and a hall much used by many local groups, not least a nursery school and the Guides and Brownies, would be lost forever. A group of like-minded people formed a committee and The St Martin's Hall Community Trust, charity No 1130666, was born. With intense fundraising the sum of £80,000 was accumulated, and the Hall was successfully purchased for the local community.
Continuing financial support was needed for the Trust to continue the refurbishment programme. We have been extremely grateful for major donations made by RASP - the Rural Access to Services Programme - who granted the Trust £20,000, while backing approved by the 'Farnham Herald' newspaper group proprietor, Sir Ray Tindle, added a further £15,000. In addition, the Bourne Tennis Club made the most generous donation of £5,000 while our own Farnham Town Council granted a further £2,000 towards the purchase. Another generous donor has been the Farnham Institute.
Our refurbishment of the toilets was completed at the end of August 2011 and the replacement kitchen in August 2012, together with new flooring throughout. 2013 saw the erection of a new porch, which has been much appreciated by all our users.
The storage extension was completed in summer 2015.
In 2019 a replacement shed was erected to house the tables and chairs. New double doors from hall give easy access to shed thus enabling hirers not to get soaked while transporting the chairs and tables.
The St Martin's Hall Community Trust is grateful for the support of:
