| Harwell Village Hall (originally Harwell Technical Institute) Charity Number 300161 | ||
| 1913 | September | Land given to the village with no covenants |
| 1927 | September | £2662.19.0 released from savings to build the Technical Institute |
| 1931 | Probable opening of Harwell Technical Institute | |
| 1960 | December | Harwell Technical Institute renamed Harwell Village Hall |
| 1971 | Freeman Hall built with a life expectancy of 15-20 years | |
| 1991 | November | Becomes a registered charity 300161 |
| 2009 | February | Pilot survey on the future of the halls |
| 2010 | November | Freeman Hall closed as it had become unsafe |
| 2010 | December | Survey in Harwell News on the future of the village halls – renovate or relocate |
| 2011 | January | Dead heat but out of time flurry in favour of renovation |
| 2011 | Summer | Exploration of moving to the recreation ground |
| 2011 | October | Trustees perform a risk assessment of the options – resolved to get a structural survey |
| 2011 | November | Structural survey |
| 2011 | December | Decision to develop and renovate the hall |
| 2012 | Spring | Invite tenders from architects |
| 2012 | May | RPA Architects Ltd chosen with the help of Nightingales providing architectural advice |
| 2013 | January | Planning approval granted to build large new hall and renovate existing main hall |
| 2013 | – 2015 | £1million raised from events, donations, gift aid, grants and Section 106 money from local housing developments |
| 2015 | January | Legal status of the hall changed from charity to Charitable Inorporated organisation (CIO) number 1157858 |
| 2015 | Spring | Building project tendered – decision made in July |
| 2015 | September | Contract signed with Fennell Blake & Co. Ltd |
| 2015 | October | Building works commence |
| 2015 | November | Demolition of the Freeman Hall |
| 2016 | July | Charity Bank approve our loan for £350,000 to complete the project. |
| 2016 | October | Phase 1, Orchard Hall is completed |
| 2016 | October | First £200,000 of loan drawn down – interest payments begin – clock starts ticking, we have 2 years to repay or request a conversion to a mortgage. |
| 2016 | November | Phase 2 begins and new Orchard Hall is opened for use |
| 2016 | December | Retractable seating installed in Orchard Hall |
| 2017 | February | £100,000 further draw-down of loan |
| 2017 | March | Final £50,000 drawn down. |
| 2017 | April | Phase 2 is completed and Cherry Hall is opened for use |
| 2017 | May | Grand celebration event to formerly open Harwell Village Hall and invite the public to view the facilities |
| 2018 | April | Section 106 money £210,000 from new local housing developments used to pay off some of the loan |
| Trustees decide to convert the remainder of the loan to a mortgage to be paid off through the normal income of hall hire activities. |
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Note when the Village Hall was ‘The Harwell Technical Institute’ it was divided into two halves. You can see where the moveable divider went if you look carefully. The area next to the new committee room, formerly the kitchen, was set aside to teach the village women cookery and domestic skills while the western end of the hall was for men to learn field crafts and carpentry. Click here for the village archives which includes interviews and photographs of old Harwell and here for the book ‘A village for a thousand years’. There are more interesting photos and documents on the Harwell Parish Website