Kentford & Kennett Village Hall

The hall was built by the two villages together, on the MacLaren Playing Field off Station Road. It is designed to make the most of natural light and has unusually good acoustics for a building of its size. The Newmarket Band practise here every week and give two concerts a year in the hall.

It is run by an independent management committee drawn from both villages, the Kentford and Kennett Village Hall and MacLaren Playing Field Association, which is a registered charity. Kentford Parish Council holds its meetings here, along with the annual parish meeting.

The main hall

• Hall area of 13.9m by 8.5m, seating up to 100 people
• Seven round tables of 5ft diameter and nine rectangular tables of 5ft by 18in
• A portable stage of 5m by 4m, 100 chairs and overhead projection
• A large kitchen with an induction hob, two ovens and grills, a dishwasher, a kettle, a hot water boiler and a fridge freezer
• Storage rooms, an accessible toilet and wi-fi
• Further toilets and baby changing facilities in the attached pavilion

The meeting room

• Room for 20 people
• A small kitchen with a cooker, fridge and kettle
• Toilets, baby changing facilities and access to the accessible toilet
• Wi-fi

The MacLaren Playing Field

The field is used for football and five a side, rounders, softball, running on the grass track, and football and fitness training. It is also where the village fete is held. There is a children's play area, which must be supervised.

The field has changing rooms, toilets, showers, access to a small kitchen and floodlights.

Hiring the hall

The hall is available to hire for parties, classes, clubs, meetings, conferences and seminars. Bookings are handled by the management committee rather than by either parish council. The steps are:

1. Check the hall calendar to see that the date and time you want are free.
2. Complete the provisional booking form. You will get an email summarising your request.
3. The booking clerk checks availability and, if all is well, sends you the hire agreement and a request for payment.
4. Return the signed hire agreement with your payment. The booking is only confirmed once both have been received.

Current hire charges and the terms and conditions are published on the village hall facilities page.

How it was built

The two parish councils began work on the idea in October 2013, when section 106 money from the Farrier's Grange development became available. More than fifty residents from both villages came to a community event in February 2014 to say what they wanted, and a feasibility study the following September settled on extending the existing pavilion.

Planning permission was granted in February 2016, building started in April 2017 and the hall was handed over that November. It opened quietly in December 2017 and formally on 2 June 2018. The project cost about £383,645, paid for by the two parish councils, the section 106 funding, an ECD facilities improvement grant, and £35,000 from the Mick George Group.