ELSENHAM VILLAGE HALL

When the old hall became unfit it was sold and the money used to set up a charity whose aim was to provide a replacement hall. While we did very well selling off the land it was not enough to finance a new hall. The school however also needed a new hall and for them the size would be determined by the number of pupils which meant a hall too small to do much with. The Village and the School authorities teamed up and with the Church as a third partner (who owned the land) a new joint ownership hall was built, big enough to do everything, for everybody. The deal now is the School have it during term time weekdays, the Village has it evenings and Saturday and the Church got Sundays. Hence our Art and Craft Fair is unusual in that it is always on a Saturday. To miss all the other events it was initially set up for the first Saturday of October but now its been going so long wise organizers avoid us.

This is the maximum the hall will take, each pitch is 6ft wide  based on our stock of tables. When somebody is able to put on a live demonstration (which we positively encourage) we modify the layout by sacrificing pitches to make the extra space, so give us plenty of notice. We can also sell pitches in pairs but there is no discount. Note that the layout is minimal in aisle space so as a general rule double banking facilities are not available unless you do it by backing right up to a wall. You must not encroach on the aisles as drawn (fire regulations), especially with goods on the floor where persons with poor eyesight or bifocals can trip over them. You may use your 6ft in any way you wish (with due public safety considerations) for example a smaller table but with a clothes rack beside it but make sure we know what you are up to in good time to be of service.

The hall has the legal minimum lighting for moving around in anticipating that users will provide task lighting as appropriate. This is because the hall is multi-functional and therefore not being able to satisfy everybody, defaults to minimal. On a gloomy day your goods will need to be highlighted but don’t overdo it, personal experience shows that 60Watt spotlight bulbs are more than adequate. Sun floods will dazzle your clients and blow our breakers.

When all the pitches are sold we move the Tombola out into the foyer then move it back if somebody fails to show up. This takes a lot of last minute effort so please phone in sick or broken down en-route if you can. We will reciprocate in that if we can resell your pitch we will then refund your fee.

To find the hall go to the “where we are” page for the village itself and you will find the hall on the main road (Stansted Road) right in the middle of the village. You won’t miss it on the day, the banners and bunting will be up and prominant route markers will guide you in.