From schoolroom to village hall
Abbotsley Village Hall has been bringing people together for generations – although it hasn’t always been a village hall.
It started life as the village school
The building began life as Abbotsley National School, built in 1844 and enlarged in 1871.
For generations of local children this was where the school day began. Children walked in from the village and surrounding farms and, by today’s standards, facilities were fairly basic. Former pupils remembered a cold-water standpipe for drinking water and rather less sophisticated toilet arrangements!
But the schoolroom wasn’t only for lessons. By the 1920s and 30s, regular dances were being held here and Abbotsley even had its own dance band.
The building’s role as a place for people to get together began long before it became the village hall.
From school to community hall
The school closed in 1961, having educated generations of local children for more than a century.
In 1969, Francis Pym, whose family were longstanding landowners in Abbotsley, donated the former school building and land to the village for use as a community facility. A small part of the building still belonged to the Church of England and was bought for the princely sum of £250. The Conveyance and Trust Deed between Francis Pym and Abbotsley Parish Council is dated 15 July 1969.
Abbotsley Village Hall was formally registered as a charity the following year.
Since then, generations of villagers and volunteers have looked after the Hall and kept it at the heart of the community.
A place to come together
Over the years the Hall has hosted everything from dances, fetes and Feast Week celebrations to yoga, Pilates and fitness classes, children’s activities, parties, clubs, workshops, lunches and all kinds of community events.
Feast Week was revived in 1977 following the celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee. The street parties brought the village together and rekindled memories of the old Feast Week tradition, inspiring its return. It has remained an important part of Abbotsley’s calendar ever since, with the Scarecrow Festival joining the celebrations in 2000.
The activities may have changed considerably since children first arrived here for school in the nineteenth century, but the purpose of the building hasn’t changed quite as much as you might think.
It’s still a place to come together.
Discover more of Abbotsley’s story
There is a remarkable collection of photographs, documents, newspaper cuttings and personal memories covering Abbotsley and its people in the Cambridgeshire Community Archive.
