Village Hall History
The building now known as Ecton Village Hall started life as a Youth Club; built in the 70's for the village, by the village, providing a much needed facility at that time. Following the sale of Ecton House by the church, the village lost the use of Ecton House as a village hall. Therefore, it was decided that the Youth Club building, with investment of time and money, should be converted into the new Village Hall.
Many people worked very hard and spent a lot of time in achieving this aim and we applaud all their hard work and relentless dedication. Due to their dedication we now have a Village Hall to be proud of. The cost of the planned development was £130,000. Two thirds of this amount was raised thanks to considerable contributions from Wellingborough Borough Council, Northamptonshire County Council and SITA (the landfill credit scheme). The remainder was raised with help from various sources - from £100 to £5000- all of whom are listed on the plaque in the lobby. However, there are people not listed personally who "volunteered" to join an interest-free loan scheme, raising £10,000
Raising money, while important, was only one part of the project. The Village Hall Committee worked tirelessly, especially Rodney Ingram who was project manager. The new Village Hall was officially opened in the Summer of 2004.
In 2015 the village cricket club folded and so their changing rooms at the back of the hall, fell vacant and the cricket field reverted to grazing. It was decided that the changing rooms space would make an ideal lounge area attached to the main hall. Also a section of the field was fenced off to give the hall an outdoor space. Again after the excellent efforts of villagers with support in terms of money, materials and expertise the new lounge was opened in the Spring of 2016.
Throughout its history of development and refurbishment there is one common theme. When help is needed the villagers step up and make things happen. Either through generous financial support, through provision of materials or expertise or simply through rolling up their sleeves and getting stuck in. Long may this Ecton attitude continue.