For a long time, we have wished to celebrate in some way those people who have been good friends to the Memorial Hall and in particular the people who have expressed that friendship via a donation to the hall in their will.
For these people the hall has been significant enough in their life that they wished it to continue for future generations and chose to do that in a practical way through a donation to hall funds.
In recent years the first of those donations was by Ruth Blood who remembered the Memorial Hall as a happy place with dances, clubs and activities that gave her real joy. She wanted that enjoyment to be available for new generations and gave a donation in her will to help the hall remain in Mayfield’s community.
Her donation kick started our fundraising to replace our old windows and that in turn started our whole refurbishment programme that is still going on today. Since then two more members of the community Mollie Flinton and Derrick Bradbury have also donated sums of significance to the Hall and we felt it to be right during our centenary year to officially show our thanks to them. To that end we have commissioned a small memorial to each person featuring a handmade glass picture of flowers with their names inscribed beneath the words in Loving Memory .
This project has been managed by Mandy Sowter a committee member and trustee and each of the glass sculptures will feature in the small windows in the hall alongside the bar. Do look out for them next time you visit the hall.
We hope this will be just the start of a process of remembering all those who helped make the hall what it is today. Remembering The Hall in its past and in its relationship with our village is an important strand of our Centenary year celebrations. To that end we have asked our local historian Pat Smith to put together some of his own memories of the Hall from his long association spanning a period of 80 years of so. Each month this year Pat will write his memories of the hall.