When the 800 labourers had finished their excavations for the 38 acre lake at Hever Castle in the early 1900s, their accommodation huts became redundant. One of them – built in the style, and with the materials, of a ‘Tin Tabernacle’, was kindly donated to the Villagers of Hever by Lady Violet Astor as ‘A Men’s Reading Room’.
Following two world wars, Hever Men’s Club was in no position to maintain, let alone improve it. This task was taken on by Hever Women’s Institute, who leased the Hall for a period, but eventually found the task too much, and the freehold was donated to Trustees, led by the Rev. Collins in 1946. The Hall has since prospered, most notably under the chairmanship of David Woollett who carried out major refurbishments and improvements, including new flooring and wall structures with insulation throughout, adding land for a paddock and car park and disabled toilet facilities in the 1980/90s.
Since then, further refurbishments have taken place including work on the car park, installing a new sewage system, double glazing, electrics, curtains and seating, repainting, et al…
Our ‘Little Red Hall’ owes its very existence as a thriving community asset to the involvement, forethought and generosity of Villagers.