Coxhoe Village Hall is a vitally important asset for our local community. It was built in 1932 with funds raised by the community after the First World War and extended in 1938 to include the Main Hall.

The Village Hall is a charity and receives no regular external income to support its upkeep and running. All funds raised from activities and events support the upkeep of our fantastic 90+ year old building, pay the bills and fund our caretaking staff who keep the building clean and set up for the rotating groups of users and purposes that the Village Hall supports. Please explore the rest of this site to see what else we do and can offer to you.

The current group of Trustees took control in August 2022. Significant improvements were made by the previous group of Trustees, and we have followed suit. We only have about 30 hours of caretaking staff time a week, which is largely used around our large number of regular user groups and setting up for, or clearing up after, events. Consequently, it is largely due to our large team of volunteers that this fantastic venue remains available for many, many people to enjoy our regular activities, and available for residents to hire for parties, weddings, christenings and even funerals. It is YOUR Village Hall, and we are pleased that so many of you choose to make use of it. It is only possible thanks to our volunteers giving up so much of their time that we are able to do this.

In our first year we completed the long-held ambition of fitting a lift, making the premises fully accessible. Installing the lift was only possible with the support of the DCC East Durham Rural Corridor AAP, and County Councillors Blakey, Hutchinson and McKeon, in addition to significant investment from the Village Hall Funds. The whole building was completely redecorated, giving all of the rooms a more modern blank canvass for users to adapt for whatever purpose they are using it for. We have had some amazing transformations too. Each wedding seems to do something different, and they make the space feel personally special and splendid. The Oktoberfests have transported all to the continent for the evening.

In our second year we sought to increase usage and the regular user groups using our facilities. We have been delighted to see our Silver Fun and Silver Bowls activities grow and thrive. They appear to have such fun, and new members are always welcome. We are very grateful to the AAP and National Lottery for grant funding that supported these. Investing in our own bouncy castle has been interesting, we thought it would only be used for children’s parties, but users have added it to all sorts of events for additional fun. Our extensive range of alcohol-free drinks means that even many children’s parties now also book the bar, and the adults have as much fun at these celebrations as the children do and designated drivers get into the spirit too.

In our third year, we have done significant and necessary improvements to the building, a lot of which will be invisible to users and visitors. We have had to carry out two major repairs to our sprung dance floor including having to sand it to deal with a major woodworm infestation under the stage. We have replaced the 1930s electrical supply equipment and stage lighting, parts of which are now in use at Beamish Museum! We have also had to replace the hydraulics on the main entrance doors; replace all of the fire doors in and around the building; install an additional accessible toilet; and install new drains along the outside wall behind the stage. Again, thanks to the AAP and Point North (formerly County Durham Community Fund) for grant funding that has helped fund some of these projects. Our other key priority this year has been to end reliance on grant support, which is becoming increasingly difficult to secure, and becoming more financially sustainable. With the increased usage we hope and trust that this will be the case in our end of third year accounts.

It is difficult and costly to maintain a building of this age, but building on the work of the previous Trustees, hopefully we are achieving this, giving many community groups an affordable, flexible and suitable home to deliver activities and events for all age groups to enjoy, and a pleasant venue for family and community celebrations.

Thank you to all of you that have held events here and helped us to keep this important facility available for future generations to enjoy, as many have done in the past.

Charity Number

520763