As I mentioned in the last edition of the News, the Parish Council is faced with some very large bills! The main two are the re-thatching of the Reading Room and the replacing of the flat roof between the Village Hall and the Reading Room.
With regard to the thatching, SODC was approached with an idea for their perusal, tiling the Reading Room roof instead of having to face the regular, high bills for thatching. The reply we received was both pleasing and annoying! They said that the Reading Room was in the Conservation Area – it turns out that it is – just! It is also in an area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – that’s true. It also has a high rating as an aesthetic building with a long history of serving the village – right as well. I might then ask, why is it not a listed building? Tiling would be out of the question they said – it has to be thatched. Personally, I am pleased because I wouldn’t like to see it tiled even though I can appreciate that it would be just a one-off bill for tiling as opposed to the regular costs of thatching.
This presents us with a great problem. The three quotes we have received give the cost of thatching between £11,000 and £18,000 and all three quotes include some items that others don’t. We are applying for grants from various sources but it certainly won’t cover all the costs – you never quite know what they’re going to find when they strip off the old thatch! The same situation will occur when we have the flat roof done. The various contractors cannot use the old hot tar method because they are not willing to work with fires etc so near to the thatched roof of the Reading Room! One possible solution is to somehow work it so that the flat roof is completed at the same time as the thatch is stripped off – that, however would leave wooden beams exposed and be another likely fire hazard. With all this in mind we have to go for a different method of covering the flat roof using fibre glass or a kind of rubber matting. Both these procedures will only work efficiently if the flat roof structure is in perfect condition – unlikely after 26 years – so we are heading for more possible expense! The flat roof will cost well in excess of £4,000 even if the roof is in perfect condition! As you can see we have some big bills to pay for.
The Parish Council has managed to accumulate some funds over the years by being, what Gordon Brown called, ‘prudent’ but even they will not cover the expenses we are faced with. I wonder if there are any kind people in the village who would be willing to donate some money? We could certainly do with some homely charity at the moment! I will start the ball rolling by donating £100 (which Sue Hill, our Parish Clerk, can look after) and hope that many others will take up the challenge and dip into their pockets to raise enough for a ‘fighting fund’ to pay for the re-thatching of the Reading Room and the re-roofing of the flat roof between the Village Hall and the Reading Room. If this idea doesn’t work, then we will be faced with raising the precept which will hit every pocket in this wonderfully historic village of Ewelme.
Peter Lemaire, Chairman, Ewelme Parish Council