THE deadline to raise enough money to save an East Cornwall village hall passed at midnight last night (Wednesday) and now campaigners hoping to save the hall will have to play a waiting game.

The Kelly Bray Village Hall Management Committee has been fundraising and appealing for donations for the last four months to raise enough money to put in a bid to buy the former WI Hall, but with no ball park figure from the Cornish Federation of Women’s Institutes (CFWI), which now owns the hall, the committee is crossing its fingers that the bid will be taken seriously and negotiations may be able to start.

Following the folding of the village’s WI, the hall — which had been used by the community as well as the WI during its 70 years of existence — was hoped to be kept by the residents for use as a village hall. But, according to the Charity Commission, the hall should be owned by the CFWI and be sold to use the money to further its charitable objectives in Cornwall.

After a long, four-year struggle with the CFWI over the ownership of the hall, the hall management committee admitted defeat late last year.

Before doing so, the committee registered the hall as a community asset with Cornwall Council, meaning that as the federation announced its intention to dispose of the asset, there was a six-month hold imposed before it could go on the open market.

During this time, the committee has been given the right to bid, meaning that it would be able to buy the hall if it could come up with the funds before February 25.

Chair of the village hall management committee Susie Iannantuoni told the Times on Tuesday: ‘We’re still climbing and at £3,000 at the moment so not a great amount. We have had a small number of people who have dug very deep for us which we are very grateful for.

‘The CFWI have refused to give us even a ball park figure of what they want. I understand that if they gave us a concrete figure and we were nowhere near that, they can say no. But they have given us no figure and have said they will consider any offer seriously. It would be unfair to fleece us for money seeing as no-one else wants it.’

Susie said that because the CFWI had not put the hall on the open market, they had no-one else to compete with so were hopeful that they could enter into negotiations with the CFWI.

She also said they had decided against a loan because they would not produce enough income to repay a loan and pay for the upkeep of the hall if they were to acquire it.

‘It’s anybody’s guess which way it will go,’ she said. ‘When the deadline comes we will offer whatever we’ve got. We’ve been able to accumulate the £3,000 through fundraising and donations. I think they will say that’s not what they are looking for and then I presume negotiations will start. They haven’t put it on the open market yet — once the WI make a decision to sell a building or piece of land off, they put it on the market to get the best possible price. We’ve got no-one to compete with at the moment. As I understand it they don’t have to accept the best financial offer, it should be the best offer for the WI and we want to carry on the ethos of the WI of being the hub of the village bringing people together.’

Susie was due to make a bid in writing to the CFWI by midnight last night.

For more information or to make a donation, visit www.kellybray.co.uk