AN imaginative £1-million scheme to redevelop a dilapidated church hall in Okehampton is being investigated. The revamped building could house thriving community folk/arts organisation the Wren Trust and create a new modern venue for the town. The trust has outgrown its premises of 20 years in St James Street, and All Saints Church Hall in Market Street has reached a point where it is almost unusable. Wren has joined forces with the parochial church council and Okehampton Council for Voluntary Service to get a feasibility study carried out into constructing a new building on the site. Chief executive of Wren Marilyn Tucker said: 'We are at a very early stage in the process but what we would like is a new building where we can have a band space, community recording studio and a sound library which the public can access.' The plan would also include a hall which could be used by the groups who currently met in the church hall, and others, said Mrs Tucker. 'We are applying for money to get the feasibility study done and anyone who wants to join in and help financially or just support the scheme would be most welcome.' A new community building would be in keeping with all the new housing development in town at moment, she said. 'We would also make it a very eco-friendly building,' she said. The project is estimated to cost in the region of £1-million which Mrs Tucker said was a lot of money but an 'achievable figure.' Rector of Okehampton the Rev Stephen Cook said: 'We are very excited about this ideaa. 'The hall occupies a prime site and the church is anxious that it should be used for the benefit of the community if at all possible.' Mr Cook said All Saints Hall was in need of extensive repairs to the floor, roof and windows: 'For some time the church council has been considering the best way to deal with this problem. 'Serious consideration had been given to selling the site, as there seemed little prospect of raising the £60,000 or more that is needed.' He said the partnership between the church, Wren Music and the Community Volunteer Service to redevelop the site as a major community resource was 'bold and imaginative'. 'Under the proposals, a community hall trust would be set up, to which the church would lease the site for a token amount. The trust would then seek to redevelop the site, with community halls on the ground floor and offices, a recording studio and the Baring Gould Archive on the first floor,' he said. At a recent meeting, representatives from various organisations within the town were shown outline drawings of what the new development might look like. An application has been submitted to the National Lottery's Awards for All scheme, seeking funding for a feasibility study — a necessary first stage before applying for major grants. Mr Cook stressed that although the hall was in need of repair it was recently decorated and was still available as a venue for hire. Wren Trust started with one room in a building in St James Street and now occupies six rooms, As well as organising the very successful Baring Gould Festival every year, it runs many workshops and events and has regular weekly groups in almost all the districts of Devon from folk orchestras to choirs and heritage theatre. The organisation has a significant amount of folk songs and music collected over its 25 years of existence which it wants people to be able to access. At present it has no facility to do this.
