After two years of fundraising in the village the Reading Room was officially opened on 18 May 1894 by a Mrs E Bigge (with a silver key!) and replaced an earlier Reading Room, the location of which remains a bit of a mystery. From then up until 1945, it served as a place where residents could, as the name suggests, read books and newspapers that they otherwise might not be able to afford. By 1965,
with no kitchen or toilets, it had fallen into disrepair and the Revd Clifford Bartlett got together a group of residents who set about fundraising in order to refurbish it. The project was a success and in 1971 Dame Irene Ward MP re-opened the Reading Room which now included an extension, a kitchen, a side hall and toilets. A second extension, the Blackett Room, built on land donated by Mr & Mrs Frank Atkinson, was opened in November 1984. The Reading Room is now in effect the Village Hall and as such is at the heart of the life of the village. It is the venue for a wide range of activities and is usually fully booked for most of the week.
