A CENTURY old community hall in Weymouth needs £100,000 worth of repair work before it falls into rack and ruin.

A programme of cosmetic works has already begun at Wyke Regis memorial hall, on the corner of All Saints Road and Chamberlaine Road, but more work is needed to fully restore the building.

Wyke Regis councillor and memorial hall committee member Kate Wheller says she is now applying for grants of up to £100,000 to fully repair the fabric of the building.

She said: “The hall will be pretty much closed throughout August but Weymouth Community Volunteers have been in recently to repaint the smaller hall and passageway. Long term, we hope to have put forward a grant bid for around £100,000 for the main hall.

“I’m currently looking at every avenue I can to get the money needed but I’m hoping for a Lottery fund grant.

“In the main hall there’s a lot of damp and this is a long term restoration project.

“The other major works that need to be completed include repairing the plaster that’s coming away from the walls and working on the roof and bell tower.

“The building also needs new guttering, work on its windows, a new kitchen and new toilets.

“We would also like to get some central heating put in.”

Coun Wheller said there will be a concert of readings and music by local people in the hall in November but a lot of work still needs to be done in the main hall.

She added: “It is quite a daunting task but one that is worth doing.”

Fellow memorial hall committee member Jean Hamdorff said: “These works began a couple of years ago when the Wyke Regis Protection Society first got involved.

“The building really did need some work doing on it.

“We were concerned that the building was falling to pieces. These works have taken quite a while to begin but we’re getting there.”

Richard Price of the Wyke Regis Protection Society added: “The building was falling into a bad state of repair but the hall’s committee is now very active in addressing this.

“There is still serious work to be done at the hall and hopefully the committee will be successful.”

The land on which the hall now stands was originally provided by the Royal Manor of Wyke Regis and Elwell under copyhold (a medieval term meaning tenure of the land was given to a tenant) by Margaret Chamberlaine of Rodwell.

Mrs Chamberlaine, the wife of The Rev George Chamberlaine, probably gave the land to the people of Wyke during her husband’s tenure as vicar from 1809-1837.

The area was first used as the site for a school that provided the first formal education for children in Wyke Regis.

Records from 1845 indicate there were separate schools for boys and girls on the site but they were replaced in 1858.

At the time, pupils paid tuppence a week to attend from 9am-4pm and 7pm-9pm.

Victorian records show boys were often absent from school during local hunts or when mackerel had to be landed.

The hall, now over 100 years old, has a board of trustees including the rector of Wyke Regis, The Rev Deb Smith, a church warden and The Rev Richard Franklin of Weymouth’s Holy Trinity Church.