Brill Memorial Hall has been at the heart of our community for over fifty years; a spacious yet friendly venue for weddings and wakes, balls and birthday parties, ceilidhs and concerts, packed public meetings, plays and pantomimes, produce and art shows, talks and films. Our walls have welcomed three generations of Brillites and their friends and families; happy toddlers, sweaty keep-fitters, chil
led-out yogis, opinionated politicians - and lots and lots of tea drinkers - but this afternoon all its quiet, so let’s take a quick look round. The main pubic entrance is a double glazed door off Church Street, leading into a lobby with a framed painting of a young Queen Elizabeth II on horseback. This room is generally part-filled with trestle tables and folding chairs but, once emptied, it’s a nice-sized ticket office or cloakroom. Another set of double doors opens straight into the main hall; a large, light, almost square room, lined with tall windows and fitted with a wonderful sprung floor of golden maple. The kitchen (accessed from the main hall) is large and reasonably well equipped with a wide serving counter and generous food preparation area. It’s used during term time to prepare lunches for Oakley and Brill Primary Schools (the flapjack always smells delicious) but is otherwise available to users of the main hall. Beyond the kitchen is a room known as the Old Library, accessed through the green door shown in the picture above. This is now the Parish Office, being the clerical home of Brill Parish Council, The Brill Society and Brill Village Community Herd. The first floor of the old part of the Memorial Hall complex is now divided into offices, presently let to an accountant and a couple of other local businesses. Vehicle access to the carpark behind the Memorial Hall is down a narrow track by the main entrance. From here, a back door leads into the main hall - but, before we go back in, take a moment to look through the tall trees across the meadow to the the peaceful meadow beyond. The grass-covered earthworks ahead of you probably relate to a royal dwelling on this site in medieval times. It’s rather nice to think that people have been gathering hereabouts to enjoy themselves here for nearly 1000 years!
