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Demolish the village hall...

As suggested in a recent posting on the Chatterbox, I agree the Community Centre would no doubt make a splendid health centre but let's not bury the white elephant just yet. 

Hawkinge does indeed need a health centre but it needs a community centre more. It needs a centre of which the village can be proud, where all the community, including the youngsters can meet. The village needs a centre where village life is focussed. 

Unfortunately the Village Hall, in some peoples' eyes is still considered to be at the centre of the village, but many others find it difficult to understand why the Community Centre has not taken over that role. 

This dichotomy has only been exacerbated by the Parish Council who have failed to support the Centre's central role by continuing to use the Village Hall for their meetings, claiming the committee rooms in the Community Centre were not large enough to accommodate the 10 or so councillors and the handful of interested members of the public who attend the monthly meetings.

Being old and a part of village history is no reason to keep a hall going which has now been superseded. Don't let nostalgia get in the way. Be bold, go ahead and demolish the Village Hall and there will be room to create a smart tarmac car park,  large enough for the Community Centre. The cash from the sale of the Leisuredrome could fund the car park and the remainder used to convert the Community Centre to a multi-purpose sports, youth and community centre fit for the purpose for which it was built.

In a recent website survey of 273 people, just 32% of villagers thought the Community Centre was a credit to the village. The rest either disagreed (53%) or admitted to not ever using the building (15%).

Just because the Hawkinge Community Centre appears to be failing now does not mean it cannot be turned around. If enough interested people get together then it stands a chance of survival, but if the village fails to get involved, don't complain if you lose it. It's up to you to act, and act quickly, time could well be running out.

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