Ashby de la Launde Village Hall
The Village Hall was built during the Great depression by Lord Garvagh, the then owner of Ashby Hall, as a way of keeping his staff employed as he felt great loyalty towards them. The building was made to a specific shape and height to become a badminton court for Garvagh’s children, set just off the estate road alongside the lake. During the war RAF and RCAF squadrons based at RAF Digby used Ashby Hall as their officer’s mess and the badminton court became a parachute packing room. The Garvagh’s moved out before the start of the war and eventually disposed of their estate many years later, the building being dismantled and donated to the village.
Over the years it has suffered from fire damage and threats of closure, yet has continued to be an essential part of the small village community. In the 1970s the car park was purchased and the extension added. However last year it had subsidence and the extension was demolished, renovation work on the building is not yet complete.
The boathouse and lake to the left and the ‘village hall’ to the right.
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