History

The Village Hall was a church school when it was originally built in 1866 at a cost of £241. The building was achieved, in the main, by the efforts of the Revd. Henry Sandwith MA, then Rector of Todwick.

The Duke of Leeds gave the land, stone for the walls and a sum of £50.   Revd. Sandwith’s subscription and various payments amounted to about the same amount.  Other subscriptions included £20 each from the National Society, Miss Stanhope, Miss Roberts, and Mr Charles Wright together with £35 each from Mr Lane Fox and Mr Garland.  In addition, parishioners contributed smaller amounts together with their labour and cartage.

The school was really just one room that contained two large cupboards with a fireplace and oven in-between them.  A small platform stood in one corner.    There were no inside toilets as there was no facility for piped water in the building.  As a result earth closets were situated outside at the far end of the playground

In 1909 a classroom was added at a cost of £303, which was defrayed by a voluntary rate, paid by every owner of rateable value in the Parish. 

In 1922 the Duke of Leeds gave additional land (which had previously been leased) for the purpose of a school garden or site for a Parochial Hall.  This was conveyed in the names of the Rector, Church Wardens and the Trustees of the School to the Sheffield Diocesan Trust and Board of Finance.

In the 1960s, due to the rapid expansion of the village, the school became so overcrowded it was forced to close.  It was in 1968 that the school was given by the Church to the village to be used as a Village Hall.  So the life of the Village Hall began.

From that time until its closure, in November 2006 when the current building project began, it has been a focal point for the village.  

There have been many groups which have used the Village Hall over the years including the Brownies, the Guides, Mothers Union, WI and other Church activities and then in more recent times, clubs for line-dancing, toddlers, craft, bowling and many more.  It has also been the village’s meeting place for Parish Council Meetings and has been and still is used as the Polling Station during local and national elections.

Fund raising to modernise the Village Hall had been ongoing for well over a decade by Village Hall users and the Parish Council.  However, it was not until early 2006, following a successful application to the Yorkshire Rural Community Council, that the Village Hall Trustees were delighted to announce that the much needed renovation and extension of the existing Village Hall would be able to commence.  The current building project costs of circa £325,000 were far in excess of the original £241 and everyone concerned was very grateful to both the YRCC and Parish Council for their support in helping to make the re-build/renovations become a reality.  

The official re-opening of Todwick Village Hall took place on Saturday 23rd June 2007 and we were delighted that the opening ceremony was carried out by a local lad – and  celebrity from the very popular BBC television programme ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ – Darren Bennett, together with his wife and professional dancing partner, Lilia Kopylova.