The wooden hut which was called The Institute stood where the Village Hall is now and the land and hut were gifted to the village to provide recreation for service men returning from WW2 and to provide a place for residents to socialize. The Institute contained a billiard table at one time and was used by many of the clubs which were formed in the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s. The wooden hut was finally replaced by the brick built village hall that stands today.
The first mention of premises providing similar space similar to a village hall was the opening of a reading room on 5th January, 1875. The downstairs provided papers and periodicals, upstairs was a smoking room with draughts, chess and dominoes.There are conflicting thoughts on exactly where it was one is on Shop Hill, now the area around the Village Green at the bottom of Chapel Street. The other is that it was above the stables and coach-house of Hambleton House. The present garage frontage (2017), from the door of the shop extending along the new Annex of the Owl Hotel which was the line of the back of the original building.
The Old School built in 1872 as well as being the school and church for a while also became a focal point for many social events. The events included Christmas Fairs, Harvest Festivals, christening parties. The ‘Players’ also presented pantomimes. A small amount of refurbishment took place when it was no longer the school but unfortunately the building became unsafe and had to be closed in the 1990s because the funds were not available to undertake the major repair work required.