First Meeting: Monday 16th March at 7.30pm

Large Hall, Hughenden Village Hall

Invitation to the Meeting

We would like to invite you to the first meeting of the Hughenden Village Community Association on Monday 16th March at 7.30pm in the Large Hall of Hughenden Village Hall. We will expound our ideas and introduce the first whole-village event.

From Peter Gieler:

I have been the current Chairman of Hughenden Village Hall for the past 2 years. I have lived in Hughenden for over 43 years and have been constantly involved in the local community and served for some years as a Parish Councillor. For some time I have been concerned with the various organisations working within the parish but running parallel to each other, rarely combining or working together. Since the Covid pandemic it has become difficult to attract volunteers, be it for the Village Hall, Residents Association, the shop or even the Parish Council. Our age profile concentrates on the elderly, missing our youth. We all need to widen our appeal and approach.

What then is a Village Community?

A village community is a small, typically rural human settlement where residents live in close proximity, often sharing a similar lifestyle and strong social ties. It acts as a primary, tight-knit group focused on mutual aid, with residents sharing local services, a common area, or a place of worship.

Hughenden does not meet these factors. We are a spread-out residential development without a typical village centre. Both the local church and the pub, usual meeting places for locals, are at extreme ends of the village and far from each other. The Village Hall sits fortunately in the middle and, with the shop and its café, attracts many visitors.

What is the Problem?

During the year there are several events organised by the local PTAs, the Residents Association, the Football Club, the local Drama Group, the Art Group and the Photographic Group. At each and every event we struggle to gather enough volunteers. Would it not make sense to have an association where we can support each other and make more residents aware of the community they reside in? We are fortunate to have two Primary Schools in or bordering Hughenden, but the Parish suffers from not having a secondary school. This makes communicating with our younger generations difficult.

Plans So Far:

Hughenden Valley Village Hall celebrates its 80th Birthday on 5th September 2026, which is a Saturday.

Events organised so far include:

Afternoon Event: Open Air Brass Band Concert with Chiltern Brass, Picnic in the Park, Children’s Fancy Dress

Evening Event: Decades Disco hosted by Bob, Jasper and Richard

All Day / Weekend Event: Photographic and painting exhibition of Hughenden in the last 80 years

We hope you will actively support this event and, in turn, we hope to be able to support events you organise.

Peter Gieler

Chairman, Hughenden Valley Village Hall