In September 1921, a committee formed to build a village hall in Kirkwhelpington approached the Duke of Northumberland for a suitable piece of land. Their intention was to erect a wooden hut and they negotiated with Mr Papillon, the Dukes agent at Barrasford over the land.
Having established the site, it was agreed that it should be leased for 1/- per annum. There was much discussion over whether the building should be wood or stone and the Ladies Committee proposed that it should be a Memorial Hall. The decision for stone must have been made and £450 had been raised by March 1923 when an architect, Mr. Stanley Brinton, was appointed to draw up plans The finished hall was opened in 1924 by the then Duke of Northumberland. A fantastic achievement for such a small community. In 1925 the land was gifted to the Trustees.
There was a main hall, a small room known as the supper room and a small kitchen. There was no electricity in the village when the hall was built so it was heated by open coal fires and lit using acetylene gas from a generator and then in 1937 changing to oil lamps In February 1946 there was a request for the village school to be able to provide school dinners in the hall. It was agreed to allow the Education Authority to build an extension to the kitchen which would revert to the hall when no longer required. Other improvements had been made over the years. The hall was wired for electricity in1952 and central heating installed.
The hall was a great asset for the village and had been particularly famous for its dances and Christmas whist drives. At a Public Meeting on the 19th March 1997, it was suggested that a good way to celebrate the Millennium, which would benefit the whole village, would be to rebuild the hall kitchen, which was way below modern standards. A meeting was held with Kate Duckham of the Community Council to consider ways of raising the necessary funds and she suggested applying to the 21st Century Halls for England Fund. She also suggested that we should perhaps consider pulling down the jumble of buildings at the back of the hall and build a proper extension. The idea made sense but seemed very daunting.
A Village Survey was carried out to see what improvements people would like to see. Using the results from the survey, plans were drawn up for a proposed extension and provisional estimates for likely costs were obtained. To cut a long story short the application was approved by 21st Century Halls for England and matching funds obtained. Although the millennium deadline was missed, the official reopening of the hall took place on 24th June 2000.
The hall now has an annex opening off the main hall, which can be closed with an acoustic partition and a modern kitchen with serving hatches to the annex and the main hall. Toilets including an internal disabled toilet and a public disabled toilet accessed externally. Indoor storage space was created with an external store for maintenance equipment. A new boiler and under floor heating was installed and a new entrance lobby built with wheelchair access and giving separate access to all rooms and facilities.
Since 2000 the management committee have continued to invest in the hall with a high level of maintenance and refurbishment. A significant development occurred in 2003 when it was agreed that the village post office, previously run from a private house, would be accommodated in the village hall and the supper room was repurposed for this. It is the only full time Post Office covering a huge area of Northumberland and provides a great service. It has the added advantage that the hall is open 6 days a week during Post Office hours as well as opening for all the usual hall activities.