Armstrong Hall to re-open!

On Friday the 19th of July 2024, the Armstrong Hall Charitable Trust held a Public Consultation about the future of a Community and Arts venue for Thornbury. This resulted from a public meeting previously held last year on the 7th of December 2023 where the Armstrong Hall Charitable Trust asked all stakeholders (AHAA/TCA, Turnberries Leisure Centre, Theatre and Music groups etc.) to form three separate work groups to produce three sets of business plans. These were: Option T) a new Theatre at Turnberries or Option A) a complete rebuild of Armstrong Hall complex or Option C) a refurbishment of Armstrong Hall .

The Trust subsequently whittled the choices down to two options; Option T3 for a new 288-seat theatre at Turnberries and option C the refurbishment of Armstrong Hall complex.

After the meeting on the 19th of July and after much deliberation, the Trust voted in favour of Option C to refurbish Armstrong and Cossham Halls at a cost of £350K. At the public meeting on 19th of July AHAA announced that they had found a private donor Maggie Lansdown , wife of Steve Lansdown, who is co-founder of Hargreaves Lansdown and owner of Bristol City FC. Maggie has kindly agreed to fund the initial cost of refurbishment (£350K) with possible further funding for future building works.
The Trust's decision is outlined in the following document: Armstrong Hall Charitable Trust Press release 26th July 2024.
AHAA take this opportunity to thank the Armstrong Hall Charitable Trust for making, what for them, was a very difficult decision.

If you have any comments about the Trust's decision you can send them to the Trust at armstronghalltrust@gmail.com or to AHAA at info@ahaathornbury.co.uk

Armstrong Hall Closure

Until the start of Covid Pandemic in early 2020 the Armstrong Hall Complex (AHC) in Chapel Street, Thornbury was a much loved venue for the performing arts such as theatre and music groups. Many other community groups also met up there for a wide range of other activities. The complex includes Armstrong and Cossham halls, the foyer and other areas. The Thornbury District Museum is adjacent to this site. The local community were shocked and saddened when this vitally important venue was closed down during the Covid Pandemic (Stroud News 14th April 2021).

In March 2021 the Armstrong Hall Charitable Trust (Thornbury Town Council) announced that they would not be re-opening the Armstrong Hall Complex again (Thornbury Gazette 31st March 2021). The Trust cited that their reason for keeping the Armstrong Hall Complex closed was the high cost of repairs to re-open it and that funds for an ambitious project to rebuild the Armstrong Hall Complex were, as a result of the Pandemic, being diverted away from the project. At the time, the Armstrong Hall Trust also reported that they had already been in discussions with South Gloucestershire Council, the Armstrong Hall Trust and the trustees of Turnberries Community Centre to use it as an alternative community venue.

This was despite the fact that the Turnberries option was evidenced as being by far the least popular option in two public consultations held in 2017 and 2018.

AHAA Formation

In May 2021, an action group called the Armstrong Hall Action Alliance (AHAA) was formed to try to persuade the Armstrong Hall Charitable Trust to reconsider their decision to permanently close the hall and to allow AHAA to lease and run the Armstrong Hall Complex for a viable period under new management. However, this was to no avail and talks have now stalled. This despite the fact the action group presented a viability study (See AHAA Viability Study and Appendices) to maintain and operate the the hall. We are committed to changing the Trust’s stated closure plans.

Thornbury Community and Arts CIC

In February 2022 Thornbury Community and Arts CIC (TCA CIC) was formed. A CIC (Community Interest Company) is a Limited company which does not distribute any profits to its members and only has charitable aims. TCA CIC is fully co-operating with the Armstrong Hall Charitable Trust  to refurbish and re-open the Armstrong Hall Complex. It plans to convert the CIC into a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation) which will run and nurture the new community enterprise.

New Armstrong Hall Website

Eventually this Web site will be closed down as it has acheived its aims to start the process of re-opening Armstrong Hall. It will be replaced by a new Web site called The Armstrong Hall https://www.thearmstronghall.co.uk/. This new Website will then become the operational site for all Armstrong Hall activities including information on new events, bookings and general information. At the moment it has an online form to sign up for the Armstrong Hall News Letter. You can also click on the red banner below to access the news letter sign up form

AHAA aims

The aims of the Armstrong Hall Action Alliance are: