Chapter 11 #2
Cath wondered what the last words were that that piece of chalk had written; perhaps ‘The End’ or ‘Goodbye’ or more positively ‘Good Luck’.
She couldn’t resist picking the chalk up.
Back in the day, she’d used the same tools herself early on in her career – the use of interactive whiteboards and laptops now taking over, of course.
And she wrote in her best teacher script: ‘Tilldale’s Christmas Community Event’ and drew a festive holly leaf.
It felt like an announcement. A promise to her supper club friends and her new local community.
It was going to happen, and she really hoped it would be here in this hall.
‘Blimey, I feel like I’ve stepped back in time,’ said Nikki.
‘This is just like my primary school from years ago,’ added Will, gazing around. ‘I didn’t imagine this would all still be left in here.’
‘It’s like Beamish or something,’ quipped Lily with a smirk. ‘It’s actually a bit freaky.’
‘Quit the nostalgia, folks; we need to suss out if this place is actually capable of hosting a Christmas lunch for twenty or more people.’ Dan brought them back to the present, with his serious head on.
‘And be warm enough,’ added Andreas, feeling the chill already.
It seemed sad to see the building empty and neglected. Having been a teacher in a school for many years, Cath could almost hear the echoes of children’s chatter, their laughter and play, the steady voice of the teacher filling this classroom as lessons were learned.
‘Oh, look, what’s this?’ Andreas pulled Cath from her reverie as he discovered a long, thick white rope dangling tantalisingly all the way down from the ceiling.
He gave it a tug, and a loud clang rang out from up above them.
The old school bell. Like a naughty schoolboy, Andreas gave a cheeky grin. ‘Oh, it still works then.’
‘Yes, and the whole darn village will know we’re here now,’ Dan scolded, though he didn’t look particularly concerned or surprised by his partner’s behaviour. ‘Right, let’s get on with the job to hand. We need to go and assess the hall space. That’ll be the main area for entertaining, after all.’
‘And the kitchen,’ chipped in Lily theatrically. ‘If that’s no good, then dinner is doomed.’
They trooped out from the classroom, back through the central corridor, past the entrance hall and reception, heading down to navy-painted double doors, and into the hall.
Cath gazed around her. It was big enough, certainly.
High walls to three sides, a spacious parquet floor, with a rather tatty olive-green curtain half drawn across a stage area at the far end of the hall.
There were three large arch-shaped windows that overlooked the tarmac playground, which had more recently served as a car parking area.
Plenty of light coming in from there. But she gave a shiver – it was darned chilly.
‘Not a bad room …’ Cath tried to stay positive.
‘Bloody cold in here,’ said Nikki.
‘Well, I doubt it’ll have been heated for years,’ said Dan.
Cath scanned the hall, looking for radiators. There were some electric panel heaters fixed to the sides of two of the walls, in addition to several historic-looking Victorian-style cast-iron radiators.
Will went over to touch one of the Victorian ones, which was, of course, stone cold. ‘So, there must be a boiler somewhere,’ he pondered aloud. ‘Most likely oil-fired, like the rest of the village.’
‘Let’s just hope the system works, or that we can at least get the electric ones going,’ said Andreas, wrapping his coat tighter around him.
‘That’ll be crucial. We’ll need to test them out, and soon. No point bringing a group of elderly people into a freezing cold hall,’ said Cath.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
‘Right, I’m on with an action plan. I’ll be making notes on my phone.’ Cath then began tapping away on her mobile.
‘Thanks, Cath.’ Dan gave a thumbs-up. ‘Oh, and add sweep, clean, and remove the stage curtains. They look like they’re about to fall down anyway.’
Despite the mounting to-do list, Cath couldn’t help but feel a glimmer of hope, of possibility – excitement, even.
Looking around her, she realised the hall was light and airy.
The paintwork seemed to be okay, a standard cream on the walls with a wooden dado rail trim.
There were, admittedly, plenty of crusty dead flies and insects lying on the window sills and the floor, but nothing a good hoover and mop couldn’t sort out.
Veronica had advised the original trestle tables, originally used for the school lunches, were stored somewhere here, too. Cath had already spotted several stacks of large green-plastic chairs positioned to one side of the stage.
Whilst Will and Dan went to check on the boiler situation, the girls and Andreas were keen to find the kitchen space. A working kitchen was also vital to their Christmas lunch plans.
Lily marched on ahead, excited to see the cooking facilities. ‘It must be in here.’
There was one more door – other than the signposted loos – off the corridor which they hadn’t yet tried. Lily turned the handle. Cath was hot on her heels, finding herself feeling nervous. This could be make-or-break time.
‘Ooh, look.’ Lily was pointing animatedly. ‘There are two huge ovens.’ She was in and opening the cooker doors, peering inside. ‘Definitely turkey-sized! And pretty clean. Someone must have scrubbed them out before they shut down the hall, at least.’
‘That’s good,’ said Cath.
Nikki took a look in the other one. ‘Hmm, nothing a bit of Mr Muscle won’t shift, anyhow.’
Andreas was grinning. ‘And look here, there’s a massive school-dinner-sized hob to work with. Wonder if there are big pots and pans left anywhere? They’d be so handy.’
Lily was in her element, opening cupboard doors and peering inside the units. ‘Gotcha!’ And she pulled out two ginormous saucepans as an example. ‘It’s full of stuff like this. They’ll just need a good wash.’
‘Brilliant.’ Cath’s mood was lifting all the time.
Nikki had discovered a storeroom off to one side. ‘And here’s all the old crockery. There’s cutlery, and loads of glasses. Teapots, mugs.’ She shot her head out of the open doorway. ‘It’s an Aladdin’s cave in here. They must have kept everything.’
‘Well, that’s a bonus. It’s all looking promising, Cath.’ Andreas couldn’t hold back the excitement in his voice.
There was also a microwave, kettle and a tall stainless-steel hot water urn on the side, ideal for filling pots of tea and coffee.
Perhaps these were a later addition to the kitchen, when it became the community hall.
Cath didn’t imagine the main cooker with those ovens would have been used for quite some time …
and that could prove to be a problem in itself.
The basics they needed to cook a meal for twenty-five or so people (Cath’s ‘guesstimate’ of likely numbers; thinking of the elderly she’d seen about in the village, plus a small group from the home) were all here.
But the real question was, were they still in working order?
And if not, that could prove quite an expense to fix, even if it was at all possible.
Some of this equipment must be many years old, after all.
And at this point, she didn’t dare let her mind stray to health and safety issues – that could be a minefield.
But it would all need to be addressed before the event could become a reality.
‘Well, the kitchen’s pretty well equipped,’ Cath said aloud, trying to reassure herself.
‘As long as it all works.’ Lily was evidently thinking practically, too.
‘No worries,’ Nikki piped up. ‘The ovens are electric, so I’ll get my Kev to check them out. Free of charge, of course, community spirit and all that.’ Thank goodness Nikki’s husband was a qualified electrician. ‘And he can check out those two heater things in the hall.’
‘Are you sure he won’t mind?’ asked Dan, who’d reappeared with Will. ‘There might be a lot of work to put it right.’
‘Yeah, we’d have to at least pay for any parts,’ acknowledged Cath, wondering where all the money to stage this event was going to come from. She needed to sit down and work out the likely costings. She couldn’t expect her supper club team to fork out a fortune, after all.
‘Well, perhaps,’ Nikki conceded, ‘but I’ll make sure Kev’s labour costs will be free. I’ll sweetheart him with a steak supper. Works every time.’ She grinned.
‘Well, that would be amazing, thanks. And yes, let’s get the cooking equipment in here checked and tested, as a starting point.’
Cath thought again about the original school hall.
There must have been assemblies, school plays, Christmas shows, all sorts here since it began.
‘Ah, it’d be so lovely if we could give the old place a new lease of life.
Bring it back to life, and make it somewhere that can be used for the village in the future, too.
I feel strongly that we should at least try to take this on as a project.
’ It was ambitious admittedly, but something in her soul had been sparked.
‘I agree. We move forward, for now at least.’ Andreas stood tall, sounding as though they were about to make a battle charge.
Lily giggled, as the others grinned.
‘I’m happy to get stuck in and clean. I have all the gear,’ added Nikki.
‘I’ll help with that, of course,’ offered Cath. ‘Let’s set a day.’
‘I’ll help too,’ said Lily. ‘Count me in.’
‘And I’m a whizz with a hoover,’ added Will.
Cath raised her eyebrows at that. Hunky and handy with a hoover. And off limits for now, she reminded herself.
‘It sounds like we have an initial plan, at least,’ said Dan.
‘And we found the boiler. Will was right, it’s oil-fired, with a tank outside with just a little oil left in.
I might need to persuade the hall committee to buy in some kerosene, then we can try and get the central heating up and running.
If it’s mid-December for the event, then I’m not sure that a couple of electric panels in the hall will be enough. ’
‘A service would be essential, too. We’ve got to know it’s all safe,’ added Will sagely.
‘True.’ Cath’s initial flicker of hope was wavering.
Costs were mounting, and that was without even considering the large amounts of food and drink they’d need to buy.
Once her costings were made, they’d have to have a chat about where this was all coming from.
Cath could foresee a big dent in her not-so-large savings.
Perhaps she could think of some fundraising ideas.
But whatever it took, she was determined to give something back to help her community.
It was such a lovely idea. And it might well prove a welcome distraction from the ‘will he, won’t he’ Will situation and her own likely quiet Christmas.
‘So, in a few days’ time,’ she continued stoically, ‘once we’ve been able to check the essential utilities are working and safe, we’ll have a group clean-up.
And hey, folks, by then, we might just have ourselves a venue. ’
‘And a whole heap of work.’ Andreas raised his eyebrows. ‘But if it’s going to help lift the spirits of our little community here in Tilldale, as well as some of those from the care home, then I’m ready to roll up my sleeves right now.’
‘Hear, hear,’ agreed Dan.
Crikey, thought Cath, this was like her supper club shed renovations when she’d first moved into the cottage, but on a gigantic scale.
This time, though, she had the wonderful supper club team on her side.
She just hoped they hadn’t taken on too much with this grand plan.
They’d certainly have to put in a lot of graft to make it shipshape.
They had a lot of work to do, and not a lot of time to do it in. Cath prayed they could pull it off and make her first Christmas in Tilldale a special one.