By Sonja Quirk, Friends of Victoria Hall  

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In 2019, the ground floor of the stunning Victoria Hall in Glossop came back into community use. Since then, and despite many challenges, the establishment and growth of the Friends of Victoria Hall and its growing army of volunteers have proven that there is real appetite to see the hall used for community projects and for the enrichment of the local area.  

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Our committee consists of local people wanting to see Victoria Hall restored back to its former glory, and we are ever grateful for the help and support of the loyal and hard working Friends of Victoria Hall.  

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Following some recent building work, and a new event programme to launch, we're excited to share an update as to what our future plans are for the Hall...

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‍What has been happening since Covid struck?  

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Of course, in March 2020 Covid hit and we all had to lockdown. All our bookings and plans were paused for most of 2020. We had just held our Spring Fair in Mar 2020 and this was the last big event in the Hall - until the Summer Fair in 2021!  

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As we were restricted in the use of the Hall in 2020 and some of 2021, we used the beautiful windows of the Hall for displays to cheer up the local community.  

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Glossop Arts Project also held fantastic window displays including VE Day, the 72^nd birthday of the NHS, Mental Health awareness week, PRIDE, The Great Big Art Exhibition and Remembrance Day - as well as national events like Christmas and Halloween.

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‍Looking ahead to 2022 and beyond  

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We're very pleased to announce some new events we have coming up this Spring.  

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In March, the Hall will host a Craft Fair and a Vintage Fair. We're also pleased to be hosting the monthly High Peak Makers Markets, which will be on the first Sunday of every month starting from April and running through to December. The markets will feature stalls with handmade items from local artists, creatives and makers.  

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There will be celebrations at Victoria Hall, too, as we are hosting Derbyshire Open Arts on 28^th& 29^th May - hopefully with a nod to the Victorian era in support of the Glossop Victorian Weekend heritage. There are also plans for Jubilee Celebrations, and we hope to run the national English Heritage Open Days event again this year in September.  

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We are still working towards revisioning and redeveloping Victoria Hall into a first class Community Arts, Cultural and Wellbeing destination hub. With support from High Peak Borough Council, the Friends of Victoria Hall are as keen as ever to develop a sustainable future for both the building and the groups that use it.

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‍Glossop Creates and Friends of Victoria Hall  

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Glossop Creates has been supporting Victoria Hall since 2017, commencing with a Sheffield University project which saw architecture students tasked with creating new visions for the building, connecting it to the town's cultural future.  

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‍Want to get involved?  

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If you have experience of regenerating community buildings, heritage assets and/ or have skills to support such a project, we'd love to hear from you! If you'd like to become a volunteer, enquire about the hall or make a booking, please get in touch for more information - contact Kay or Sonja at fovhglossop@outlook.com  

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Join our Facebook page by searching Friends of Victoria Hall, Glossop, or visit our new website https://fovhglossop.wordpress.com/

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