Jameston
Community
Association
We have our hall back
For nearly four years we haven’t had the use of our Community Hall, as it’s been the home of Manorbier VC Primary School.
But now the school has gone, and we have the keys again.
When the trustees offered the hall as the school’s temporary home, nobody expected that ‘temporary’ would mean almost four years, or that the school wouldn’t be rebuilt.
But it has been that long, and Manorbier no longer has a school.
It has been closed for good.
All the way along the line, the signs from the
County Council were positive, indicating clearly
and repeatedly that they would rebuild.
But as we all know, on June 15th they voted
to shut the school down, and at the end of
the Summer term the kids left for other schools,
and the staff were made redundant.
Everyone who attended our SGM and AGM
on March 13th understands the strength of
feeling that exists around this sorry saga.
As our Chair, Ray Hughes, said when he was given the keys back on August 1st:
We were determined to do our bit to try and maintain some stability for our local community.
The school was a massive part of the social structure of Manorbier and the surrounding
villages, and we hoped and believed we’d see it rebuilt and flourishing again.
As things turned out that was not to be, but all the support and feedback we’ve had from
parents, staff and local people tells us that we did the right thing.
The school operated very successfully in the hall, winning awards and getting very positive inspection reports, until the council voted to close it for good, leaving Manorbier without a school and the hall back in our hands.
As Ray says:
While we’re very pleased to have the hall back, we’re also extremely disappointed that the
school has gone forever.
We came in for some criticism as we couldn’t use the hall for our usual events and activities,
and that’s fair enough.
There was no ‘right answer’ to the school’s plight after the fire, but we quickly came to the
view that the greater good of the community had to come before our activities.
Whatever we feel about the way everything turned out, the reality is that we have the hall
back, and it's our job to start planning to get things back to normal… only better than before.
So, we have the keys to the hall, and we’re negotiating with the County Council on how big a ‘dipalidation’ payment they need to make to reinstate the hall’s condition, after four years
of 30 or so small and energetic children doing what they do.
A very long time ago, the Hall was a cottage... until St James Church took it over as a Mission Room, and held services there on a Sunday afternoon, right up to the turn of the 21st Century; the old bell tower is still on the pine end.
Thanks to the foresight, expertise, and fundraising of the original JCA members, they bought the Mission, and it is now our Community Hall.
In the early 2000s, they set up the JCA as an unincorporated charity —a group of locals working together for the community.
But the suggestion has always been to grow into a CIO: a Charitable Incorporated Organisation - making it easier to own property, and to operate more professionally.
In 2025, the Charity Commission approved our application to become a CIO, so we're working on the transition from old to new.
It won't make any difference to the hall users or JCA members, but it will make life more straightforward.
About us
The trustees
The AGM elects the Charity Trustees, and this was the 2026 election.
Chair Ray Hughes
Vice-Chair Richard Hughes
Secretary & Treasurer Jane George
Other trustees Kai Furlong Andrew John Nicola Hughes
Marie Hamnett Graham Willcocks
Our activities
The regular coffee mornings are a great way for everyone to get together and keep in touch.
Come along and meet old and new friends.
It's all free... even the raffle!
Coffee mornings are on the
2nd Saturday of each month.
From 10 am to midday
at the Emmanuel Church,
just off the main road
towards the train station.
Our next coffee morning is...
Saturday September 12th
and then it's
October 10th and
November 14th
Our next
Coffee Morning
Saturday
September 12th
10 am
Emmanuel Church
Over 80 people turned up to the Special General Meeting on March 13th. It was called by 11 JCA members to discuss the current situation and to move to hold a properly constituted AGM.
The meeting unanimously requested Ray Hughes to run a General Meeting, which took place after the SGM.
That meeting received reports on the way forward for JCA and on the finances, before conducting elections for officers and trustees and re-running the proposals from last year's AGM
The admin section - documents and notices
And we're preparing these draft policies and procedures for when the new CIO kicks in.
They're not finalised yet, so let us know if you have any comments or suggestions.
Click on the policy you want to look at
This is where we post important documents, like the constitution.
Click the link to open it
Get in touch
Our email address
Drop us an email and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
JamestonCommunityAssoc@gmail.com
JamestonCommunityAssoc@gmail.com