Memorial Hall Extension » Trimley St Martin Parish Council

Official Opening of the new extension including 'The Rosemary Room' at Trimley Memorial Hall.

Trimley St Martin Parish Council has recently marked the completion of a significant extension to the village’s Memorial Hall. The newly developed space, designed to enhance community use and provide modern, flexible facilities was opened on Friday 24^th April 2026.

The extension was officially opened by MP Jenny Riddell-Carpenter who cut the ribbon. Speaking at the event Mrs Riddell-Carpenter praised the Parish Council and said,

“This is an amazing development by the Parish Council demonstrating their ambition as a driving force. This [the Rosemary Room] is a community asset which hopefully, will be here in another hundred years.”

Chairman of the Parish Council, Cllr Yvonne Smart added,

“I would like to thank the Parish Council and the Memorial Hall Management Committee for their hard work in making the much-needed additional hall happen. Thanks go to Carly Small (Parish Clerk) in particular, for the time spent securing necessary funding and, along with Cllr Paul Rastrick, overseeing the build.

Thanks go to East Suffolk Council Rural Community Hub Fund for their grant of £30,000.00 and East Suffolk Council Local Community Infrastructure Levy for their grant of £50,000.00.

Over the years we have reluctantly not been able to accommodate all potential hirers and with a growing community increasing the capacity of a local facility was evidently required.

The new hall is named ‘The Rosemary Room’, being a fitting tribute to Rosemary Gitsham who was for many years the local Parish Recorder. Following her death, she left £3,000 towards the Memorial Hall. The current Parish Recorder, Liz Rastrick, has kindly installed a historical display of photographs which we are sure will be of great interest to many.

It has been an interesting journey for all concerned, and we look forward to being able to say ‘yes’ rather than ‘sorry, no’ to potential hirers.”

The extension represents a major investment in the village’s future, offering additional facilities for meetings, events and social functions. Residents in attendance were given the opportunity to tour the new space and learn about how it will serve the community for years to come.

(Pictured above, left to right: MP Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, Cllr D'arville, Heather Rodwell (Hall Management Committee), Cllr Smart (Chairman of Parish Council), Cllr Rastrick, District Councillor Lee Reeves, Carly Small (Parish Clerk))

An extension on the Memorial Hall has been in the planning for some time. The Memorial Hall Management Committee have reported that they are having to turn away a number of bookings each month due to the hall already being booked.

This means that many groups/organisations are unable to hold sessions in our Parish. The Parish Council will always endeavour to enable local residents to access as many services locally as is possible and therefore the conversation of a possible extension began.

Back in 2021 Trimley St Martin Parish Council sent out a questionnaire to residents with regards to a possible extension on the Memorial Hall. Unfortunately, not many were returned, but those that were highlighted that they would be in favour of the Memorial Hall being extended.

Trimley St Martin Parish Council have received a significant amount of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) payments due to all of the property developments happening in the Parish. This money is to be used to improve the community infrastructure. Further information on CIL and what it can and cannot be used for can be found on the East Suffolk District Council CIL website

The Parish Council will be using these CIL monies to fund the extension on the Memorial Hall, along with applying for grants and possible loans.

We want to ensure that the Memorial Hall is accessible to all, and is able to offer a broad range of services to the residents of Trimley St Martin.

We welcome any feedback from residents regarding the extension. This can be done by contacting the Parish Clerk on clerk@trimleystmartin-pc.gov.uk or by attending a Parish Council meeting.

The plans for the extension can be found below, you can also view all the documents online on the East Suffolk Council Planning Portal under reference DC/23/3535/FUL.

We have successfully gained planning permission and building regulations for the extension, and have recently appointed a contractor.

We will be updating this page regularly to keep residents informed of the progress made.

We are very excited about this development in the Parish and look forward to completion.

APRIL 2025 UPDATE

All residents were invited to a Community Engagement Event that was held during the Annual Parish Meeting on 1st April 2025 at the Memorial Hall. At this meeting the plans were available to view and there was an opportunity to ask any questions or feedback to the Parish Council. We thank those that attended.

We also now have the results of the survey that was put out regarding the extension the full results can be seen below. We are now pushing forward with gathering together the last of the funding and signing contracts for works to begin in July 2025.

Survey Results for Memorial Hall Extension Survey

Memorial Hall Extension Report to Council/Business Case

AUGUST 2025 UPDATE

Trimley St Martin Parish Council are pleased to confirm that the building works on the extension have now commenced. The contrators, Oliva Contracts, have started work and disruption both to the Memorial Hall bookings, and to the Bowls Club use of the car park, will be kept to a minimum.

There will be some periods where this will not be possible for reasons out of our control such as manouvering of lorries/machinery, and if services need to be switched off. We will endeavour to give as much notice for this as possible but we do ask users of both the Memorial Hall and the Bowls Club to be understanding of this.

Updates will be provided both here, and at the monthly Parish Council meetings which we invite residents to come along and ask any questions they may have.

OCTOBER 2025 UPDATE

Building works on the extension are all going according to plan and the weather has (so far!) been kind to us! The photograph below shows the current extension as of 14th October 2025.

Also today, four Year 6 students from Trimley St Martin Primary School visited the site with Headteacher Mrs Ross, to hand over a time capsule that will be put into the extension. The children from the school had produced some fantastic work outlining what they love about living in Trimley St Martin which has gone in to the time capsule, along with stamps, coins, a local newspaper, photographs of the village both past and present, and cost of living averages.
A big thank you to all students at the primary school and to the Village Recorder!

Photographed: Year 6 students Jack, Riley, Kiki and Madeline with Headteacher Mrs Ross handing the capsule to Chris from Oliva Contracts and Cllr Rastrick from the Parish Council.

JANUARY 2026 UPDATE

The extension is coming along brilliantly, works have now progressed inside with the kitchen almost fitted, and the disabled toilet being started next week. The new smaller hall is also looking great and the high ceiling really makes it feel like a large room.