Barwon Heads Community Hall is turning 100.
The hall committee is planning a Back to Barwon Heads Hall day to celebrate the milestone.
The original wooden hall was transported by road from North Geelong to the current site in 1922.
The building was substantial, measuring 80 feet long by 30 feet wide, and could accommodate up to 500 people.
There was a stage and two dressing rooms. A feature of the equipment was a first-class electrically-driven picture projection plant, equal to anything of its kind in the state at the time.
Unfortunately, 10 years later the hall was destroyed by fire. However, with a fantastic fundraising effort by the local community, a new hall was built in 1934 and remains an integral part of the village.
Community groups, including the Barwon Heads Fine Music Society, Friends of the Bluff, Barwon Heads Fire Brigade, Barwon Heads Arts Council, Barwon Heads Film Society, Barwon Heads Community Arts Garden and Friends of the Lobster Pot will be on hand during the day to chat to visitors.
Photos of Barwon Heads over the past 100 years will be projected on a big screen.
Ian Cover will MC the proceedings which will start with a performance by the Barwon Heads Chorale at 1pm, followed by stories about the hall’s early years.
Cutting of the birthday cake by local centenarian and recently retired hall committee member, Alice Donnelly.
Barwon Heads Scout Group will run a sausage sizzle while Icycle Bicycle mobile ice-cream and Restoration Coffee Van will provide nourishment and hall volunteers will be selling their delicious Devonshire teas.
The BH Red Cross Branch will run traditional outdoor games for young and old and there will be face painting.
The hall is available and used by many community groups and individuals. Over the years, there have been weddings, birthday parties, dances, film nights, funerals, chorales, music events, markets, public health vaccinations, fundraisers, ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day observations and many other events that have a community focus and supported what Barwon Heads has become today.
Back to Barwon Heads Hall is on Sunday November 20 from 11am to 3pm.
