Community Centres Our village halls, institutes and reading rooms could all tell a story. People in Youlgreave remember when there was a cinematograph - a projector for showing silent movies - in their village hall. Kids used to pay three pence (1p) to squeeze onto hard seats at the front but for a bit more you could have a comfortable tip-up seat at the back and stay apart from the riff-raff. In 1922, Chelmorton villagers wanted to purchase their men-only reading room so that everybody could use it. Unfortunately, the ground floor and the upper floor were owned separately and the vicar refused to sell the ground floor. The Institute Committee held an ‘indignation meeting’ after the vicar told certain villagers that ‘something favourable’ might happen if they began to attend church and ring the bells! The problem was solved when a resident gave land for a war memorial village institute. Chelmorton cricket and football teams quarried the stone, farmers delivered it and villagers built the two-storey institute themselves. It became the hub of village life with dances, musical evenings and parties, as well as operas performed on the curtained stage. Read More >> More Pictures Community Life