Pre-Hire Information
Information For Your Forthcoming Hire
Your initial booking request will be processed by our online booking coordinator, usually within three working days. You will then receive an email sent on behalf of the Trustees of the Leigh and Bransford Memorial Hall confirming your booking.
Attached to that email will be some useful information to help you prepare for your event. Following confirmation of your booking, you will also be contacted by Emma, our booking assistant, who will be your named contact with us should you have any further questions or require more information in advance of your hire – her contact email is info@leighandbransfordhall.co.uk
If the query is urgent, you can message her on 07792 867148
1. GETTING INTO THE HALL(S) YOU HAVE BOOKED – INCLUDING ACCESS FOR PEOPLE WITH RESTRICTED MOBILITY
LOCATING & USING THE EXTERNAL KEY SAFE
We operate a self-entry system that involves the use of external key safes with cylinder combination locks located adjacent to both sets of main doors – i.e. the main doors to the Small Hall at the front of the building and the main doors to the Large Hall, situated at the opposite end of the building next to the Villages Playgroup building. This may have been explained to you if you asked to view the hall(s) before booking.
If you are hiring the Small Hall or Both Halls, you should use the main brown UPVC double doors to gain access. These are the doors at the extreme left of the building (by the short handrail) as you approach the Hall via the entrance drive to the main car parking area. The key that opens these doors is located inside the wall-mounted key safe adjacent to the doors themselves (close to the electricity meter box). This entrance is step-free.
If you are hiring only the Large Hall*, you should use the double doors at the other end of the building. Go to the right-hand end of the building, turning left along the small pathway between the Memorial Hall itself and the Playgroup cabin. These double doors are accessed by a short flight of external stone steps. The key that opens these doors is located inside the adjacent wall-mounted key safe.
* Please note – if you or one of your guests require step-free access to the Large Hall, then please use the ramped access at the front of the building (in front of the planter and adjacent to the standing soldier statue). Someone will first need to gain entry to the Large Hall, as these also serve as Emergency Exit glazed doors. opened internally by a crash bar attached to the inside of the doors. For more detail see the map of the building’s layout on the homepage of our website.
Both key safes are identical, are opened in the same way and use a common code – however the keys inside are different and will open only the relevant hall doors.
The current code will have been emailed to you when your booking was confirmed.
However, to comply with the terms of our security insurance we change the key code at frequent intervals. If the key code changes between the time you booked your hire and the hire itself taking place, our Booking Assistant will contact you approximately a week before your event to tell you the latest code. If you are unsure, you can text her on 07792 867148.
In the unlikely event that there is no key in the key safe when you open it, we have installed a ‘fail safe’ key safe**
HOW TO OPEN THE KEY SAFE
Pull the flap down to reveal the cylinder tumble lock. Enter the 4-digit code you have been sent and then using your thumb and finger squeeze the two buttons either side of the barrel lock. The key safe door should then pop open. You are responsible for the key(s) at all times from the start to the end of your hire, so please keep the key(s) in a safe place at all times during your hire as you must replace the key in the relevant wall safe and scramble the lock at the end of your hire.
Lost keys will incur a £150 excess charge as our insurance policy requires us to change the external locks if keys go missing.
**NB: In the unlikely event that the key in one of the key safes is either missing or the safe won’t open, please use the other key safe. If that is not possible, we have a further fail-safe system – a third ‘fail-safe’ key safe which is located at the rear of the building by one of the kitchen doors. This key safe will always have a DIFFERENT CODE to the two main key safes. If you need to use this fail safe (because there is no key in the main safes) you should text or phone the Booking Assistant on 07792 867148. If you use these keys, please return them to the fail-safe key safe and NOT the key safe with the missing keys.
CAR PARKING, OVERFLOW CAR PARK & FIELD ACCESS
You are responsible for ensuring that your guests park considerately as there may be others using the car park at the same time. You should also make your guests aware that parking is at the owner’s risk and the Trustees accept no liability for damage to or theft of any vehicle or its contents while parked onsite. There are, however, CCTV cameras covering the car park and other areas around the perimeter of the building. External Advisory and Disclaimer notices to this effect are displayed around the building.
Should you need to use the overflow car park, this is accessed through a metal gate at the top end of the main car parking area (to the immediate left of the clothes and textiles recycling container). The code that opens the gate is 4257.
If you have booked the field and need vehicular access (for example when setting up a marquee) the code for the access gates (situated by the Scout Hut at the bottom of the driveway) is 1922 (both sets of gates).
Please note: We share our site with The Villages Playgroup and the 1st Leigh Scout Group buildings. It is essential that no vehicles are parked in such a way that they block direct access for emergency vehicles to their buildings. Please therefore ensure that your guests (or companies you may have engaged to assist with your event) do not park their vehicles and/or service vehicles/trailers/refrigerated containers/food wagons, etc. along the portion of drive that leads down to these two buildings, or in such a way as to restrict free vehicular access to this driveway. Additionally, there must always be a clear route into the overflow car park (even when it is not in use) as service vehicles need access to the outside waste skips to the left of the main doors.
2. INSIDE THE BUILDING
HEALTH & SAFETY AND FIRE FIGHTING EQUIPMENT
Once inside please familiarise yourself with the layout of the building – especially the fire doors, exit routes and fire extinguishers. You are responsible for the behaviour of your guests and for their health and safety during your hire. We comply with current legislation regarding the provision of a safe environment for public access and use. The building benefits from a central fire monitoring system (located in the entrance lobby); smoke alarms, break-glass fire alarm buttons; a range of different firefighting appliances and emergency lighting in the event of the discovery of a fire. The equipment is serviced at least once every year, and the building has a current fire safety certificate. All emergency exit doors are clearly signed, a battery operated back up lighting system is installed, and the fire assembly point is situated at the edge of the car park adjacent to the Sherridge Road.
Lately we have found that the use of confetti cannons or confetti bombs inside the building has caused a potential added fire risk, as some of the paper confetti has found its way into the light fittings which obviously get warm when in use. We have since had to have all the confetti removed from the light fittings. Regrettably, therefore, we have decided to prohibit the use inside the building of confetti canons or other devices that automatically propel paper and other combustible material into the air. The use of confetti poppers however, which are much less powerful is still permitted, provided that all the ‘popped’ paper is removed at the end of your hire.
INTERNAL DECORATION – IMPORTANT!
Please DO NOT attach anything to the internal walls with nails, pins, Sellotape (adhesive tape) or Blu Tack (plastic adhesive). There is a baton just above the windows in the Small Hall (and on the opposite wall) and above the windows on the long wall in Large Hall (and again on the opposite wall) that you may use to attach/hang decorations with pins, Sellotape, nails and/or Blu Tack etc. There is also a notice board you may use in the small hall, subject to space being available. A redecoration charge will be levied if, after your hire, the painted walls show signs of damage caused by directly attaching decorations to them, other than via the batons mentioned above.
You are, of course, welcome to bring your own static free-standing display boards on which to attach photographs, posters and other decorative items.
TOILETS
If you are hiring both halls then you have access to both sets of toilets, but if you are hiring just the one hall*, please ensure your guests use only the toilets associated with the hall you have hired.
*The immersion heater for hot water supplied to the toilets adjacent to the Small Hall is operated by a timer control in the cleaning cupboard and instructions as to use are posted by the controls in the cleaning cupboard. The hot water for the toilets adjacent to the Large Hall is supplied by instant hot water heaters above the wash-hand basins.
KITCHEN
The use of the kitchen and its facilities is included in the cost of your hire, whether you hire just one or both halls. However, please be aware that if both the Small and Large Halls are being hired independently at the same time, use of the kitchen facility may have to be shared.
An immersion heater that has a boost facility provides hot water to the kitchen sinks – the two illuminated switches that turn on the immersion heater and boost are in the kitchen on the short internal wall between the white UPVC external door and the double sink. PLEASE REMEMBER TO TURN OFF BOTH SWITCHES BEFORE YOU LEAVE. This requirement is included on the End of Hire checklist (see below).
There is a fridge, microwave oven, conventional oven, two hot water boilers, two kettles and a selection of crockery, glasses and some utensils in the kitchen, which you are free to use. The kitchen also has the benefit of two serving hatches that open onto the Small Hall. An upright fridge freezer is located just outside the kitchen in the short corridor that leads to the bar room. The bar room itself has hatches that open independently on to both the Large and Small Hall. Again, if both the Large and Small Halls are being hired separately but at the same time, use of the bar area may also have to be shared – although in the case of the bar the serving hatches have been designed to service both halls.
IMPORTANT: Please be aware that you should NOT use both kettles and hot-water boilers (tea urns) simultaneously – as this will overload the fuse and trip the circuit breaker. The trip switch is in the consumer unit to the right as you enter the Small Hall foyer through the internal double doors. Notices are posted in the kitchen as a reminder.
It is important that NO FOOD OR OTHER WASTE is left in the kitchen (or anywhere in the building) at the end of your hire. All waste must be bagged and put in either (or both) of the two large waste skips located alongside the window wall to the left of the Main Double Doors (as you approach the building). You must also make sure that the skip lids are properly closed because we are in a rural location and wild animals, birds and flying insects will scavenge inside the skips if not properly closed.
If you are unable to completely close the waste skip lids, then you must take the additional bagged waste away. Any rubbish (bagged or unbagged) left outside the skips will incur an additional removal charge of £20.
FURNITURE
At the one end of the Small Hall is the furniture store – it contains an assortment of tables and chairs that you are free to use BUT PLEASE NOTE – the small square black tables are for the exclusive use of Bridge Club, which meets weekly. These tables are not to be used.
HEATING
The halls and other parts of the building are heated by a sustainable air-source warm air energy system which operates through a combination of wall mounted fans and hot water radiators. The controls for the operating and adjusting the temperature produced by the wall mounted fans in the two halls are straightforward and a small notice explaining how they may be adjusted (to increase or reduce the temperature) is positioned by each fan.
AT THE END OF YOUR HIRE, IF YOU HAVE CHANGED THE THERMOSTAT SETTINGS, PLEASE RETURN THEM TO THEIR ORIGINAL DEFAULT POSITION OF 15 DEGREES (as stated on the notice).
3. AT THE END OF YOUR HIRE
CLEAR AWAY & CLEAN UP (END OF HIRE CHECKLIST)
At the end of your hire, it is your responsibility to clean through and clear away. We have provided some cleaning equipment and materials for your use, and these are in the small room in the lobby adjacent to the SMALL HALL – the sign on the door reads CLEANING EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS CUPBOARD.
A link to our compulsory END OF HIRE CHECKLIST is included in the confirmation email you will have been sent. You must print this off and work through it at the end of your hire as you clean up and clear away. We also try to keep a blank supply of these forms in a box file in the kitchen for you to use and complete.
Please note: It is now a condition of hire that you systematically work through and then finally sign your completed copy of this checklist before you leave. You should leave the completed checklist in the ‘post box’ by the small handwash basin in the kitchen – one of our trustees will then use your completed list to ensure that the building has been left clean, tidy and safe for our next hirers. Failure to complete the checklist may incur an additional charge.
Finally, please make sure that the water heaters and all the lights (inside and out) are turned off – especially in the toilets – and that the room heater settings are returned to their original position of 15 degrees if you have changed them. On leaving the building make sure the external doors are locked using the same key that you used to access the building and return the key to the appropriate key safe.
Please respect the rights and privacy of persons residing near the Hall. We ask you to ensure that noise levels during your event are kept to an acceptable level – especially after 10.30pm and when you and your guests leave the building and car park at the end of the hire period.
NOTE: If you are leaving after dark there is a push button time delay switch for the car park light. This is located in the entrance foyer to the Small Hall, on the wall next to the double doors.
There is a floor plan of the building on the home page of our website where you can locate all the various areas referred to above.
Revised Spring 2026