A PARTY has been held to celebrate the 25th anniversary of a village hall.

The Mayor of Winchester Vivian Achwal and her consort Dr Sudakhar Achwal joined the trustees of the Lionel Tubbs Hall in Kings Worthy for the celebration.

The hall was officially opened on the June 1 1996 by the Mayor Brandy Blunt.

The mayor accepted the annual rent of a bunch of watercress.

Jackie Porter, chairman of trustees, opened the afternoon, and explained that although the Tubbs Hall trustees had never received an invoice to ‘pay by watercress’, the trustees had decided that the hall’s 25th anniversary would be a good opportunity to do so.

Judy Currie, originally appointed as the parish council representative on the committee and Elaine Fullaway, representing the Kings Worthy Youth Club, were two original trustees still on the committee.

Cllr Achwal, Winchester’s 822nd mayor, accepted the watercress rent and later said she had used it to make a watercress and paneer curry.

Important guests included Frank Cannon and his wife Carole. Frank has given 17 years service to the hall, firstly as bookings clerk with his wife Carole who was the caretaker, and then as treasurer of the charity.

For Covid 19 reasons only six persons were allowed inside the hall.

Whilst the Mayor went inside to look at the hall, trustees Yvonne Spalding and Dorry Lawlor hosted the Mayor’s consort Dr Sudhakar and guests waiting outside.

During lockdown, the trustees have been working hard to ensure that the hall is Covid-19 safe and ready for reopening.

Since expansion of the building in 2004, it is used by both the parish council and the Tubbs Hall, and facilities are shared with an excellent working partnership.

The afternoon concluded with a few words from the parish council chairman, Les Haswell who thanked everyone for coming and enjoying the tea, cake and sunshine.

Tubbs Hall can be found in Harwood Place.