The Conygre Trust exists for the benefit of everyone who lives in the area. It provides and maintains a recreation ground for them to use and provides and maintains a village hall for meetings and other forms of recreation and leisure activity.
Trustees are appointed for one year and include two members elected at the Trust’s annual meeting, two members nominated by the Parish Council and one member each from village organisations using the hall and the sports field. All trustees are independent and do not represent any organisation other than the Trust.
Timsbury Parish Council is the official registered custodian trustee holding the title deeds of the land and property.
The creation of a recreation field using land next to Lippiatt Lane was suggested in 1919 as a memorial to those lost in the 1914-18 war. This came to nothing until the Mining Industry Act, 1920, established a Welfare Fund through a levy of one penny per ton on all coal raised throughout the country. This was to be devoted to the social well-being, recreation and living conditions of workers in or about the coal mines.
Locally this fund was used to purchase a seven-acre field for £750 and the Miners Recreation Ground was opened in the summer of 1924. Later a Miners’ Welfare Institute was built and opened in February 1931.
By 1969, when control of the recreation field passed to the Parish Council, the original Institute building was in a poor state and a development committee was formed to raise money to build a new hall. In 1971 charitable trusts were created for the proposed Village Hall and the Recreation Ground. Over the next few years the development committee raised around £55,000 and this was more than matched by donations from Major Bernard Cayzer who was then living in Parish’s House.
The Conygre Hall was opened in May 1973 taking its name from the coal mine which had once existed on the other side of the road. By 1974 the tennis court and childrens’ play area were established and efforts were underway to create the cricket pavilion.
By January 1975 the development committee had cleared all debts incurred when building the Hall and it was handed over to the Parish Council. Since that time a continuing programme of improvement and enlargement has ensured that the facilities within the building and on the recreation field have been kept up to date and maintained to a high standard. The Conygre Trust was established in 2005 as a registered charity, replacing the two original management trusts.
The Trust Safeguarding and Equal Opportunities Policies
