A date has been set for the grand opening of a refurbished community facility.

The Heart of Headcorn will re-open the building that was previously the village’s Methodist Church on Friday, September 15.

The opening will represent the conclusion of a 32-month battle to secure the continued use of the church building for the community after it closed for worship in January 2021.

The Methodist trustees sought several times to sell the 150-year-old church at auction, with the likelihood that it would have been turned into flats, but villagers fought back, managing to have the building declared as an asset of community value, and then finally, after extensive support from Headcorn Parish Council, purchasing the church themselves.

But the exchange of contracts in October last year was only the start of a new struggle, as the committee sought to bring the building up to shape.

Since then, vast areas of plaster suffering from dampness have been ripped off and replaced. A hole in the roof has been repaired.

The whole building has been re-wired. New floors have been laid in the toilets and in the old schoolroom.

The church organ – which the Methodist trustees sold off before they handed over the building – has been replaced with another organ, secured from another redundant Methodist Church, at Durham, and installed by Martin Renshaw.

The organ dates from 1912, similar to the one it has replaced.

The pews have been given a revamp, and various village groups are hard at work making new cushions for them.

Cabinets have been purchased or donated to display exhibits in what is to become the history area.

While outside, a new handrail has been installed by the path to the main entrance.

The building has been surrounded by a French drain to protect against further damp penetration, and various measures have been taken by specialist firm Pestology to exclude rats or other unwelcome guests from entering the building, but in a humane manner.

Work has even begun in tidying up the graveyard to the rear of the building,

Villagers have registered the Heart of Headcorn as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) to run the building with Tim Thomas, Andrew Edmonds and Michael Rice as trustees.

But overseeing the renovation project on a day-to-day basis is Bella Mansfield, who fortunately lives next door.

She said: “There’s a lot still to do, for example, there’s some woodworm in the gallery and we also need to install a safety rail along the front – not something they worried about 150 years ago.

“But it’s taking shape and we’re all looking forward to the big day.”

Already a few groups have begun using the schoolroom – now named the Elizabeth Hall Schoolroom.

It is in honour of a prominent villager from a farming family who had had much to do with the Methodist church, even donating the land for the churchyard, but who had been denied her wish to be buried there by the Methodists because she was not a member of the congregation.

The room is now home to regular meetings by the meditation group, the widows' group and the chess club.

Ms Manfield explained: “We were offered a grant from KCC if we were able to provide some activities specifically for the over 55s, but it had to be before September. So that is what we have done, and we are using their meetings as a learning process for when we open fully.”

There would appear to be no shortage of demand for the new facility.

Ms Mansfield said: “Every day post the grand opening is fully booked.

“People have been waiting three years for this and they’re desperate to get started.”

While the schoolroom will provide a meeting place for smaller groups, the church hall can seat 100, plus more in the gallery when that is open, and will be used for concerts and recitals.

Already Kentish folk duo Fiddle and Faff – Christine Adams and Lissie Bayford – are booked to appear on September 23. And there will be a concert by Singing For Health on Saturday, November 11. Tickets for all concerts can be obtained from Enhance Hair and Beauty Salon in the High Street.

The front foyer is destined to become a history centre with displays of local artifacts reflecting the area’s heritage.

It will include items recalling the weaving industry on which Headcorn was founded; the two rail lines that once conjoined there – the Kent and East Sussex Railway and the South Eastern Railway. Plus there will be mementos of Unigate Diaries, once a big employer in the village, and items recalling the imprisonment of French soldiers from the Napoleonic Wars at nearby Sissinghurst Castle.

Upstairs there will be a children's history area, including clothing of yesteryear and dinosaur exhibits.

The building has a room for a small office and a similar-sized room that will serve as the bar at event nights.

The kitchen will double as a community larder, both to help those struggling in these difficult times and to reduce food waste.

Modelled on the successful community larder at Shepway, clients will pay £3 and then be able to select 12 items of dry or canned goods, six items from the freezer and an unlimited quantity of fruit and veg.

The supplies are to be surplus goods donated from local retailers and the freezer and fridge will be funded with a donation of £450 from the Weald of Kent Rotary.

Ms Mansfield said: “There will be no means testing. It won't just be for people on benefits.

“Sometimes people have complex stories. There is a lot of hidden poverty, so we want to make the larder available to anyone who feels they need it.”

It will be run by volunteers as a separate entity from the main building, under the supervision of Martyn Jones.

It will open once a week and be known as Penny Kemp’s Pantry, after another well known former villager who sadly died in June, 2021.

Throughout the renovation much has been done to secure the memory of the building’s previous use as a church – after all, many of the villagers still have relatives buried in the graveyards to the front and rear.

A conscious decision was taken to keep the wooden pews, rather than switch to more modern seating, and all the memorials have been retained in place.

However, the school room has been fitted with banks of electric sockets in anticipation of its future use by Digital Kent to encourage computer literacy.

Ms Mansfield has an ambition for everything to be as homespun and voluntary as possible.

Headcorn Parish Council took out a Public Works Loan of £250,000 to support the project. The purchase price was £175,099, but fees and duties took that total to £190,736.

The repairs since then have consumed most of the remaining £70,000, but Ms Mansfield is confident for the future.

She said: “When we didn’t own the building, it was almost impossible to get any grants or funding. But now that we have the building and registered charity status, it should be much easier.”

Involve, in partnership with the Kent Country Council, has granted the Heart of Headcorn £2,500 to support Well-Being Activities for the over-55s.

These include a Chess Club, the Merry Widows Group, Meditation, and Maths for Dementia.

Headcorn Borough Councillor Martin Round (Con) has arranged for a grant of £3,000 to support youth activities, and Tesco in Tenterden has chipped in with another £1,000 “groundwork” grant.

But fundraising is also continuing via bric-a-brac sales and other events.

There will be two rates of hire for those wishing to use the building. Mates rates will be charged for voluntary and charity groups of £10 an hour for the schoolroom and £12 an hour for the church hall.

Professional bodies will be asked to contribute 20% of their profits.

The changes have met the approval of Ron Haggarty, who was steward of the building for over 50 years for the Methodists, and who married his wife there in 1956.

Mr Haggerty, who also started the ball rolling to save the church by making the first donation after Ms Mansfield, said: “It’s just wonderful what is being done.”

The building’s Grand Opening will be at 2pm with a ribbon-cutting which will be followed by a traditional fete on the adjacent Parsonage Meadow.

There will be hoopla, hook-a-duck, plate-smashing, live music from The White Horses (based at The White Horse pub), a tug-of-war, a pie stall, and a beer tent. No vehicles will be allowed on the green.

Helen Whately MP will be among the guests and there will be several stalls from Kent County Council’s Financial Hardship team to offer advice to those seeking help with the cost of living.

Ms Mansfield said: “We hope the whole village will come!”