The History of The David Hall and Petherton Arts Trust - 1986 Beginnings
In the early 80’s, a local businessman, Brian Hall purchased the church building and the adjacent Manse. (Click here to read a newspaper article from 1986).
Following an accident to his son David, (who was a keen performer), Brian took the time to reconsider how the hall could be used. He was approached by a small group from the local drama society with a view to maybe performing a play there.
Soon after, rehearsals began. During rehearsals the group became excited by the chance to present professional theatre, music and other events in the venue. With help from Take Art and the then South Somerset District Council a full programme of music, dance, theatre and film emerged with events happening almost on a weekly basis.
The David Hall is a Grade 2 listed former United Reformed Church (Click here to read a comprehensive history of the church before 1980).
1989 PAT Leases The David Hall
The group negotiated an annual rent with Brian and in August 1989 PAT entered into a formal 15-year lease. One condition was that the building be called ‘The David Hall’, in memory of Brian’s son.
…..’The hall will be called David Hall. It will be dedicated as a memorial to Brian Hall’s son who died two and a half years ago in a motorbike accident at Cartgate cross’ (extract from local newspaper article 1986).
PAT became a limited company.
1993 PAT Buys The David Hall
Eventually Brian, finding the running of the hall a challenge, asked PAT to consider buying the building, generously offering it at a price not much more than he had paid for it.
After much hard work, and with support from County and District Councils and the Foundation for Sport and Arts, the money was raised and the building was purchased, securing a permanent home for the organisation. The Petherton Arts Trust Ltd. was incorporated in November 1989 and in July 1990 the company was registered with the Charity Commission.
The hall soon became more than just a performance space with individuals working on arts projects using the office space. Actiontrack Performance Company took an office space as their administrative home and the ever growing South Petherton Festival office was based there*.
* The history of the Folk and Craft Festival can be found here (click here for more details).
1994
Work commenced on the building of office space on the first floor in anticipation of a successful lottery-funded grant. The grant did not materialise so work on the proposed improvements was abandoned.
For the following eleven years and despite numerous setbacks, PAT survived and grew beyond the conservative hopes of its founders. Although struggling with the problems which beset many small arts venues nationwide, it was successful and gained a reputation for providing quality arts entertainment. The intimate size and its imaginative programming coupled with the most unusual arch immediately above the stage, gave a unique setting, much admired and appreciated by audiences and many of our visiting performers.
2005 ‘Save the hall’
For several years, the hall received financial assistance from South Somerset District Council and Somerset County Council but in 2005 The Trust was informed that revenue grant assistance would end.
A “Save the Hall” campaign was launched, with considerable support from the local community. As a result, the Council agreed to provide a tapered reduction in grant over two years to permit PAT to reorganise its business and become self-sufficient.
The following three years saw a tremendous amount of work done by the staff and volunteers to examine and rationalise every aspect of the management and operation of the organisation, transforming it into a much more coherent business, albeit one run almost entirely, voluntarily.
It was necessary to reduce the hours worked by staff and spread the workload amongst volunteers. A large amount of effort was put in to create office systems understandable and easy to operate by volunteers.
The programme was reviewed and a decision taken to try to book the highest quality artists possible. The printed programme was switched from four to six monthly publication, both to save printing costs and to create a better product. A new website with online booking, created and run ‘in house’, also considerably widened the exposure of the hall to new audiences and the hall’s reputation as a venue for top quality entertainment continued to grow.
An ambitious, detailed programme of improvements to the physical structure of the building was also drawn up, albeit, with little idea of where the finance might come from, The strategy was to focus on critical structural problems, one at a time, especially the leaking roof and damaged gutters and downpipes, closely following the observations form a professional structural survey.
A vast fundraising effort over the next three years, combined with several successful grant applications to South Somerset District Council and the National Lottery enabled significant improvements to be made including substantial works to the roof and guttering, roof insulation, rebuilding and renovating the bar and storeroom, a new porch, front steps, railings and notice board and the purchase of new seating.
2009 People’s Millions Grant
In 2009 we were awarded a Big Lottery ‘People’s Millions’ grant which finally permitted us to achieve the long-held dream based on the original 1994 plans.
The creation of a further floor above the balcony enabled a ‘proper’ office for staff to work in together with a meeting area and lighting console. The existing balcony was refurbished to provide storage rooms and additional seating, also able to be transformed into a fully equipped meeting / conference / rehearsal room. Our inadequate toilet facilities were much improved, alongside an accessible toilet area, artists facilities and lift to the meeting room. A box office and bar store was built, and, with the assistance of our wonderful volunteers, the interior of the hall was redecorated and the stage raised to give a better audience view.
Building works on the new upper balcony.
2010
Christmas 2010 brought an unexpected serious problem for the hall when it was discovered that there were major problems with the fuel oil storage tank. This needed immediate replacement. The middle of Winter and no heating!
A public appeal to our supporters brought forth a massive response and within four weeks raised enough to purchase and install a new tank. During the summer months, volunteers from the hall also worked to install four new and much more efficient, radiators in the body of the hall.
The oil fired boiler and tank were eventually replaced with a more efficient gas boiler in 2017.
2015 The roof over The Dome renewed
Our listed dome is a beautiful asset which gives our stage a unique appearance. In 2025 the roof above it was replaced to protect it from the elements.
Our listed dome from inside, over the stage. Tiles removed revealing the lath and plaster structure
2022/23 Renovation of the Roof
We have continued to work hard to maintain and improve both the structure of our building and the events that we offer in it.
Finally in 2022/3 we were in the position to have a full refurbishment of the roof, gutters and dormer windows with support from The Garfield Weston Foundation, South Somerset District Council, South Petherton Parish Council, Bradfords Building Supplies and The worshipful Company of Ironmongers (who funded the restoration of our weather vane).
We were able to tackle many of the issues outstanding from the earlier structural survey. Our weathervane – restored and back up on the roof.
2024 Lighting Improvements
In 2024 we were able to fund replacement of our aging and unreliable stage lighting equipment. This has transformed the ‘look’ of our stage events complimented by audience and artistes alike.
2025 Arts Council England Grassroots Music Fund
During 2025 we were awarded a grant from The Arts Council England/DCMS Grassroots Music Fund. This project is centered around a new series of events taking place in 2026 showcasing emerging South West talent. Supporting this is funding to replace our creaky old web site, improvements to the public facing parts of the building including a bar refurbishment and improvements to our marketing strategy.
Forty Years and still going strong
2026 will mark the 40thanniversary of The David Hall being used as a performance space. The Hall faces a challenging future in light of the current global and local financial climate, as do all small independent venues, but there is a determination to succeed which permeates the whole organization and, having existed successfully for 40 years, The David Hall has every intention of continuing well into the future.
Right from the start the development and success of The Hall has been driven and achieved by the efforts of dedicated volunteers. Without our volunteers it could not have happened.
We owe huge thanks to the many volunteers, supporters, Trustees, fund raisers and staff who have supported us over the years and also to our customers for coming to the events.
