What we do
About LGVA
Leverstock Green Village Association CIO
Leverstock Green Village Association is a voluntary group and charity which seeks to promote and protect the interests of residents and to provide facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation and leisure time. It also supervises the maintenance and management of the Village Hall in the furtherance of these aims.Leverstock Green
Just a short walk from open countryside, Leverstock Green is a historic and pretty English village on the eastern edge of Hemel Hempstead. With its village green, local shops, schools, library, clubs, church and various other amenities, it is a popular place to live for all ages. The village has excellent transport links and is conveniently located for easy access to the M1 (Junction 8) and M25 (Junction 20 or 21). Frequent train services run from Hemel Hempstead and nearby St Albans stations. Regular bus services serve Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Watford, Rickmansworth, Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City. From the town centre National Express provides services to Luton, Heathrow and Gatwick Airports as well as other towns and cities in the Home Counties.The Village Hall
We benefit from having one of the finest Village Halls / Community Centres in Dacorum with a main hall and two smaller rooms, also two kitchens and a bar. All are very well used for a variety of purposes ranging from dance classes to amateur dramatic productions and are available for hire by the hour on a ‘one off’, weekly or monthly basis at very competitive rates. Full details can be found by clicking on Hall Hire above. Many of the clubs and organisations that use the hall would welcome new members, details of most of these can be found by clicking on Hall Hire above then on Activities.The Buglass Award
The Fred Buglass Award was instigated in 2002 using funds from the Fred Buglass Legacy. Fred lived in Leverstock Green for 45 years until his death in 1998 at the age of 93. He was responsible for the formation of LGVA in 1962 and served as Chairman and Life President of the Association. He was instrumental in the bulding of the Village Hall and was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1986 for services to the community. Fred was largely responsible for establishing the strong village identity and pleasant environment which we enjoy today. He was deservedly known as ‘Mr Leverstock Green’. Individuals who are eligible for the award must either live or work in Leverstock Green. They can be nominated for making a major contribution to the life of the village community, for promoting the identity of Leverstock Green or making a major contribution towards conserving or improving the environment of the village. The award was initially presented annually although there are some years with no presentation due to a lack of nominations.About LGVA
Leverstock Green Village Association was founded in 1962 by Fred Buglass to act as a voice for the whole community. Until that time we had a Village Hall Trust which ran the old hall at the top of Pancake Lane. The Association became a registered charity on 25 April 1974 just prior to the present hall being opened in July of that year. The area we cover (known as our ‘Area of Benefit’) is defined as the ecclesiastical Parish of Leverstock Green as it existed at that time.
The day to day running of the halls falls largely to the Hall Management Sub-Committee of LGVA and we hold regular fund raising events for this purpose.
Since its foundation sixty years ago LGVA has strived to achieve a number of improvements in the Village and some of the more recent ones are recorded below.
In December 1999 the Association funded and installed our original Village sign, timed to coincide with the Millennium. The sign was made of wood and over the years it suffered the ravages of weather resulting in a decision in 2016 to replace it. We then commissioned our present sign which was manufactured by Signs of the Times of Tebworth, Bedfordshire and is entirely hand painted on very long lasting polyurethane.
The original wooden sign was beautifully restored by local residents, Steve and Janet Read, and now hangs in the foyer of the Village Hall. Beside it are notes explaining the various elements of the sign and a brief history of Leverstock Green. For this we are very grateful to our local historian, Barbara Chapman.
In recent years the Association has provided Christmas lights in the Village Centre and these have proved very popular. We are grateful to shops, businesses and residents of Leverstock Green for their generous support of this venture.
An ongoing and increasing problem has been parking at our village shops, largely caused by people parking all day. This deterred potential customers and our shops were losing a considerable amount of business. In 2019, following several years of campaigning by the Association, a two hour limit at the shops car park was put in place and the secondary car park beside the Village Hall was enlarged to accommodate an additional 22 cars.
On 1st September 2017 we became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and this is reflected in the change of our formal title to Leverstock Green Village Association CIO and our new charity number, 1172784.
How Can You Help?
Our fund raising events can only succeed with the support of members of the local community and we appeal to everyone to come along to our annual fete, our winter fayre, our ever popular quizzes and any other events which we organise.Why not support us by joining the 500 Club with a first prize of £100 every month. For full details and enrollment form click on 500 Club above.
Finally, we always welcome new members with fresh ideas to our committee, or perhaps you would like to become a ‘Friend of LGVA’.
If you are prepared to give just a few hours of your time each year, principally to assist in physical tasks such as helping to set up the Fete, or perhaps just manning a gate for half an hour, then please register as a ‘Friend of LGVA’ by calling in to the office or by emailing our Administrator on: lgvaoffice@gmail.com
Newsletter
Until March 2020 a four page newsletter had been published three times a year but the arrival of Covid stopped this. Now that the pandemic has passed we have produced a new multi-page newsletter, the Village Voice, which we hope to publish twice yearly.
LGVA Committee
The Association is run by a committee of unpaid volunteers with a local interest in Leverstock Green. Any resident of eighteen years of age or over can stand for election at the Annual General Meeting. Affiliated membership is also open to associations and organisations, other than those with political links, which operate within Leverstock Green. The main Committee meets eleven times a year on the second Monday of each month except August. Our meetings are held at the Village Hall and seldom last more than two hours. We always welcome new members to the Committee and if you are interested in joining please give your name and contact details to the Hall Administrator. There are three regular sub-committees that consider in detail finance, hall management and environmental issues. Other specialist sub-committees are convened, from time to time, to take forward events such as the annual summer fete and winter fayre.
Elected Members |
Group Representatives |
| Iris Parish (Chair) | Bill Dawes (LG Football Club) |
| Colin Gage (Vice-Chair) | * Colin Gage (Holy Trinity PCC) |
| Bernadine Makins (Secretary) | * Bernadine Makins (LG Cricket Club) |
| Dominic Tang (Treasurer) | * Margaret Rayner (LGWI) |
| John Baldwin | * Alan Woof (Bridge Club) |
| Hazel Bassadone | Jonathan Gale (DBC Councillor) |
| Sue Brind | Catherine McArevey (DBC Councillor) |
| Clive Hill | Margaret Griffiths (Scouts) |
| Margaret Rayner | * Also an elected member |
| Nick Taylor | |
| John Walker | |
| Audrey Weightman | |
| Alan Woof | |
LGVA Area of Benefit
The LGVA Area of Benefit, ie. the area where residents are automatically considered to be members of the Association, follows the old Parish boundary. This is not quite the same as it is today.
Constitution
Adopted at Special General Meeting on 10th July 2017
A copy of the Constitution may be downloaded by clicking this link, Click Here.