Background

Riseley Memorial Hall was built via money raised by fundraising by the villagers of Riseley to provide a hub to the community. The building is owned and maintained by Swallowfield Parish Council. Over recent years the hall has been underused and as a direct consequence the hall is falling into a state of disrepair. Riseley village now has no shop or school. Over the last couple of years there have been numerous discussions over the future of the hall but with no positive outcome, and then the main source of income left at the end of 2012. The Parish Council wrote via the newsletter asking for anyone to come forward and implement ideas to save the hall.

A local resident (Pam Wright) read the article and started plans for Riseley Village Tea Rooms (RVTR). The first step being research is this a viable idea? Findings included that Tea Rooms is one of the few business trending in a recession, tea is the new ‘Costa’, an ‘Afternoon Tea’ experience is one of the most popular voucher gifts. The next step was to look at costing and viability, a surplus is possible. Advice has been undertaken from several people including tea room owners and environmental health.

Aims and Objectives