Eighty years ago, in 1934, the Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Rev St Clair Donaldson, arrived in Hilmarton to dedicate its new church hall.

The ceremony came 20 years after Sir John Dickson-Poynder, an MP for the Chippenham seat from 1892, sold the Hilmarton estate, giving some land and money to the church to build a ‘church room’.

He had given up the school a few years before and it was thought the school could use the room, or hall, for Sunday schools.

The building, on the A3102, was used for weddings, baptisms and funerals, but also had a stage for plays and concerts and is still popular for jumble sales and auctions.

The annual harvest supper also found its home at the hall until its growing popularity required a move to the larger school hall in Poynder Place.

During the Second World War, the hall was used by an active Home Guard Unit.

By the 1970s, the stage had been removed and replaced by a kitchen and improved wheelchair access added.

In 2008, Hilmarton Primary School, which used it as a gym, built its own hall and community room, leaving the committee to look for new ways to generate an income.

Geoff Procter, chairman of the hall committee, said: “The regular monthly income from the school enabled the hall to pay the insurances, light and heat and other running expenses and there was often a bit over to donate to the parish church.

“From what was, at first, a real problem for the hall, two new activities were born.”

With 75 comfy chairs for an audience, Hilmarton Moviola, which hires films and equipment from Moviola in Dorset, began showing about ten feature films a year.

Hilmarton Gardening Club was quick to attract members and the club continues to meet in the hall on the fourth Tuesday of every month, excluding December.

The hall hosts regular line dancing and the Church of St Laurence held a Come and Meet Each Other (CAMEO) group meeting, with Calne Police, for people to relax with old friends and make new ones.

Hall hire is £6 an hour, with additional charges for using the kitchen.

The village celebrated the 80th anniversary this month, with a day of Music in the Hall. Festivities, including eight decades of popular recorded music, raised £267.

Mr Procter said: “Many remarked how players had got smaller over the decades, from large pieces of furniture until they disappeared into the digital ‘cloud’.”