About the BVA
The hall is managed by a dedicated group of volunteers who are elected every year at the Annual General Meeting.
The hall is also a registered charity and committee members are required by the constitution to be trustees of the charity. As such, they are responsible for ensuring the hall is operated in accordance with all regulations surrounding registered charities in the UK.
We are currently undergoing some building works to expand our facilities which is expected to be complete before Spring 2025. This has been funded by a combination of a grant from the Clowance Trustees, continued fundraising through village events and initiatives, and a funding allocation from Cornwall Council’s Community Levelling Up Programme. The Community Levelling Up Programme is part of the Good Growth Programme, which is delivering the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in Cornwall and Isles of Scilly. This has facilitated the build of two additional multi-use community rooms that will enable outreach work within the community, offering more services closer to home.
Community is very much at the centre of the BVA. The village park and field shares it’s space with the Barripper Cricket Club who were founded over 100 years ago and do an excellent job of maintaining the grounds, and the West Cornwall Radio Controlled Car Club who have a permanent track and hold events. We have planted a community orchard, and the Hall plays host to a variety of activities such as Yoga and Chair Yoga, Friday night club and skills courses. More details can be found further down the page.
Our facilities and activities would not be possible without the help, support and skills of many of our local villagers, volunteers and local tradesmen who generously gift us their time. We are extremely proud of our community and thank you for your continued support.
Facilities at the hall
- Disabled access
- Baby changing facilities
- Modern kitchen with serving hatch
- Fully licensed bar
- Tables & chairs
- Projector with large retractable screen
- WiFi
- Large function room
- Two additional multi-functional rooms, including sports changing facilities (following completion of built in December 2024)
- Heating throughout and excellent LED spotlighting
The hall is well used for a variety of activities including children’s parties, anniversary celebrations, exercise sessions, quiz and games nights, pizza evenings, community meetings and village events. Take a look at our calendar for more details on upcoming events in the hall.
Sustainability is important to the committee who have worked tirelessly to reduce the hall’s carbon footprint. All the windows have been replaced with upvc double glazed units. A number of solar panels will soon be installed, as well as a water harvesting system to further reduce our carbon footprint. We will also be planting more fruit trees in the grounds.
Barripper Harbour
(and our ducks!)
You may have heard stories of Barripper Harbour, and wondered why the village pub is named “St Michael’s Mount Inn”, considering we’re situated on the North Coast of Cornwall and miles away from St. Michael’s Mount near Penzance.
Local man, David Oates, provides some insightful information about Barripper and his memories growing up in the village. In his article, he writes:
“The answer appears to lie in the road which runs through it, as Barripper is on the direct route to St Michael’s Mount which in medieval times would have been a monastery. This was a time when power, influence and knowledge lay in the hands of the ecclesiastical authorities and it was to them that the uneducated masses would look for direction. In those terms a monastery like that at St Michael’s Mount would have been of considerable significance and would, in all probability, have become a place of pilgrimage.
There is some evidence to support the possible importance of a route through Barripper, crossing an even older track following the Connor River. Until relatively recently, the stream at Barripper broadened into a large pool at this point where the water would have been quite shallow and the earliest settlement would have grown up around this fording place. This pool was crossed by stepping stones and the inhabitants of the village were known in West Cornwall as “Barripper Ducks” and the pool itself as “Barripper Harbour”.”
It is for this reason that our annual summer fair is known as “Harbour Day”.
The village cricket team, founded over 100 years ago, were given the name “The Barripper Ducks” around 20 years ago by Margaret Morcom. Margaret was born in the village and has been an integral part of the cricket club for most of her life. It was the cricketers who affectionately named the village hall, “The Duck Pond”, as it’s where the ducks go to drink! To our cricketers we say, “Up the ducks!”
