Country Diary: All of life takes place in a rural village hall | Nicola Chester

Inkpen, West Berkshire: The ‘old girl’ is 100 years old – as are many others built around Britain after the first world war. We give it the celebration it deservesI’m not sure I’ve ever sung Happy Birthday to a building before. Something caught in my throat – and looking round at my fellow villagers, I could see I wasn’t the only one. Our village hall is a hundred years old – one of many around the country sharing a surprisingly radical, rural cent