Jazz in the Village – Friday 30th August 8pm
North Connel Village Hall are excited to host Ian Millar (saxophone) and Dominic Spencer (piano), who have been performing together for a number of years playing melodic improvisations on jazz standards and original compositions. Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, the duo regularly and extensively tour throughout the UK, using an old converted Yorkshire ambulance as their Tour Bus. They have embarked on many rural tours under their “Jazz in the Village” series of concerts, playing in hundreds of halls, often bringing jazz for the first time to remote communities, performing in intimate settings to appreciative audiences. The beautiful Scottish scenery that they have seen on their travels has inspired the writing of many pieces of music by Ian.
Licensed bar; Tickets £12; Accompanied under 16s free
“Beautiful soaring magic! I was blown away by your show, just breathtaking!”
“What a lovely and exhilarating performance! Enjoyed the interaction between the two of you, and the obvious love you have for what you do.”
North Connel Village Hall Decarbonising Project
As anyone recently passing North Connel Village Hall might have noticed, we (the Trustees) have recently completed a Decarbonising Project – installing 30 solar panels, a battery storage system, and air-to-air heat source pumps. An application was made to Local Energy Scotland and we were successful in winning the Scottish Government’s Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) grant funding to cover 80% of costs. Additional funds were granted by National Lottery Awards for All Scotland, Ardchattan Community Council (Barrs Hydro Loch Etive Community Benefit Fund) and a donation from a Ventient Energy Ltd., a windfarm company, leaving the hall to cover only 8% of the total cost.
The work was carried out by Kenneth Ferguson Electrical Contractors Ltd. and Forteith Refrigeration & Heat Pump Solutions in March 2024. As of now, near the middle of May, the system has been operational for just over a month, we will see full benefits after at least a year, but it is already clear that the air source heating is cheaper and more effective, and carbon consumption has reduced dramatically. This will lead to financial savings for our users in the community, and provides more income to the hall which we can reinvest to improve the building.
We are able to monitor the energy production and usage, and can see that to date we have saved 315 kg of CO2 emissions, equivalent to planting 19 trees!
Without the CARES funding grant we would not have been able to raise the capital for the project, we thank all involved – Local Energy Scotland, particularly Karen Delaney, Kenneth Ferguson Electrical, Forteith’s, Awards for All, the ACC, Ventient Energy, and all of our users for bearing with us whilst work was completed.
Welcome to North Connel Hall
Visit our gallery of wedding and event photos. Please contact us if you wish to discuss use or hire of the hall. More photographs and information can be found on our facilities page.
North Connel Hall is fully open for our routine users and the public. The Hall committee have carried out risk assessments and have drawn up a guidance document for hall users: NCH Covid19 Guidance for Users (updated August 2021). This document covers cleaning, suggested room capacities, airflow and guidance on good practice.
