Kingston Parish Hall is a registered charity, completely separate from the Church and Parish Council. It is managed by a Committee of eight Trustees, five of whom are elected annually at an annual general meeting (at which any adult resident of the village can vote) and the other three are nominated by three organisations in the village (one each by the Church, the Parish Council and the W.I.).

Maintenance, along with the other operating costs of running the Hall, is paid for out of Lettings Income and the amount that can be spent is dependent on the level of this Income. But the good news in this respect is that Lettings Income has increased by 79% over the past four years. During the past few years, the electrical system has been renovated, the hall has been redecorated inside and outside, the main floor has been sanded and re-varnished and the kitchen lobby redecorated and its flooring replaced. Maintenance work of this nature will continue on an ongoing basis.

The old piano in the hall was riddled with woodworm and has now been replaced with a second hand one of much better quality. The replacement was acquired for nothing and the only cost incurred has been the purchase of some new parts. All this has been due to John Cattermole, who alerted the Parish Hall Committee to the woodworm in the old piano, found the replacement and then devoted hard work and long hours (at no cost to the Hall) converting it into a good quality instrument.

This work was carried out recently and involved the renovation of the back room and the adjacent toilet area. The toilet fittings were replaced, the floor of the rear lobby and the toilet area were tiled and the rear room and toilet area redecorated throughout. The rear room will be divided into two with a folding partition wall. For most of the time, the half nearest the toilet area will be used by the Pre-School as a quiet room, or outside Pre-School hours by any other hirer of the hall, and the other half will be used for the storage of chairs, bridge tables, etc. However, on the few occasions in the year when the whole of the rear room is required by a hirer, the partition wall can be folded back and the rear room used in exactly the same way as at present.

Most of the cost of this work has been paid for by a grant which the Pre-School has received from the East Sussex County Council Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership, in connection with the expansion of Pre-School hours and facilities.

The renovation and enhancement of the main toilet areas at the front of the hall is the first priority for future major work. It has not been possible to do this previously, because of the subsidence cracking in the ladies toilet area. However, professional advice recently received indicates that the subsidence has settled and that we should now be in a position to make the necessary repairs and proceed with the renovation and enhancement work. We hold approximately £7500 in the Improvements and Major Repairs Fund to meet the cost of this work.