Group wants to bring Fermoy hall back to life

Jeff Green | Sep 15, 2016

At the top of Fermoy Hill, one of the highest points on the Westport Road overlooking Wolfe Lake, sits the Fermoy Hall, where it has been since it was constructed over 150 years ago. For over a century it served as the hall and office for the Township of Bedford, until the early 1970s.

At that time the township purchased the Glendower school, a few kilometres down the road, after it was closed by the Frontenac Board of Education, for a very good price. The school building was larger, had modern conveniences including indoor plumbing, and with little renovation could function as an office and a public hall.

Over the next 40 years the Fermoy Hall slowly fell into disuse, and at one point was rented out to the Tom Cat Bat company. The company, owned by the late Tom Roberts produced baseball bats made out of maple.

While not much is left from that usage aside from some racks, the hall does now have a 200 amp electrical service. For the first 10 years of its existence, South Frontenac Township was run on an area rating basis, which effectively gave representatives from former townships like Bedford access to budget money to spend in their new wards based on recommendations by local recreation committees. It was during that time that the Fermoy Hall received a new metal roof; had its aluminium siding replaced by board and batten siding; had new windows put in; and an accessibility ramp built.

All of this made the building sound, but inside the building there are some major issues that have curtailed its use.

There is a hole in the ceiling; some of the lights don't work; and the floor and walls require attention.

None of these issues have curtailed a group of local residents from the north-eastern corner of South Frontenac to begin meeting in the hall to talk about ideas for developing it for community use.

At a preliminary meeting in July, 21 people showed up and talked about what needed to be done, how much would have to be done by contractors and how much by volunteers. They also talked about potential uses for the hall, ranging from public meetings, workshops, yoga classes, musical events - the whole range of activities that small halls are used for.

Alan Revill and Pat Barr are the councilors on South Frontenac Council who represent the residents of Bedford District. They have both been involved with the local group, providing advice and talking about how the township might become involved. Two other meetings have since taken place, one in August and another on September 1.

Last year the township placed $30,000 in the budget to be used for Fermoy Hall.

“Although that money was in the budget and we can roll it over to be used later on, council needs to approve any actual use of the money, and they will want to see that the spending is in line and will result in the hall being used,” said Barr, who has attended all but one of the meetings that have been held.

The group is preparing to make a presentation to Council with a plan and a wish list for spending to bring the hall back into public use.

“At this point they are talking mostly about making it a three-season hall, by repairing the ceiling, putting in new lighting and perhaps a ceiling fan,” she said.

The hall is serviced by an outhouse and has no running water, although according to Barr there is a well that was drilled in the 1970s, and the state of repair it’s in could be looked at as well.

“It is also, as we all know, a heritage building, and the township has invested money in it already in recent years, so it just makes sense to bring it back to a usable state. In my view once we are looking at lighting and repairs to the ceiling we might as well look at insulating while we are at it, and at ceiling fans. Not everyone is comfortable with an outhouse, so the township might look at port-a-potties in season, like they do at other locations,” she added.

Donna Garland is the chair of the Fermoy Hall group, and she has worked with the group on defining the kinds of uses that can be accommodated with limited alterations to the building.

“We need to be able to present these possibilities and a reasonable wish list for money to council,” she said at a meeting in August.

The group is meeting this week to finalise plans for a presentation to Council later in September or in early October.