The Reading Room is a village facility that is used for a wide range of social, sporting and educational events and is a focal point for the village. The aim of the Bainton Reading Room Committee is to manage the day-to-day operations of the Reading Room for the benefit of residents of the parish of Bainton & Ashton.

Click to find out details of our constitution

Contacts:

Find out who is on the Committee and who are the Trustees

Funding:
Peterborough City Council provide an annual grant. In addition we get a contribution from the Parish Council and the Trustees. Occasionally we get donations from individuals.

History:
The hall was built in 1910 by the Bainton Poor's Charity on land donated by Lord Kesteven.

Around this time lots of people did not have books and this became an important part of the community. It has always been a reading room however after the 1st world war its use became broader and its usefulness as a meeting place meant that is function became very like a village halls.

The books were kept in a bookcase with wire mesh doors opposite the front door. These were to be read on the premises. At night the hall was lit by paraffin lamps.

Later this static collection of books was replaced by a mobile service run by Northampton County Library. Twice a week they would bring boxes of books fo the village to borrow.

In 1964 the Soak of Peterborough Council took over this service.

One of the main hall walls is where we hang pictures of significance to the Reading Room and the village. If you have any that are suitable we would be glad to find some space.

The kitchen has been re-fitted in the past few years and has the space and facilities to cater for big parties. All good parties revolve around the kitchen, so this is probably the centre of the community... there is nothing more sociable than a group of people washing up!

We even have a small carpeted stage area. This has all sorts of uses - a comfortable place for small children to play; a cosy place for meetings; a place for a large screen ... and occasionally it really is used as a stage by everyone from singers, speakers to the Brownie Pantomime.

New Broadband Internet Access has arrived
Bainton Reading Room now has access to over 50 million books and a lot more besides!

For full instructions (word doc 1.6MB) click here

The Reading Room has entered the 21st Century: through the Internet you can now access a huge amount of information at broadband speeds.
" Access your web mail while using the Reading Room
" Listen to programmes you missed on the BBC
" Quickly download large files
" Look up information on almost anything
" Keep in touch with your workplace
" Try out Broadband to see if it is something you want at home
" Learn about anything

What is it?
In a cupboard we've called the 'Tardis' we have a Pentium III PC (which has been kindly donated) with a very fast broadband connection (2Mb/s). It has a printer, speakers, USB slot and a DVD reader.

In the spirit of the Reading Room we are offering this service free to residents of Bainton & Ashton as a community resource to give information access to all.

New wireless hotspot. You can now access the internet by wireless link if you have a laptop within 50 meters of the Reading Room

Acceptable use
As you will be aware the Internet has information on every subject under the sun, both good and bad. We ask you to use the system carefully and not access sites that are illegal or could cause offence to other users. The system logs information about every site that is visited and this may be accessed by others. Please take care not to introduce any viruses.

Other useful Information
Use your own floppy disc or USB memory stick to transfer files
Sorry no CD or DVD burner
You will need paper for printing. If you print a lot - please donate a new cartridge!

Feb 2007