PICKERING residents packed the town's prestigious Memorial Hall last weekend to mark the first anniversary of its re-opening following the £847,000 redevelopment.

In just 12 months, the hall has seen its financial fortunes change from a turnover of little more than £3,000 to £25,000, said Bill McCall, the former town mayor who master-minded its regeneration and refurbishment with the team of trustees of which he is chairman.

"It is already proving that it can provide economic benefits to Pickering," said Mr McCall. "We are now employing a manager, deputy manager and two cleaners, all part-time, and it is being used for corporate seminars. These people in turn are using caterers in Pickering who employ staff. We are seeing income generated in the town as a result of the hall's usage and there is much more potential."

A Friends of the Hall group has just been set up and already has 100 members and eventually Mr McCall hopes to develop a local discount card which could be used in shops in Pickering.

Prior to its mammoth facelift, the hall had an insurance value of £80,000 - today it is £1.5m, he added.

"It is a hall for the people of Pickering. We want them to come and use it and enjoy its facilities."

For years, it had been an embarrassing eyesore with its derelict appearance and uninviting complex of rooms.

The ambitious scheme resulted in imaginative development of many of its unused rooms. The pigeon loft for instance - once inches deep in pigeon dung - has been restored to its former glory with a magnificent oak beam, and is now used as the town council chamber.

Organisations are using the hall extensively, said Mr McCall, among them the Workers' Education Association for lectures, tea dances, calligraphy classes, line dancing, and will shortly be the headquarters of the Kall Kwik motor rally.

But despite boasting state-of-the-art facilities, the hall needs further spending on such projects as installation of security cameras, more netting to keep pigeons off the roof, and the provision of a dish washer.

"A number of Pickering people doubted its viability and whether the hall would ever be restored and if so how much use it would get. We are now winning them back and it was good to see so many people take the opportunity of coming to see the hall at our anniversary coffee morning."

About £117 was raised at the coffee morning.

Mr McCall praised those people who had had the confidence in the hall's future to take out £500 bonds and as a result £12,000 had been made available towards the project.

"The most important thing about the hall is that it should be sustainable. We want it to be well used and the signs on our first year's trading have been very encouraging."

The hall, a grade 2 listed building, was built as a corn mill in 1861 and was converted into the War Memorial Hall to commemorate those who died in the First World War.

The charitable trust which runs the hall will soon be generating an operating surplus, and be a self-financing and a self-reliant project, said Mr McCall.

The surpluses will be ploughed back into the building to maintain the fabric and to buy new equipment.

"The hall is now accessible to all and encourages 'community bonding' resulting in creating a community spirit that will bring about an increased quality of life to the people of Pickering and its surrounding area."

The growing usage of the hall had confirmed the trustees' business plan that the hall was certainly needed, added Mr McCall.

The British Society of Painters is holding its annual art exhibition from March 30 to April 7, when some 400 works are expected to be on show. The organiser, Mrs Angela McCall, said entries were now being invited from artists. Anyone interested is asked to contact her at 7 Eastfield Road, Pickering YO18 7HU; tel (01751) 477121.

Meanwhile, Mrs McCall herself is exhibiting five works at the British Society of Painters spring exhibition at the Kings Hall and Winter Gardens, Ilkley.

Updated: 10:03 Thursday, February 14, 2002