A petition to ‘save’ and reopen a historic village community centre is gaining momentum.

The Old School Hall in Garlinge stands boarded up, to the distress of many residents in the area.

A newly-formed group POSH - Preserve the Old School Hall, made up up of members of the Garlinge residents’ association (GRA), two Thanet councillors and two scout leaders, is actively fighting the closure.

Carol Allport, chairman of GRA and member of POSH, said: “The residents of Garlinge are very upset that the parochial church council of St James has closed the Old School Hall in the centre of Garlinge village after giving everyone short notice to quit or increasing fees.

“The Old School Hall, while empty, was vandalised as anticipated, and is now boarded up and looks awful.

“The Garlinge Residents Association has approached the church and asked if we can lease the building, which has been an important part of the village since the mid-1800s.

“However, all attempts to liaise with the vicar have been rejected.

“To protect the building we have obtained an asset of community value order through Thanet District Council and have also approached Historic England.

"We want the hall up and running again and being the hub of our community as it always has been, not left to deteriorate or be sold off.”

The team are in the process of building a petition, and hope to get activities such as the youth club, Scouts, dance and exercise classes and coffee mornings kick-started again.

But the vicar, the Reverend Stephen Rae, says the building was closed due to extensive vandalism and drug-taking on the site, as well as low use by local groups.

He said: “St James’ church have been in discussion with the GRA for some time and we welcome their suggestions, along with those of others expressing interest in their future use of the building.

“After many years of very low use by local groups, extensive vandalism and drug-taking on the site, it has been necessary to review how the hall is run and maintained.

“We appreciate the value of well-appointed facilities that are a blessing to the local community.

“This is why the church council is actively working to research how best to do that in a suitable way.

“We are hoping that the fruit of this work will see facilities that are much improved over those that are currently in place.

“It is pleasing to note that the majority of the previous users of the hall are now operating successfully elsewhere.

“We understand that they will continue to operate while the detailed research in relation to the hall takes place.”