CHISELDON'S crumbling Calley Memorial Hall could soon be given a new lease of life as a community venue.

A meeting this week is expected to result in the hall's ownership being passed on to Chiseldon Parish Council. The decision will end years of wrangling.

Health and safety officers condemned the building in April 1995, sparking a row over exactly who owned it.

The Chiseldon and Liddington branch of the Royal British Legion, which was given the hall by the Calley estate in the 1930s, thought it did. But some years later the Legion gave the hall to the Chiseldon Sports and Social Club its social arm as it could not afford its upkeep.

An ownership battle ensued and a recent decision by the legal department of the Royal British Legion ruled that the hall remained in the social club's ownership.

This thwarted the Legion's efforts to pass the hall to the Chiseldon Parish Council. A minority of social club members who wanted to keep the hall have been blamed for dragging the situation out.

Social club chairman Mike Cox, 66, of Butts Road, Chiseldon, said: "We have been trying to get rid of the thing for years now it's a white elephant.

"It's been an unnecessary haggle between the legion and the social club to discover exactly who owns the building and some die hards just will not let it go I wish someone would take it off our hands."

The building is finally expected to pass to the parish after the meeting on Thursday. Ownership would then be held by a village trust.

Trust fund committee member Jemima Milton (Con, Wroughton and Chiseldon) said: "This situation has been an absolute nightmare. We just want to bring the hall back into use as a community venue because it can't be used for anything at the moment."