Thornbury's old hall started life as the village school in 1867. On its closure as a school in 1952, ownership of the building passed to the Parish Council, for use as a village hall. In 2012, the existing village hall fell into disuse, on account of its state of repair, inadequate size and lack of parking facilities.

Since that time, Thornbury Parish Council has been working to realise the sale value of this site, through obtaining outline planning permission for two dwellings on the site. The net proceeds of the sale of the land for this purpose would be applied to a new community hall in the parish.

On the basis of a conditional offer from a resident of a gift land for the new hall, in August 2021 it was decided to form a new charity (a CIO, or Charitable Incorporated Organisation) to receive this gift and the funds from the old hall site sale, and to be the focus for fundraising towards the construction and running of the new community hall.

Outline planning permission for a suitably sized new community hall was also granted to the Parish Council in 2021. Work on the design of the site and building has been ongoing since then with a local firm of architects.

Today, the seven trustees of the charity (who are also parish council members) are working hard to achieve the goal of a new hall for Thornbury.