The old school refectory in its early days as the sala.

For five years heating and cooking consumed 80 tons of wood a year.

Cladding was removed, walls thickened and filled with six inches of insulation.

The old school refectory was set up as a meeting hall (sala) and used by the Sangha for most communal activities. The photo (left) shows the hall with the original linoleum covering, fireplace and single door into the end room, now the monks' reception room. For the first few years, the Sangha met for devotional chanting (puja) and meditation, during the summer months, in the main school hall. The refectory eventually became the main meditation hall, although the proximity of an occasionally noisy kitchen made it less than ideal. Like all the other buildings on the site, both of these halls were wood framed with uninsulated walls. Thus the first practical challenge of life at Amaravati - staying warm - and a major feature of Sangha activity - building work - both presented themselves within a few months of the Sangha moving in.

The Sangha had managed to insulate and provide some heat for the sala and the nuns' quarters by winter 1984-5, but the site in general remained freezingly unpleasant. To provide accommodation for lay people and to undertake retreats, the next Sangha building project was the Retreat Centre. One great asset was the Shrewsbury Youth Training Scheme which for several years sent teams of teenagers for a week at a time. They enthusiastically laid polystyrene and chipboard floors throughout the retreat centre and monks' residence.