1989 Lead up to the uproar at the Sports Club

By Joan West, treasurer of St John's School managers and president of the Sports Club

UPROAR

1989 Uproar was created when Lacey Green & Loosley Row Sports Club was prevented from using its entrance next to St. John’s School.   I was “Sitting on the Fence” so as to speak.   I was president of the sports club and treasurer of the school governors.

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND

The school and its entrance belonged to the Church of England, the trustees being the vicar and churchwardens.   The vicar was also the chairman of the school governors.

SOLUTION TO DANGER

When the sports ground was first established the entrance was the bottom gate near the bend into Slad Lane.   As traffic increased it became increasingly dangerous and the chairman of the sports club came up with a solution.   The entrance to the school was wide enough to divide into two, thus providing a safer entrance to the club.    Planning permission was approved and a partial fence was erected to define the split.

CONGRATULATIONS

A great result by the sports club chairman, Mr. Anthony who also just happened to be the Headmaster of St. John’s School.

THE LAUNDRY GARDEN

Down by the bottom gate were cottages, sideways on to the road, that in the past had belonged to the Grymsdyke Estate and one of them had housed the laundry.    The back gardens were very long in order to take the washing lines for the big house.   They ran parallel and adjacent to the sports field.  

THE ALARM WAS RAISED

By 1989 the cottages had long been privately owned.   The far end of the laundry garden was sold to a property developer. This new plot reached as far as the new sports club entrance drive. The developer obtained planning permission to build a house and dug out footings before the alarm went up.   He had no right of access and was using the sports club entrance, which belonged to the church, for that purpose.

THE VICAR ACTS

The vicar, Raymond Maynard, was inclined to do things without consulting his committees, certainly not the school governors, which as treasurer I know for a fact and I have been told, this was the same with his Parochial Church Council (PCC).   He jumped in without finding out any of the history.   Maybe he persuaded the parish Council to pay for the two bollards that were erected to block the entrances, I do not know.   But that caused more complaints to add to those from the sports club.   At the first governors meeting he talked about the situation and the action taken.  It all seemed very commendable to the other members, who also knew nothing about the sports club or the history.

NOT THE WAY TO SORT IT OUT

I felt very strongly that acting so high-handedly was not the way to sort this out.   Realising that no-one on the governors was able to give a considered opinion, I wrote a letter to all of them telling them all I knew and stressing how dangerous the bottom gate was to use.   Adding for good measure that in the autumn until Easter, all vehicles would now have to drive over the football pitch.   At the next meeting of the governors, the vicar threw his copy on the table and berated me for sending this to all the “Hoi – palloi”.    It gave me great satisfaction, to say how interesting it was to note his opinion of the school governors, as my letter had started “Dear Governors”, not “Dear Hoi – palloi”.

P.S.

The entrance situation took a while to sort out, but was eventually achieved when it was confirmed that the builder had no right of access across this privately own entrance and the bollards were removed. The footings filled up with brambles and weeds and it was many years before it was incorporated into another different garden, belonging to a house on the Main Road.