Village Hall
From Lacey Green History
Research by Joan West
click Events organised by the Village Hall Committee for list
click Organisations that used the Village Hall for list
click Organisations for Children for others.
click Amenities for others.
also click Village Hall Committee for record of those people.
click Village Hall no 1. 1923-1979 for details.
click Village Hall no 2. 1979-1999 for details. Also click
click Village Hall no 3. 2000 onwards for details
click Strawberry Tea for this function organised by the Village Hall Social Committee
Reports were sent to Hallmark on behalf of the Village Hall by Randall Evans in July 1978, Lillian Barber in April 1984, Ray Hewinson (Chairman), AGMs April 1986 and April 1990 & Apil 1991, Jeanette Peatty December 1991, Mike Richards August 1993, and Mike Richards (Chairman) AGMs April 1994 and April 1995, Tony Smart from June 1995 to November 1996. For more about these committee member reporters click Village Hall Committee.
THE VILLAGE HALL HISTORY. 1923 to 2000 onwards by Joan West
SITE HISTORY. The site upon which the Hall stands was even before the Enclosures of Princes Risborough in 1823 one of the very few sites privately owned freehold.. On a map published in 1818 the site is clearly shown. It consisted of a meadow, in the north - west corner of which stood Portobello Cottages 1-5. The meadow is named “Russell’s Porto Bello”. It was very unusual for any property to be given an actual name at that time. “Russell Close (field)” would have been more usual. It is not known if Russell was the owner, the mortgagee or it had simply previously belonged to Russell and so been called “Russell’s, but where did Portobello come from?
1823 ENCLOSURES. In the Enclosures of Princes Risborough it is recorded as an old, freehold enclosure, number 642 allotted to Sarah Shard of Grymsdyke Lodge (click Charles & Sarah Shard for Sarah's life story)
HALL HISTORY.
1923 Saw the first “Hall” purchased. A second - hand WW1 army hut
1934 The Village Hall committee stated that the Hall was beyond repair & a new hall needed.
1951 Some modernisation to the old hall
1979-83 The hall was completely renovated. Only the shell of the original being retained. A grant was available for this. Unfortunately no grant was available for a new build which had been the preference.
2000. The new hall was built This time, attracting a Millenium Grant.
DEEDS OF GIFT
1. 3rd April 1924. Deed of Gift from Harold Edward Carter of Grymsdyke 27perches of land (click Harold Edward & Eliza Carter for their life story).
2. 8th February 1977. Piece of previously loaned land to the rear of the Village Hall, given by Lady Bateman for new kitchen and toilet block(click Sir Geoffrey,FRCS,KB & Lady Bateman for their life story)
3. January 1977, Gift of a flag and flag-pole from Arthur Ord & Joyce Waite of Loosley House. (click Arthur & Joyce Waite for their life story)
4. Later, generous grants from the Bucks County Council and the Department of the Environment.
Hallmark April 1985. Extract from the AGM March 1985 - Chairman's report.
HaIlmark January 1991 Ray Hewinson (Village Hall Chairman), wrote a letter to the editor of Hallmark from Portobello Cottage no 1.
Dear Ted,
It is encouraging to see the editorial and correspondence columns of Hallmark being used to raise controversial issues which effect the villages and the Village Hall. It is unfair to rebuke our District Councillor, Jean Gabbitas for the failures of the Council.
The fact is that she sits on the minorty side and can wield little influence over the majority party's policies. She can of course, represent the interest of her constituents of the villages and that she does effectively.
Betty Tyler' letter on behalf of the W.I. needs and deserves a response. If the W.I. does not wish to contribute towards the cleaning programme of the Village Hall then that is their choice. To suggest that a part-time caretaker can undertake the full programme of work required to keep the Hall up to an acceptable standard is a nonsense.
Betty's letter was published in the same wekk as a group of volunteers sanded, sealed and polished the Hall floor. Two of these were local tradesmen who gave freely of their time and expertise. One of them was a well-known editor whe spent his 65th birthday on his hands and knees with a sanding block.
The Village Hall can only survive through the efforts of organisations and individuals and we are grateful to those who give an occasional Sunday morning to help with the quarterly 'spring cleaning'. I do not believe that charity begins at home - there are far more worthy causes than the Village Hall. The fact remains however that without the Hall the villagers would be the poorer. The Hall cannot be kept to the standard from the moderate charges made to local organisatons.
1n 1991 the Management Committee will be raising funds to improve the Hall. We have already been promised help from one organisation and the Village Day Committee. The support of all organisations using the hall would be welcome. If the W.I. cannot help with the cleaning programme then they may be able to find some other way of contributing to its well-being.
Hallmark May 1999. The EPILOGUE. of Village Hall no 1 and Village Hall no 2. 1923 – 1999. by Ted Janes (Ted & Jean Janes)
I went abroad for two weeks for some Winter sun and came back to find the Village Hall had completely gone; no chance to obtain a small keepsake, a piece of memorabilia of a place that has entertained and educated me for 60 years; a place I helped to run for nearly 40 years.
As at a funeral, you know the person has lived a long and useful life, but you still shed a tear. That is how I felt when I surveyed the barren site, ghostly images of people loomed up of people no longer with us, but who had made such a contribution to the running of the Hall.
Min and Fred Adams, Ted Lewis, Mrs. Dell, Miss Fagg, Mrs. Carter, Herbert Tong, Rev. Steward, Randall Evans, Norman Russell, Gerald Smith. None of us can visualise the impact a Village Hall had on the village in 1923, without any public transport to local towns. A day out meant first a walk to Saunderton Station. The churches and pubs supplied the only relaxation until Harold Carter of Grimsdyke gave a small piece of ground (27 perches), and a door to door collection enabled a “surplus to requirements” (1914-18 war Sergeants Mess) to be purchased from Halton Camp. It was brought in sections on horse and wagon by local builders Saunders and Son, and erected on a raised floor to give more height.
Almost immediately a Loosley Row lady - Mrs Tighe - inaugurated a Women’s Institute, a new organisation which had only been established in this country eight years before, but which proved to be a great outlet for many women who in those days did not go out to work, but were chained to the home, cooking, washing and cleaning without the mod-cons of today. Equally a man’s club gave the menfolk after a hard day’s work, a chance to relax with something a little different from the pub.
Concerts with local talent became regular events, with no TV, and Radio only in its infancy, the hall was packed. A rendering of The Merry Widow, Pipes of Pan or Bless This House would “bring the house down”. Dances became popular with local bands (piano, drums, saxophone etc.,) - no amplification in the days of strict tempo, when one didn’t need a three course meal and a bottle of wine in order to jig about, couples danced what I call “proper”, and a cup of tea and a sandwich in the interval would suffice. Mrs. Min Adams and Mrs. Dell were always in the kitchen – in fact, I think they were the only ones who could get the fired copper to burn to boil the water.
Certainly only they could draw a bucket of water from the tank in the dark!!| Those were great evenings, where many couples met and were eventually married, had their reception in the hall and have since celebrated their 50th anniversary in the same hall.
But not everyone was happy; the evenings were denounced by the vicar at the church as dens of iniquity, and the congregation was advised the stay away.
If Min was the mistress of the kitchen, it was husband Fred who understood the temperament of the two combustion stoves used for heating. One foggy November Sunday on his way home from morning service, he swept the chimney wearing his best suit to stop the fire smoking, to be ready for the then afternoon annual Armistice Service. In the early days there were few village organisations, and many were not formed until the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, but the hall was used in other ways. Volunteer ladies opened the hall one afternoon a week to operate a library. Books were supplied by Bucks County Council benefiting mostly the ladies who became hooked on authors such as Dennis Wheatley, Denise Robins, and Victoria Hall to name a few.
Many men and women around this area now middle aged owe their good health to the Baby Welfare Clinic; checked over by the nurse and again manned by volunteers such as Min Adams, who dished out the Orange Juice, Cod Liver Oil and National Dried Milk.
Bingo now sems to take place only in old town centre cinemas, but there was a time when every village hall would have its Bingo night, ours being no exception. Whist drives were once popular, and anyone who knows the rudiments of the game knows that if you win you move tables. On cold Winter evenings I liked to arrive early, sit near the stove, play badly (my normal game) so that I could sit in the warm all evening - no moves to cold corners of the hall!
There have several successful Drama Groups, none more so than the present Lacey Green Productions, but these groups seem to rely on theatrical people coming into the area. Another group that comes and goes is the Youth Club, depending on the number of young people at any given time, but more on finding a leader for such a demanding job. To show how much things have changed, we now have an evening Women’s Institute to cater for the ladies who go out to work. The Play School was started in 1968 by Diane Bradley and has gone from strength to strength to become the excellent group it is today.
During the Hall’s 76 years two modernisation and extension programmes have been undertaken, both greatly benefitting from Lady Bateman’s generosity. In the 50’s a new kitchen and flush toilets arrived - I purposely never mention the old bucket toilets, and how pleased we were to get rid of that old fired boiler; in the late 70’s came the enlargement that most of you will remember. As I pop down to see the new Hall taking shape, my mind fills with the names of people I had the privilege to work with on the Hall committee for so many years - Michael Knott, Harold Weller, Tony Adams, Phyllis Dell, Mrs Bateman, Vera Griffiths, Wilf and Renee Sanders, Geoff and Marcia Prince, Maurice Saunders, Sue Parslow, Ray Hewinson, Jane Tyrer, Brian Lunn, Pam Dell, Mike Richards, Ernie Anderson, Ernie Cummins and many more. One is full of praise for the present day committee so ably led by Tony Smart and Pat Slade, who have done such a great job in raising the money for the new Hall, with tremendous support from the Village, the organisations, local councils and the Millennium Committee.
To me and many of my generation, village life will never be the same; we have lost a friend, but that does not mean that I am not looking forward to the opening of the Millennium Hall. I have bought tickets for the opening ball, a live band, three course meal with coffee and mints, all for £15.00 a head. Will I enjoy it as much as my first dance in 1939 with Cecil Saunders Band and Min Adam’s cheese sandwiches with a cup of tea, all for half-a - crown? - I doubt it, but then that may have something to do with age. New readers might not find this interesting, particularly with all the names that mean nothing to them, but I thought a Village Hall magazine ought to honour some of these people for posterity. I apologize that the list is not complete, but my memory is not what it was, so will readers please join me in offering a vote of thanks to all the people who worked for the old Hall during its lifetime, and all the organisations which have used it, helping to make up the social history of our Village during the 20th century.