Consultation Overload but Is Anyone Listening? up in the Field Opposite Our House

56 The Horsham Society Newsletter July 2012

New Street. Even in those days, people from far and curred in 1999, when my mother along with some wide wanted to live in Horsham. The second airman other neighbours sold parts of their gardens to a came from Wigan and he became great friends with developer for the construction of housing leading off my family. He, his family and even his parents used to Elgar Way. visit us in the summer for many years in the post war I always find it quite strange how often you period. I am still in contact with his daughter, who come across other people, who’ve lived in Horsham July 2012 now lives in Milton Keynes. The third airman came all their life but who you probably don’t know all from Falkirk. He and his family used to visit us and that well. Pat Gale, the Society’s Membership Secre- we used to visit them after the war and I can remem- tary is one such example. I first met Pat, when my ber travelling by train to and from Scotland. On VE sons went to St Mary’s school near the parish Day, we had a children’s party with trestle tables set church. I then recently found out that Pat used to be Consultation overload but is anyone listening? up in the field opposite our house. It was an unforget- a regular visitor to my current home because her table experience. Granny lived there. Isn’t life strange? by John Steele By the time of the death of King George VI in Over the past few months Horsham Council has been consulting on three critical documents which 1952, television was still a novelty and I can remem- between them will determine the future of our town over the next 20 years. ber watching the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on We have long argued that the Council needs to develop a vision for the town to guide future develop- our next door neighbours’ small TV in black and ment and the draft Horsham Town Plan which has been under development for many months seeks to white. The days of the large screen TVs and colour provide one. We are pleased that the latest version takes some account of the comments the Society transmissions were a long way off. made at earlier stages. By 1960, the area started to change with the You may have seen references in the local papers to some of the wackier ideas including turning building of the Beech Road housing estate in the Albion Way into a continental-style boulevard and the possibility, now dropped, of reintroducing traffic fields opposite our house. Even more changes oc- into West Street. But there is much more to the plan than that. uch of the appeal of our town centre So, that’s good news all round then? Unfortu- M derives from its origins as a market nately not. The sting is in the second of the current town. Although many people lament the number of consultation papers, the draft Broadbridge Heath coffee shops and restaurants their success demon- Quadrant Planning Brief. This has been slipped out The Horsham Society is an independent body supported by members’ strates a reassuring underlying resilience to chang- by HDC alongside the more loudly trumpeted consul- Subscriptions, a registered charity (No 268949) and affiliated to the ing times and fashion. We still have our niche tation on the future of Broadbridge Heath Leisure Campaign to Protect Rural England It is a member of the English Historic Towns Forum small traders and new names are joining our high Centre. street. The BH Planning Brief (and its associated valua- PRESIDENT: Dr Annabelle Hughes In the years ahead, however, there will be more tion report) proposes that this area which includes the VICE-PRESIDENTS: significant change, particularly at the west end of present leisure centre, Tesco, the small trading estate Rt Hon Francis Maude MP, Nigel Friswell, John Steele, Roy Worskett the town centre where there will be opportunities and the County Council depot (most of which is CHAIRMAN VICE-CHAIRMAN for large scale redevelopment, both to capitalise on owned by HDC or WSCC) should be allocated for David Moore Ian Dockreay underused land and replace some of the buildings mixed retail, leisure, residential, hotel and restaurant, 99b Swindon Road 24 Wimblehurst Road Horsham RH12 6HF Horsham RH12 2ED put up in the 1970s. What matters is how this is development, including significant expansion of Tel: 01403 261640 Tel: 01403 241582 managed and what form it will take. If as expected Tesco’s store and car parking. Although it also states [email protected] it includes a new large store and other modern that any development must not detract from the vital- Hon TREASURER Hon SECRETARY shopping units we must ensure that these comple- ity and viability of the town centre it is, in our view, Roy Bayliss Rod Cuming ment the existing shopping areas and do not unbal- inconceivable that development of this type and scale 15 Patchings 3 White Horse Road Lewis Bryan Horsham RH13 5HU Horsham RH12 4UL ance the town. would not do so. Tel: 01403 262262 Tel: 01403 268444 The Council’s vision for the town is one that In our response we have said that we believe the [email protected] MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY reflects the Society’s view: a distinctive destination Planning Brief is designed more to increase the value Mrs Pat Gale DISTRIBUTION ORGANISER of choice; commercially vibrant with a sensitive of publicly owned land than meet the future needs of 46 Bedford Road Kathy Gleeson Horsham RH13 5BJ 13 Millthorpe Road balance between independent niche shops and high Broadbridge Heath or Horsham town. We have Tel: 01403 253946 Roffey RH12 4ER street names; an enhanced leisure and evening stressed that it contravenes the ‘town centre first’ [email protected] Tel: 01403 210511 economy; a hub for culture and the creative arts; policies of the new national planning framework and Horsham Society Website: www.horshamsociety.org and protecting and enhancing the town’s attractive the Council’s own draft town plan. Instead we have

SUBSCRIPTION RATES historic townscape and pleasant green character. suggested that the brief should require any new devel- Individuals: £5 per year Single Pensioner: £3.25 per year Plus, and this is critical, a firm ‘town centre first’ opment to concentrate on providing for the local Family Membership: £7.50 per year Family Pensioner: 5 per year Businesses: £10 per year Single Life Membership: £100 approach to retail development. Without this the needs of Broadbridge Heath after the completion of Family Life Membership: £150 future success of our local retail economy would be the new housing development and should explicitly £5 postage is added to the above rates for out-of-town members in jeopardy. Correspondence and other Newsletter matters should be sent to the Editor, 2 Millais, Horsham RH13 6BS (Tel: 01403 261905), E-mail: © Individual contributors 2012. No material may be repro- [email protected]. Other communications should go to duced, copied or stored in a retrieval system without prior the Hon Secretary. The Newsletter is published monthly except consent of the relevant contributor, which should be August and opinions in it are not necessarily those of the Society. sought via the Editor. OUR CONCERN IS THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE TOWN

50 The Horsham Society Newsletter July 2012 The Horsham Society Newsletter July 2012 55 rule out any further expansion of the existing super- come into his possession during his time in Mesopo- was in Queens Street. There were bunches of artifi- market. From the committee tamia, cial bananas lying in the window. I always wanted Unless HDC changes its mind the Planning When my parents married in 1935, they bought to try a real one! It was fun going into Hunt Bros Membership leaflet Brief will completely undermine all the good inten- a house in Forest Road, which was then part of a and Chart and Lawrence as it was fascinating to A new membership leaflet has been designed and it tions of its town plan. We must wait and see how it new housing development in the area. I’m sure that watch the money whizzing along the overhead wire should be ready for introduction during the autumn responds to the points we have made. people were just as worried about the knock on system to the cash desk. of this year. Finally, there is the third consultation on the effects of all the housebuilding in Horsham at that Mid-week, Mrs Bain from the grocer’s in Rof- East Street future of the BH Leisure Centre. Here the Council time in the same way as we are now. I was born just fey Village would call in the morning for an order, There has been no progress on the introduction of is trying to restrict consultation to only four of nine before the outbreak of World War Two. The house which was delivered by Mr Bain either later in the the core closing of East Street to traffic despite the options considered by its consultants. There has had a very large garden with lawns front and back, afternoon or on the next day. Then of course, there fact that it was supposed to happen at the end of been so much coverage in the local Press that every- shrubs, a vegetable garden, fruit bushes and trees. was school. From the age of five, I went to All April. The reason for the delay will be followed up one will no doubt have their own views. The line There was even an area at the end of the garden, Saints Primary School. You may remember that the with WSCC. that the Society has taken is that whilst the Leisure where Dad kept chickens. At the end of the garden school was below the Roffey Institute building and Blackhorse Way Centre undoubtedly needs to be redeveloped in was a field, which led to St Leonard’s Forest. The it was knocked down to build a new school. I shall The need to improve the appearance of Blackhorse order to provide a modern building which is eco- Forest was used as a playground by all of us. always remember Miss Penn, the Headmistress, Way has been drawn to the attention of HDC by the nomic to operate, none of the four options is accept- We did have a pavement outside our house but because she wore a nun’s veil for some reason or Society. It will be included within the Town Plan able. this only went half way down the road. The pave- other. The school nature trips were conducted with consultation document. We think it would be very shortsighted of the ment was terminated by a ditch and the only way to a purpose in mind. For example, we used to go out Consultations Council to seek to reprovide limited facilities which avoid walking on the road was to climb up onto the for walks and collect rose hips for the production of The Society responded to three HDC consultations take no account of the likely housing expansion over raised banks and walk along them. When you rose hip syrup, though I’ve no idea where this was in May. In summary, it was believed that the the next 20 years. It’s only a few weeks since in yet reached the end of the road just before Roffey Cor- done. amended Town Plan contained a good vision for the another consultation the Council was telling us we ner, Mr Gillet’s field with his cows lay on the left When I was eleven years old, I left All Saints future of the town for the next twenty years. need anything between 11,800 and 14,600 new hand side of the road. and attended Oxford Road School, long since de- The Broadbridge Heath Quadrant plan was homes. So we have said that we believe the site Judith Jackson lived at the bottom end of the molished. The boys were restricted to one end of criticised as it was detrimental to the viability of the should be redeveloped with the aim of replacing the road. You may remember her from the early days of the school and the girls to the other. We had our town centre. It was suggested that the planning brief facilities on a like for like basis. television. She appeared in the TV series “Here and lessons in four different places. There was the main should focus on the specific needs for the expanded Hopefully the Council has entered these consul- Now” in 1962. She was a panellist on “Face the building, the prefabricated buildings in the play- Broadbridge Heath community. tations with an open mind and is prepared to listen Music” in 1976 and 1977 and she was also a pre- ground, the London Road church hall for sewing It was felt that the Broadbridge Heath Leisure to alternative views. We shall see, but whatever senter on “Top Gear” from 1979 to 1982. It just goes and the Technical School in Comptons Lane for Centre plan was wrong in that it reduced the leisure happens will set the seal on the future success of our to show how Horsham people seem to get every- domestic science. We had to travel again for our provision at a time when a significant growth in town. where. school dinners, which were served in the Louisa both housing and population was planned for Hor- Opposite the front of the house and across the Churchman hall next to the Ritz Cinema, now the sham district. The Society’s view was that the exist- Don’t forget, you can always respond to HDC’s road, there was a stile, which took you across three Capitol. ing site should be redeveloped on a like for like proposals direct but the Committee would like to fields and finished up in yet another wooded area. The war was a frightening experience and the basis. know what you think, too. Send a copy to our Hon Our house was not on the main drainage system and sound of the air raid siren terrified me. My child- Social housing Secretary, Rod Cumin. The address is on the back I can remember that my young brother was fasci- hood playmate’s parents had an Anderson shelter in The Society will be commenting on the consultation page of this Newsletter. nated every time the lorry came to empty the cess- their front room but no way would I go into it when on the assessment of social housing needs in June. pool. the alarm sounded. Instead, I’d run home to my Public transport was essential as we lived so far mother, who was only two doors away, and we’d outside the town centre. We had Comfy Coaches both feel much safer hiding under the dining room operating from Roffey Corner to and from the Car- table. The other time that I got really frightened was The Editor is always pleased to receive contributions to the Newsletter. fax, whilst we could get from Roffey Corner to when I was walking along the raised bank on Forest If you have news, views or a story about the past, present or future of the Crawley using the London Transport buses. We also Road, when I heard a terrible noise, which made me had Mrs Mitchell’s coach, which came down Forest fall into the ditch. It turned out to be a convoy of town, why not submit it for publication? Road from Colgate and made its way into the town. tanks making its way somewhere or other. Sent it by post or E-mail. If it is typed, so much the better but we can cope In those days, so many of our activities were We had three airmen billeted with us during the family affairs. I can remember in the spring, we all war. They were involved with stripping useful bits with any readable longhand. went out gathering primroses and bluebells. In the from wrecked airplanes at Faygate. I can remember If you deliver original pictures we will look after them carefully and summer, we’d collect the oxeye daisies, which grew seeing the damaged planes being transported to in the field across the road. Every Friday, we went where they worked. One of them came from Scot- return them quickly. Digital pictures are better if they are high resolution. to town to do the shopping. We always called into land and he married my Aunt. They moved back to Tobitts in West Street, where my Mum used to Scotland, where my cousin was born, but, after the Technical details from the Editor, if required (phone 01403 261905) work. This was a ladies’ clothes shop. Next it was war, they decided to return to Horsham. They lived Postal Address: 2 Millais, Horsham, RH13 6BS into Turner’s second hand furniture shop in East in New Street with my maternal grandparents be- Street, where one of her friends worked. We were fore eventually moving into their own home, also in E-mail: [email protected] always calling into Wally’s the greengrocers, which

54 The Horsham Society Newsletter July 2012 The Horsham Society Newsletter July 2012 51 Horsham Remembered: Holy Trinity: the jewel in Trafalgar’s crown. a child’s view from Forest Road by David Moore by Gill King Holy Trinity is a lovely church, which is set at church to meet the needs of the people and to take the junction of Blunts Way and Rushams Road. It the pressure of St Mary’s Parish Church. It was has a very active congregation and the church is not decided to erect a Tin Tabernacle, a corrugated only well used for a number of different activities iron building. Corrugated iron was first used for but obviously well loved. I’ve even been invited to roofing in London in 1829 and by 1832 advertise- events there, most recently as part of Pat Gale’s ments were appearing for “portable buildings for (our membership secretary) quiz team. export”. In the 1830s, the corrugated iron sheets If you go back some 130 years ago, the church were improved by galvanising with a zinc coating did not exist. However, the Industrial Revolution and by 1850, a range of prefabricated buildings was a time of considerable population expansion were being produced, including churches, chapels and movement as well as a time of religious revival. and mission halls. They had the attraction of being As the workforce moved and towns expanded, more relatively cheap to buy and quick to erect. Mind than 4000 churches were built during the mid-19th you, the lack of insulation meant that they were very century, a rate of growth which was aided by the cold in winter, even with their coke stove for heat- spread of nonconformism. At the same time the ing. need for housing was at a premium and any free Corrugated iron buildings were on show at the areas were snapped up for development. The land, Great Exhibition of 1851 and a massive export which was west of London Road at North Parade, business developed. The demand was so high that was developed in the late 19th and 20th centuries and one company, Francis Morton, had its own dedi- eventually the old common disappeared. We still cated church building department and was able to have a very small triangular piece of the common boast that by 1879 it had built nearly 70 churches, close to the Dog and Bacon on the Warnham Road. chapels and schools in the United Kingdom. The tin The houses were built for the lower middle tabernacles were quite expensive, perhaps costing classes and were mainly semi-detached houses and £2000 for a building seating 500 people but, by the included a number of corner shops. Building contin- end of the 19th century, the cost for a similar build- ued in North Parade and Trafalgar Road in the ing had reduced to £500. Of course, on top of this

st 1870s and Rushams Road was continued south west were the costs of the foundations, heating and light- y mother, Dorothy Bryan, was born in 1 May 1919. Mind you, we found his medals rather before 1880. By 1896, Spencer’s and other roads ing. M Rudgewick and she married my father, confusing until we realised that one of them was the had been built up and in 1895 land was offered for Initially, the Church of England was sceptical Arthur Arnold, in 1935. My parents had three chil- Imperial Service Medal, which was awarded to him sale beyond North Parade. about corrugated iron buildings as a result of the dren, two girls and a boy. in 1941 for his long service as a postman in Hor- It was hardly surprising with such a local popu- influence of people like Pugin and Ruskin and My paternal grandfather, also called Arthur sham District. The other medal, which we can’t lation explosion that there was a need for a new groups such as the Cambridge Camden Society. Arnold, was a corn and flour merchant with a busi- explain, in his possession was the Ottoman Empire Even as late as 1890, William ness based in the Crawley Road / Roffey area. The Harp Madalyasi, a war medal first devised in 1915. Morris, founder of the Arts and picture is him from 1900 with his horse and cart. My It’s otherwise known as the Gallipoli Star or the Crafts Movement, wrote con- father continued the business as a corn and flour Iron Crescent. I can only presume that it might have temptuously, “that (the corrugated merchant. iron buildings) were spreading My Nannie, Mrs Annie Bryan, lived in New like a pestilence over the coun- Street with her mother, my Great Granny, Mrs Ham- try”. ilton, and my mother and I used to call in and see On the 18th August 1879 a them on our way home from town. All I can remem- Tin Tabernacle was erected in ber about my Great Granny was that she was always Percy Road as a new mission in bed, which seemed strange to me as a child. Annie room, called Holy Trinity. It Hamilton, my Nannie, had been married to Lewis could seat about 300 people and it Bryan. He had led a colourful life. He ran away to was licensed for divine worship join the army at the age of 16 and served in both the by the Right Reverend Richard Boer War and the First World War. Later in life, he Durnfold, Bishop of Chichester. worked for the Post Office and later still he was a By November 1896, it was commissionaire at the Ritz cinema. clear that a larger church was We still have his war medals and his account of th required and the subject of a new life in the army from the 16 February 1901 to the church for the Trinity District was

52 The Horsham Society Newsletter July 2012 The Horsham Society Newsletter July 2012 53 introduced by Mr W Lintott at a Parish Finance and the priest in charge, the Reverend de Vere Laur- Horsham, who lived some distance from the Parish Canon Daniel, Rev A Young, Rev D Thompson, Committee meeting. A sub-committee was set up to ence, celebrated Holy Communion for the first time Church. (One would suppose that pressure had been Gen Tyndall, Mr J G Gould, Mr F W Butler, Dr progress matters and the first thing to decide was in the new building on the 19th December 1900. growing for a solution to be found due to over- Vernon, Dr Kenmuir, Dr Bostock, Mr Hunt, Mr where a new church should be built. Two possible In 1901, the old Tin Tabernacle, which had crowding in the Parish Church as the population of Dendy, Mr W Lintott (Treasurer), Mr Rawlinson, sites were found and one of them was recommended served its purpose, was advertised for sale in the Horsham increased). Mr F Hardy-Sims, Capt Drummod and Mr F for consideration. This was a vacant plot of land West Sussex & Horsham paper. The outcome of the The Bishop gave a Licence and Authority to the Collings. which was held in trust for the Gatsford family, sale offer is unknown, save for the fact that it fin- Reverend Hodgson and his curate to perform and There is still so much more to discover about fronting Rushams Road. It was decided to offer ished up in Broadbridge Heath and it was used as a celebrate Divine Worship, to preach the word of this fascinating church and the work continues with £400 to purchase the site. The offer was accepted place of worship until the new Church of St John God and to administer the Sacraments of Baptism a dedicated group of volunteers. For example, the and a Building Committee was appointed. was built. It was subsequently used as premises by a and the Lord’s Supper in the Mission Room. Inter- memories of local people in the area have been By 1898, it was clear that a larger church was local building and plumbing firm and finally demol- estingly, permission was not given to publish Banns collected and they form a fascinating insight into required, which would accommodate 400 people ished in the late 1970s. of Marriage or to solemnise Matrimony. what Horsham was like more than seventy years th and also be able to be enlarged, if necessary, at Fortunately, some of the Tin Tabernacles do The document is signed and dated the 18 ago. some future date. It was to be of a simple character, survive today. Some are still used as churches, some August 1879. able to accommodate 400 people, capable of have listed building status and some have been Further information on this interesting project can enlargement at a later date and the cost was not to preserved in museums. What a shame that ours The Minute Book be obtained from Rosemary Stock on 01403 253808. exceed £2,500. wasn’t preserved for future generations to see. This contains the minutes of the committee, She would be delighted to hear from you, especially Mr Gilbert Scott was appointed as the architect However, what really brought the history of the who were appointed to build the new church, from if you have any information, including anecdotes th from a short list of possible candidates but there was church to the public’s attention was the discovery of the beginning of 1896 to the 25 October 1901. It and photographs, about the Trafalgar area of Hor- some confusion as to who he was. It had been as- an archive, when clearing out what was thought to also records their deliberations. The committee was sham in the vicinity of Holy Trinity church. sumed that he was the son of the eminent architect, be rubbish stored in the church. Some of the items composed of the following people, many of whom

Sir George Gilbert Scott, who designed the Albert found were of great local historical interest. will be familiar names from the past: Memorial in 1863, but subsequent investigation showed that this was not the case. The contract to build the church was awarded to Horsham’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations Messrs Rowland Brothers and signed by Canon Evan Daniel, the Vicar of Horsham, and Mr William The events from the 3rd to the 5th June 2012 will the stilt walker, who charged all over the place and Lintott on behalf of the committee. The foundation be something that we will never forget. Celebrations made a difficult skill look very easy stone for the church was laid by the Bishop of of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee dominated the the chance for a young children to become the Chichester, the Right Reverend Ernest Roland Queen for a time just by using the cut-outs in West st airwaves and it was such a shame that the weather Wilberforce, on the 31 October 1899. decided to make things difficult for everyone. Street By this time, it was already clear that the church The residents of Horsham got stuck into their would be too small so the plans were changed so celebrations in various ways. Some people chose to that the church could hold 448 people instead of the organise a street party and I saw one being set up in 400 as originally planned. Nothing ever changes and Spencers Road on the Sunday whilst another was the cost of building and equipping the church had being organised on the other side of the town in gone over budget, the original figure of £2,500 had Bedford Road on the Tuesday. The rain wasn’t become £3,366/8/7d. going to put a dampener on the party atmosphere. Then of course we had the Jubilee Tea Party in the town centre on the Monday. There were stages set up in three locations, the Bishopric (seventies and eighties music), the Forum (nineties and nough- ties) and the bandstand in the Carfax (fifties and sixties). Groups were performing at each location and the town centre was packed with people, who had set out to enjoy themselves. You could even have a trip on an open top bus. Tables had been set up so that people could bring their own picnic with them or, if they chose, they the young boy, who mimicked the actions of the could buy some delicious looking food from the Elvis impersonator during a performance in the Carfax. The original Bishop’s Licence and Authority small stalls that were dotted around the town. It certainly was fun and it just goes to show how The Bishop of Chichester had been asked to All credit has to go to Horsham District Council people will support and get involved in a well organised event. The day will certainly stick in people’s minds for allow Divine Worship in the new Mission Room and the various businesses and groups who organ- a long time and it was a great way in which to celebrate called Holy Trinity, situated at Springfield Com- ised the event. If I had to pick three things that Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee. The new Holy Trinity Church was consecrated mon. The reason for the request was that it would be th th would always remind me of Monday, the 4 June .DM by Bishop Wilberforce on the 18 December 1900 more convenient for the inhabitants of the Parish of 2012 in Horsham, I would choose:

56 The Horsham Society Newsletter July 2012