The History of Sompting Village Hall Registered Charity No 305423 West Street, Sompting, West , BN15 0BE www.somptingvillagehall.org 3.9.11 Sompting Village Hall was built by Henry Peter Crofts, JP, DL, of Sompting Abbots, in 1889 as reading and recreation rooms for the community . Indeed it was originally and for many years known simply as the Reading Room. John Crofts, a attorney, had purchased the manor of Sompting Abbots in 1748, and the estate was extended in 1836 when the Reverend P G Crofts had purchased the manor of Sompting Peverel. Henry had inherited much of the estate of his brother John on the latter’s death without issue. In those days, Sompting was for practical purposes divided into east and west; the Reading Room was at the edge of the eastern part, and what is now Sompting Recreation Ground was then White Styles Farm.

The building work was “… carried out in a most praiseworthy manner by Mr C C Cook, builder, of .” With walls of knapped flint and Bath stone, the 44 ft long, 22 ft wide building hosted some inveterate drunks from a run-down area, and instead provided a comfortable place, out of the weather, heated by a handsome tortoise stove and brilliantly lit by four large oil lamps, where poorer people could go to socialize or improve their education and chances in life without having the temptation and expense of alcohol. A press report of the opening in November 1889 remarked that “… the temptations of drink – the curse of rural as well as urban life – will be altogether absent”. But at the opening ceremony, Henry was keen to move on to toast the new building in a celebratory drink. In the deferential custom and reporting style of a bygone age, the local press recorded that “… the villagers assembled … (were of) respectful demeanour and … clean and respectable appearance, in marked contrast to some audiences of the working classes in towns.” The ceremony closed with “… three lusty cheers and …. with much enthusiasm ‘He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.’ ” Henry nominated six inhabitants of the Parish to preserve good order and maintain proper rules.

Clockwise from top left: Henry Peter Crofts, 16.12.1818 – 24.6.1890; the inscripted plaque at the entrance to the original Reading Room but now hidden by the ceiling of the porch; the Hall, from West Street, in 1957* and 2007 (*Note the roof repairs – possibly following the 1941 bomb damage referred to below)

Henry Crofts, squire of the village, a former High Sheriff and Deputy Lieutenant of Sussex and President of Worthing Infirmary, died in 1890 at 71, his death being “ … (while) suffering from an affection of the foot, occasioned to some extent by the application of an onward remedy for the treatment of corns, which resulted in blood poisoning.” Henry's widow Ellen Merriall, nee Dodson, lived on until 1916 when she died at 100, having in 1893 added a boys' room in the north-east corner of the grounds - peacefully away from the main building.

In the early 1890s, entertainment featured heavily in press reports of goings on at”The Reading Room”, especially in the winter months. The Worthing Gazette reported, on 19 November 1890, “A most successful concert ... the proceeds …being devoted to the Sunday School Fund.” The Church Choir Fund would also benefit. There was a series of fortnightly “Smoking Concerts” at one of which, blissfully unaffected by the changes in attitudes to smoking and equality which would take place over the ensuing century, there was “…a vote of thanks … to Mr H Pullen-Burry for again supplying tobacco, the gift being extended to those who were on the sick list” but, according to one report, only to the men. (Indeed The Reading Room was initially for the use of men only. Mike Tristram (see later below) reports that this was as much to get the men out of the pubs as it was to do with educating or entertaining them. Eventually the local womenfolk revolted on the issue, so that today usage of the Hall - and pubs - by gender is probably about even. ) God Save the Queen was traditionally sung on completion. Mr Pullen-Burry was a local nurseryman, and at one time Sompting’s biggest employer.

An inspection in November 1912 for the purpose of Land Tax Valuation recorded a combined market value for the land and building of £400, after inexplicably amending at several strokes of a pen an original valuation of £720.

The valuation report, with a number of downward adjustments

The Women’s Institute movement, which had originated in Canada, caught hold in Britain during World War I, as patriotic local women set up branches in towns and villages. One such branch was Sompting, which was set up at the then Reading Room on Armistice Day, 11 November 1918. Sompting Village branch celebrated its 90th anniversary at the Hall in 2008, having held every meeting there and now being our oldest user group by some margin. Indeed at one point the Hall was offered to the WI, but the gift could not be accepted owing to the onerous maintenance and running responsibilities involved.

The house between the boys' room and the road is where Mrs Heather used to keep untethered goats. These were something of a liability due to their habit of head- butting passers-by. Mrs Heather’s great grandson Martin writes: “I have read with interest your potted history of Sompting Village Hall (formerly Reading Room). I especially found the reference to Mrs Heather and her goats of interest as I am a great grandson of this apparently infamous lady!

”She was called Kate Heather (nee Pellett). She and husband Henry (Harry), along with their family including my granddad Bill, lived in a cottage adjoining the general store in West Street from at least 1915 until the early 1930s, when they moved to 2 Millfield Cottages, Busticle Lane. This cottage adjoining the store was known as Ide's Cottage. My aunt, who was born there in 1928, tells me that it was home to two families, the other having access at the rear. She also said that her father (my grandfather, Bill) and his brothers attended the Scout group which then met in a building at the back (presumably the 'boys' room').

“Ide's Cottage was demolished soon after my forebears moved out, but I see from a contemporary image on 'Google Maps' that the old grocery store house has been extended westwards to cover at least a part of the site of Ide's Cottage. A postcard image taken about 1920/21 shows the store and Ide's Cottage with some of my family outside. A cropped version which excludes the infamous Mrs Kate Heather (who was stood in the doorway) appears in Mr Philip Fry's Second Edition of old photographs of Lancing and Sompting. He dates the image as 1925, but I think this is out by at least 4 years. He also says the family moved in the late 1920s. Again, I would dispute this; Kelly's Directories suggest a move to Millfield Cottages between 1932 and 1934, and a cousin of my father's was born there in 1930.

”Back to Kate Heather: She was reputed to be a very small lady, with some saying about 4 feet 9 inches! A photograph of her from the 1950s beside one of her grand- daughters at age 10-11 shows her to be of similar height, so 4ft 9ins may be fairly accurate. After a brief spell in a cottage at Lychpole Farm, my granddad Bill Heather lived almost opposite Ide's Cottage and the Village Hall at 3, Orchard Cottages. He worked initially for Mr Charles Phillips (coincidentally my mother's grandfather) at Upton and Titch Hill Farms, but for a long time worked for the Wadman brothers of Yewtree Farm.”

Mrs Heather’s house was later a village store, run by a Mrs Boxall, with big steps at the front. It is reputed to have been small inside, with room for only 2 or 3 people at a time, but stocked most things people wanted. It is now a vicarage.

For some years Sompting Primary School, nearby in Loose Lane and since June 2011 the Harriet Johnson Centre (though, it having been for many years Sompting Community Centre, most still refer to it as such), held concerts and some classes at the Hall. The picture below shows a class assembled outside the Hall by a Miss Owen, who travelled around different schools teaching cookery. Illustrating the changes to fashions in children’s names over the years, the pupils include Florrie Homewood, Marjorie Kennard, Nancy Hollis, Winnie Bashford, Rosy Chatfield, Gladys Nye, Violet Beacher (in the sailor suit, and see later below) and Daisy Evans.

A cookery class from Sompting C of E School, outside the Hall, c1930

Ed Stringer was a local lad, from one of four unrelated Stringer families. Still living in Sompting, he recalls the teachers from the school being, in addition to Miss Finnemore and all using the Hall from time to time, Miss Dean, Miss Powell, Mr Heath (Head) and Mrs Bruton (part-time). He remembers country dancing sessions and variety performances. Also present at the dance sessions was Dulcie Ball, who was to become Ed’s wife. The variety evenings were run by a Captain Billy Brewster of the Salvation Army, who ran a photographic studio in South Farm Road, Worthing.

Sompting lay within the notorious “Bomb Alley” of World War II, between the south coast and London, where German bombers would unload unused weapons on the area to do what damage they could and avoid carrying them back to their bases. In May 1941 the building suffered significant bomb damage. The official report indicates severe damage to the roof tiles (see 1957 photograph above) and porch entrance, and much damage to doors and glass, plus a burst water pipe. The total repair cost was estimated in the report at £60.8s.0d. Damage was also suffered by the school and Orchard Cottages; a school pupil of the time, then Rita Farrow and still living locally today, recalls that two classrooms were damaged so the Hall was used for all lessons until the school, which had suffered more, was made safe.

During the war about 20 PoWs were held at a camp on the south side of West Street, east of what is now Stocks House. Ed Stringer’s father Fred, a grower, made good use of them on greenhouses at Rectory Farm. Ed started work as a pony boy on the Pullen-Burry estate; the work was in the family, Ed living in a 4-room tied cottage for which the rent was 6s per week.

The bomb damage report, 1941 – note the reference to Major Tristram

The 1940s saw the Hall still being used by the school, and also as a youth club. Pam Bennett recalls a Brownies group meeting there for many years, including one occasion when she found herself in hot water for dragging her friend Valerie Parsons along the floor. Patrick Darlington recalls the Hall also forming the HQ of the 1 st Sompting Scouts, under a scout master who ran the Broadwater drapers Bernard Baker. A regular visitor for maypole practice in those days was the young Chris Pennell’s, son of Violet Beacher, pictured above; he was later secretary of one of our user groups, Sompting and District Model Railway Club. The maypole sessions were under the tutelage of a Miss Finnemore, who used an old wind-up gramophone for background music. Also at this time Chris’s dad and others would attend on Fridays to pay into a Christmas Club, known to some as their Tontine Club, and buy meat pies; the club had previously run at Bertie Spark’s farm but had moved to the boys’ room when the Home Guard needed the farm buildings. The Home Guard included Ed’s dad, Fred, and brother Ron.

In 1948 the Church Council of St Mary’s offered to take over the Hall, on condition that it was used only for Church meetings. The committee of the Hall would not agree to this. In 1949 electricity was installed, at a cost of £85, to be paid for out of donations, whist drives etc. The Hall was still known as the Reading Room, bookcases being all around the walls. Indeed in the 1950s it housed a small lending library; there are varying reports about whether it was run by the WVS (later WRVS) or was a branch of Worthing Library. In October 1950 it was agreed to re-name the building the Parish Hall, although an Ordnance Survey map from 1952 still shows the building as the Reading Room, and some people still call it that.

In 1953 the Hall was too gifted to the village by Henry Crofts’ grandson, Major Guy Henry Tristram, Royal Artillery, during his ownership of the Sompting Estate. Guy was the second son of Samuel Tristram and Henry’s eldest daughter, Blanche Ellen, his elder brother Lancelot having been killed during World War I. Guy had also served, in France and India. Guy’s vision, which had been mooted as early as the 1945 Annual Meeting of Sompting Parish Council, was that “the premises might be put on a better footing whereby more amenities might be enjoyed by members of the Parish” (report, Worthing Gazette, 14 April). Mrs Tristram became President of Sompting WI; the branch had been regular users of the Hall since its formation in 1918, and following its split into two branches in 1983 Sompting Village WI remains so today.

Left: The Worthing Gazette, 14 April 1945, reporting Guy Tristram’s offer being “received with much favour” at the Annual Meeting of Sompting Parish Council. Right: Major Guy Henry Tristram, RA, 1888 – 1963

Mary Tout recalls square dancing sessions in 1953-4, under local broadcaster and clothing retailer Paul Plumb; he lived opposite where our present Secretary grew up in Shoreham, Plumb moving to Wales for many years but returning to the same property a few years ago. By 1954 Rita Farrow had become Langridge, holding her wedding reception at the Hall, while Janice Pannell, nee Jordan, reports a skiffle band playing there: three boys, including one Tony Hobden, from Berriedale Drive and known as “The Dale Boys”. Tony’s sisters, Iris and Sylvia, had been among Rita’s pals.

Modern sanitation was installed and an entrance porch added in 1957 at a cost of £610, with the help of a grant from the Ministry of Education and a loan from Worthing Rural District Council. The porch has hidden Henry’s foundation stone from view ever since.

Guy Tristram died in 1963 and lies buried beside his first wife Ruth Mary, nee Cardew, in Sompting churchyard. Tristram Close, off Loose Lane leading south from opposite the Hall, now commemorates the Tristram/Crofts family’s legacy to Sompting. The conveyance under which Guy gifted the property to a charitable trust administered by local trustees embodies the constitution of the charity. In the words of the conveyance, dated 10 October 1953 and unchanged to this day, the property is to be:

“… held upon trust for the purposes of physical and mental training and recreation and social, moral and intellectual development through the medium of reading and recreation rooms, library, lectures, classes, recreations and entertainments or otherwise as may be found expedient for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Parish of Sompting in the County of Sussex and its immediate vicinity without distinction of sex or of political, religious or other opinions subject to the provisions of these presents.”

The scrap books of Sompting Village WI record that in October 1965 the branch provided the Hall with a new lighting system to mark the National Federation of WI's Golden Jubilee Year. In thanking the WI, the then Secretary of the Hall management committee stated that the new lighting would "be a permanent record of the Institute's good work towards providing amenities for the benefit of all users of the Hall, at the present time and for years to come".

Local government re-organisation in 1974 saw the newly-created Council taking in Sompting, Lancing and from the former Worthing Rural District Council on 1 April of that year. To commemorate the first Annual Meeting of the Council on 30 April, Sompting Village Hall was later awarded the certificate below, which also recognised the charity’s “valuable services given to the local community”.

Adur District Council’s recognition of the Hall’s contribution to the Sompting community

In 1998 the trustees secured National Lottery funding of £31,564 for extensive repairs, including stripping and re-tiling the roof, replacing the oak floor and renovating the outbuildings. There was a further refurbishment in 2006, providing new toilets, a new oven and hob, fire-proof curtains and re-decoration, total cost £15,163. As a personal contribution one of the trustees, Mrs Pat Absolon, provided the name board seen today on the outside front wall.

The kitchen and main hall

Sompting’s best known pub, the Marquis of Granby, came under new management in 2003. To mark the takeover, the new owners installed a commemorative clock, engraved with a number of local landmarks including the Hall.

The charity launched its website in August 2007, featuring as local radio station Splash FM’s Website of the Day on 13 August; the launch was also reported in the Lancing Herald. In June of that year the Hall held an “Open Day” as its contribution to the second annual Sompting Festival. The event was a great success; its inclusion in the annual Sompting and Adur Festivals is now an important two-day event in the Hall calendar, the many visitors seeing both the Hall itself at first hand and several of its regular users in action. The 2008 event was notable for a guest appearance by a mysterious shepherd, using his professional skills to gather together some of those present in enharmonic song; he bore a strong resemblance to Mike Tristram, Guy’s grandson, accompanied by his delightful daughter Hannah on flute and accordion.

Open Day at Sompting Village Hall, Sun 3 June 2007, during the Sompting Festival. Clockwise from top left: This young lad enjoyed playing trains all day, as did his friend in the T-shirt (Sompting & District Model Railway Club); Worthing Edwardians; Rainbow’s End Line Dance Club; the Hall’s own stand

Later in 2008 the Hall became the first community facility in to receive a Hallmark award, under the village halls quality standards scheme of the same name, and remains the only one in Lancing and Sompting to have attained Hallmark status. In the same year the Hall played a prominent role in the regrettably unsuccessful attempt to save Sompting’s last surviving Post Office, in Bowness Avenue, from closure, by providing the campaign’s only significant web coverage.

This history, first published at the charity’s stand at the 2007 Sompting Festival, is being kept up to date as new information, past and present, becomes available. An earlier version was the first presentation to the Local History group of the newly- formed Lancing and Sompting branch of the University of the Third Age, on 23 April 2009 at The Farmers pub in Lancing. A serialised version appears over several editions of The Local Vocal, the Lancing and Sompting magazine, in 2011. There is also a scrap book. Together these provide a vivid, living history of one of Sompting’s most valued and distinctive institutions.

The Hall’s current regular user bodies include Sompting Village Morris, model railway societies, dance clubs, slimming groups and other local recreational groups. Where once stood the boys’ room added by Ellen Crofts is now a store for three of the user groups. Thanks to the efforts of the small band of volunteers who run the Hall and charity, users enjoy our spacious and homely facilities for constructive, community- based activities at a fraction of the cost a commercial organisation would charge. The Hall is also available for occasional and one-off use, such as for wedding receptions, meetings and exhibitions. Well done, Henry Peter Crofts and Guy Henry Tristram. It is with great gratitude to Joe Kirk who researched and compiled this history of Sompting Village Hall whilst he was the secretary of the charity; we are very indebted to him for all his time and effort.

I (Barbara Earley) took over from Jack Coldham whose position was known as “The Booking Clerk” in March 2006 when both he and the chairman Alan Peacock both resigned at the Annual General Meeting. The secretary Brenda Wilkinson had forwarded her resignation prior to the AGM but did not attend in person. At the time the hall (charity) was being run in a very more relaxed way with all the hirers attending committee meetings which were actually held more like an A.G.M. with everyone participating which at times became quite disruptive.

A new committee was formed with Mary Warrington accepting the position of chairperson and S.V.H. entered a new period of its history and the way it was run. The new committee consisted as me as the then renamed Hall Manager, Peter Beeston as treasurer and Richard Norton as minute secretary and Pat Absolon remained as a trustee.

The format of committee meetings was changed to allow just two representatives from each group who attended the hall on a regular basis. This arrangement although much improved from the original was flawed and it became apparent that a more structured and traditional committee system needed to be in place. This relationship with Mary Warrington and Peter Beeston was unfortunately quite short-lived with both resigning before the year end.

Myself and Pat Absolon were in effect “last men standing” with neither having experience concerning the Charity Commission. On her suggestion I contacted Joe Kirk who was a chartered accountant and was very knowledgeable and experienced with charity/committee proceedings. Joe joined the committee along with Richard Norton, Pat Absolon and myself and took on the role of treasurer and adviser which enabled the hall to move on and be run responsibly as both a charity and a self supporting facility for the local community.

The committee was split into a working committee know as “The Management Sub- Committee” and would be responsible for the day to day running and who consisted of the Hall Manager, Treasurer, Chairman and minute Secretary and “The Committee of Management” which was made with a nominated person from each group who would become trustees of the hall/charity. Any major issues/decisions would be brought before them by the MSC. During the next few years although key members of the committee namely Pat Absolon, myself, Joe Kirk and Richard Norton stayed the same the position of secretary did change with Steve Stripp (South Shore MRC) being the secretary in 2007, Joe Kirk 2008-2010, John Grey (N’Gauge MRC) 2011 - 2012 and for a very brief period of time Shabana Naz in early 2013. Since that time I have been acting secretary. We do ask for help in recruiting volunteers through Volunteer Action in Lancing with limited success both with the Chairman, Marketing and Webmaster positions. Rebecca Freeman was responsible for bringing the halls website which was built and run by Joe Kirk in August 2007 into a more modern format. The halls currant Webmaster Kate Hewett is in the process of constructing a brand new site, one she feels will have more impact and also be easier to manage. The role of Marketing Officer was briefly filled by Chris Desantos who was then followed by a young Steyning Grammar student Aswin Malladi who was responsible for producing the halls current leaflets and also this years (2013) Christmas Extravaganza leaflets. The position of Secretary is currently being advertised through Volunteer Action and hopefully may bring a result soon.

A major change was forced the MSC/COM to re-evaluate its financial position when Big Ted Nursery moved from the hall after being a resident hirer for decades. The reason given was the government was giving incentives for nursery schools to operate on the same site as the primary school which children would attend once they reached the age of 4/5yrs old. There was also the consideration that indoor storage had been offered which was preferable to the outside shed they now which had meant crossing the car park with equipment which in bad weather would not have been pleasant. The financial loss of income to the charity was considerable, half its income as the nursery school used the hall every morning although the rate they paid was ridiculously low. Other areas to obtain income had to be considered otherwise the hall could not sustain itself over a long period of time and once its resources had been depleted the hall would be impossible to run as it is without any outside financial support.

It was decided at an MSC meeting and approved by the COM that the hall should move into the area of the business market and the daytime slots would be advertised at very reasonable rates but still almost double to the rate BTN paid which effectively meant we only had to sell half the hours to recoup the lost income. Extensive advertising took place with a large banner being displayed on the outside of the hall and with articles in the local papers and details placed on the halls website. Very slowly small businesses took the opportunity of hiring the hall during the daytime for under half the rate which was charged at the weekend for children’s parties etc which meant that the hall was not standing empty during the day. Slowly regular groups joined the list of hirers and the hall was used by several educational groups for all day seminars. These seminars although they did bring a good income were very intense and difficult at times to manage. It soon became apparent that as we now had regular small businesses namely dance and exercise classes taking place during the daytime on a weekly basis, including Sompting Community Church (SCC ) starting a Baby and Toddler group on Monday mornings we were able to dispense with the all day seminar/workshops which were high maintenance.

It did take almost two years to get back into a sound financial position with the added bonus that we did have much more flexibility and we would never be reliant again on a single hirer.

In June 2012 the hall celebrated the Queens Jubilee by holding a children’s tea party at the hall which was free of charge and open to all local children. This was a resounding success with a superb buffet tea, games provided by Colin Frampton and the members of the SCC and an entertainer which kept the children transfixed. The children, especially the boys loved the “Thomas” engine brought along by members of the Sompting and District Model Railway Club. This is a hands on model which the children really enjoy working.

An on going damp problem was finally resolved when extensive investigations revealed that a considerable amount of water over a very long time (decades) had penetrated the walls and floor of the main hall. Specialists were brought in and the walls repaired and rotten wood replaced. Also the source of the problem which was the camber on the SE corner where a tarmac path was built allowed rain water to stream straight into the fabric of the building. To resolve this deep gully was channelled out into the grass area where a permeable tank was buried which would allow water to be drained well away from the building. Having experienced the wettest winter and spring of 2012-2013 this work undertaken has proved to be 100% effective with no sign of any damp.

Unfortunately the Open Weekends suffered from dwindling attendances and was in 2013 reduced to a single day Saturday 6 th July but attendances were so low that a decision was taken not to have another which everyone felt was a great shame especially as the halls three railway clubs had always provided excellent layouts for the public to see and admire but the time involved and the disappointment of only having a very few visitors sealed its fate.

The hall continues to move forward, keeping up with the times and providing excellent facilities at very reasonable cost to the residents of Sompting and surrounding district.

The present MSC consist of Richard Norton (Chairman) Caroline Pickett (Treasurer) and Barbara Earley (Hall Manager and Acting Secretary)

Barbara Earley Hall Manager 11 th November 2013