THEN AND NOW ... the Village Hall
The birth of the Village Hall from the burnt ruins of East Field House Preparatory School.
An article by Tom Dufty first published in the Ditchling Parish Council Magazine, February 2018
THEN ...
Click on this text to start editing, and enter your own text with some basic formatting. To create a link to another page or website within this section, select the text you want to make into a link and click on the Link icon on the formatting toolbar. Click anywhere outside the text box when you're done to continue working on the rest of your page.
Almost a hundred years ago East Field House Prep school was destroyed by fire despite the best efforts of the Ditchling Fire Brigade and others. The school wasn’t insured for such a disaster and couldn’t be rebuilt. Instead it was decided that the site would be perfect for a community hall. It coincided with a lot of countrywide fund-raising to build halls and other memorials in honour of the WWI fallen, although this was not its
specific intention. The building closest to the road was completely destroyed, but the four windows in the building behind can still be seen in the front facade of the Village Hall. The project was financed by individual donations, not from the public purse, so it was not and is not a ‘Parish Hall’. In 1920 the new Village Hall opened and is run by trustees drawn from residents and societies. However, it constituted little more than today’s stage and lower hall.
NOW ...
Click on this text to start editing, and enter your own text with some basic formatting. To create a link to another page or website within this section, select the text you want to make into a link and click on the Link icon on the formatting toolbar. Click anywhere outside the text box when you're done to continue working on the rest of your page.
In the 1970s the auditorium, now called the Upper Hall, was built on to its south side adding substantially to its capacity for all manner of village activities. For many years a room on the lower floor of the original building was let to the Red Cross as a storeroom for emergency equipment. In 2003 it was agreed that the Red Cross no longer needed it and the Parish Council, which publishes this magazine, now rents it as an office and record depository.