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At the
beginning of the 1930s in Highfields there was no electricity, no running water,
no public sewer, very few facilities beyond the village shop, and people lived
for the most part in converted railway carriages. It was little wonder that
unofficial gatherings held outside “The Lindens” and that the consensus of
opinion was to build a village hall, to build in fact a place where grievances
could be properly aired and something done about them. In order to raise the
funds to purchase land and erect a suitable building, it was decided (late in
1930) to hold a series of social events. The first of these was a whist drive in
the large greenhouse of Highfields Nursery (at the northern end of West Drive).
The Cambridge Independent of 20
March 1931 also records a further whist drive held at Mrs Goddard’s house (Clare
Farm) at which there were nine tables. A
jumble sale was held at Childerley Gate School on 2 April 1931 which
realised £13 10s. 11d., “making the total sum in hand for the Village Hall (of
Highfields) fund, £24 10s” . By July 1931 the fund stood at £55 and it so
happened that St John’s College Cambridge put on the market a strip of land on
the eastern side of the main village road known as “Broadway Furlong”. This was
almost opposite “The Lindens” and was nearly an acre in extent. Why did St
John’s sell the land? It seems that the
recession of the 1930s affected the finances of the Cambridge colleges, since in
1932 Clare College also sold off its holdings in the village (to a developer
called Mr Game). Land was therefore available and funds were available to
purchase it, but precisely who was to buy it? The hall was intended for the
villagers of Highfields and the villagers themselves would have to own it, but
one major problem emerged. The villagers of Highfields lived in two parishes.
The western side of the village extending north from 105 Highfields to the A248
was in Bourn parish, while the remainder was in the parish of Caldecote. It was
illogical for the village hall of Highfields to be owned simultaneously by the
parishes of Bourn and Caldecote. The answer was for trustees to own the land and
thus three trustees were elected (for their lifetime): (1) Thomas James Blunden
(representing Highfields Caldecote), who lived at “Inglenook” (in the Caldecote
part of Highfields, built in 1930 and now 99 Highfields); (2) Henry Joseph Tabony (representing
Highfields Bourn) who lived at “Wisecroft” (in the Bourn part of Highfields) at
the northern end of West Drive, and (3)
Claude Goddard (representing the old village of Caldecote) who lived at Clare
Farm. Coincidentally, the cost of the land and legal charges came to £54 (i.e.
just £1 less than the sum raised by the villagers). One clause in the sale
agreement was the (customary) insertion of a restrictive covenant At the time no
one even mentioned it and the villagers now set about raising funds by their own
means to purchase building materials and construct the new hall. At this stage
it seems that a nine-man committee was elected to assist the fund-raising
scheme, and by mid August 1931 a further £50 had been raised. Appropriate materials were purchased and the
work of construction began immediately. “Dick” Meara (whose son was in trouble
with a theft and arson case in Highfields in 1930), an experienced builder,
supervised the (voluntary) labour force consisting of nearly every available
villager. The identities of some of these men can be ascertained from a
photograph which appeared in the Cambridge
Independent on 18 September 1931 (p. 12) where there is a picture
labelled “Caldecote Village Hall under construction” with the subtitle
“Voluntary workers busily engaged on the temporary village hall at Caldecote”.
The picture shows eight men working on the building which has been half
creosoted. The main report of the opening ceremony of the hall on 1 October 1931
was given in the Cambridge Daily News
on 2 October 1931. Less
than a month after the arrival of the building materials, Caldecote’s new
Village Hall was erected, opened and in use. Such swift work, as was pointed out
at the opening ceremony yesterday, was due to the energy and zeal of the
committee who did all the work, and incidentally saved extra expense. The hall,
which is the first built in Caldecote, is definitely intended only as a
temporary place, and it is the intention of the committee to work steadily
towards obtaining the money for a larger more permanent building within the next
few years. Made solely of timber, the hall measures 42 ft by 18 ft and contains
a spacious compartment for the use as a kitchen or cloakroom as desired. The
interior has been simply but tastefully decorated, and there is a piano for
dances, with the requisite furniture… After this the Institute went from
strength to strength with numerous dances, lectures and dramatic events being
held. The Parish Meeting was transferred from the Fox in the old village of
Caldecote to the new village hall and many other village groups now began to
make it their home. By the time that war broke out it
had become the focal point of the village and this continued during the war with
many personnel from Bourn Airfield attending the weekly dances. Growth continued
almost unabated until the mid 1960s when the new school was built at the
southern end of Highfields. This inevitably took some of the groups away from
the Institute and a period of gradual decline began. At the end of the 1960s the
Parish Council decided that the village needed a recreation ground. They
identified an area of land north of the village hall plot and behind the new row
of bungalows fronting Highfields Road (the area now occupied by the Bloor estate
and part of the Wilcon Phase 2 development). This gained planning permission in
1970/1 and a sum of £5000 was given by the District Council to provide
facilities. Unfortunately, the only access to this recreation ground (apart from
the Oak Farm entrance, which was apparently not available) was through the
Village Institute grounds. By this time there was only 1 trustee alive and the
matter was referred to the Charity Commission. They registered the Village
Institute as a charity in 1974 but did very little else and certainly did not
sanction the requested access, thus causing even more division in the village.
By the early 1980s the hall was rapidly falling into disrepair. The timber frame
badly needed rebuilding, but there were insufficient funds and very soon it
became dangerous. In 1985 the Charity Commission stepped in and put forward a
scheme (which is still basically in existence)
whereby the Institute came under the guidance of the Official Custodian
with six trustees from the village There were various plans mooted for selling
off the land at the rear of the hall, but were all fruitless as it was realized
that the restrictive covenant needed repealing and that the actual title deeds
were no longer extant. The decision was taken to close the Institute on 1
September 1986, which coincided with the first murmurings of the Cambridgeshire
Structure Plan and the inclusion in it of Highfields as a Rural Growth
Settlement with up to 400 new dwellings. This Plan was confirmed in 1988 and the
Local Plan (produced by the District Council) allocated 40 acres of development
land (with 400 dwellings at 10 to the acre). There were no “benefits” mentioned
in the first draft of this Local Plan and it was only by dint of much effort
that villagers were able to achieve by the time the Local Plan was ratified in
1993 (after numerous inquiries and consultations): (1) a roundabout at the
junction of the A428 and village road; (2)
a contribution towards the expansion of the school and secondary
education; (3) a recreation ground; (4) contribution towards a new village hall.
Even this however might not have been sufficient to produce a new village hall
were it not for the crucial position of the old hall, at the entrance to the
allocation on the eastern side of Highfields Road. In 1989 I myself and Ted
Devonish (who could remember the men erecting the hall in 1931) made statutory
declarations with regard to the title deeds (we had copies but no originals) and
then in 1995 we were able to persuade St John’s College to release the
restrictive covenant (at the cost of only £350). By this time there were
innumerable offers flying around from various developers (including one of
£120,000 per developable acre from Banner Homes). Redmayne, Arnold and Harris
acting on behalf of the major landowners (Messrs Harrup and Taylor) were trying
to put together a deal whereby they tied up all of the land owners (or as many
of them as they could) before 30 April 1996 (when a major developer would step
in and develop the land). By skilful negotiating the trustees were able to
secure a last-minute deal involving the sale of the existing 1 acre, the
acquisition of a new 1 acre freehold site south of the school, a 200 square
metre village hall erected on this site to the specifications drawn up by the
trustees and a consideration of £100,000 in the bank (for fitting out and
maintenance costs). The hall had to be built within 2 years or a bond of
£200,000 would be forfeit. In fact, the incoming developers, Wilcon, did not
quite manage this but at all events the new hall was completed by the end of
1998 and officially opened in February 1999. The old hall was quietly demolished
(in February 1997) and its soul now lies under the grass immediately south of
the Social Club. Since that date the trustees have managed to provide numerous
items for the new hall, including the latest acquisition, a loop sound system.
The £100,000 by dint of extreme prudence has in fact grown slightly (even during
last year’s traumatic stock market collapse) and now stands at £105,000. Our treasurer constantly reminds us that this
money has to be used for Village Institute purposes. It cannot, unfortunately be
used to aid deserving village groups and events. Innumerable people have served
on the management committee and/or as trustees of the Institute throughout the
years. Many of these still live in the village and they can feel justifiably
proud of their contribution towards the history of the Institute.
Owen
Kember |
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