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In 1873 Mark Philips, son of
Robert Philips and benefactor to the village during the Victorian times,
built ‘The Philips and Trevelyan Institute’ (now known as ‘The Gables’)
on an acre of land in Smiths Lane,
Snitterfield. It was originally built for Henry Clutton, the architect
of Welcombe House (which later became the Welcombe Hotel, Stratford) while
he worked there.
When Sir George and Lady Caroline Trevelyan (daughter to Robert Needham
Philips and niece to Mark Philips) took over Welcombe House, one of their
first acts of benevolence to the village was to convert ‘The Institute’
for the use of the people of Snitterfield. An Institute Committee was
formed and from that point until when the building was sold, the house
was rented from the Welcombe Estate for £7 per year whilst also
being supported by subscriptions.
The Institute consisted of a Reading and Newsroom, Library and Billiards
room. It is recorded that over 700 good books were available for the use
of the villagers and the library was opened once a week by Mr Harper,
the schoolmaster, who was in charge of the library. Later these books
were transferred to
the village hall until 1948 when the County Library offered to supply
all the books in future and the books were removed from the hall.
In 1956 a fortnightly Library Service started to visit Snitterfield and
50 years later is still well frequented by villagers when it stops outside
the village hall and other areas of the village. The larger room of the
Institute (at present, 2, The Gables) was used as a news and reading room
and was also available for concerts, whist drives and the village debating
society. The billiards room (3, The Gables) was very well patronised and
tables were also available for chess with a bar run for the sale of non
alcoholic drinks. The grounds were levelled off to provide a bowling green
and two tennis courts.
The caretaker lived in what is now 1, The Gables and for a short time
the post office was run in the Institute by a Mr Moore from whom it was
taken over by Mr Morgan (the caretaker at that time) until it was transferred
to his house in School Lane.
In 1929, after the death of
Lady Trevelyan, Robert Trevelyan (her son) and Mr Place offered
to give the Institute as a free gift to the Parish Council. However, it
was eventually decided that the Parish Council could not warrant the upkeep
of ‘The Institute’ and that of the proposed Village Hall so it was sold
to a Mr Tullet of Birmingham and converted into the three dwellings.
The balance from the sale of the Institute, together with the furniture,
was given for the use of the future hall (with a proviso that £50
should be devoted to the provision of a bowling green and tennis court).
Robert Trevelyan also offered to give £500 for the building funds
of the village hall either as an annexe to the Philips and Trevelyan Institute,
or as a separate building. After much debate amongst the villagers it
was decided to close the Institute and land on Bearley Road was purchased
from Mr WT Chatterley for £50 as a site for the new hall, a bowling
green and a tennis court (although in 1949 the ‘new’ tennis club was formed
and two hard courts were then used at Ingon Grange).
In 1931 a village hall committee was formed and the Trust Deeds were signed
and enrolled with
the Charity Commissioners.Under
these deeds the rules for the letting of the Village Hall were drawn up
and at that time included:
That the Trust Deed rules relating to intoxicating liquor not being
brought into the hall must be enforced.
That any person entering the Hall while under the influence of drink
must be reported to the Parish Council, and he would be debarred from
using the Hall for such time as decided upon by the Council.
That all damage and breakages to be paid for.
That stewards must remain on duty until close of the function.
On 21 January 1932 the Village Hall was formally opened by Mrs RC Trevelyan
and the hall was filled with villagers and people from the surrounding
district, concluding with the play ‘The Butterfly Queen’ by school children.
During the second world war the village hall was used for numerous activities
including a cinema show for the Warwickshire Troops; Home Guard parades
and training (our very own ‘Dad’s Army’) and the making of camouflage
netting (the nets were suspended from the great beams that cross below
the roof of the room).
The Hall was also used for First Aid lectures, jam making by the Women’s
Institute and as an emergency rest centre (with a cooking trench on the
waste ground behind the hall). It is recorded that in 1940 the emergency
centre was for homeless refugees with parties coming from Coventry and
Birmingham at night to sleep on mattresses on the floor, being cared for
by the Shelter Committee – one family, husband, wife and baby were ‘in
residence’ for two months.
A plaque was presented to the village in 1946 by the ship’s company of
HMS Verity in appreciation of kindness shown to their men by Snitterfield
during the war and this is still mounted on the wall of the village hall.
Over the years the Village Hall has been used by many clubs and societies
including the Bowls
and Badminton Clubs and the Women’s Club (a forerunner to the Women’s
Institute) who would organise an Old Folk’s Party in the hall at Christmas
for every villager over 60 years of age.
In 1953 the hall was used to celebrate the Coronation of the Queen and
again to celebrate her Silver and Golden Jubilees.
Today, the Hall continues to be used by many village organisations including
the Whist Club, the Thursday Club, Brownies, the Garden Club, Rag-Tag
Toddler Group, the WI and the Gliding
Club. The Parish Council meets each month in the back room and the Holiday
Club uses the hall each summer for a week of entertainment for the children
of the village. Organisations from
outside the village also make use of the hall.
The Hall is no longer run by the Parish Council but has its own management
Committee,currently the chairman is John Huntingdon, secretary Ann Farr,
and treasurer Peter Morlidge.
There are several other members of the committee and if anyone is interested
in joining and helping to keep our wonderful hall in full use please contact
John Huntingdon (Tel 730575).
We are also extremely fortunate to have the support of the Friends of
the Village hall who run a monthly draw. For a subscription of just £12
per year each member is enrolled in the draw for which the first prize
is £15 and second prize £10. Money from this fund raising
has been used over the years to help with the provision of the lighting,
chairs, a new electric piano and a baby changing table in the ladies toilets.
This year we have also been able to install a hearing loop system which
helps those users suffering from hearing loss – by switching their hearing
aids to the ‘T’ mode a speaker’s voice is more easilyheard via the loop.
If anyone is interested in joining the Friends of the Village Hall monthly
draw contact Don Rushton (730276) or Jean Dronsfield (731574).
The Hall provides an excellent space for entertainment and in the recent
past we have seen many first class live bands perform on the stage – a
feature not available in all village halls.
Many local organisations make use of the hall for fund raising events
and the school performed
‘Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat’ as their end of year concert
in the summer – Not quite in the same league as ‘The Butterfly Queen’
but no doubt to the same standard as the performance by the children 74
years ago!
The Village Hall is available for hire at a very competitive rate with
use of a kitchen, crockery and cutlery for 80 to 100 people and makes
a wonderful space for parties.
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