Earlswood Village Hall – the first 100 years 1926-2026
2026 sees the 100th anniversary of Earlswood Village Hall which was officially opened on November 20th 1926. The building had originally been a Gospel Hall on Broad Street, Birmingham, but was demolished in 1925/26, moved to Earlswood and rebuilt. The driving force behind this was Miss Selina Warder of Earlswood Court who held teas and dances to raise money for the project and also donated the land.
Building the hall was a village collaboration – one person donated 6,000 extra bricks, others gave timber, gates, hinges, locks, chairs and other items and those who could not donate helped in the building work. This resulted in a public building for ‘social, recreative and educative purposes’ which cost £1,215, as Mr P.J. Hannon MP remarked at the opening ceremony “the hall was a microcosm of all that was best in village life”. Miss Mynors, of Weatheroak Hall, performed the opening ceremony and also donated a ‘cinematograph installation’, the early accounts show that a cinema was run at the hall from 1926 until 1930.
In the early years other users of the hall were the Women’s Institute, Earlswood Drama group and Badminton Clubs with dances, whist drives and rummage sales being held to raise funds for the building’s upkeep. In succeeding years the hall has hosted many events from auctions to Zumba classes, but the prize for longevity must go to badminton – with the exception of a break during WWII, one badminton group or another have used the hall continually throughout the 100 years. Some of the more notable uses include: an operatic performance in 1927, accommodation for up to 168 evacuees in December 1940, being the collection point for Ration Books in the 1940’s and 50’s and, in 1975, it was used as a police incident room during the ‘Body in the Lake’ investigation.
Inevitably these 100 years have seen changes, in 1938 £1,000 was spent on ‘improvements’, land was purchased for a tennis court in 1952 (now part of the car park), new heating and fluorescent lighting was switched on by Miss Warder in 1954, and in 1979 £8,000 was raised for new heating, a new entrance foyer and other improvements. The biggest changes have come more recently with the ‘Millenium Make-over’ completed in June 2000 and more recently still the installation of solar panels.
Earlswood Village Hall continues to be well used by many groups, and we have come full circle
with ‘Flicks in the Sticks’ returning regular cinema to the hall.
Here’s to the next 100 years!
Cheryl Roberts (Curator – Earlswood Village Museum)
Do you have memories of Earlswood Village Hall? contact evmuseum2021@gmail.com
