Ovingdean Village Hall

The opening of Ovingdean Village Hall - 1932

Kindly loaned by Mrs Betty Saul

The original building before renovations

From the private collection of Jennifer Drury

The ladies and gentlemen of Ovingdean Golf Club

From the private collection of Jennifer Drury

A very important day in 1932

By Jennifer Drury

This rather tattered newspaper cutting records one of the most important days in the recent history of Ovingdean village. The year was 1932, unfortunately we do not know the day or month. This very special occasion was the opening of what we now know as the 'Village Hall' but was originally referred to as the 'Village Club'.

A very auspicious occasion
The Mayor, Councillor Braybon and his wife stand in the centre of the picture; to the left of them is a little girl. This was Betty Saul - she presented a bouquet to the Mayoress. It was Betty who had saved this little piece of paper for 68 years - without this we would have no record of this most auspicious occasion.

Do you know this little boy?
Betty lived with her parents in Greenways - unfortunately we have not identified the young boy. Do you know who he is? Directly behind Mrs. Braybon is William Cowley and to our right is his son-in-law Percy Filkins. To the left of Mr. Cowley is The Revd Pennington, Rector of Ovingdean

Built with a £300 loan
Originally the building was called 'Ovingdean Village Club' - the sign can be seen over the door. Before it was built social events and the like were either held in a barn or in what we now know as the 'Church Rooms'. Conscious of the growing population of the village and the need for a community space, a number of residents got together and formed a trustee group. With a £300 loan and local fundraising, they financed the building work.

A very basic design heated by firesplaces
It was a very basic design - constructed of weatherboarding. Heating was provided by two fireplaces. Reports of the first dance held there tell of ladies in 'dance dresses' and people packed in like sardines! There was a real dance band playing and it really was quite a special occasion for Ovingdean.

Ovingdean Golf Club
In the late thirties there was a putting green behind the club and the photograph here shows some of the members at a meeting. Apparently the 'Ovingdean Golf Club' was what might be called quite a 'cliquey' place. It certainly was thought the place to be in the village. In actual fact to call what they played 'golf' is rather funny - it was actually just a putting green - but I suppose that didn't make it seem grand enough! As you can see the ladies and gents dressed up to play and even had a regular dinner dance in Rottingdean.

The Bridge Club
For many years it was the Bridge Club who worked to keep the building maintained. They played there twice a week and were very protective of their venue! On the days they played bridge, someone used to go into the club a couple of hours before the meeting, to light the fires so that it would be nice and warm for the players when they arrived.

A reminiscence of the Bridge Club
"...you used to see smoke coming out of the chimneys so you knew the Bridge Club were there. When I went in I wanted to get some perfume out and spray - there was such a musty old smell. There were three or four layers of old carpets. There were also some lovely old easy chairs - they looked like they had just come out of someone's lounge. It seemed that anyone who had any furniture to get rid of donated it to the club. Funny really - it seemed like a village museum."
Mrs Kay Sutton of Ovingdean.