For nearly 100 years, St Gabriel’s Church parish hall has united the Aldersbrook community. Now, the community’s help is needed to ensure it can be restored for future generations. Georgina Brewis and Jane Skelding report
St Gabriel’s parish hall opened in 1927, and the original £4,000 building cost was raised by fundraising within the local community. The campaign was kicked off by an article in the West Ham and South Essex Mail in December 1925, which reported that “the present church room” was now “inadequate for the growing needs of the church and its parochial institutions.” The Sunday School and other community groups, including a branch of the Church Lads’ Brigade, had been using a temporary tin hall for meetings and events. This was put up in 1903 alongside the original tin church, which was replaced by the brick-built St Gabriel’s in 1913.
In May 1927, two foundation stones were laid with great ceremony, witnessed by a large crowd that is a testament to the hall’s importance to the local community. One stone was inscribed ‘on behalf of the Sunday School’ and laid by the Venerable Archdeacon PM Bayne, and the other by Viscountess Byng of Vimy. The hall was already complete by October that year. An advertising leaflet boasted of the hall’s “polished maple floor for dancing” and “large stage with dressing rooms on either side.” The original hire price was up to three guineas for an “ordinary evening” of dances and whist drives. The proximity to Wanstead Flats was a key selling point and groups were encouraged to hire the hall for refreshments after “tennis or other games.”
Then, as now, the hall was in constant use by the church and local community, often for fundraising activities. For example, in the parish archive, there is a flyer from 1948 advertising a sale to raise money for the Bishop’s Fund for Post-War Needs. Activities included handicrafts, a book stall and, of course, plenty of tea and cake.
One hundred years on, the hall is in desperate need of internal upgrades. The Friends of St Gabriel’s has been raising funds to make sure it is fit for the community now and for another hundred years. The theme for this regeneration project is sustainability, meaning reuse, upcycling and energy conservation lie at the heart of all the work undertaken. Today, the hall is still filled seven days a week by a pre-school, uniformed group meetings, dance classes, sports and games nights for adolescents with autism.
Last year, St Gabriel’s ran its first Big Give Christmas Challenge campaign with donations match-funded. Father Martyn Hawkes said: “Last year’s Big Give was so successful we raised enough to complete the installation of a new hall kitchen. This year, we are having another go to raise the funds needed to reconfigure the back of the hall and add accessible and enhanced storage, which will benefit each and every user.”
To help us restore the hall for future generations, please consider donating to this year’s Big Give between 3 and 10 December.
For more information and to donate, visit wnstd.com/biggive
