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The story of the conversion of the old school started in 1983 when a group of people who wanted to provide facilities for the community got together to form "Brown Edge Amenities Group".  Clearly the most pressing need was for a community centre.

A community centre was not a new idea.  There had been an attempt to raise funds after the first war to open a Memorial Hall but nothing progressed. After the second war two army huts ware obtained and the YMCA opened the Tabernacle at the top of St Annes Vale which was used as a community facility but was inadequate in that no parking facilities were available.

Then in 1968 the Church started to raise funds for a Church Hall which the Bishop of Lichfield had promised to raise funds out of  theDiosecean coffers.  But nothing transpired.

Meanwhile the Old school and the headmasters house had been vacated, The house in  1966  and the school in 1980. A demolition order had been served on the building and its ownership was unclear.

After several years of negotiating with the County Council it became clear that they didn't own it at all. The Church might have done and the Williamson Trust might have, but nobody was sure.

 

A public meting was called and unanimously, at a packed Chapel Hall, the community asked the Amenities Committee to proceed at all speed to secure the building for the community. Thus started the battle to

1 save the building

2 turn it to some use.

Sterling work was done, especially by our then Secretary ArthurWatkin, to keep up the pressure on all the local councils and to obtain publicity and funding for the work.  However no ownership - no money.

We held another community meeting and explained the difficulty and asked them what we should do.  With two exceptions the committee asked us to start work on the premise that if somebody objected then we would have flushed out the owners. For the next 15 years working groups worked every weekend to transform a crumbling building full of dry rot into a beautiful Village Hall. 

Asyou can see from the photographs the hall was extensively repaired.   A new entrance from the front was made.It had been an entrance pre the improvements in 1917.

 

 

 

 

 

All the slates and tiles were carted off by the trailer load, and stored all round the village.The kitchen was rebuilt

Just the back wall remained.

All the roof was removed and massive steel girders put in place of supporting walls.