Newsletter No. 145 – March 2022

Saving the Park Centre for the Town

In November last we passed some details relating to the foundation of the Park Centre to the Town Council and also to Karen Taylor of Maple Drive, who runs one of the youth groups who use Park Centre, who was campaigning to keep it open. We sent her the following.

The local historian C.D. Meads, writing in 1891 has given us the main details. Simeon Norman (who founded the firm which later became Norman and Burt) started a campaign for a place for work- ing men of our town to meet and relax in the evenings and he and an artist friend, Mr. Bowers, set up an ‘Art Union’ to raise funds by selling their works of art. Other residents of the town who donated money, furniture and board games were Mr Crunden, of Oakhall in Keymer Road, and General John Hall who became the President of the new ‘St. John’s Institute’. Its first meeting place, from 1871, was a house in Church Road. It had a separate Reading Room containing copies of the London daily newspapers and the Sussex Daily News. General Hall also set up cricket matches which were for Institute members only, and gave his adjacent land, later St. John’s Park, as a place where they could be played.

Sadly, General Hall died a short while later and Madame Emily Temple seems to have inherited his Burgess Hill land. She immedi- ately set about continuing his work. As C. D. Meads observes, … with her large-hearted liberality, she determined to erect the present commodious and handsome building in memory of the President and bequeath it to the District. The foundation stone was laid in October 1872 and the new St. John’s Institute was built by Simeon Norman in red brick with white dressings, at a cost of just under £1200. On completion it opened with a concert provided by ‘Hannington’s Band’. It had two reading rooms and two smoking rooms, a library and billiard rooms and a large assembly room 70 x 30 feet, with an orchestra. There were also living rooms for the custodians. The Institute was managed by a committee of 12 local people.

At her death, Madame Temple’s will had created trustees to ensure that the aims of the founders would be perpetuated, so that: …. the new Reading Room and buildings …. called the St. John’s Institute, which I have built in loving memory of the late General John Hall of the 19th Hussars,… [shall remain]…. in trust that [the trustees] and the survivors of them …. shall for ever after my decease hold [the same] and permit [them] to be used and enjoyed,……………………………….. as a Public Park and Recreation Ground, Museum and Reading Room, and Refreshment Rooms, for the benefit of the inhabitants and visitors of St. John’s Common aforesaid and its neighbourhood . This established that the building would always have to be maintained by its trustees for the original purposes for which it was set up.

Forthcoming meetings

8th April: The life and times of Lydia Yavorska. John and Jeanette Simpson will tell the story of this Russian Princess who lived in Sussex 100 years ago.

13th May: The lost theatres of Brighton. Looking at the buildings, stars and shows of Brighton’s theatres, nine of which no longer exist, by Chris Horlock.

10th June: Archaeology at the Northern Arc. Formerly booked for February, the project archaeologist Simon Stevens will reveal what he found underneath the proposed new housing development there.

8th July: A History of St. Francis Hospital. Ex nurse and author Joe Hughes will give us the history of this iconic landmark, the old Sussex County Asylum. This will be followed by a visit to the grounds on 12th August.

St John’s Institute as it looked when first built by Simeon Norman in 1873.

Living History: Felicity Fernee – by Heather Warne

Felicity Fernee, a long term resident Burgess Hill, recently gave these details to Heather, as the first, we hope, of a long-term ‘living memory’ project of those who have lived or worked in Burgess Hill. It will start with our older residents and proceed in an ad hoc way, as we are all already stretched with our ‘things to do’ list. We were inspired by our speaker at the January 2022 meeting, archivist Kirsty Patrick. She is in charge of ‘The Mass Observation’ Archive at the Keep at Falmer, the joint repository for the archives of East Sussex, Brighton City and Sussex University. Mass Observation was set up in the 1970s by Sussex University to record ordinary peoples’ lives in the U.K., and it is still ongoing. Felicity’s life story will be kept in our own archives as the first, we hope, of many.

Felicity (née Sopp) was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1940 and she first tells of her young life in Australia, as for example, ‘Our family lived at Millgrove in the Yarra Valley, about 50 miles north of Melbourne where my father was then working on the construction of the Upper Yarra Dam for the water supply of the city. As I cycled 4 miles each way to my primary school, I particularly remember seeing the koalas in the trees above my head. My secondary school, Lilydale High, was 25-miles away, by bus. I enjoyed hockey and swimming and I remember how my friends and I used to ‘shoot’ the rapids of the Yarra river in a cut-off half of a metal tub’.

After school she moved to Melbourne and became a Librarian after 5 years at Night School. At this time she and an old school friend liked to follow the Davis Cup tennis matches around Australia, and they visited and climbed Ayers Rock, which you can’t do now. Next, after saving hard they managed to fulfil every young Australian’s dream of the ‘Big Trip’ to the ‘Other Side of the World’. They ended up in Arundel to live with an Aunt (her father was from Sussex) and they worked locally, saving up for another trip, this time by Southdown Coach to Ireland. One of her fellow travellers was a Jack Fernee from Hove. The trip ended and their ways had parted; but Felicity had so enjoyed his company that she wrote to him from her next lap—a coach trip to Russia. The rest is history as, by the time she got to Helsinki, his reply was waiting. Once home in Melbourne , the blessing of her parents was gained and Felicity returned to Arundel where she and Jack were married.

Other Recent Talks

We hope our new web site will go ‘live’ soon and it will include full accounts of recent talks at the monthly meetings. For the time being, here are a few reminders.

Geoff Mead led us down the Cuckmere river from Heathfield to the coast looking at woodland and downland terrain and occupations; also explaining the famous ‘ox bow’ meanders at the coast.

The lost salt industry of the Adur valley was uncovered by Janet Pennington as she told us how to recognise the remains of production sites.

Two entertaining and seasonal talks followed in November and December The first was by Andy Thomas who traced the origins and meanings of Christmas customs from Egyptian origins to Prince Albert; and next, Ian Gledhill on the gradual development of The Pantomine as we know it, as it evolved out of early displays of costume and drama which were very different!

‘Jack and I moved to Burgess Hill in 1969 after our two children Ann and Lyn were born. We became involved with many aspects of St. John’s Church, in fact you could say it was our life. The indoor events took place at the Church Hall, now the Cyprus Hall. We also raised funds for Family Support Work, a Diocesan charity, which I am still involved with, supporting families in need in Sussex. For the Youth groups there were trips to museums and other places of interest, sponsored walks, and ‘fun’ outings to places like Butlins in Bognor and Chessington Zoo. And about 30 years ago Jack and I started the Café at St. John’s Church, now known as the Spire Café, and we ran it for many years. Jack, who was 20 years older than me, died in May 2018. I have continued to be involved with the Church and its activities, often baking and making marmalade for various fundraising events. I joined the Heritage and History Association and I enjoy hearing the interesting talks and meeting up with people I know’.

Left: Jack, Felicity, grandson and daughter Lyn at a panto in the Martlets Hall. Right: Canadian maple, planted in memory of Felicity’s parents, Mavis Chirgwin, of Cornish descent, and Bert Sopp, who emigrated from Ringmer, Sussex in the 1920s. Enjoy, while we can, the old Martlets Shopping Centre sign!

Jim Dennett, a long-term employee, moulding a tile at the Keymer Tile works.

In memoriam

We were very sad to learn of the death of our member John Hayward, railway enthusiast and historian who has contributed much to our Association over the years. A full tribute will be in the next newsletter.

Keymer Tiles history displays –  by Fred Avery

The new housing area being developed on the land of the former Keymer Brick and Tile works will have its own Community Centre, just off Kingsway. In our Museum in Cyprus Hall we had 11 large photographs, each four foot square, showing examples of their roofing projects in the period after they had given up brick-making and gone over solely to hand-made tiles. I have now moved them to interim accommodation ready to be installed in the new Centre. This move frees up enough storage space in the museum to take all of the artefacts which were stored in a cupboard downstairs. We had to clear it at short notice when the Hall needed it to store their re-decorating materials. The artefacts have been unsuitably piled up ever since, cluttering up the Museum, which has prevented us from opening in the half-hour before our monthly meetings as we had been doing. But as these artefacts can now be accommodated in the space vacated by the large photos and can be properly displayed on two large tables, we will be able to open the Museum again as before. In fact, we opened it after the last two meetings in February and March and members were very pleased to be able to revisit it. The top photo, left is of Jim Dennett, a former employee of the Company. He was a member of the History Society in the 1980s and we fondly remember him for the enthusiasm about brick and tile making, a subject he always managed to wangle into the ‘questions’ at meetings. It had been his world!

This board with his photo on it is being kept at the Museum.

Mid Sussex ‘Applauds’

Burgess Hill Mayor, Ann Eves, had made two nominations for Burgess Hill at the ‘Mid Sussex Applauds’ held at Ardingly showground in November last. Heather got a ‘Life-time achievement award’ for helping the local Councils and others with historical info. to guide their projects, including the set up of the plaques along the Roman Road, Bedelands Nature Reserve, Bachelor’s Farm and the Green Circle. Burgess Hill’s Kiln Project volunteers also got an award which was accepted by Co-Chairmen Eric Palmer and Ian Lucas. (a BHHHA member). The project evolved from the Shed, a community craft and carpentry project on the Victoria Industrial Estate and The Kiln is a craft and activity hub in the old Argos shop. We all travelled up together and some kind person took our photo.

Left to right Ian, Heather, Eric & Anne.

Suffrage rally at the Gospel Tree

The Suffragist meeting in 1913

Chairman Stephanie Swaysland, who manages our Facebook page, decided to put up an article for National Womens’ Day on March 8th last, about the Suffragists who held a meeting here in Burgess Hill, outside the old Barclays Bank. The tree outside the Bank was known as ‘The Gospel Tree’ or ‘The Reformers’ tree’ because it was used by Non-Conformist preachers, including John Wesley the leader of the Methodists who once came here.

The women were en route to a rally of supporters of the National Un- ion of Women’s Suffrage Societies to be held in Hyde Park in London on 26th July1913, which 50,000 people attended. This was the culmination of a 5-week nationwide pilgrimage. The walk that came through Burgess Hill had started in Brighton and they met with marchers who had come up from Eastbourne. They all then went on to Cuckfield where they spent the night. Alan Seymour looked out some relevant photos from our collection.

A new Treasurer and Membership Secretary

Stephanie Swaysland our Chairman and Publicity officer and Heather Warne, Secretary and Newsletter Ed., have also been doubling up for the past year or more, to cover the Treasurer’s and Membership Secretary’s jobs. But our member Ghislaine Davis has now gallantly taken on both tasks which is very good of her and most welcome. Those who came to the March meeting will have already met her in her new role.

A very big welcome to her, and thanks. Her photo is taken on 21st February this year at the Grand Opening of Marne Court, the new Social Housing flats in Worlds End. Read more about it below.

Ghislaine, left, and Heather, right, at the commemorative plaque a few minutes before the tape was cut by Margaret Belsey, Chairman of Mid Sussex District Council.

The new Marne Court. By Heather Warne

In Newsletter 142, we showed a photo of the council houses in Worlds End called Marne Terrace, a ‘Homes for Heroes’ provision for soldiers after the 1st World War. Manor Court, flats for the elderly, was later erected on the same site. In sending me the photo, Alan Seymour felt that really the new flats should be ‘Marne Court’.

Ghislaine, our new Treasurer, saw the article in the newsletter and agreed with the idea. As she used to work for the developers, Clarion, she wrote to them and put the suggestion. They engaged with it and agreed the proposal. The name Marne Court, has now been adopted. For the launch of the new name on Feb. 21st Clarion had invited Councillors from both the District and the Town Council as well as Ghislaine, myself, and Gerry Canning as Chair of the Worlds End Association. Gerry and I both gave short speeches, including the fact that there had been social housing on the site since 1655, when a parish poor house was built there. Everyone was amazed. Of the 5 early poor houses in the Burgess Hill area, only this one remained in local authority hands into the 20th century.

Memorabilia of the First Burgess Hill Boy Scouts  – by Fred Avery

A few years ago I was given some valuable scouting memorabilia by Jo Callaghan, Christopher Cook and Barry Reynolds (whose father was a leading member of the Burgess Hill Magic Circle). They were all connected with the 1st BH Boy Scouts and their parents collected the documents.

Recently however, a brief history of the Scouts appeared on Facebook , so I contacted the author, Graham Taverner, to ask if there were any other sources of memorabilia that I was unaware of. He soon confirmed that a box of historical papers was found in a disused cupboard at their HQ in Station Road, when they were redecorating recently.

He agreed to pass them over to me so that a draft history of the Scouts (at present with Alan Seymour), can be completed and eventually be put on our forthcoming web site.

If you would like to join us for only £10 a year (family, £15) please contact us