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| The Buntingford & District Social Club Ltd | ||||
| www.buntingfordsocialclub.com | ||||
| Telephone 01763 271889 | CIU Affiliated since 1971 |  | ||
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| The Early Years | Updated 15-07-02 |
| There has been a Club of some kind on the site of the present Buntingford & District Social Club Ltd. since at least May 1921 when the Buntingford & District Ex-Service Mens Club was registered. The Club house at that time was a small two storied brick and timber building with a galvanised iron roof. In 1929 the name was changed to The Buntingford & District British Legion Club Ltd. | ||||
| More History | ||||
| In March 1930, following a disastrous fire through a row of cottages in Baldock Road, a whist drive was held in the Club to raise some money for a Fire Fund that had been set up, intended to help those who lost their homes and possessions.
But, by a bizarre coincidence, a fierce fire started and spread through the upper storey of the Club that same night, and at its height, heavy objects such as a piano and a billiards table crashed through from the upper floor to the ground.
A great deal of water had been pumped from the River Rib to put out the flames but the premises and all of its contents were completely destroyed.
A decision was obviously made to replace the one that had been destroyed with a new and larger Club because documentation shows that in 1931 a plot of garden land in Church Street which was owned jointly by Herbert Charles Marshall and Harold Herbert Williams was sold to the Buntingford & District British Legion Club Ltd. and during that year a new Club building was erected. It would appear that Mr Marshall ( of Marshall & Snelgrove fame ) and Mr Williams acquired the land from a Joseph Thomas Charles May, who is described as being a retired Grocer. Funding for the new building appears to have come from various sources. The United Services Fund paid the sum of £ 112. 16s. 6d. "exclusively upon or towards the formation and furnishing of premises for what was the Ex Service Mens Club". The generous amount ( for those days ) of £ 750 appears to have come from a Miss Evelyn Mary Penelope Shaw-Hillier and from a Mr Thomas Hubert Veasey who are both described as coming from Baldock. Simpsons Brewery at Baldock took over the Mortgage in 1943. Unfortunately, there is then a gap in the documentation until the middle fifties, although it is believed that the British Legion Club ceased to function at sometime in the late 1940s and the Club was probably used as a Working Men's Club. The present Club came into being at about this time because records show that in 1957 the Buntingford & District Social Club Ltd took out a loan from Simpsons Brewery for £ 100. The records show that the Club officials at that time were Denzil Law, Fred Boniwell and William Hudgell. It is known that in 1968 the Club comprised just one main room, and at the only entertainment was snooker and table tennis, also at about this time a loan from Greene King enabled a new bar to be built and in 1971 the Club became affiliated to the C.I.U. In the late 1980s an extension was built, which provided for a small office, and improved toilet facilities and in the early 1990s another extension was built which provided for a members' lounge. If you know of any interesting history that could be added to this page , please contact us |