04/12/2025
If anyone is interested in the history of Wythall village hall, formerly Wythall Institute, this is well worth a read.
It is quite long!
Transcript of Wythall Village Hall history written by Miss P K “Peggy” Suffield (1966)
Transcribed by Stephen Peters, Trustee of Wythall Together charity which now owns and runs the Village Hall – December 2025.
….. have provided me with the material for a story which may, I feel, be read with interest by those who have taken their recreation at the hall during its long period of usage.
Before 1888 it would seem that there was no communal centre in the district. Such meetings that did take place were held at “Shawbrook” – a tiny annexe to cottages at Drakes Cross which would not have seated more than a dozen or so persons and was dark, primitive and totally lacking in comforts. It was here that the idea of providing an Institute or Reading Room for Wythall just took shape in the minds of a group of local gentlemen and the speed with which the project became reality could surely set an example to present day planners.
Sir James Johnstone donated a plot of land and the offer of an initial £100 from a benefactor was quickly followed by further contributions.
On August 21st 1888 the tender of a Redditch firm to erect the building for the sum of £550 was accepted and less than 6 months later, on February 4th 1889 the new “Institute”, as it was then known, was completed and the first meeting of Trustees was held . Among whom were members of the Mynors, Burman and Johnstone families and plans went ahead for establishing the proposed Reading Room and Library which was to be the main purpose of the building, although rooms were to be available for letting as required for social and cultural activities.
The records at my disposal do not state the source from which the library books were obtained but it may be supposed that many of them came from the Mynors’ home at Weatheroak Hall and others were undoubtedly purchased by funds raised - so says the Minute Book in devious ways!
Be that as it may by November 1889 the Library was ready to open its doors to the public and at a meeting (preceeded rather surprisingly by a Smoking Concert!) it was agreed that charges should be at the rate of 4d per month , 1/- per quarter or 4/- per annum and the lending hours being from 12 to 9.30pm on each week day .
Whether or not the amenities thus provided met with the wholehearted support of the populace seems to be rather in doubt but at least for the next 16 years the Annual Meeting of Trustees always found a financial balance in favour of the Library even though it ranged from sums as small as 19/6d down to 4/5d and indeed on one occasion the credit figure stood as low as 2/7d! Nevertheless, other revenue then coming in from organisations using the building would have constituted a much-needed addition to funds.
The main users of the hall were members of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Society and a local cricket club, though just what activities the latter conducted there seem shrouded in mystery but the inexplicable fact that emerges from the Minutes is that the Trustees held their meetings at Weatheroak Hall, at the Vicarage, at Houndsfield & Shawbrook - in fact anywhere but in their own hall! One wonders if this was due to the fact that nowhere in the early specifications can I find any reference to any heating on the premises! It is to be assumed (since the original place included a boiler house) that some sort of provision was made but one feels that its efficiency probably left something to be desired. However, be that as it may the Reading Room continued to function and in 1895 the death of Mr Robert Mynors brought the Trustees a legacy of the sum of £2000 Consols in trust to apply the dividend thereof to the maintenance and improvement of the building.
This unexpected addition to the revenue enabled the Trustees to have an extra room (Refreshment Room) added to the existing building and at the same time a new and deeper well was sunk. This latter was envisaged as a great boon, but it shortly became apparent that something was terribly wrong! For the water had a noxious taste and bore every sign of impurity. Following numerous and lengthy justified complaints a sample was sent to the County Analyst and his subsequent report which is now in my possession must have struck horror into the stoutest heart for the water it seems was full of every kind of contamination which a fluid could contain and it was condemned as wholly unfit for drinking!
Immediate investigation was imperative, and it did not take long to locate the cause of the trouble. By some strange miscalculation on the part of the contractors, the new pipes had somehow got connected up to the sink drains and all the kitchen waste was being discharged into the well! One is pleased to record, however, that the trouble was rectified at no charge to the Trustees. In the circumstances this is hardly to be wondered at!
After this contretemps things seem to have gone along very quietly until 1905 a letter was received from Northfield & Kings Norton Urban District Council announcing that the Public Libraries wished to rent a room at the Institute for opening a Free Library under their control in Wythall. It seems that the Trustees were only too pleased to hand over to a higher authority what was at best a rather shakey financial proposition and a year later the new Public Library was opened at what must have been quite an occasion with refreshments and speeches and all the local dignitaries present to give the venture a rousing send-off. Alas, its career was less auspicious than its opening. In a period of 3 years only 31 readerships were taken out, and these were rarely used. Thus, on 31st March 1909 the press reported the inglorious closure of the library together with the rather cryptic comment that Wythall people obviously did not want to be educated!
From then on it seems that the building was given over entirely as a recreational centre. There is little record of its exact usage but one fact I have learned from local residents is that the Saturday Wythall dances held there were real “gala” occasions and probably the only excitement that the village knew in those days. Whether or not there is a connection I would not dare guess, but records show that a new floor had to be installed about this time.
In 1912 the hall came into demand for a more sober purpose. In that year Wythall would take a part of Kings Norton and was constituted a separate Parish for local government purposes being attached to the Bromsgrove Rural District and at the same time it was proposed to establish a Police Court to deal with local cases, since the Petty Sessional Bench at Redditch was found to be difficult of access from the new Parish. A weighty agreement was drawn up between the Trustees of the Institute and the Worcestershire County Council for hire of the building, and it became the Court House on the final Friday in every month. This arrangement existed for nearly 50 years. Now, more and more local cases have been transferred to Redditch and Wythall Court only sits infrequently although it is officially reserved for judicial purposes on the 1st Monday of each month as it has been since 1912.
In 1920, one finds receipt of a letter from the Parish Council expressing dissatisfaction at the way in which the Hall was being run and expressing the desire to take over its management. Considering that the Council was a fairly new innovation and the Trustees had been quite successfully running the Hall for some 32 years, this seems rather extraordinary but what is more surprising is the alacrity with which the Trustees accepted what one feels amounted to quite an affront to their powers but in .. 1920, at a joint meeting with representatives of the Parish Council, they agreed that body forming a committee of management with its {?} to take over the entire running of the {?} but working alongside with them. The arrangement seems to have been a most peculiar one since the Trustees and the Management Committee apparently held completely separate meetings and only came together on rare occasions to exchange ideas. However, the plan seemed to work in its own odd way. The Parish Council expressed a desire to organise high class concerts, lectures, choral and dramatic performances but there is no record that they ever did and bit by bit the Management Committee melted away until only one or two Council representatives remained. Ultimately, they were co-opted on to the Board of Trustees and affairs returned to their original state.
In the meanwhile, the Hall had gradually been adjusting itself to modern times and in 1927 electric light was installed. Until then, of course, the premises had been lit by oil lamps, the hooks for which remained in the hall ceiling until quite recently. Current was supplied from a generator installed in a shed at the back of the building and apparently gave satisfaction to everyone but the neighbours who complained at the noise it made. A new coke heating system was put in around 1930, and one is rather amused to note that the hire charge for lettings varied according to whether the hirers had hired the premises with or without heat! Several early users of the Hall to whom I have spoken say there was little difference!
In 1936 the Trustees decided the cost of using their own generator was too high and consequently the Hall was connected to the mains at just a sum of £2.15.00 – this would seem to have been good business and 2 years later connection to the water mains was effected, and flush toilets installed. About this time a Community Hall Committee which had been formed in the Parish suggested an amalgamation with the Trustees to enlarge and modernise the Hall. A meeting was held to consider the proposal, but it was decided the scheme was too ambitious and was ultimately turned down.
…..By now the running of the Hall was suffering from the rigours of the 2nd World War. Coke for the boiler was difficult to get, and the services of a stoker were unobtainable. In desperation the Trustees had made what was intended as a temporary conversion. The boiler was emptied and scraped and gas jets installed. So satisfactory did this prove that 20 years later the same boiler was in use and only last year did it finally drop to pieces to be superseded by similar but modern equipment. With the end of the War the Management Committee once more came into the picture and a further “take over bid” was suggested in 1951. However, the Trustees having safely steered the project over half a century felt unwilling to give up their duties and the suggestion was turned down. Even so, the affairs of the Hall were in a precarious state. Due to reduced lettings during 1939-1945 finances had been depleted. The revenue from the 1895 legacy was no longer adequate to meet rising costs and the premises began to fall into a state of considerable dilapidation which of course created a vicious circle and the shabbier the Hall became the fewer bookings it attracted. Income fell even more, and the Trustees felt themselves unable alone to raise sufficient funds for even necessary repairs. The lowest ebb was reached in 1961 but there was life in the old place yet. In 1961 by mutual agreement the inaugural Trust was dissolved and a Committee of Management drawn from all the organisations using the Hall took over. The immediate result was dynamic and with eager enthusiasm they set to work to raise money in various ways and in a reasonably short space of time renovations and modernisation restored the Hall to its former glory.
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Often the Hall was almost totally unheated, and users evolved their own methods of beating the cold – with varying results. My own recollection is of one memorable night when my colleagues and I took in paraffin heaters to improve the comfort of a {?}. As the meeting proceeded the lamps got smokier and in the end quite impossible for the speaker to see her audience or vice versa.
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Library, dance hall, youth club, Police court, welfare clinic, meals on wheels, rates office, polling station, lecture theatre, concert hall – surely few buildings can have housed under one roof such multifarious activities as have been catered for by Wythall Village Hall over the years. Standing firm and solid alongside the main Alcester Road, it was the first place to attract my attention when I first came to the district. It looked so compact and yet so dignified as if its very structure was aware of the important role it played in village life and the stone plaque on its façade proudly proclaiming the fact that it had served the community since 1888 offered me a challenge which I could not resist.
I decided then and there that I would one day find out the history of this stout little building although I did not envisage that it would take me over 25 years to achieve my aim!
Because of my early interest in the Hall, it was perhaps inevitable that I should eventually become deeply involved in its affairs and I was with pride and gratification that in 1950 I was invited to serve as a Trustee. Later, when the Trust was dissolved and replaced by a Management Committee I became its Secretary, and always my quest for facts relating to the past history has gone on. My early research met with only limited success since all those who were connected with the foundation of the Hall had long since passed away or left the district and little seemed to be known of its {?} prior to the 1st World War. Bit by bit, however, I added to my knowledge and now at last my final triumph has been to obtain the original documents & Minute Books dating back to the very first meeting held on the premises 78 years ago. The ornate writing and rather pedantic language of the day has made these records difficult to decipher but their reading has proved utterly absorbing. Due to the rather scanty nature of some of the entries, there are unfortunately some gaps in the context but even so they …..
My perusal of the Minutes has {?} and it is interesting to note that the men and women who controlled the Hall over 70 years ago faced many of the same problems that we do today. One matter emerges however which I have found most interesting. The Trustees never seemed to know what they wanted to charge for the rooms!! In almost every set of minutes from 1888 to 1910 there appears an item labelled “Discussion as to revision of charges” and these appear to have gone up and down with a rapidity which must have left the Treasurer dizzy! However, it would seem that the members of the Trust could not have been hard task masters, since the same caretaker remained in their employ for just over 30 years.
The lowest ebb was reached in 1960, and it became apparent that some drastic steps would have to be taken if the premises were not to fall into complete dereliction. What that step should be was made clear by the outside offers of help which had been received and in March 1961 by mutual agreement the original Trust was dissolved . A Committee of Management, drawn from all the organisations using the Hall, took over its running. At the same time its name was changed from the “Institute” to the “Village Hall”, partly because it had been so designated in the new Deeds and partly because those concerned liked this more rural title.
The result of this move was remarkable. With eager enthusiasm the new Committee set to work to {?} in various ways and in an incredibly short space of time renovations and modernisation with the procuring of new {?} equipment had restored the premises to new {?}.
Bookings immediately began to increase until today the Hall is booked almost “solid” through each week and still houses a wide variety of activities as it ever did – in fact a few even stranger ones have crept in. Is there another village hall in the county that can actually have held a circus with a bear within its walls?!
So, my tale is brought up to date. The material at my disposal is so prolific that to recount it in detail would fill a volume and lack of space has forced me to pick out only the {?} on the Hall’s history. One interesting fact has emerged from my research and that is that the men and women who controlled the Hall in its earliest days had very much the same problems as the Committee does today. Some items in the Minute books in the last century might almost have been taken from today’s records.
Research Notes & Chronology
1888 – Land offered by Col. Sir James Johnstone & 5 local gentlemen put up £100 each. Estimate of £550 by Redditch firm (Huins) accepted (receipt for payment on show in present Hall). The building took under 7 weeks to complete. Toilets were direct into soil. Lit by oil lamps hanging from hooks in ceiling. Water pumped by hand from a well. Building handed over 14th September 1888.
1889 – Opened as a Reading Room and Library with books loaned from Kings Norton library (1905). Membership charge 1/6d per quarter. Daily Mail and Weekly Graphic newspapers available. Poster displayed in small meeting room. Venture not very successful – first year only 36 people joined so library was discontinued. Hall given over to general use with 5 Trustees.
1895 – Robert Mynors died leaving £2000 Consols stock to pay for future maintenance & repairs (approx. dividend income £70 p.a.).
1899 – Branding iron and 17 assorted brooms purchased!
Early 1900s – Hall used for meetings, dances, etc. Caretaker paid £2 p.a.
1903 – dumb well (cess pit) installed to take toilet toilet waste.
1907 – New timber floor (£60.10.0)
1910 – Electric pump installed to draw well water.
1912 – Hall used as Court House until 1956.
1913 – Working Men’s club applied – conditions not accepted.
1918 – Death of Miss F Mynors
1919 – No charge for Peace Celebrations. Resignation of caretaker for 30 years.
1920 – Letter of complaint from Parish Council and agreement to run the Hall.
1926 – Electric lighting discussed. (Oil lamps previously)
1927 – Generator plant installed in engine room. Neighbours complained about noise.
1930 – New coke heating discussed (installed 1931).
1932 – Concern about cost of running lighting generator. Suggested mains.
1936 – Management committee revised.
1937 – Electric mains connected by Shropshire, Worcs and Staffs. Elec Co.(cost £2.15.0) Electric plant (Petter engine) sold for £3. Gas supply laid on and gas fires and cooking stove installed.
1938 – Water main connected.
1941 – Flush lavatories installed.
1943 – New Management Committee (Parish Council no longer involved).
1948 – Boiler converted from coke to gas.
1950 – One of last properties to be connected to main sewer.
1961 – New Management Committee formed with fund raising circus and bear.
1966 – Replacement gas boiler (Potterton) cost £140 K.W.Breeden heating contractor.
1984 – Burst boiler replaced
1987 – Manpower Services Commission labour for 12 months.
Past Users of the Hall
Library, Court, Cricket club, Clinic, Rates collection, Social evenings, Dances, Darby & Joan, Young Farmers’ Club, Dramatic Society, Public meetings & consultations, Country dancing, Speedwell cycling club, Bazaar, Wythall & Hollywood horticultural society, Badminton, Yoga, Tea dances, Wythall Singers, Round Table, Ballet school, Coffee mornings, Valuation Court, private parties, wedding receptions, Polling station, WVS Meals on Wheels, Nursing association, Scouts, whist drives, Residents and Ratepayers Assn, National Fire Service shed, Infant welfare centre, Parish Council, Scottish dancing, Flower Club, WI Dramatic section, Youth club, Innisfree House school dancing tuition, Bingo, Jumble sales, Catholic building fund, Community association, Baptist church, Social Club, Parochial church council, County/Mobile library.
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