by Geoffrey Butter
Geoff Butter has shared with us here, his early memories of the village hall in Adderley. What a treasure that hall was for local people to enjoy socially. If you have memories you can add to those of Geoff please let us know. These memories are part of our history and will be lost if we don’t record them somewhere.
“My earliest memories of the Memorial Hall would have been about 1961-2.
I can remember the Empire Tea, this was provided by the Women’s Institute. It consisted of jelly and ice cream, cakes and lots of party games like musical chairs and pass the parcel. We would sneak outside and run up and through the hedge bank, however, Mrs Evans was not to pleased with us. Later Headmistress Mrs E Jones, thanked the ladies for the tea. Mrs Mackay would play one last song on the hall piano, something like ‘One green bottle hanging on the wall’, then a bit of tidying up with what we called ‘the big brushes’.
Sometimes when you walked past the hall you could hear local band Terry and the Woodlarks practising.
I remembered going to the youth club every Tuesday and Thursday run by Mr Irwin Nuendorff and Mrs A Stag. We would play games like snakes and ladders, draughts, chess and skittles with a ball on a string. My favourite was table tennis and darts for the older ones. Pop and crisps were sometimes available.
Next door was the billiard room for the Working Men’s Club.
Some of the younger men would come out for a game of table tennis and the winner would stop on.
Through the year we would have School concerts and fund raising events like ‘Tramps Night’. We would get soot from the coal fire to put on our faces. Headmaster Mr Lazarus thought this was a good idea and followed suit.
A big event in the village hall was the harvest supper. Bring your own knife, fork and spoon. A large part of the village would turn out with Rev Grenville Morgan playing host. At the end of the meal the sale of produce would take place. Mr Pearce of Green and Pearce would do the selling with lots of good humour.
Sometimes a travelling barge with actors on would stop and put on a show.
I think I can remember a Church Service and Sunday School taking place, if the Church was having repairs. Somebody was always nicking the lead from the church roof, so it seemed. I remember the hall being used for many things but this was for the adults not us kids.”
Written and shared by Geoff Butter Feburary 2025
