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Tenants and Residents Hall
A Short History.
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Gunton Estate Residents Meeting Hall, Hollingsworth Road, today’s Gunton Estate Community Hall, as it was in the summer of 2006.
(Photo Ian G Robb)
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The Gunton Estate Residents Meeting Hall – known today as the Gunton Estate Community Hall and still called by many as the estate’s Tenants Hall - was built by Lowestoft Borough Corporation in late 1955 and opened in the early months of 1956. It was, and still remains, the estate’s only secular community facility.
The Gunton Estate itself was originally laid out in 1945, in the months after the end of the Second World War, and was constructed as part of Lowestoft’s rebuilding programme following the extensive enemy attacks on the town between 1940 and 1944. Like other similar council-built estates of the time, it was never constructed as a working-class estate, but was seen as the start of a new era, encompassing all walks of life. Its houses were built to a high standard, and although the prefabs and Orlit houses have long gone, the brick-built houses remain as a now-lost beacon to the idea of a brand new, healthier world.
The Gunton Estate Residents Meeting Hall (today’s Gunton Estate Community Hall) was part of that ideal. The first of its type in East Anglia, the years following the Hall’s opening saw beetle drives, dances, a Darby and Joan club (equivalent to today’s Autumn Leisure Club), and before the era of television, Tuesday and Wednesday Gunton Estate Cinema Clubs for the community’s children. Teenage dances took place at weekends, which in the days of the Corporation buses, attracted youngsters from across the Bridge.
New houses replaced the prefabs in the 1960s, and the Hall was expanded to meet the growing population. However, communities were changing; motor cars and television changed people’s habits, so much so that many tended to stay at home or travelled further afield for entertainment. Some clubs survived, but others became defunct through falling numbers. By 1999, only the short-mat bowls club, the Old Age Pensioners’ Club, and the twice-weekly Bingo and Social Club remained.
The dramatic decline of the town’s major employers between 1987 and 1995 affected every family on the estate. The Hall remained in use, but there was now little community involvement compared with its earlier days. The building also began to have a neglected and dilapidated feel about it.
Improvements started following the involvement of Gunton Estate Tenants and Residents Association members, Ann Hubbard and Ian Robb. Once on the Hall’s management committee, not only did they push to repair the building, but vowed to return it to the wider community of the estate.
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Hall co-ordinator Ann Hubbard
(Photo Ian G Robb)
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It has taken nearly ten years to reach this objective; spearheaded by Ann Hubbard, who is now the Hall’s caretaker and voluntary co-ordinator, there remains a commitment for the Hall to continue as a community asset. Today, as the Gunton Estate Community Hall, it is a well-used and vital part of the locality for which it was originally built. It has also benefited from Lowestoft Together funding.
Now much improved, the building has central heating, a new Lowestoft Together-funded kitchen and storage cupboards, and is in constant use six days of the week. In keeping with the community camaraderie created by the Lowestoft Together project, the Yard was also involved in the building of the Hall’s new shed and the creation of its landscaped compound.
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Members from the Yard project constructing the Hall’s compound, 2008, part of a major Lowestoft Together community-led funding.
(Photo Ian G Robb)
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The Gunton Estate Community Hall today – a few snippets around the building and some of its events.
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The Community Hall’s new Lowestoft Together-funded kitchen.
(Photo Ian G Robb)
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Celebrating after a successful and pioneering Give and Take Away Day involving both the Community Hall and fellow Gunton Partnership member, Signpost Gunton Baptist Church, 2008.
(Photo Ian G Robb)
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And, at last - courtesy of the Yard and Lowestoft Together - the Hall got its very first sign in 2008 - fifty-two years after it was officially opened!
(Photo Ian G Robb)
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Linking in with other partners is the resident-led Lowestoft Together project; both the Gunton Partnership and, in particular, the Gunton Estate Community Hall have benefited to the extent that the Hall has regained its place as an essential part of the Estate’s vibrant community. The Community Hall can stand as a prime example of a successful beneficiary of Lowestoft Together funding and as an example of how community involvement can bring a valuable community asset back from the brink.
The Hall’s current management team – which are all voluntary – consists of Ann Hubbard (co-ordinator, booking secretary and Good Food Co-op), Reg Brine (fund-raising, Credit Union and Good Food Co-op), Pat and Peter Jurack (helpers). In the background is Ian Robb who is the Hall’s secretary and treasurer.
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Gunton Estate Tenants Hall, Hollingsworth Road, as it was in 1956. Gunton Baptist Hall, Montgomery Avenue, is in the distance, with some of the estate’s prefabs on the extreme right.
(Photo Ian G Robb)
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For more information about the Gunton Estate Community Hall or to book the hall, contact Ann Hubbard on 01502 564601