HALL GREEN, THEN AND NOW.

‘In The Beginning’.

 In the early years of the 20^th Century, Hall Green began to grow from a sleepy hamlet to a bustling suburban community, with the coming of the railway in 1912 accelerating this change. A newly built house on the ‘Oldhouse Farm Estate’, situated between Highfield Road and Robin Hood Lane could be bought in the 1920’s for £550 – with mortgage repayments of ‘£3-2s-0d every lunar month’. 

Soon there was an area between the river Cole and the main Stratford Road, which housed some 12000 people where, although there were places of worship built for Methodists, Baptists, Roman Catholics and the Society of Friends; there was no Church of England. Colonel John Ellis Purfoy Jervoise, the owner of a large amount of the land being built on, offered a field entirely surrounded by houses, but with access from both Paradise lane and Highfield Road, on which a Chapel of Ease could be built. Christ Church. This land was part of the Parish of Christ Church, Yardley Wood. The offer was gladly accepted and on September 24^th 1923 Army Huts bought for £80 was licensed to worship and dedicated to St Cadoc. The building consisted of two huts; cleverly joined together to make an L shaped structure. The long section was used for worship and the smaller section was used as a hall for church community groups. There were folding doors, which could be pulled either across the church – to make the hall larger – or across the hall to make the church larger. This building was used regularly for the next 30 years.

After the Second World War, it became increasingly clear that a more permanent church was required and in 1953, a curate was appointed specifically to investigate creating a new parish within Hall Green with its own church building. 

On June 29^th1954, St Cadocs Chapel of Ease became St Peter’s Church and fundraising commenced to build a new, modern church. A fundraising leaflet published in 1957 said of the existing building -‘The exterior was dilapidated, the interior dark and dreary and the roof leaked! Money was in short supply, and to help financially, part of the building was used for a time as a school’.

Space became more and more of a problem, and whilst planning continued for a new church, a Nissen (again an ex-military building) was bought to accommodate the thriving Scout Group and the Sunday School. Little did any one dream that within two years, this Nissen hut would need to be used for all church worship and activities!

On April 18^th, 1959 a jumble sale was held in support of the building fund. Unfortunately, a pile of unsold clothes were put too near to a heater, and by the time that a group of ladies arrived in the evening for a Whist drive, the building was a blazing inferno. With hymn and prayer books salvaged, but smoke damaged, services were still held the next day in the Nissen hut, where a small harmonium and children’s chairs were put to good use by the congregation of some 164 people. As news report in the Evening Mail said, the jumble sale, which raised £30, caused damage 0f £7000! 

It was decided to erect a pre-cast concrete building, which was relatively cheap, could be used as a temporary church and, when no longer needed in this capacity, could become the church hall. The first service was held in this building on Easter Day 1960. As Bill Roberts, Warden Emeritus was to write of this day ‘All Easter Day services were held in the new hall: without heat or light, but who cared. It was a joy to know that matters had progressed so far – but back into the Nissen hut the following Sunday. In fact, later that year, the Lord Bishop of Birmingham was able to dedicate the ‘new Parish Hall’ for use as a temporary church.

With money hard to come by, nothing was wasted. As the old, damaged building was pulled down, any usable timber was salvaged and put to one side. From this timber a large hut was erected, and whilst officially named ‘the Annex’, in recognition that it should be available for all youth activities, it rapidly became known as ‘the Scout Hut’.

 Some 40 years later, the ‘Parish Hall’ is still in daily use. Whilst it is structurally sound, it has many deficiencies for modern day use. ‘The Scout Hut’ is still used for Scouting and Guiding, but is totally inappropriate for this or any other activity.

 It is telling that for an investment of £12,518, local parishioners have had the opportunity for the last 44 years to serve the local community- a capital cost of less than £290 per year. 

Our challenge is now to have the vision, generosity and drive which those first parishioners had, so that we can renovate a develop a new facility, capable of serving the community of Hall Green as it evolves and changes over the next 40 years.

( Acknowledgement : much of this article is a summary  of the History of St Peters Church, written in 1988 by Bill Roberts, Warden Emeritus for many years)