Wilsden Village Society History

Village Hall Committee 6

The programme for 1979 was very much as previously, with Knockout competitions, celebrities and a great range of stalls and entertainments. It had however been more difficult to organise because some of the usual entertainments were not available on the Bank Holiday and it took many phone calls to find alternatives. Bringing dreadful memories of the first Aire Faire, Bank Holiday Monday was the wettest for 23 years. Frustratingly the Sunday on which the Faire would have been held had been a glorious sunny day. Attendance was inevitably down although plenty of people did brave the weather and the competitions went ahead. Of course the wet conditions led to damage to the field and the Bingley Parks Action Group lost no time in describing it as appalling and calling for a complete ban on heavy lorries. They spoke of local people having to picnic in the mud in the coming summer. Noel Bourke hit back at their emotive statements, pointing out that it was their actions that had led to the change of date.

“It’s going to be rather tiresome,” he said, “if after every event of this kind, we are going to get comments of this kind. It also begs the question – just who does the writer represent?” The park was for everyone’s enjoyment and the three major events held there in the year, the Aire Faire, Bingley Gala and Bingley Show, provided enjoyment and entertainment for many thousands of people.

Perhaps hassle of this sort played a part in the decision not to hold an Aire Faire in 1980. Certainly the organisers were ready for a rest, many of the same people having been heavily involved in adding squash courts to the village hall. From its formation, the village hall committee had met at least monthly, increasing to twice monthly between January and the Aire Faire each year. By the beginning of April, for reasons which will become clear later, they were aware that this time there would be serious problems with organisation and staffing. The Bank Holiday date would that year have also clashed with a big event based on the Haworth railway. The Bingley Guardian commented that the Wilsden-based event had rapidly become a social institution and had attracted people from all over Airedale and Bradford. In popularity it had taken its place alongside events like Bingley Show while its traditional knockout competitions had been a great attraction.

The society did not rule out a return of the Aire Faire at a later date, but this did indeed prove to be the end of an achievement of which many Wilsden people could be justifiably proud.

Even activities on a much smaller scale than the Aire Faire often have a limited life span. The two 200 clubs were merged into one, then run for a short time as a 100 club before finally ending in May 1975. By then, work focussed on the village hall project had been going on for four years, the full extent only realised by active members of the society. On May 12th 1975, the morning after the third Aire Faire, the reality of a hall for Wilsden was plain for all to see when a bulldozer moved on to the Firth Lane site to begin. By July work was sufficiently advanced for that significant milestone, the laying of the foundation stone. The village society decided that this should not be done by some visiting dignitary. The hall was not the gift of an old-style wealthy benefactor but had come about through the vision, perseverance and sheer hard work of a great many ordinary people. Its intended use was for all sections of the community.

There were local dignitaries – County Coun. Tom Batty from West Yorkshire Metropolitan Council (the short-lived successor body to the West Riding County Council), Coun. Leslie Fullylove from Bradford Metropolitan District Council and Mr. G.C.Moore, Chief Executive of the BMDC, but they were there to watch, along with a crowd of about 600 people. The stone was laid on July 6th on behalf of The People of Wilsden, by 86 year old Fred Varley, chosen by the Senior Citizens group, and 9 year old Denise Pollard and David Drake from Wilsden First School. Commemorative engraved trowels for the three of them were provided by the society and Mr. Jowett of the Wilsden hardware shop. Haworth Brass Band played, plans of the hall were on display and refreshments were served in the park by the WVS social committee on a beautiful summer day. Bob Temperton, chairman of the village society, described it as a day to remember. Verner Wheelock explained that arrangements for management of the centre had not been finalised, but the intention was that all sections of the community should be involved if they wished.

As the walls started to rise, the society continued to raise money and drew up lists of furnishings and kitchen equipment. Lack of clear words from Bradford concerning management and running costs began to cause disquiet within the village society general and hall committees. The society solicitor was urged to meet with the council solicitor without delay. In September they were back to being shunted around departments. The society received a letter from the Chief Executive of Bradford Met. saying it was not appropriate to proceed with preparation of a lease until problems of management were discussed with the Directorate of Educational Services. However, Marcus Catling, who had been a Bingley councillor in the final days of the UDC, was able to state that the Bingley UDC Minute 286 of 26th September 1972 stated the terms of the lease of the land, namely for 50 years at £20 per annum. The successor council was bound by this. It was subsequently found that no actual contract had been drawn up, so these terms were only morally binding.

A joint venture on this scale between a local authority and a voluntary organisation was something new, with no precedents to follow. The welcome inclusion of a youth centre, uniformed youth facilities and provision for the library service resulted in a much bigger unit than WVS had first envisaged, or could be expected to run unaided. A proper management structure was not actually formalised until 1980, four years after the hall opened for business. For those four years the village society managed the hall on an unofficial basis but with financial support from the council. What was eventually arrived at was a management committee with local authority members, WVS members and others representing special interests in the village. The council would meet the cost of staff (warden, caretaker and cleaner) and make a contribution towards maintenance. The management committee would be responsible for other expenses, income coming mainly from lettings. There were to be two trustees, one from the local authority and one from the village society, to whom the building would be leased for sixty years, with a further twenty year option. If the use were to be changed, the council would take back the building with a cash settlement for the other party.

Many years later, when Bradford Council decided to cut their grant to Wilsden village hall, this caused a great deal of ill feeling. It was only because of these initial arrangements with the council that Wilsden had a centre so much bigger than voluntary groups are usually expected to be able to run.

Towards the end of 1975 there was discussion in the general committee about the amount of work everyone was doing, pursuing the society’s other aims as well as working for the hall. Several commented that there had been more work than play in the society’s activities recently. Because so many of the same people seemed to be forever planning and putting up stalls, they wondered whether the Aire Faire and the Gala should be held alternate years. Another point of view was that the Aire Faire would eventually run out of steam and should continue annually until it did so. Perhaps no one expected it to go on quite as long as it did. At this meeting, members came up with the idea of using the opening of the hall to showcase the rest of the society’s work and hopefully attract new helpers. A group was asked to plan this, consisting of a representative from each sub committee plus Leslie Catling, Ronnie Overton, John Parker and Brian Parker from Bradford Council’s public relations department.