The Community Centre

Do you remember when the Meliden Community Centre was an asbestos-roofed concrete pre-fab?—the sort of thing springing up at schools everywhere after the last war. We called it the canteen but it was a classroom too, with a row of wooden screens placed down the centre to divide the dining area from the classroom. There were metal-framed windows, Marley floor tiles and a slow combustion, pot-bellied coke stove, crouching behind protective rails—tended by Mr. Potts. The stove’s belly could be be made to glow red by enthusiastic stoking—which was necessary to survive those cold 1950s’ winters and to defrost the milk ready for playtime! The end nearest to Ffordd Bryn Melyd contained a kitchen, store and toilet and there was a sliding hatch servery. Do you remember the gristle in the stew, the skin mixed into the rice pudding and the frog-spawn with a blob of red jam to serve as bait? Thursday was was frog-spawn day and the little ones used to cry.

The old school closed in 1969 but remained available for hire until its future had been decided. In November, the Ratepayers’ Association was holding a meeting and with a membership of 1,784 out of an electorate of 10,570, it was in the words of Councillor Percy Taylor, “The largest association in town.” Suddenly, they were invaded by Brown Owl and her entourage. Brown Owl told them that soon there would be nowhere for the local organisations to meet. She reminded them that the Ratepayers’ Association were not the only people using the building that evening—there were the Brownies and the Meliden Choir. She thought that the old school was too big and expensive to take on but the canteen would be ideal. Politicians possess a nose for a vote-winning cause and so the Ratepayers’ Association agreed to write to the Flintshire Education Authority to find out what it had planned for the canteen. I suspect that the presence Jean Hughes, Elsie Newell and Freda Shaw with a large fibre-glass Brownie mushroom may have helped them to arrive at a sensible decision.

The response from the Authority was favourable with the building officially taken over in 1970 and opened by Mr. Chowdhury who was joined by George Anderson, O. D. Owen, J. Howard Davies (Director of Education) and Ivy Anderson. It was dilapidated, too small, noisy and expensive to maintain, the kitchen facilities were inadequate, storage was non-existent and of course—there was one toilet. The fundraising started, or I should say, restarted, because there had been a Community Association Fund set up in 1951. A big thermometer was soon put up on the outside wall to show the level of funds and there were endless discos (as the good people of Bryn Melyd Avenue were only too well aware), jumble sales—do you remember jumble sales?; sports days, carnivals, amazing pensioners’ parties and every means of self-publicity—helped by the likes of Ken Ashton who reported everything. Do you remember when we had a news-seeking local reporter with his faithful photographer?

It was a true community effort and looking at the press reports we can see names we may remember. In no particular order:—Jackie Shaw, Ken Ashton, Ray Barnes, Gary Hughes, Elma Jones, John Hughes, Hefin Hughes, Bob Jones, Bob Gardner, Jean Hughes, Angela Ramsden, A. Spargo, G. Roberts, Miss Woodhead, Mrs Beattie, Mrs L. Evans, Menna Price (last three were W.I. Members), Mr & Mrs Stewart (Chairman of P.U.D.C.), Gwen Scarll, Elsie Newall, Mrs C Roberts, May Harrison, M. Davies, J. Dodson, George Falvey, P. Hingley, Miss R Jones, Tina Ligema, Mrs MacMenigal, Mrs C Roberts, Mr Shenton, Mrs Thorne, Mrs Worsley, Robin Lamb, Mrs Powell—and those were just the ones in the press reports—sorry if your name is missing.