Our history
The story of how the Community Centre came to be built:
- 1944 The Village Association was formed and tasked with raising funds for a War Memorial, which was to take the form of a "first-class Village Hall and enlargement of the Recreation Ground". Fundraising began towards the estimated cost of £15,000.
- 1951 More land had been bought to extend the Recreation Ground, the tennis courts were laid out and the football field was levelled.
- 1957 The Association suggested building a new hall on the Recreation Ground at a cost of £8,000, to be paid for by selling the old hall and the land it stood on (now the Lovelinch Gardens shops). A secret ballot at a public meeting that May voted in favour of a new building. Between the sale and a grant of £2,000 from the Rural District Council, the money was available to start making plans.
The foundation stone was laid on the Recreation Ground at Keedwell Hill in June 1959, and on 14th November 1959 the hall was officially declared open.
Some of the other plans took longer to arrive:
- A Youth Hut alongside the hall was part of the original plans.
- A bowling green was also planned, and came to fruition in 1986.
- A Garden of Remembrance was laid out shortly after the opening. It was later demolished when Keeds Hall was built on the land.
Have a look at this album by "Discover North Somerset", found by clicking here. If you scroll down to the end of the album, you can see photos of what the village hall looked like in 1960.
In October 1996, a public meeting voted unanimously to expand the building, because the facilities were being fully utilised. Long Ashton Millennium Project (LAMPRO), made up of local residents, was set up to raise funds and manage the provision of the new facilities. User groups began holding events and dances, with the proceeds going to the Redevelopment Fund.
Over the years, the site has been developed step by step:
- 2002 The Club Room was completed, used at first mainly by the Youth Club.
- 2003 The Jubilee Pavilion was completed.
- 2001 to 2004 The children's playground, the arena, and the youth shelter bandstand all received a complete overhaul.
- 2008 The tennis pavilion was built.
- 2013 Peel Park, with pitches for the Junior Football Club, was laid out and ready for use.
A sum of money from the development of Long Ashton Research Station land enabled the completion of the later stages. LAMPRO was wound up in 2009.
Since 1965 the area has been managed by Long Ashton Community Association (LACA). LACA succeeded the Village Association, which handed ownership of the land to the Parish Council at that time.
Many thanks to Jean Pullin of the Local History Society for contributing the interesting content on this page.