St Georges Hall

The Eighties
The ‘old’ St. Georges Hall was a hive of activity in the early eighties. Ron Henderson painted animals on the walls and the children made a stage. They had bingo there on Tuesday and Sunday evenings. Pauline and Mary ran children’s clubs there nearly every evening.

Pictured here is the 'new' hall, rebuilt in the late eighties. It is due to be extended and refurbished during this year.

Jackie remembers when the subway was built along the Lewes Road. Water spurted up all over the road and children had a great time splashing around in it!

Dave Barnard reported that there were about thirty different clubs meeting around Moulsecoomb, Associations and Playgroups are to mention a few. The community newspaper, ‘The Mole’ lists the number of activities on the rear page.

Problems with housing emerged in this time period, especially in Birdham Road where conditions were deteriorating. Dave is passionate about housing and regularly campaigns for council housing to be improved. He is an advocate for the people and does what he can to support the community.

Dave Barnard was co-chair of the Moulsecoomb Forum(1985-1990) who met to decide what would be beneficial on the estate. The forum listed seventeen items to be addressed. Over time all these were met. The number one priority was a health centre, a clinic is now serving the estate and so is a community leisure centre. The ‘old’ St. Georges Hall was demolished and re-built in accordance with what the community wanted. Dave’s achievements also included a boy’s football club. They trained twice a week and attended Brighton and Hove Albion matches. Two or three lads are now playing for national teams! Another venture was a skateboarding club, who organised a marathon to show the authorities they were serious about getting their own facilities. Click here to hear a taped recording of an event which the radio station Southern Sound broadcast including an interview with Dave.