Welcome everyone to our new website. We hope that it will eventually contain everything that you are looking for. Please note that some areas are still under construction, so please bear with us and in the meantime please drop us an email if you require any information. Our details are at the bottom of the page.
Emsworth Community Centre managed by Emsworth Community Association
Charity No 1181509
Please see below how it all began
How it all began
Emsworth Community Centre, situated in the heart of the village, thrives with activity and is used by residents of all ages. It is run by Emsworth Community Association, a registered charity, no 1181509> and managed by a committee of trustees, many of whom have an interest in groups that run the Centre. Trustees and staff aim to make Emsworth Community Centre a welcoming place for all our residents.
It all started in 1841 when St James Church (Church of England) was built on the site of an old brickfield the Church of England National Schools Society raised the funds to build a school near to the church in 1865 and it was a boys school for the first 50 years. In 1902 the County Council became responsible for elementary education for the first time and a new County Council school was built in Washington road. There was now to many schools in Emsworth so the Girls school was closed and St James School became mixed. The small schools around Warblington and Leigh were also closed and the children from those areas now travelled to Emsworth, mostly by train.
Emsworth was the first parish to have their own public elementary school and no other has been built since.
St James School became to big for the site near the church and moved to Bellvue Lane. In 1974 their was a big debate on what should happen to the old school building, It was leased to a group of residents of Emsworth who formed a Community Association and eventually was able to purchase the building in 2016 to run a charity based Community Centre
previous to the purchase in the 1987 an extension was added to the Community Centre which created extra rooms for hire and included a large room for social and private functions and
a dance studio which called the Lumley room
which was named after
Joanna Lumley who opened the new
extension.
The pictures below tell the story.
If anyone has any photos or information about the Centre and how it began, or memories they remember that we can use on this page, please let us know.
We believe everyone should be able to use the Community Centre.
So we ensure that we make our activities safe, accessible, varied and fun for all
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide our community with an accessible by all Community Centre, while keeping it to a standard and safety required for a healthy safe and friendly environment
Our Vision
Our vision is to be known by all the community and utilised by everyone. Using some type of activity or social event and enjoying them, coming back for more, and being the talk of the Village
We have a fully functional kitchen, which is available to book for parties and meetings. The Cafe can be used for small social gatherings and a dance floor for teaching dance.
