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DATCHET
VILLAGE HALL
The opportunity to build a new
village hall for Datchet was created by a Datchet resident
and benefactor Mr Denys Randolph who established a
charitable trust called the Datchet Recreational Centre
Charitable Trust, DRCCT, in 1967. He bequeathed a sum of
£6250 for the purchase of land on which a new recreation
centre could be built.
At the time Mr Randolph lived at
Nutt’s Corner in Montagu Rd and he owned the well-known
company Wilkinson Sword. Having recently sold the razor
blade section of his business to Gillette and thereby come
into a considerable sum of money, he wished to use some of
this wealth for the benefit of the village; hence the
establishment of the DRCCT with its bequest of £6250.
Shortly after the establishment
of the trust the trustees bought a piece of land which
lies between the ditch on the Recreation Ground and the
Horton Road. This strip of land had been owned by Mr
Frederick Sabatini who in the 1940s bought the house
in Horton Road called The Lawn, including
this strip of land which was part of the Lawn's
property. The Trust bought the land from his widow in
1967 using Denys Randolph’s bequest. Not surprisingly this
piece of land is known as the Sabatini land and it is, to
this day, owned by the DRCCT.
The Parish Council of the day
then set about the task of planning a new Hall and raising
the necessary funds for its construction and its
furnishings. This they did successfully and the new
Village Hall was completed and opened in 1976. The total
cost was £118,000. It is interesting to note that £90,000
of this was raised by the compulsory purchase of allotment
land for the development of the houses in the Holmlea
estate.
The Village Hall has been run
for many years by a committee of volunteers, representing
various village organisations, as a part of the charity
originally set up by Denys Randolph in 1967, namely the
DRCCT. |
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