Sodom and Gomorrah Comes to Cobham

Disgraceful Scenes in Cobham

In May 1938, The Times reported on a Charity Commission investigation that was taking place into dances at Cobham Village Hall. The official inquiry took place within the hall, where 300 local inhabitants gathered for the hearing, seemingly in rather a feverish mood.

The inquiry had been launched following complaints from a Mr Daly, Church Warden. He had asserted that the “goings on” at the hall “rivalled the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah.” The shocking scenes that he had been subjected to included:

· A drunken couple falling over a heap of coal

· A woman with her head on a man’s breast

Mr Daly went on to assert that “there was no cuddling in my young days…I thought I was in France.”

Both the clerk to the trustees and the caretaker said that they had seen nothing. The licensee stoutly defended the sobriety of the people of Cobham and said that though local folk were a “merry and bright” people, there was never any drunkenness.

Mr Cooper, who organised dances at the village hall, insisted that they were respectable. He began to say that they were “so respectable that my daughter…” but his words were drowned out by the uproar in the hall.

Mr Daly’s complaint was not upheld.

The former den of iniquity

Have a look at my British cinema inspired stories...no cuddling at the back please

And click here to buy the book of the blog in which this incident also appears

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Woods Ware China at the Serving Hatch - The Book!

I have now put together a book to accompany this blog, featuring all the best bits and much more besides, about the development and use of village halls over the past century. It costs £1.29 for a Kindle download and £3.99 for a printed version. Here's the blurb: "Enter any village hall and look at the noticeboard. The range of activities taking place these days is enough to keep anyone entertained. Cinema evenings, keep fit classes, scouts, Women’s Institute, St John’s Ambulance, lunch clubs, support groups - all keeping the physical and spiritual on the straight and narrow. Where would we be without the village hall? What a marvellous innovation, and one that seems to grow in importance as we realise that we have lost sight of community somewhat, and need to nurse it back to life. You might, if you were in a particularly philosophical mood while hanging around the vestibule, wonder where and how it all began." English village halls have been a fixture of our lands...

Bogarde's Beginnings

Village halls played a part in the early careers of many actors – some of them becoming world renowned. Who knows just how many household names first got a taste for the luvvie life at the local amateur dramatic society. Dirk Bogarde was certainly one of them, because he wrote about his experiences at Newick Village Hall, near Lewes. Dirk’s mother made the acquaintance of a Mrs Cox, whose husband was said to own the village hall. Dirk became good friends with the Coxs’ daughter and the family took to him, allowing him to indulge his teenage ambition of becoming a playwright. He wrote, and starred in “The Man on the Bench”, supported by Nerine Cox. It was performed around the time that Nazi Germany had marched into Austria – but a sparse audience with a lot on their minds nevertheless received it well. Mr Cox offered Dirk his first leading role shortly afterwards with the Newick Amateur Drama Society – Raleigh in R.C. Sherriff’s “Journey’s End”. “It was a tremendous ...

Dixon of Fingers Green

In what could be the script from a gentle BBC comedy of the 60s or 70s, the village policeman triumphed at the horticultural show in a small Kent village. The local bobby walked away from the Village Hall with 11 out of 14 prizes. A cub reporter from the local rag dared to ask the green fingered P.C. if he talked to his blooms, to which the answer came: "No." He was encouraged to elaborate: "Talking to them, singing to them, music, that's all a lot of tripe. There's no substitute for hard work. You have to treat them like children, water them and care for them." I suppose he's right. There are similarities. Both flowers and children are prone to infestations of little creatures. And they never quite turn out how you expect, but sometimes you're lucky. Have a look at my novella for more vintage gardening fun

Woods Ware China at the Serving Hatch

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