The Chapel with Chancel extension after 1914-18 World War
History of our Village Hall
Useful link : History and Genealogy of Bisley, Surrey
https://surreylocalhistory.org.uk/bisley/index.htm
Thank you to everyone who came to the 150th Anniversary event on
Sunday 27th October 2024
to celebrate the opening of the
Schools' Chapel in 1874
now the Village Hall in Bisley
Bisley Village Hall was built in
1874 and was originally the chapel to the Farm School & Shaftesbury Schools which later amalgamated to become Bisley Boys School.
Bisley Boys School closed down at the end of the Summer Term July
1959.
In 1955 a committee, representing all the village organisations, was formed to raise funds to build a new village hall.
They started with just £170. Money was to be raised by the residents at fairs, bazaars, dances, jumble sales, carol singing etc.
By
1959 the total had reached £2,000.
It was decided that the funds that had been raised by the village, were to be used to purchase the chapel in 1961 and pay for the conversion. The total cost was £6,100. The village residents had raised £3,500 over 7 yrs.
In 1961 the Chapel of the Bisley Boys School (previously the Farm School & The Shaftesbury School) was transferred from the Shaftesbury Homes and Arethusa Training Ship for the sum of £500.
In
1962
the hall was opened as Bisley Village Hall and charitable status was conferred on the Hall.
(In 2001, 40 yrs later the Hall had to be insured for £600,000 and we are very grateful to the Shaftesbury Homes & Arethusa Training Ship for their transfer of the Chapel to Bisley Village Hall).
In 1982 the Jubilee Hall was added.
The Memorial Windows
Interior of the School Chapel with the extended Chancel about 1928.
The stained glass windows were removed about 1960
after the school closed in 1959
Over the years we have been contacted by people tracing their family histories.
There is a census link to 1861, 1871 & 1891 with all the boys are named who were at the two Shaftesbury Schools in Bisley at these times
https://surreylocalhistory.org.uk/bisley/index.htm
We do not have records of all the boys that were at the Farm School & Shaftesbury Schools during other years, but we do have the names of the boys who gave their lives in WW1 and WW2. (See Below) The two schools were amalgamated as Bisley School after WW1.
The first list is of the names of the Old Boys of the Farm School and Shaftesbury School in Bisley who died in WW1 from the Shaftesbury Society LOG BOOKS and the second from the memorial tablets (Appendix G "A Hundred Years Behind The Times" by Tim Price) WW1 & WW2
The Memorial Tablets were on the outside of the Sanctuary wall at the Boys' School Chapel. They were removed when the school was closed and sold in 1959/1961.
New leaded windows replaced the original stained glass memorial windows as part of our Heritage Project.
8th September 2019
The Memorial Windows Heritage Project was awarded £10,000 by the HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND towards the replacement of the Memorial Windows and Heritage Project about Bisley and the Shaftesbury Homes' Schools during WW1 together with funding from Surrey Heath Borough Council £3000
The stained glass panel was hand painted and depicts :
The LANTERN that has become the symbol of the Heritage Project and it is our link to Bisley Village Hall having previously been the Chapel of the Shaftesbury Homes ' Schools.
It was made by the boys in the metal workshop and used to hang in the porch of the Chapel. Every boy would have passed under it and the light shining out of it is also symbolic of hope and light from darkness.
POPPIES surrounding the lantern that are in memory of the "Old Boys" of the Farm School & Shaftesbury School who gave their lives in the First World War to which the Chancel of the school Chapel was dedicated
"Lest We Forget" is to remind us of the "Old Boys" who gave their lives not only in WW1 but in other conflicts too. Also to remember the Shaftesbury Homes' Schools that played such a huge part in the history of our village
AVAILABLE NOW supported by the HERITAGE FUND
BISLEY VILLAGE HALL - GREAT WAR BOOKLET
The booklet tells of the impact of the Great War 1914-18 on Bisley's Shaftesbury Homes/Schools and on the village.
Suggested donation £3 min. towards continuation of the Heritage Project
To order contact:
Sue Smith: susan.smith983@ntlworld.com Graham Davey: grahamdavey6@aol.com