discovered the metal box with the original plan plates, correspondence going back to 1902 regarding many aspects of the maintenance and fabric of the building and even the original receipt of the Piano in the Hall which though at present needs some tender loving care, is and was one of the best of its day. Then of course there was Barry informing me that the Hall had been a venue for bands and that the house band was ‘the Saracens’. Finding Ivy Bunyan, widow of George Bunyan, who had been a caretaker at the Hall for 30 years between the 1950s to 1980s, was one of the highlights; and a trip to Stevenage ensued to find that at 95 she still remembered the Hall. I quickly realised that the best way to get the information that I was obtaining out there was to try and engage the community via social media and I linked into two other Woodford Historical sites and mums' facebook pages. I loved sharing each new piece of information I unearthed via facebook and there was a lot to share, yes The Who did play at the Hall, at one time it was going to be a cinema, it was a shelter for refugees in both WW1 and WW2. Churchill and his wife Clementine visited the hall on many occasions. In WW1 John Heath the Honorary Secretary of the day joined up. It acted as a British Restaurant in the WW2. It was like peeling an onion, there were so many layers of information. 22
I was initially saddened that despite really trying I just could not get enough volunteers on board to assist with the oral histories. I was even more saddened that not as many people as I would have liked from the community provided their oral or written histories. Again it was that thing about being saying one thing and doing another, but I was not undaunted and pressed on and eventually got some amazing histories. (You can still provide your written histories to go on the website). The piece de resistance was six weeks ago when Thomas Reynolds Roberts' great, great, great, great granddaughter Sally contacted me. She had been doing some research and had come across the work that I had been doing in respect of J R and T R Roberts. This resulted in her visiting the Hall, which was a great experience and very moving when she asked if the Hall was the building where her great, great, great grandfather would have presented the flowers to the Lord Mayor of London at the opening ceremony of the hall in 1902 when he was 3 years old and I could confirm that indeed it was. We exchanged a lot of information including John Roberts's Will which mentions the Hall. Sally is a musician and a very fine pianist and I am a singer and at her suggestion next year we are putting on a concert in aid of raising funds for the hall! So there will be a ‘Roberts’ at the hall once again 115 years after it was opened.