The Darby and Joan hall

MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS to the Darby and Joan hall in South Street have ensured its use for many years to come. Workmen moved in last year to carry out a major programme of renovation costing £70,000 for the deteriorating roof, the replacement of the windows and other associated tasks, financed with various grants and fund raising by members. An official re-opening on Friday 23rd October 2009 marked the completion of the work when club chairman, Mary Holmes, said. "Large amounts of money have been spent over the past few years and now we have a hall that meets all of the requirements for the 21st century."

It also remains a memorial to the woman whose inspiration was responsible for it being built half a century ago. She was Mrs Ida Pick, a local councillor, who recognised the need for a permanent meeting place for the old people of Bourne although the idea came to her quite by chance.

During the middle years of the last century, while crossing the Market Place one morning, she saw a number of old men sheltering from a winter storm near the steps of the Town Hall but obviously enjoying each other's company as they stood gossiping about the issues of the day. Mrs Pick stopped to talk to them and discovered that they had no close relatives and fended for themselves but met regularly at the same spot for a few minutes of chat and sociability.

It was at that moment that the conception of the Darby and Joan Club was born and she was soon organising regular meetings for the dozen or so people that turned up, usually in borrowed or rented accommodation such as the Vestry Hall in North Street and the former National School, now the Conservative Party headquarters, but by 1958 the possibility of a permanent home became a reality.

Bourne United Charities offered the land for a new hall on the edge of the Wellhead Gardens, once occupied by the carpentry business run by Frederick Baldock of Baldock's Mill with the riverside studio of the photographer Ashby Swift nearby and the premises of Johnson Brothers who ran a shoeing forge and implement works behind. The money was to come from fund-raising and donations with a target of £5,000 but the local authorities promised generous grants and so construction work began in February 1959.

The next few months were devoted to raising the rest of the money with a variety of schemes while donations started rolling in, from business, industry and individuals, ranging from several pounds to a few shillings and by January the following year, £4,775 had been raised. At the time of the official opening, the total cost of the project had gone up to £6,500 (more than £120,000 by today's values) and all but £1,400 had been raised. Mrs Pick, who had been appointed chairman of the club, told the gathering: "Although there is still an overdraft, we have that wonderful feeling of nearly owning our own house."

The hall was officially opened in July 1960 by the Earl of Ancaster who recalled that the project had been encouraged with a £1,000 grant from the King George VI Memorial Fund. Local councils and welfare organisations had assisted but a great part of the work and the bulk of the money had come from the people of Bourne and from former townspeople now living elsewhere.

Mrs Pick concluded the opening ceremony by announcing that due to the increased accommodation, they were able to accept more members and therefore the minimum age for membership would go down from 70 to 65. Gifts of fittings and furniture to equip the new centre had already started coming in including a clock, a piano and stool, a reading room table, easy chairs and a television set that had been bought with money collected by customers at the Crown Inn in West Street.

By the end of 1960, a total of £6,000 had been raised to finance the project and the balance of £500 was paid off during the following year while membership had reached 150 by the time she retired as its chairman in February 1975 and the hall was being used by a number of organisations including the Blind Association Good Companions and the Physically Handicapped Club. The hall has been in continual use ever since for meetings and activities by the elderly and for a variety of other outside events, even the occasional commercial sale on a Saturday.

Ida Pick, wife of master baker Harold Pick, was a leading figure in local affairs, mainly through her voluntary activities and as a member of Bourne Urban District Council for six years. She was a tireless worker for many causes as well as being a trustee of Bourne United Charities, a governor of Bourne Grammar School, a manager of the Abbey Primary School, president of the Children's Clinic in Bourne, vice-president of the Women’s Section of the British Legion, a worshipper at the Baptist church, member of the Physically Handicapped Committee and a producer for the old Bourne Operatic Society and, as an accomplished contralto, often appeared in leading roles.

But her main love was the Red Cross to which she devoted most of her time. Mrs Pick, of 28 West Street, Bourne, had joined the society in 1933, becoming commandant of the Bourne detachment and ultimately vice-president of the South Lincolnshire branch. In May 1968 she received the society's highest award when she was presented with the Certificate of Honour and life membership by Dame Ann Bryans, national vice-chairman of the society, at the annual meeting of the South Lincolnshire branch.

Mrs Pick was awarded the MBE in the New Year Honours List in 1974 in recognition of her 50 years of voluntary service to Bourne and she died on May 5th the following year, aged 86. She is buried in the town cemetery where a marble headstone marks her grave but the Darby and Joan Hall in South Street is her lasting memorial.