A REMARKABLE CLUB
By R. F. SCOTT
THE Community Centre movement has taken a firm hold on this country in the last few years, but among such institutions one stands pre-eminent—the Social Centre opened at Slough last April. Slough is described in many current handbooks as a small market town. So it was some twenty years ago, with its population of no more than 16,000, but by no stretch of the imagination can it be so classified today. The population has multiplied more than threefold and a considerable trading estate employing 20,000 workers has developed. (From the Special Areas alone Ii,000 persons have migrated to Slough, and it was interesting to hear, as I went round the Centre, the accents of Durham and Wales and Scotland and Buckinghamshire min- gling together.) The rapidity of such growth has, however, inevitably tended to outrun the provision of adequate social amenities and the building up of a sound community life. The Slough Social Centre is aiming, and manifestly succeed- ing, in satisfying this obvious and urgent need.
The Centre, which consists of three blocks, one for the senior and one for the junior sections with a central hall capable of seating over a thousand people, was constructed at a cost of L52,000 obtained from various donations, from the contribu- tions of local employers who pay is. annually for each of their employees and from the individual members' subscriptions which are los. a year or Is. a month. The senior section is already self-supporting. In under a year the membership has grown to nearly five and a half thousand, and indeed members, who are of both sexes, of all ages and from a very wide social range, come from many miles around Slough. The opportunity which the Centre affords for individuals of different income levels to meet and converse on equal terms—for the Centre is of course organised on voluntary lines in the nature of a club—is of the greatest possible value. It is notoriously difficult for the office staff of a factory, the foremen and the factory workers to associate without latent if not conscious reserve on their own premises, but here members are all equal, and in fact there are no means of telling whether a man is foreman, office or factory worker unless he comes from your own works.
On any average evening there will be some 1,500 members at the Centre. They start arriving about 7.3o, after their evening meal, although food—eggs, sandwiches, &c.—can be obtained at the Centre throughout the evening ; and by 9 p.m. there will be some twenty or thirty motor-cars lined up outside and a myriad of bicycles overflowing the sheds which are provided. The facilities of the Centre are so numerous—there are over forty different sections—that it is difficult to know where to start. I went, however, first to the junior block because this closes at 9.3o p.m. Here the boys and girls, who are between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, are divided into houses, both for organisational purposes and in order to stimulate the competitive spirit. In one large room inter-house table-tennis matches were proceeding and the standard of play was formidably high. Two fully equipped gymnasia, one for girls and the other for boys, were being used, the former for folk-dancing, at which a young County Council instructress was officiating, and in the other the junior association football team, which I understand has not yet been beaten this season, was prac- tising. Leading off these gymnasia were washing rooms, containing both baths and sprays.
A number of small, bright rooms are provided for evening classes in music, drawing, shorthand and typewriting, and there is also an excellent carpentry shop, in which boys who make articles for themselves under expert instruction are supplied with the materials at cost price. Besides these there are two rooms with comfortable chairs for reading, knitting, &c., a library, as yet a trifle inadequately stocked, and a kitchen, which, besides supplying cheap meals, is used for domestic science classes.
Separating the Senior and Junior Buildings is the central hall, with' a seating capacity of over a thousand. At one end there is a stage, worthy of many provincial theatres for both size and lighting effects, and here dramatic presenta- tions, concerts and dances are given. Bin one of the most notable features of the Centre is the variety of uses to which the available facilities are put. On a certain night of the week this hall is given over to the roller-skating section, and on others to table-tennis or badminton.
A covered passage leads from this hall to the Senior Building. Here the facilities provided in the Junior Section are duplicated on a larger scale, together with a number of additional features. A small hall, capable of holding about one hundred people, with a platform at one end, is used for lectures, concerts, dances and, one day a week, for infant welfare. The Centre obtains the" voluntary services of two medical officers, 'who act, however, only in an' advisory capacity. Regular medical inspection is compulsory in the Junior Section.
Six full-size billiard-tables are available for an additional charge of 3d. per half-hour, and these are all continuously in use. I was interested to see that they were not enjoyed exclusively. by the male members. In the gymnasium I watched a class of physical fitness under the guidance of a County Council instructor. In the three lounges, which can be turned into one by means of folding doors, light refresh- ments are served throughout the evening. The canteen is equipped with those delightful electric gadgets—familiar to the frequenters of milk bars—which produce a great variety of hot drinks. The lounges are furnished with a vast number of small tables and comfortable chairs, with here and there a vase of flowers, and on the walls are hung brightly coloured pictures, which upon close examination I found to be G.W.R. posters varnished and framed, Outside there is a putting green, six-tennis courts and an indoor heated swimming-bath of Olympic size, which is fitted with sun-ray equipment.
Each section of the Centre—and, as I have said, there are over forty—is democratically organised and entirely managed by its component members. Therefore the permanent staff does not require to be very large. One of the most difficult functions, I imagine, is the allocation of suitable rooms to the various sections at times suitable to the majority of their members. The highest possible tribute should be paid to Mr. A. T. Carr, the Warden, to whose energy and amazing powers of organisation and of human relationship the Centre largely owes its undoubted success.
There is no limit but finance to the activities which the Centre could and, I understand, desires to undertake in the future. Besides the addition of running and cycle tracks, an athletic ground and a junior swimming-pool which are contemplated, the desirability of building a hostel attached to the Centre and of undertaking the training and placing of unemployed workers is fully realised. Money is the only obstacle and one might well consider that here lies a cause peculiarly deserving of Government assistance. Slough is far from being the only town which could profit from a Centre such as this, and it is greatly to be hoped that other districts will emulate its methods, so that in the near future a Social Centre movement will develop whereby members of one Centre may go from town to town and be equally welcome at each. Slough is the pioneer of such a movement and a great and successful experiment it certainly is.
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