About Petersfield Community Centre

• Petersfield Community Association (PCA) was formed on 15 June 1964 with a vision of establishing a community building.

• To this purpose, the building, now Petersfield Community Centre (PCC) , but originally Civil Defence premises, was bought from Hampshire County Council in 1968 for the grand total of £10,000. 

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• PCA registered as a Charitable Trust in 1971, but switched to the newer model for charities, a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) in 2018. PCA is independent and does not receive regular grant support from County, District or Town Councils. It owns the building and the land it stands on.

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  Day to day matters are handled by a paid manager who reports to a Management Committee of Trustees.

• The Centre is a meeting point for many organisations, clubs and societies.  The high level of use has enabled the Association to keep charges at, or often below, the local market price and our good off-street parking facilities add to our attraction. 
• We are proud of our clean, well-decorated centre and our level of business indicates that our users like it as well. 

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For a more detailed history read on....

The first tentative meetings were held in 1963. Once PCA was formed, the first Chairman was Arthur Gill, with the initial membership consisting of 10 councillors and 22 others , each representing an interested local society.

 Initial weekly meetings were held at Winton House in 1962 with coffee being served at sixpence a head! 

The Association continued to meet with the main order of business being possible premises for a Community Centre. An annual subscription of £1 was introduced with fund-raising being a priority. A rather charming set of minutes was recorded on March 1965:

"The 7th meeting of the Executive Committee was held at 8pm…

In the absence of the chairman, there was an informal discussion among those present concerning the current business of the Association. The chairman was informed, but notes of this meeting have been lost."

The first AGM was held on 27 October 1965

Early Affiliated Societies

By 1965 some 33 societies were affiliated with the Association, including local church groups, charities, political parties, the Wine Makers Club, Beadles School, the Badminton club and many more.

Some 60 years later some of the earliest societies are still involved with the centre. Namely:

Photographic Society, Winton Players, Arts and Crafts Society

 Fund raising caravan in the square

The Association continued to meet in 1966-67, concentrating mainly on searching for premises and fund-raising.

Possibilities for premises in chapel St and Dragon St came to nothing. Fundraising was a struggle and enthusiasm was flagging when, in March 1968, enquiries were made to Hampshire County council regarding the disused civil defence premises in Love Lane.

In June 1968 a formal expression of interest was made. The initial plan was to rent the premises but by August it was decided to sell off the civil defence hut. HCC allowed the Association to move in and act as their agent to let the centre in the meantime, from July 1968. This enabled them to 'trial' running a community centre without taking the financial plunge.
A successful trial led to a purchase costing £10000. This was funded by

• Government Grant (Ministry of Education & Science): £5000

• Proposed HCC Loan: £2500 (Repayable over 10 years)

• Amount needed to be raised locally £2500

Fund-raising was the order of the day!

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Since these early days, the Centre has gone from strength to strength, carefully maintaining the building, re-roofing, re-decorating, replacing boilers, refurbishing the toilets and keeping the building in good repair.

Footfall was counted at 1500 per week at its height in 2019, when some 70 regular groups used us. Notable events since have been:

2018 - Conversion of Charitable Trust to CIO. Adopting new CIO model of charity allowed PCA to exist as a legal entity - able to own land and, if necessary, take out a loan. Prior to this, the land was held 'in trust' by volunteers. The significant legal cost of changing names on the ownership documents is no longer needed. The CIO status also released trustees from being held personally financial liable.

2020-2022 - The Covid Years! In March 2020, the Centre closed as a national 'lock-down' took effect. There was a brief respite August-October, but a second lockdown in November meant we did not re-open fully until May 2021 - and even then, had to implement 'social distancing' for some time. Bills for security, servicing, insurance etc. still had to be paid, despite the massive drop in income, but a series of government grants saw us through. It took a few years to regain the level of previous hire, since some groups did not return, and some of the small businesses that used our premises (especially, sadly, those with pre-school children), were no longer viable.

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We have been fortunate to have some keen, knowledgeable trustees over the years. We are grateful that the various Chairs of Trustees have been willing to take on the leadership of the Association. In particular, the vision and drive of Arthur Gill and Ken Hick in the early years, helped to establish the Centre as a valuable resource for the town. Their impetus has never been lost, with much work done since then to ensure the Centre remains an attractive and viable concern.