Earby Community Association

Providing help to the community; accommodation, transport and luncheon club

This building has been in continuous use for 114 years. Originally built as the Earby Board School to cater for the increasing population of Earby in the boom years.
It had a change of use when Barnoldswick Modern School (now West Craven High) was opened and the schools in the area were reorganised. Senior pupils of Earby then went to Barnoldswick and the Earby Board School (New Road) used solely for the teaching of Domestic Science and Woodwork, the latter being taught by Lewis Lord.
At this time the West Riding County Council (WRCC) allowed the two front class rooms and the hall to be used for a Youth Club. Eventually the Domestic Science and the Wood Work teaching were transferred to Barnoldswick but the New Road Building continued to be used for a Youth Club.
The Youth Club was well attended and had a committed group of people to oversee it. Ken Tennant was the Youth Leader supported by a Management Committee members of which included Jack Heald, Geoffrey Hoyle, Howard Greenwood, Mrs Elsie Greening, Dr Dick and Mrs Louie Healy. Volunteer Youth Workers included Walter Turner, Margaret Day, Victor Maw and John Heaton. It was a testament to the club that so many youngsters developed into upstanding members of our community and many still remember it with fondness. It was a very active club to which Ken Tennant brought a great deal of expertise and experience having been involved in youth work in Rylstone and Addingham since the age of 16. Activities included a football team, talks, demonstrations, discos, members also visited other youth clubs in the area, and once they hosted a Youth Conference with delegates from all over the West Riding.
It was the Youth Club who inaugurated the forerunner of today’s Autumn Fayre, a fund raising garden party. Lord Wright of Ashton was invited to perform the opening ceremony at the first one. The Club sought the permission of Earby UDC to hold this in Sough Park and the Council decided that a Civic Dinner would be held at The Stirk House Hotel for Lord Wright prior to the event. The first Garden Party raised £200 in the afternoon, despite the rain, a remarkable amount of money for those days.
It was not long after this that Earby Community Association was formed with James Dickson as the first Chairman and Ken Tennant as the Secretary who together drafted the Community Association Constitution together with the Rules.
The West Riding County Council (WRCC) still operated a kitchen in the New Road Centre, in what is today the Lounge. From this kitchen they cooked school dinners for delivery to the local schools. The kitchen was eventually condemned
as unfit for purpose and after a protracted fight the Community Association persuaded WRCC to convert the Kitchen into a Lounge.
The Community Association began to encourage groups to use the Centre and the first of these groups was the Luncheon Club which still operates to this day. This was followed shortly afterwards by The Busy Bees Children’s Group and many more were to follow. Today 38 User Groups regularly use the centre for their meetings and activities all are affiliated to the Community Association.
The Youth Club continued to flourish having both a junior and senior section meeting on different nights. This arrangement continued successfully for many years until recently when Lancashire County Council decided that it should concentrate its resources on the 13-19 age range. The first full time Youth and Community Worker to be appointed was Peter Gerrard. Chairmen of the Association following James Dickson were Rev Richard Wallace, Mrs Doris Allen, Rev Tony Taylor, and the current incumbent is Mr David Hartley.
Mr Roy Pierre took over management of the Centre from Peter Gerrard and under his stewardship and, with the not inconsiderable help of many others, funds were raised by the Community Association to refurbish the Domestic Science Room and convert it to a multi use resource with cooking facilities, storage cupboards and a small lounge area with a large floor area for events. As the Centre was celebrating its Centenary in 1996 /97 this room was christened “The Centenary Room”. Further work included to replacement of the floor in the main hall together with new décor and new curtains. In 2000 money was raised to install the Millennium Clock on the front of the building. The Rev Stephen Heap was invited to officially switch it on.
Around that same period after much effort by Doris Allen and her team sufficient funds were raised from local people, businesses, organisations and the Parish Council (now Earby Town Council) to purchase a community mini bus which continues to do sterling work today