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A Little Bit Of History
Our building is fondly remembered by the local community as it was once the home of Broomfield football club. Originally an ex-hospital Billet hut that was transported from Colchester Barracks and resurrected on site, to be used as the clubhouse where Broomfield FC grew from strength to strength.
Things took an unexpected turn when there was an arson attack on the clubhouse.
The club embarked on a massive push for funding which meant they could secure the purchase of an adjacent plot of land and build a brand-new clubhouse. This also enabled them to develop grass roots football in the area and create opportunities for girls’ football as part of the plan.
Fortunately, I could see past the damage caused by the fire and knew there was something special about this building, visualising the potential that few others were able to. And so just like the Billet hut was resurrected on site all those years ago, the Angel Pavilion has quite literally risen from the ashes into the building that stands here today.
The Angel Pavilion has grown; not only in the hearts of the community it is a part of but also in its ability to provide many different activities and in turn support ventures and others on their own journeys. It provides a space from which an early morning breakfast and after school club operates to serve the local nurseries and school.
The hub also regularly hosts sessions such as Pilates, Art, Self-love and hypnobirthing classes alongside a variety of parent and toddler groups. As a devoted advocate for mental health; wellbeing, mindfulness sessions and ‘days’ are planned to be taking place soon.
You may already have had the pleasure of attending one of our fayres or charity events but if not, don’t worry as a series of live music, exhibitions and season specific events are being calendared for all to come along and enjoy, so follow our social media for regular updates.
In the beginning
The building had suffered terrible damage as a result of the arson attack, and it was clear that a lot of patience would be needed to restore it to its former glory. Even before work could begin to rebuild the pavilion, there was tonnes of rubbish to dispose of and many damaged layers to strip away.
Some might say that knocking the building down and starting from scratch would have been more cost effective, but the history was too important to simply pretend it had never existed. My focus became finding the best way to improve this space into one which was accessible by a wider group of people from within the community. And that too on a limited budget.
The original structure consisted of a main building (the billet hut) which had been extended over time with the gradual addition of smaller shed like structures. These were required as additional storage spaces as well as rest areas for the referees to use during matches.
This was going to be a real challenge but one for which I had a clear vision and purpose.
Getting To Work!
The journey has not been without its challenges as I was confronted with some resistance to the changes being made, beginning with a dispute about the building being ‘landlocked’. As such no access to the site was going to be ‘allowed’ or ‘supported’. This resulted in the site deteriorating over time to such an extent that the original intended repairs were not going to be sufficient. As you can see from some of the photos, when the roof at the flat section along the back of the building came down, the walls of the rotten wooden buildings also collapsed.
At one point, half the building was held up on a few structural beams and props whilst it was completely exposed. Rebuilding the space took a lot of love, grit and determination during Covid, when I spent time project managing the build. In this time, I was fortunate to secure and coordinate builders and tradespeople who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic and hence able to support them in return too. As many will also know, I am not afraid of rolling my sleeves up - so I did a lot of work on it throughout.
Retrospective planning was required because of this mishap, but it enabled me to extend into that space and so the hall has a bigger footprint now than I first envisaged. As we know, adversity brings opportunity, and this extra space meant the building could be used by a host of providers in Broomfield, but also those from further afield that are able to provide a service more easily accessible by the residents.
During the building process I set about researching what our local community would also like from the project. The request for a space to get a cup of coffee was so clear that despite my original plans, it was impossible for me to ignore. And so halfway through construction, the plans were altered to enable the inclusion of ‘Cheerful Chai’ into the building. The intention of a takeaway hatch to supply coffee and cake to walkers, hall users and passers-by grew into something more. The hatch and I became the go to point during Covid. Sometimes I was the only daily human interaction for several people during that difficult time, but it
pleased me that their daily walk became a little easier for it. These wonderful visitors shared the existence of the space and by word of mouth the seed began to grow. And the hatch also quite literally grew. I chose to partition the building to accommodate the need for people to sit in as well as on the benches I had installed outside.
End Result
Well, what can I say? The evolution of this space has been a beautiful journey to experience. Angel Pavilion currently houses several regular users and is available for hire by anyone with vision for a short or long-term project alongside one-off events, conferences, celebrations and more. Just drop us a message via the ‘contact’ page with your needs and we will do our best to support you.
- Myra