THIS WEEK IN 1977: Chruch hall in poor state gets renovated
The old church hall in Rivers Street, Somers Town, was being renovated and turned into a community centre with the help of six unemployed men under the Job Creation Scheme.
John Hamblin, 28, from North End, was the scheme’s supervisor and instructor.
He said: ‘I was made redundant three weeks ago and took on the challenge after hearing about the job creation scheme. We have a tough job on our hands but we hope to make the hall usable in five months.’
The hall was built in 1868 by St Jude’s Church as a national school for the education of poorer parishioners – adults as well as children – but it had been left empty for seven years and was in a poor state.
Four of the workers were school leavers.