Jubilee Pavilion Opening – Press Release

PRESS RELEASE issued 22 December 2003

(an edited version of this report appeared in the Hampshire Chronicle on 26 December 2003)

Pavilion dream finally becomes reality at Compton & Shawford

Report of official opening of the new Jubilee Sports Pavilion at the Memorial Playing Field, Compton, on Saturday, 20th December 2003

Twenty years after Compton and Shawford Parish Council first started putting money aside for eventual replacement of the old pavilion, the new pavilion was handed over to the Compton and Shawford Sports Club on Saturday 20th December.

Because of the wet weather, the ceremony was held inside the pavilion. Around 200 villagers and sports club members crowded into the building or peered in through the windows.

Paul Murray, who three years ago set up the Pavilion Building Committee which has seen the project through, thanked everyone who had taken part: members of his committee, Simon Alford the architect, building contractors Wilding and Butler, project managers Gentle Associates, and Parish Council clerk Mike Langford who had handled all the finances. Paul commented that the building combined the best aspects of a clean modern design with the look of a traditional pavilion.

The major financial contribution towards the £400,000 pavilion was a grant of £246,025 from the Sport England Lottery Fund. The Parish Council had provided £100,000. The Winchester City Council Open Space fund and the Hampshire Playing Fields Association also gave grants. Further significant contributions came from fundraising by the Sports Club and the local community.

After John Feetam from Sport England handed Paul Murray a giant ceremonial cheque, Rev Paul Baird, the newly installed parish priest, read out the names of those in whose memory the Memorial Playing Fields were established after the war.

Then George Beckett, chairman of the Parish Council, recalled how planning had started during his first stint as chairman in the mid 80s. He thanked his successors as chairman who had progressed the project through sometimes difficult times, and gave particular thanks to Paul Murray.

George paid tribute to the Sports Club’s president, Ray Wilmshurst, who had been an officer of the club for more than 50 years, and who had cut the first turf at the groundbreaking back in May. George presented a bouquet to Ray’s widow Muriel as Ray himself sadly did not live to see the completion of the building.

Finally, George handed over the keys to the building to Sports Club Secretary Gordon de la Mare.

With two football matches that afternoon on the wet playing fields, the new changing rooms were called into action immediately.

For Further Details Contact:
Adrian Walmsley Public Relations Officer

Paul Murray, Pavilion Building Committee chairman

George Beckett, Chairman Compton & Shawford Parish Council

After heavy rain in the morning, the sun appeared briefly in the afternoon

And as the light faded, the teams were able to look forward to showers in the new changing rooms