Thank you Sandra for emailing these memories of the building of the old Memorial Hall:
Following on from my recent comment here are some of my memories of the Memorial Hall.
It was great how everyone worked together to raise funds. We children were involved in concerts which took place in the old Institute (a tin shed!). These concerts were put together by Evelyn and Elsie, two village ladies who put a lot of time and effort into them. It was great fun taking part in these shows for adults and children alike.
I also recall walking past the site on my way to school and seeing the builders Tyler and Coates a local building firm from Ashbourne who had been given the job of building this exciting new hall for us with joy of joys!! ……. Inside Toilets!
We were very fortunate to have Sir John Crompton-Inglefield living at Parwich Hall at the time and he very generously matched our fund raising pound for pound so the village only had to raise half the amount needed. That is not to say it was an easy task, it seemed an awful lot of money in those days. So I can understand why people are sad to see the old hall go, myself included. We have very happy memories of the good times we had there: our wedding reception, birthdays, pantomimes, dances to name but a few.
Hopefully the next generations of villagers and children will have as much fun as we did, in a facility which has been built to today’s standards and which will provide a warm and safe environment for all their activities. The word warm certainly strikes a chord with me, as one who has stood many hours at events over the years in that bloomin freezing kitchen!!
Finally I do sincerely hope that when the new Memorial Hall has been built and has been re-dedicated to the fallen (as it will be), that people will feel as proud of it as we did all those years ago and if not then at least acknowledge that it has been another remarkable achievement for a small village.
Sandra
The minute books of the Memorial Hall management committee go back to before the start of the building work and the early entries make fascinating reading. The old Memorial Hall was built at a cost of £6,000 by the Ashbourne firm Tyler & Coates. The village raised half this sum and Sir John Crompton-Inglefield provided the rest.
Sir John, who through his mother was descended from the Comptons, a Derby banking family, settled in Parwich in the early 1930s, but was not able to fully immerse himself in village life until after the Second World War, during which he served as a major in the Derbyshire Yeomanry. He initially fought in North Africa under General Alexander, and then undertook a lecture tour on the North Africa Campaign in the United States. Following this he worked on the trials of the ‘Funnies’, tanks specially developed for the D-Day beach landings. He landed in France himself a day or so after D-Day and saw action in France, Belgium and Germany under General Sir Percy Hobart in the 49th Armoured Division.
The Crompton-Inglefields gave up Parwich Hall during the War so that it was available as ancillary accommodation to Parwich Hospital for wounded service men. It does not seem to have been used for this, though convalescing soldiers did use the Hall gardens, playing football on the main lawn.
With the three daughters staying with their grandmother at Flower Lilies, Lady Crompton-Inglefield at first worked in the Land Army Office in Matlock, and then in the Motor Transport Corps, before joining the ATS in 1943. She worked through the ranks to junior Commander with the 21st Army Group in London. She requested to serve overseas, but this was not allowed because she was a mother.
The money raised for the Hall even with Sir John’s matched funding was not sufficient for the fitting out of the Hall, which was further covered by Sir John and his wife. We welcome any further memories and photos, particularly of when villagers came together to re-roof the old Memorial Hall.
PARWICH.ORG 
Although I have only been in the village for twelve years, the old Memorial Hall has been the setting for some special memories for me.
It was here that my goddaughter Amy aged three went to her first pantomime, I think it was Robin Hood. I can still picture the smiles on her face.
It was here that my German godson Jaro went off to by himself, to the youth club aged eleven or twelve, while I sat at home worrying about whether his English would sustain him through the evening or if he would be left by himself in a corner. It was hard work not to go and check if he was OK. Of course my worries were needless, and I did not see much of him for the rest of that visit as there were regular knocks on the door to see if he was ‘coming out to play’.
It was here that Amy’s sister Mya aged ten was so proud of helping do the Tombola stall at Open Gardens, sticking at it till all the tickets had been sold, while Amy then thirteen baked cakes to be sold with the teas.
The funeral I remember most was that of the second Lady Crompton-Inglefield (Mrs. Dodds). Although I had only met her once in the flat in Holland Park, I got to know her daughters Sarah and Zelda quite well before her death. Zelda and her sister Angela also stayed at Hallcliffe for the funeral. The WI, as so often, did the tea and I was impressed by the affection the ‘Dodds girls’ still had for Parwich and how easily they were welcomed back into village life after an absence of nearly forty years.
The first meeting I went to in the Hall was a Horticultural Society AGM; having lived in small communities before I should have known better; of course I found myself on the committee. Subsequently there has been the pleasure of seeing new residents coming to events for the first time knowing no one, but when coming the next time seeing them having problems finding time to chat with all the people they then knew.
There are lots of other parties, events, Open Gardens Days, Horticultural Shows, films, meetings all with the common theme that I could bring visiting friends and family along and know they would be made welcome.
As Sandra points out, the happy memories people had of the old Parwich Institute did not hinder them making new memories in the Memorial Hall. So I also look forward with pleasure to the memories still to be made in the new Memorial Hall.
Sandra and Peter it is lovely to hear your happy memories – thank you for sharing them with us. Having lived here for thirty years, our family also have lots of happy memories of parties and pantomimes in the old memorial hall.
Before we came to live in Parwich we had lived in 6 different houses all over the country, going wherever our employment sent us. The one lesson that taught me,was that it wasn’t the actual house that made the home but the things that we did in it. So I hope that the new memorial hall will soon be filled with people doing all the things that we have done in the past and all the new things that a bigger kitchen and an additional room will enable us to do.