The old village hall - Jubilee Hall - was a pre-WW2 timber-framed, metal-clad building which did not have effective heating/air conditioning systems, up-to-date electrical circuitry, or disabled toilet facilities. A recent survey concluded that it had a remaining life of approximately 5 years and did not meet legislative requirements in terms of the Disability and Discrimination Act).
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The old sports pavilion dated to ca1945, was of concrete/asbestos construction. It was badly dilapidated and barely fit for purpose (it had no showers/toilets, only a small changing area (single sex use only), is not insulated, has no heating, and no hot water.
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In order to build the Marshland Hall (MDCSC) was set up as a Registered Charity, established in April 2013 (Registered Charity No:1155766) with representatives of the Parish Council, the Jubilee Hall and the Playing Field committees. It has the following objects:
‘To establish and run a community centre and shop, to provide and maintain a recreation and sports ground, in the interests of social welfare and with the object of improving the conditions of life of the inhabitants of Marshland St James and District’.
Our Vision: Our vision sees MDCSC as the beating heart of our community, providing an essential, vibrant, inclusive, accessible, sustainable, and safe facility that is used, valued and supported by the people of Marshland St James and the surrounding area.
Our Mission: Our mission is to promote, enable and facilitate inclusive activities which embrace and address the education, training, employment, welfare, health and well-being, social, cultural, sporting and recreational needs of all the members of our community.
We aim to: Improve the conditions of life of the people of Marshland St James by addressing five main issues in the village:
Social isolation within the elderly population
Education, helping local people gain new skills and qualifications, improving their life chances and access to employment
Encouraging local people to become more involved in sport and fitness, improving health, wellbeing and thereby reducing inactivity and obesity
Helping local children and young people make new friends, develop social and practical skills, improving relationships and their confidence
Sustaining village life and community relationsTo do this we must:
Keep the MDCSC facilities available, well-maintained, accessible and safe for the use of all local people
Enable a range of social, welfare, educational, training, development, health and wellbeing, recreational,cultural and sporting activities to take place at MDCSC which responds to the needs of all local people
Provide good quality services to our users
Consult with, and be responsive to the needs of, the local community
Be financially sustainable
Biographies of the Trustees
John Askew
John lives and farms in Marshland St. James. An active member of the community has helped at Gala days and served as Chairman of The Jubilee Hall Trustees. He is a Trustee of the Marshland & District Community & Sports Centre working closely with the developer. John is Chairman of the King’s Lynn and District Internal Draining Board Plant & Works committee.
Sonya Gowler
Sonya moved to Marshland St James from Emneth in 1994 after her marriage to James Gowler who has lived in the village for 50 years. They have three children. For the last 23yrs Sonya has worked at a school within Wisbech for children with special educational needs as a level three teaching assistant and has a good understanding and experience of children with PMLD, SLD, MLD, ASD, and ADD/ADHD. She is an active member of MDCSC and main role of planning and organising fundraising events within the local community. Previously she was a chairperson for friends of the school association where her children attended. More recently Sonya has been involved in the setting up and running of a local football club (Marshland Saints FC), which is for adults and children and is currently the treasurer.
David Gathercole
David has lived in Marshland St James all his life. He is currently the Vice Chair of the Parish Council (he has served on the Parish Council for over 25 years and has been its Chairman twice), and he is also a member of the Playing Field Management Committee. In the past he has served on the Kings Lynn and District Internal Drainage Board and on the management board of the William Day Centre in Tilney St Lawrence. He was a school governor at the primary school, and he was also Chairman of Marshland Rovers FC for a number of years. David is MDCSC's Treasurer - he is a Trustee and a member of the MDCSC organising committee.
Brian Long
Brian is currently Leader of West Norfolk and Kings Lynn Borough Council. He lives in the village and has been a local councillor for the Mershe Lande Ward for six years. He serves on the board of a number of other local bodies including the College of West Anglia, Freebridge Community Housing and the Kings Lynn Internal Drainage Board.
Jeremy Wilkinson
Jeremy has lived in Marshland St James for over 20 years. He is Assistant Headteacher at the Anthony Curton CofE Primary School in Walpole St Peter and he is also a "spare time" (!!!) smallholder with sheep, cattle pigs and poultry. He serves on the village's Sports Field Management Committee.
Biographies of the Committee
Sue Askew
Sue worked for many years in the NHS, latterly as Practice Manager for Trinity Surgery. She has lived in Marshland St. James since 1976, joining the Friends of Marshland St James Primary when her children attended and served as governor. Sue derved as a Trustee of the Jubilee Hall, Chairman of the Parish Council, member of the village WI and member of Marshland & District Community & Sports Centre. Sue promotes the village community at every opportunity.
Joseph Gowler
has lived in the village all his life. He attended the two local primary schools and the local secondary school and currently works for the village drainage firm. At the age of 16 he founded the local football club and is still a major part of the running of the club. Through this he has brought back grassroots football in the village and hopes to increase ages and numbers in the game.
Thank you to all our donors!
Marshland St James and District Community and Sports Centre thanks the following donors for their generous support for the construction of Marshland Hall.
Paul Bassham Charitable Trust (£5,000)
Big Lottery Fund (£703,000)
Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk Small Grants Scheme (£10,000)
Foyle Foundation (£7,500)
The Robert Hall Charity (£7,500)
The Hudson Foundation (£7,500)
Shelroy Charitable Trust Fund (£3,000)
Sport England (£65,000)
The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation (£10,000)
Tesco Bags of Help (£8,000)
The Trusthouse Charitable Foundation (£45,000)
The Geoffrey Watling Charity (£7,500)
Garfield Weston Foundation (£20,000)
WREN (£37,886.80)
The People and Businesses of Marshland St. James (£27,000)
