Queen Street Activities
Centre, QUSAC
 |
| Simon, Bill and Jean |
Sometime soon after Queen Street JMI school on the British Schools
site moved to its new buildings as the Whitehill School in 1969 Hitchin College
took possession of the site. The Hitchin College Part-Time Course Prospectus
for 1971/72 states that “College classes will be held either on the Campus in
Cambridge Road or at the temporary annexe in Queen Street Hitchin.” Research so
far has not unearthed exactly what classes did take place. However we do know
that in 1974 the site became the responsibility of the Adult Education
Department of the College and a whole range of classes and activities were
organised through to 1989 when the College relinquished the site.
Simon Maddison started in March 1974 as the first Adult Education
Organiser responsible for developing activities on the site. He sat where
Yvonne now has her desk. He painted the sign that somehow has been preserved
and is now in the fire exit corridor of the monitorial schoolroom and the Queen
Street Activities Centre, QUSAC, was born. Simon was followed in September 1974
by Bill Moir and then in.... by Jean Anderson who worked until she retired
in.... , and received a BEM for her work.
Jean, Bill and Simon met in December 2011 to record their memories
of Adult Education on the site with Andy Gibbs taping the conversation as part
of his Oral History project. Throughout the 70s and 80s the buildings played
host to a very wide range of formal and informal community and education
activities. The monitorial schoolroom was used by scout groups, and badminton
and indoor bowls clubs and hired for loud and late reggae music events and to
the pigeon fanciers. A toy making and repair workshop and upholstery and soft
furnishing classes took place in the Edwardian classrooms. In the Girls School
rooms there were classes in flower arranging, household plumbing, tailoring,
floral art, yoga, bridge and many more subjects. A retirement club met and
classes were held in specialist areas such as Lip Reading for the Deaf and Speech
Therapy for Stroke Patients. Attendance
at all classes and activities by young parents (principally mothers at that
time) was supported by provision of a playgroup every morning in what is now
the Meeting room.
Times were quite different then economically and in looking through
old QUSAC programmes and College prospectuses from the time Bill, Jean and
Simon were reminded of the flexibility they could operate under and the
financial support from the County Council that allowed activities to start and
flourish. Pensioners only paid a quarter fee to attend any class and activities
with a majority of pensioners could (in 1974) register 20 members for a total
block fee of £6 for a course of 13 lessons. This undoubtedly helped the growth
of so many daytime activities. Youth groups also had special reduced fees.
Hitchin Helping Hands started and had its first office in the
Centre. A Sunday School met and a youth club, and there was a Toy Library for
disabled children. Hitchin Band regarded the Centre as its Headquarters and the
North Herts College Band also met here. The administration of all these
activities was organised from offices in the Headmistress House which for a
time upstairs also had a flat lived in by Bill Moir. Jill Grey moved her collection to Centre in
the late 70s.
Simon and Bill knew very little at the time of the historic nature
of the buildings they were in charge of. Fortunately the Victorian tiered
classroom survived intact as a store. and Simon’s idea to get young people to
paint a mural all over the playground retaining wall never came to fruition!
But by 1977, probably due to Jill Grey, a short history of the buildings and
the importance of Joseph Lancaster had been written and was printed on the
cover of the annual QUSAC programme.
After Jean Anderson retired Sheila Sherwood became the organiser for
a couple of years and North Herts College (Hitchin and Letchworth Colleges had
merged) continued to use the site before consolidating all its Hitchin
activities at the Cambridge Road campus.
Simon Maddison
