Queen Street Activities Centre, QUSAC Hitchin, Hertfordshire

I was delighted to be contacted a few days ago by Simon Maddison, who has shared with me his article he wrote for the Hitchin British School Report.  I hope you find it as interesting as I did. Many thanks to Simon for sharing.

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