of Barrow Community Association (now BUSCA)

Judith and her husband, David, came to live in Barrow in 1966. They bought “Mount Pleasant” at the top of Nottingham Road. It was in a shocking state of disrepair, and Judith would dash back from her teaching job to fire up the old Parker cement mixer to fill up the rotten cavity floors with concrete. That stood her in good stead when it came to making the footings for the new community building some years later.

When son number one was born in 1968 she stopped work and became aware of what was going on in Barrow and the concerns that were being expressed about the lack of a village hall. Three years later she was involved with other mums to start up Barrow Playgroup. They had first-hand experience of how difficult it would be to find a venue. Fortunately, the Methodist Church came up trumps. Meanwhile, the Rev Norman Peck, minister of Barrow Methodists had been having discussions with Wynne Morris, the head of Humphrey Perkins High School to see how the lack of community facilities could be addressed. They held a public meeting which gained a lot of village support. Judith attended as the new playgroup representative. It was decided to set up a community association that would be tasked with creating a community centre based at Humphrey Perkins. The decision was supported by the Parish Council although Brian Henman, then PC Chairman, expressed his doubts that this could ever be a long-term solution. He anticipated that eventually the local authority would take back all that the village created. How right he was! Not deterred, the new Community Association was chaired by Norman, shortly followed by Paul Berridge. The LEA (Local Education Authority) agreed to allow the building of an extension to the hall block of Humphrey Perkins and Brian Henman drew up plans for a spacious community lounge, a bar and a community kitchen.

The village was excited at these prospects and community organisations, friendship groups and individuals started the long haul of fund-raising, kicked off by generous donations from Parish and Borough Councils. Judith recalls coffee mornings, Tupperware parties, sponsored walks, wine and cheese evenings, quiz nights, but the event that really got everyone zinging was the first Donkey Derby. Twelve donkeys were brought in by the company whose business was to run these events. Starting from about 12pm, the races began in front of Orchard Block (Humphrey Perkins) with everyone encouraged to place their bets. By 4pm everyone was exhausted – as were the donkeys. Meanwhile the rest of the field was filled with stalls: Smash the Crockery (our stall), Spin the Chicken, Bottle stalls, Splat the Rat (Geoff King), Hook a Duck, raffles, tombola, Wheel of Fortune, Skittles……you name it, it was there. The event was extremely well supported and raised the princely sum of £299, a small fortune in those days. Everything was cleared up by 7pm which just gave time to dash home, change and go the Humphries Hall for a barn dance!

Seven more Donkey Derbies were run but in 1983 the decision was taken by Mike Morley and staff at the school to introduce the Barrow Running Festival, again occupying the grounds in front of Orchard Block. Now it was human runners who were being cheered on at the tape. With long, medium and short races, anyone could enter and indeed it was at this first Running Festival that many families became runners. The Smash the Crockery stall continued to run, always popular with men and boys! Provisioning it involved Judith driving a Land Rover and trailer to a pottery firm in Swadlincote to fill up with seconds biscuit-fired crockery which would later be smashed to smithereens.

A keen memory of Judith’s is that in 1974 building work had started and her experience with her old cement mixer put her in line to help with the footings. By 1975 the lounge was ready to be decorated and furnished, the bar to be stocked and the kitchen fitted with cupboards and equipment. Now members could carry on fund-raising while actually using the new Community Centre. One event she particularly remembers was a hilarious talk by Blaster Bates recounting his experiences of blowing up industrial chimneys, towers and blocks of flats. Every hall seat was booked every time he was invited back. Using the Hall or the Community Lounge (and bar, of course) the community group ran race evenings, Dutch Auctions, concerts, theatre shows, wine-tasting, Millionaire’s Evenings, ballroom dances, New Year dance parties, pancake races, discos etc. etc. BOSCAPS started in 1976, using the whole of the school for up to 400 children over two weeks each August. The whole period was full of fun, good community spirit and a positive hope for the future. It was the heyday of Community Education in Leicestershire. Community Colleges and Centres had been springing up all over the county, supported by an astonishingly supportive County Council and school staff. For example, the next head teacher, Liz Higginbotham, became the editor of Barrow Voice, laying out the final version of each edition with scissors and a glue stick. Governors appointed a community warden (Betty Turner) who worked with officers of the Community Association to manage the Delegated Community Budget (DCB) for the development of Barrow’s Community Centre. She arranged all manner of evening classes which meant that the Centre was a bustling hive of activity. A roof was added to the swimming pool from monies raised by the village and lighting added. The pool opened up for public use in 1975 and, in addition to leisure sessions, it was also used by Hall Orchard and the public for swimming lessons. Community facilities included a very active youth club, a community minibus and a bar manager who ran bars for outside events as well as for village ones. The Community Centre grew in significance until the late 1990s and the Community Association, by now called BUSCA, should be commended for doing a really good job along with school staff.

What followed is a downhill trajectory culminating in the emptying of the lounge, bar and kitchen in January 2020. Barrow doesn’t have a Community Centre at Humphrey Perkins any longer and we are now looking to the Parish Council to create a community facility that really belongs to the village. It is approximately 50 years since BUSCA was created (approximate because the birth date of a registered charity occurs some time after the inaugural meeting).

This is not to say that BUSCA is finished. It isn’t at all. It is as busy as it ever was, Judith Rodgers’ early days of Barrow Community Association (now BUSCA) Lilian’s Arrabella running the library, producing the much-admired Barrow Voice, running hugely popular whole village events such as the Christmas Street Markets and Scarecrow Festivals, entertaining the village with amazing Panto, Youth Theatre and Murder Mystery productions, researching village heritage, running the Twinning Association and managing five village websites. What BUSCA probably can’t contemplate any longer is its original task of building up a community centre at Humphrey Perkins.

Thank you, Judith, you certainly have done an amazing job over the decades.

Lin Webb