Mornington Hall Centenary
Celebrating 100 years of a community venue
Mornington Hall is now the home of Chingford's longest-running amateur dramatics group, CADOS. But it didn't start life as a theatre and community hub.
Mornington Hall Anniversary: Our hall is 100 years old in 2024 and to mark the centenary of this wonderful community venue, we have been awarded a 'Make It Happen' grant by Waltham Forest to help present its story. We have commissioned a local scriptwriter and a filmmaker to research into the hall and create pieces to celebrate its rich history. The final script 'Beyond The Bricks', written by Theresa Rendle with music by Marcus Scroop was performed by CADOS in May 2024 with a documentary film also being produced by Linda McDonald Cairns.
Mornington Hall
Souvenir Brochure
As part of grant we are creating an archive of the material gathered during the research phase of the project.
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Archives at Vestry House Museum and Chingford Historical Society were scoured for documents, information and photos.
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Ancestry sites were searched for registers and census records
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The local area was leafleted, messages went out on social media and a story gathering event was held encouraging members of the local community to pass on their memories of the hall
Much of this material has been collated in our souvenir brochure which see on the left. We are grateful to Theresa Rendle, Linda McDonald Cairns, Jerome Farrell, Fran Chalkwright and Rosalind Zalicks for their dedication in collecting this wonderful record
....Mornington Hall now
In 2002, Waltham Forest Council had plans to auction Mornington Hall for development. It had been managed by the Council for several years, and used for wedding receptions, children’s parties and meetings.
CADOS approached the Council to take on the hall. After considerable opposition and many meetings, we took on a 50 year fully maintaining lease in 2004.
Since then, CADOS has invested around £20k to develop the hall as a permanent space for rehearsals and performances. Many other local groups and small businesses hire Mornington Hall from us. They offer a diverse range of community activities. These include:
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Childcare
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Life drawing
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Children's theatre
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Fitness classes
Our regular hirers help to pay the rent and make sure Mornington Hall remains a thriving community venue.
We must also thank CADOS members and other volunteers for maintaining our fabulous historic hall and helping to raise funds for CADOS. We can only keep Mornington Hall running for everyone to enjoy thanks to their hard work and the ongoing support of local people.