Dorothy is a former member of the Parochial Church Council and the SMI Management Committee.

We must have come to the Institute in about 1976.  At that time the congregation of St Margaret's Church was very small indeed.  The Church was expected to be closed and there was a Priest-in-charge.  Aged around 40, my husband and I were considered 'babes-in-arms' and therefore perfect for the Institute.

The building itself was very different from what it is today.  There was one room across the front, a tiny kitchen behind with a single toilet by the door, a small room on the left, and then a quite large, well-equipped stage taking up the rest of the original ground floor space.  I think the Hall had been added in about 1920 with, as the story went, money donated by a member of the congregation, who was in love with the curate.

The first floor was very much as it is today.  The flat on the top floor was very basic indeed, with no bathroom.  The whole building was in a horrific state of repair.  There was no money and the lease, with its attendant dilapidations bill, was up in six or seven years' time.  We used to think that anything we did couldn't make the situation worse!  Amazingly, the ground floor was well used.  The playgroups were in the front room and the hall was used most weekday evenings by a variety of clubs.  The Balkan Dancers were already dancing across the centuries, of course.  My favourite was Civil Defence, who practiced measures to protect us from nuclear attack, by abseiling down from the balcony, and trundling stretchers around.  There was also a delightful church-sponsored knitting and sewing group, that met one afternoon a week and had delicious teas….

The Church held special meetings there, but as we were so few in number the choir vestry was usually adequate.  Yes, the Church had a real problem keeping the Institute running.  The Churchwardens were very attached to it.  Fred Coates, who had been a warden for very many years, had a very long memory of the Institute's use (as it had originally been intended) as a working man's club.  There had been a library, billiard table and of course the famous baths.  Fred's father had been Chairman and he was very proud of this association.  Anne Locke was often there, and I suspect that she carried out many of the repairs.  She was a very practical person.  She once caught me in an unguarded moment, and we spent an afternoon sawing up a spare bier to salvage timber.  Both she and Fred were the salt of the earth.

There was a resident caretaker, who lived in the top floor flat rent free, and who had half the income from the room bookings.  The other half was used for minor repairs and to pay for [utility] services.  This didn't seem to us to be a particularly advantageous arrangement for the Institute.  In addition the first floor was rented by a tutorial college [not D'Overbroeks] who seldom used the rooms, and kept them unheated and locked.  Getting them out was exceedingly difficult and unpleasant.  We were greatly helped in this and other matters by Jennifer Morgan of the Diocesan Solicitor's office, who never charged for anything she did for us.  Soon after this the caretaker decided to leave.  I remember a discussion with him about stage scenery being left in the Hall for a friend, which precluded the Hall from being let!

We were then able to start making changes.  D'Overbroeks came on the scene, and from the very beginning they were so easy to deal with.  It was obviously to our mutual advantage that they should have the first floor, and we should have a more realistic rent.  We were then able to build up a small fund for dilapidations and carry out a few much-needed repairs.  We engaged a resident caretaker, put in a basic heating system, did something to the roof and so on.
We moved the playgroup to the main Hall, put in children's toilets and tried to make a small play area outside.  It was at this time too that we put up a dividing wall in the front room….  We went into calmer waters when John Gawne-Cain [the Vicar of St Giles, who became also responsible for St Margaret's] arrived.  But there were disagreements about the letting of rooms, and in the end I gave up my involvement.

It was certainly a steep learning curve, meeting and working with some lovely people, and some quite difficult situations….