The Development of the Community Associations: Dagenham and Beyond

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The roots of the Community Association movement in Britain can be found in the philanthropic groups such as the Educational Settlements Association and the National Council of Social Services. Settlements, or, as they later became known as, community centres, were, on a limited basis, beginning to spring up in a number of established and new working class areas in the 1920’s.

Some settlements focused on educational activities, others leisure. The Educational Settlements Association organised on the basis of the slogan ‘a community centre of adult education’. The Society of Friends, or Quakers, was already active in this sphere of self-education and they bore an influence on the new movement.

Much of the work of these early groups was based around the idea of the educated middle-classes volunteering to assist the poor. The trade unions and left-wing organisations were often hostile to this approach, considering it patronising and against their aims of a fundamental change in society.

Much of the ethos of these groups was the belief in the rural primitive village which, in their opinion, industrialisation and the growth of the cities had destroyed.

The beginnings of a national organisation that drew together the different strands of activism started in Dagenham in 1928. Here was a new giant LCC estate with few facilities other than the housing for the residents beginning to settle there. The 1927 AGM of the Federation of Settlements passed a resolution that read,

‘(we shall) invite a number of men and women to reside (in Dagenham) whose aim it shall be to engage as individual citizens in the social life and work of the neighbourhood and further to promote the formation of a Community Centre based on a wide and varied membership which shall foster and serve as a focus for the social life of the whole community.’

Establishing the Pettits Farm Association, there were various activities promoted such as handicraft groups, reading circles, political discussion groups, children’s play areas, and, as the 1930s economic depression took hold, there were legal aid schemes, coal clubs and allotments provided. The experience in Dagenham was considered a success, and it became a model that others copied – areas as far apart as Shirehampton in Bristol and Wibraham in Manchester established their own community centres.

The movement took off rapidly throughout the 1930s and evolved into Community Centres and Associations Committee, which by the beginning of 1940 had some 220 associations affiliated.

By the time of the Second World War the Community Associations began to find a natural home within the increasing vocal and well-organised planning movement – it was considered essential for all New Town planners to place a community centre at the heart of their development plans. During the post-war building rush in November 1945 the movement reconstituted itself into the National Federation of Community Associations. Membership grew from 98 full and 15 associate members at its launch to 250 full and 94 associate members in 1960.

One of those full members was at Harold Hill.

The Development of the Community Associations: Dagenham and Beyond

The Development of the Community Associations: Dagenham and Beyond
Home page		Click on here to return to the previous page
	The roots of the Community Association movement in Britain can be found in the philanthropic groups such as the Educational Settlements Association and the National Council of Social Services. Settlements, or, as they later became known as, community centres, were, on a limited basis, beginning to spring up in a number of established and new working class areas in the 1920’s. Some settlements focused on educational activities, others leisure. The Educational Settlements Association organised on the basis of the slogan ‘a community centre of adult education’. The Society of Friends, or Quakers, was already active in this sphere of self-education and they bore an influence on the new movement. Much of the work of these early groups was based around the idea of the educated middle-classes volunteering to assist the poor. The trade unions and left-wing organisations were often hostile to this approach, considering it patronising and against their aims of a fundamental change in society. Much of the ethos of these groups was the belief in the rural primitive village which, in their opinion, industrialisation and the growth of the cities had destroyed. The beginnings of a national organisation that drew together the different strands of activism started in Dagenham in 1928. Here was a new giant LCC estate with few facilities other than the housing for the residents beginning to settle there. The 1927 AGM of the Federation of Settlements passed a resolution that read, ‘(we shall) invite a number of men and women to reside (in Dagenham) whose aim it shall be to engage as individual citizens in the social life and work of the neighbourhood and further to promote the formation of a Community Centre based on a wide and varied membership which shall foster and serve as a focus for the social life of the whole community.’ Establishing the Pettits Farm Association, there were various activities promoted such as handicraft groups, reading circles, political discussion groups, children’s play areas, and, as the 1930s economic depression took hold, there were legal aid schemes, coal clubs and allotments provided. The experience in Dagenham was considered a success, and it became a model that others copied – areas as far apart as Shirehampton in Bristol and Wibraham in Manchester established their own community centres. The movement took off rapidly throughout the 1930s and evolved into Community Centres and Associations Committee, which by the beginning of 1940 had some 220 associations affiliated. By the time of the Second World War the Community Associations began to find a natural home within the increasing vocal and well-organised planning movement – it was considered essential for all New Town planners to place a community centre at the heart of their development plans. During the post-war building rush in November 1945 the movement reconstituted itself into the National Federation of Community Associations. Membership grew from 98 full and 15 associate members at its launch to 250 full and 94 associate members in 1960. One of those full members was at Harold Hill.