A community hub with many uses

Soon to celebrate its 100th anniversary is Roborough Recreation Hall - a hall committed to the community.

In the 1920s, Lord Roborough - Sir Henry Lopes - gifted land to the parishioners of Bickleigh and Roborough for a recreation hut which was completed in 1926 and opened on April 15 that year. Based on Roborough Road, the hut comprised a large club room, billiard room, dressing rooms and kitchen and was used by residents of both parishes.

One of the first users of the hall and still there today, was the WI, then during war time Britain the hall was used not only for dances, whist drives and the Clinic but where Plymothians trecked for nightly refuge from the bombed city. 

Since then the hall has often been updated and up-graded and is now used by a variety of clubs and groups on a regular basis for band practice, children’s parties, craft fairs, dog-training classes and much more. Their nearby sports field is also popular with various cricket and football teams.

Whilst being run by volunteers on the Roborough Recreation Hall and Playing Field Committee, maintaining the original ethos of being built by and for the use of the locality, the hall also thrives due to its convenient access for Plymouth, Tavistock and the Moor.

Volunteer Chris Phillips said: ‘Everyone is pleased to see that the hall has retained a lot of its character and is being used for many purposes. With the large hall able to seat 70 and the smaller room convenient for annual meetings etc, both with disabled access from the car park, we now have plans underway for a complete re-fit of the kitchen. We are very proud of and grateful to all the volunteers who give their time to run both the hall and sports field and feel that we have a very positive future here!’

For more information, contact Chris at roboroughrecreationhall@gmail.com