PRESS
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 14/07/2025
The people of Brentwood gear up
to save Bishops Hill for community use.
Residents of Hutton, Shenfield and Brentwood have
come together to save the historic Bishops Hill and its iconic Hall. Who hasn’t attended a performance or been
invited to a celebration in the magnificent hall with its hammer beam roof?
For over a century, from when it was built in 1906,
as part of the Poplars Residential School and Children’s Home Village for destitute
children from Poplar, it has stood as a reminder of how young children with little
prospect of a decent future can be provided with what they need to lead
productive and fulfilling lives.
The building now faces an uncertain future; Essex
County Council are moving adult education classes to other venues in the town. The council has no plans for the teaching
areas freed up, now that proposals, to relocate council offices there, have
fallen through. Ominously, Essex County
Council have been unable to suggest what fate awaits the Hall.
Although the Residential School closed in 1982 there
are plenty of residents that have family connections with ex pupils of the
school. Even more have benefitted from
the building’s later use as a base for Adult Education Classes or have enjoyed concerts
by Brentwood Philharmonic Orchestra and Essex Chamber Orchestra.
Some users of the hall have set up the Bishops Hill
Action Group (BHAG) to encourage Essex County Council to find a way to retain
the Hall for community use. The petition
to keep it open has already gained over 3,000 signatures, with local businesses
lending their valuable support. It is
also intended to get Bishops Hill designated as a Community Asset of Value,
registered with Brentwood Council.
BHAG would also
encourage everyone, who values this piece of our history, to contact their
local councillors and urge them to add their weight to saving the hall for the
community.
If anyone has not signed the petition or knows
someone who hasn’t, then they can go to the on-line petition by using this QR
code.
Time is short, Essex County Council has given
notice that it is closing the site to the public from July 31st.
ü Sign the petition.
ü Contact your local councillor.
ü Spread the word through your social media.
For media enquiries, interviews, or further
information, please contact:
Clive or Sue Waddington
sue.waddington@yahoo.co.uk