However, the town’s connection with the site started well before bricks and mortar were laid. Cllr Sue Spittle said: “According to my recollection, and what I was told by my parents Ron and Barbara Newbury, the Druitt Gardens and building that now houses the library was donated by one of the Druitts, Sylvia Druitt, at the end of the 1940s /early 1950s, for the resident of Christchurch. “At around 1947, Christchurch Citizens Association was set up, with my parents as founder members with one of the sole purposes to prevent it going into Christchurch Borough council s hands, so instead was owned by Hampshire County Council, later transferred to Dorset County Council in 1974 following Local Government reorganisation.
Imminent works causes dilemma In 2017, the Druitt Hall Community Association was granted a 10-year extension to their lease, taking operation of the hall through to 2027. However, renovation work on the building, including the replacement of its damaged windows and the removal of its asbestos roof which was initially brought up for discussion at the local authority’s community committee in November, has yet to be completed. This is because, at a projected cost of almost a quarter of a million pounds (£40,000 for the windows and almost £200,000 for the roof), councillors have deliberated as to whether the funding, which would come out of taxpayers’ money, could be put to better use.