Bungay Bitesize - Honeypot Community Centre

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Local Historian Christopher Reeve steps back yin time to explore Bungay’s historyexplor tor

It’s sad that the old Honeypot Community Centre was finally demolished in June — replaced by a splendid new building on the Old Grammar Field — because it had been on the site in Upper Olland Street for about 77 years. It was originally built as a canteen and social club for American Air Force officers and other personnel based at Flixton, now the Aviation Museum. Honeypot Meadow was originally a large area of glebe land attached to Holy Trinity parish rectory, now Holmwood residential home for the elderly. The meadow extended from Upper to Lower Olland Streets, bordered on the south by Bardolph Road. Originally, it provided crops and grazing for beasts for the benefit of the Rector, (or Vicar) until another more convenient house was provided in Trinity Street opposite the churchyard. By the Victorian period, the meadow was used for recreation, sporting events, and grazing horses. Part of the area was rented by W.D. & A.E. Walker, Ltd., owners of the Staithe Navigation, from 1889-1919.

An American serviceman in Earsham Street, circa 1943

Joe Jermy recalled that in the early 20th century, at least one wherry, The Blanche, was built on the Honeypot site, and it was conveyed down to the Staithe river on giant rollers formed of tree trunks. William Walker lived in the house in Lower Olland Street, Dunelm, (now PDQ Media Solutions), and had Folly Lane built alongside Honeypot Meadow to provide a short cut for him when attending services at the Congregational Church (now Emmanuel). By about 1930, a community building was erected on the meadow, adjacent to Bardolph Road. Known as ‘The Hut’, it was made of corrugated iron, and was rather ugly, but provided spacious accommodation for events on the field, including fetes, auctions, and charity football matches, with dances and concerts in the evenings. For the Queen’s Coronation, in June 1953, a children’s Fancy Dress competition was organised — in torrential rain — and later on the winners were selected and received their prizes in the hall. It was demolished not long afterwards, and the Bungay Bowls Club green was extended, followed by tennis courts, a Police Station, and Olland Court residential homes. Now, the latest stage of its history occurs with the building of four bungalows, and its recreational use has mainly come to an end.