Christine Taylor (Clarence Park)
My husband lived just around the corner from the Clarence Park Institute since he was seven months old. I moved into the house when we were married in 1950s and I have lived there ever since. The Institute is and has been the centre of community activity ever since it was built. It grew, rather like Topsy, to fill different needs.
The first building, now the Clarence Room, was built to house an annexe of the Unley Library. There were two rooms, the children’s section, which also contained the check-out desk, and the adult section in the larger, inner room. The children loved their section and were thrilled if they were allowed to date-stamp the books when the desk was very busy.
Membership cost 10/- a year or 3/- a quarter for adults and 2/- a year for children. It was open a couple of evenings a week in the beginning but later it on one or two days a week and Saturday morning.
Saturday mornings during the 60’s and 70’s were very busy, with people clustered around the desk asking each other, ‘What did you get for 2 Down?’ or, ‘Was Euripides the answer for 9 across?’ We were all doing the Saturday Advertiser Crossquiz – crossword puzzle with a difference, combining general knowledge with a crossword, for which a reference book was often required.
Almost from the beginning there were tennis courts surrounding the hall. Some of these courts were used for electric light cricket. At one time the large hall had a line drawn on the walls like a tennis net. If the ball was hit above that line the batter was out. When local interest in electric light cricket faded the area was paved and used as a car park – which was lost when the main hall was extended in 1961. A new kitchen was added at this time as well as a TOYS workshop, still used two days a week in 2021 to mend and create beautiful toys from recycled timber that are for sale.
Today the hall is used for Child Care, with a playground created outside. A Book Nook, where books can be exchanged, has been created outside the Hall. In summer surplus fresh vegetables are put there for the taking. Three or four mornings a week a food co-op is open to provide fresh foods without packaging waste. This has been going for almost 40 years. Kindermusik sessions, Wheelie Kids, Kids Markets, a Walking Group, Strength for Life, Judo, Kumon classes, singing, choir, ukulele classes, Neighbourhood Watch, Justices of the Peace and a group studying Ancient Egypt also use the complex, now called the Clarence Park Community Centre.
The neighbouring house was bequeathed to the Community Centre in the 1990s and is now used as office space and for small groups such as a craft group. In 2021 the Centre is as busy as it ever was.