Nearly fifty years of Thursday nights in the village hall
For close to fifty years, a night out in Somerton has usually meant the Social Club. It meets in the village hall, the Barnes Memorial Hall, on Thursday evenings and for parties, quizzes and suppers through the year. This page gathers what we know of its story so far. The early years are the thinnest part, and that is where we most need your help.
Most of what follows comes from the club's own reports in the Valley News, the magazine for the Cherwell Valley villages. Where something rests on a memory rather than a written record, we say whose memory it is.
The club was founded in the 1970s, but we do not yet know the exact year. In June 2023, at an evening held in memory of Malcolm Arnold, the club described Malcolm as one of its founders, "along with Charles Newey, Rod Risbridger and others". His widow Rosemary spoke that evening about the couple's early years in the village and the circumstances that led to the founding of the club, "nearly 50 years ago" (Valley News, August 2023, p.25).
That report names founders, not officers, so it does not tell us who first chaired the club. Valerie Newey's obituary in 2014 remembers her as "a great supporter of the, then, newly formed Social Club" (Valley News, October 2014, p.21). When the Valley News celebrated its 200th issue in 2012, it recalled that its early issues, from 1979, carried contributions from the Social Club (Valley News, April 2012, p.4), so the club was already active by then.
The bar has been rebuilt more than once. Della Paviour remembers it like this:
"The bar developed from a hatch in the kitchen to the first proper bar and then the modern bar. I think there were four iterations. The kitchen today is where the toilets used to be."
Della also recalls that the first proper bar was built by Jerry Grant, then the club's chairman, with Malcolm Arnold and Charles Newey. We have not yet been able to date any of these stages, or to say exactly what the four versions were. Nor do we know which changes came with the rebuilding of the hall in 2009 and 2010 and which came before or after it.
The bar as it looks now can be seen in two Valley News photographs: one from the club's AGM report in April 2022, showing the kitchen in use and the bar (Valley News, April 2022, p.28), and one from the bell dedication in summer 2023 (Valley News, August 2023, p.25).
On 30 June 2023, at a Payday Friday, the club dedicated a bell for calling time at the bar in memory of Malcolm Arnold. The mount was made and given by George Brown, the village cabinet maker and carpenter (Valley News, August 2023, p.25).
This list comes only from the club's own reports, which is why it begins in 2020. Della remembers Jerry Grant as chairman when the first proper bar was built, but we have no dates for his time in office, and no record yet of anyone else before 2020.
| Chair | What the record says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Jerry Grant | Chairman when the first proper bar was built (Della Paviour's recollection; date unknown) | Village memory |
| Tony Callow | Named as Chair in December 2020. We do not know when he took office. | Valley News, December 2020, p.24 |
| Emma Wilson | Elected chairperson at the AGM in February 2022; stood down at the AGM on 9 February 2023 | Valley News, April 2022, p.28; Valley News, April 2023, p.24 |
| Chris Adamson | Elected chair on 9 February 2023 | Valley News, April 2023, p.24 |
| David Jaques | Took over as chairperson after the 2024 AGM; stood down at the AGM in February 2025 | Valley News, April 2024, p.24; Valley News, April 2025, p.23 |
| Chris Adamson | Elected again in February 2025, and still chair in April 2026 | Valley News, April 2025, p.23; Valley News, April 2026, p.28 |
The club also has a bar chair, which is a separate job from chairing the club. Ana Cavey has been bar chair since at least 2022 (Valley News, April 2022, p.28). Derrick Kingdom served on the committee for more than 30 years, mostly as treasurer, until he and his wife Angie left the village in 2020 (Valley News, December 2020, p.24).
The club's reports mix two kinds of news: events that have happened, and events still to come. We have kept them apart, because a notice in advance does not prove that an evening went ahead.
In 2023 the club described its year as including live music, quizzes, dances, skittles, and beer and wine tastings, alongside the Thursday bar evenings (Valley News, August 2023, p.25). In 2024 it said its Eurovision evening had been running "for over 20 years" (Valley News, April 2024, p.24).
The club ran the bar for the Somerton Hour, a series of talks by visiting speakers, including John Mitchinson of QI, Oliver James and Colin Dexter, probably in late 2010. The talks are described on Talks, Groups and the Youth Club.
The club has often raised money for things the whole village uses. When the new playground was built in 2013, the Somerton Teatime Club did most of the local fundraising, and events were also arranged by the Social Club (see the Teatime Club and the playground; Valley News, August 2013, p.15). In 2024 the club contributed to solar panels and batteries for the village hall, alongside a Cherwell District Council grant and the Parish Council (Valley News, April 2024, p.26).
We would especially like to find:
Please use the form below or our contact page, or see Can you help? for other things we are looking for.
See also The Village Hall.
Did you grow up in Somerton, or does this article bring back a memory? Do you spot something that needs correcting or adding? Rosemary Arnold and Della Paviour would love to hear from you.