James Hill

I received an article some time ago from Alan Davies and put it to one side to allow me to carry out more research into the time that James Hill spent in Laindon. The information that he was the first Warden of the newly established Youth Centre based at Laindon High Road School was my starting point. I started my enquiry by contacting John Bathurst who had mentioned James in his article ‘When “Youth Service” came to Laindon’. John was his usual fountain of knowledge and provided me with an article together with some lines of research.

I also contacted Alan Davies who put me in contact with James Hill’s son who said that he did not remember much about the time in Laindon but was happy for us to proceed with the article.

My investigations at the ERO were not straightforward as the particular Committee minutes I needed to see were unavailable for research as they contained restricted information. However the ERO staff were very helpful and went through the restricted documents for me. The result was informative but not as helpful as I hoped as the minutes of the the first meeting of the reconstituted Laindon Youth Centre House Committee (Essex Education Committee, South East Essex Division) held on the 3 December 1949 contained the report of the resignation of James Hill and appreciation of his work at the centre during his three years service. James stayed on until June 1949.

I have still not been able to find the exact date of his appointment as Warden to the Laindon High Road School Youth Centre but it was either late 1945 or early 1946.

I am using this as an introduction and provide links to the originating article from Alan and John’s article.