Sobell Bridge Club in Northwood

History of the Sobell Bridge Club and the Building of the MSC Hall

This is an outline for all of us involved with the Sobell Bridge Club of why the Michael Sobell Centre Hall was built and how it was funded. The passing of years, and changes in personnel, may lead to a lack of awareness of the significance of Club’s original funding of the Hall which should not be lost.

1992 – The Sobell Bridge Club, (SBC), founded to provide a social gathering for bereaved relatives and friends of people who passed away having been treated by the Michael Sobell Hospice, the aim being primarily social and secondly charitable. The venue was the MSH Daycare Centre.

1995 – The Bridge Club had outgrown the space of their playing venue and were looking for larger premises and considered adding a second storey to the Education block to play in. A Building Sub Committee was thus created.

1997 – The SBC formally started a Building Reserve Fund where revenue would be deposited to invest in new accommodation solely for the Club as there had been further growth in membership and there was no security of tenure at MSH.

Later this year the Hospital Authorities and Hospital Trust gave permission for the SBC to build it’s own clubhouse in the hospital grounds providing that planning permission was met, and a plot adjacent to MSH was agreed. Lottery funding was sought but refused as bridge does not qualify under Lottery Funding rules.

2000 – The League of Friends became a Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee rather than a charitable trust, and continued to hold the charity account that constituted the Club’s Building Resources Fund on the same basis as before, i.e. that although the fund was under the control of the Friends of Michael Sobell House, (FoMSH), it could be used to help fund a SBC clubhouse on the site.[1]

The SBC Building Committee investigated constructing a new building alongside the hospice for which outline planning permission had already been obtained.[2] However, informal discussions with the hospice revealed that they would strongly oppose this development.[3]

Taking accommodation in other existing buildings at Mt Vernon could not be progressed so the option of seeking accommodation outside of Mt Vernon, particularly with Northwood Cricket Club, (NCC), was followed.

2001 – At the AGM the Building Subcommittee Chairman’s report covered a proposal of a joint venture with NCC in depth and recommended that the Club evolve plans and a building programme for a combined SBC/NCC building in the grounds of the NCC. Initial discussions were that SBC would have access to the entire upper floor, with its own rights to the building. A shared cost of c£400k was suggested.[4]

The NCC development was seen as meeting the primary objectives of having secure accommodation for the future, (given that the destiny of Mt Vernon was in question), and therefore continuing financial support for the hospice.

2002 – The Club had reached maximum capacity at the Olwen Bettesworth Hall and the MSH premises with almost 500 members.[5]

Discussions with the NCC continued, while the FoMSH opened a new fund titled the Sobell Bridge Club Development Fund into which our building reserve fund, which they had continued to hold for us, was transferred.  This represented £160k which would be made available to the SBC should the scheme with NCC go ahead.

2003 – Hillingdon Council granted planning permission for the SBC/NCC venture. The anticipated cost was now £500k, to be shared equally. At our AGM the Chairman confirmed that the FoMSH supported the venture and that it had been arranged that they would return the monies in the Bridge Club Development Fund for the building work.[6]

By August the cost to the SBC had risen to £315k and in September NCC and the SBC met to consider the project and recommended abandonment by the respective clubs as the project had become too expensive.[7]

At a meeting in late September the FoMSH explained their accommodation shortage and suggested that if the Bridge Club were in agreement, they would seek a site in Mt Vernon that would satisfy their needs and our needs. This would require the SBC to contribute our savings in the SBC Building Development Fund towards the cost of such a development. The NCC scheme was now abandoned in favour of the Friends proposal.[8]  

2004 – In April the FoMSH received necessary clearances at their end and asked for our formal agreement to commit the savings in the SBC Building Development Fund to a joint venture to build the Michael Sobell Centre .[9]

In July a Special Meeting between the SBC and FoMSH was convened where the Friends outlined their proposal to relocate their fund raising and management offices to free up existing Annex space for palliative care.

As part of the planning application, and at the request of WHHnhsT, FoMSH agreed to make available a meeting room for the use of other organisations on the Mt Vernon site and for educational purposes for MSH. Removable partitioning was proposed in a multifunctional hall to achieve this.[10]

John Sandercock, (Chairman FoMSH), confirmed that apart from the potential meeting room “The remainder of the multifunctional hall would be available for the SBC to play bridge on every night of the week. The exception to the SBC use of the hall will be when the hall is required for those fundraising events that already exist, the dates of which will be announced well in advance, e.g. Sponsored Walk, Christmas Fair, Summer Fair (Plant Sale), and FoMSH AGM. FoMSH do not expect to expand it’s use of the hall but cannot rule out the possibility in the future”……

“In summary FoMSH will make available the free area of the multifunctional hall to the SBC every evening apart from the small number mentioned above. When the bridge club run special events and require the whole of the multifunctional hall then they can use the meeting room as well”.

In September a Special General Meeting was convened with Joe Sandercock, Eddie O’Sullivan, (Hon Treasurer FoMSH), the SBC Committee and 52 other members of the bridge club, to discuss the proposed shared accommodation. Eddie O’Sullivan confirmed that planning permission had been granted and that the purpose of the extra space, (the hall), was to secure the future of the SBC. The proposal was unanimously accepted.[11]

2005 – At the SBC AGM Eddie O’Sullivan spoke about the monies donated by the SBC to the Friends, and that over £240k, (plus interest), was held in the special reserve fund. This meant that FoMSH could commit to the building very quickly and could demonstrate to other potential donors that steps had already been taken raise funds elsewhere. [12]

Eddie then said of the multifunctional hall that “The bridge club have first choice of this room, except on certain evenings”.

2007 – The new building was completed and the SBC held their first sessions at the Michael Sobell Centre.

The Sobell Bridge Club support and trust Harlington Hospice’s governance of the MSC.  Hopefully the above provides an insight for those who may not have been aware of the unique relationship of the Sobell Bridge Club, the MSC Hall, and the MSH Outpatients Unit.