The History of Vange & Pitsea Working Mens Club
The land on which the club now stands was originally owned by Thomas Jenner Spitty. He was a major in the Essex Rifles Regiment of Militia & a very wealthy man who owned substantial amounts of land & property in Essex.
Thomas Spitty died in January 1898 leaving his estate to his wife Mary Ann Spitty & others as Trustees. Mary Ann Spitty died in April 1908 & the estate was left in the hands of three Trustees to administer the land & property.
It would appear that a farmer named William Abel Towler bought a 59 acre plot called Kiln Farm from the Trustees of the estate in August 1908. The farm lands stretched from Pitsea Creek to the High Road. Soon after, William Towler sold some of the farm lands to George Alfred Crooks of Old Parsonage Cottage Pitsea.
In December 1926 Mr Crooks sold the land the club now stands on for £520 to the Trustees of what was then the Vange Comrades Social Club & Institute.
The decision to purchase the land, build the clubhouse & raise a mortgage was taken at a Committee Meeting held on 9th December 1926, the registered office of the club at this time is noted as Central Hall, London Road, Vange. The mortgage document states that the club was registered under the Friendly Societies Act at this time. But we don't know for sure how long the club had been in existence. We do know that the club was affiliated to the CIU in 1922 & we have a photograph of a house with a sign saying “Pitsea Working Mens Club” The house is named as “The Glen”
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