The Early Years of Centre 33

I don’t suppose many of you know why it is called Centre 33. It opened at 33 Hatfield Road in January 1977.

It was for the homeless, for people coming out of the local mental hospitals which were in the process of being closed and for the lonely and deprived. HACRO (Hertfordshire Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders of which I was chairman much later on) identified the need in 1975 and was instrumental in developing the idea, funding, recruiting volunteers and supporting it. The first chairman was a Senior Probation Officer and the Abbey also had a major role to play. There was a maintenance subcommittee which did all the work that Bob now does so well. Volunteers ran the rota for many years, but later we contracted out rota management until Covid.

Centre 33 was based at the back of the house via a side entrance, there were other charities in the rest of the building. There were two rooms for visitors, a kitchen and toilet. The visitors’ rooms were very shabby, with old sofas and chairs, the cooker was an ancient gas stove and the whole place felt unloved. I doubt whether an EHO would pass it today!

I became involved in 1979/80 when my younger daughter went to Muriel Green Nursery in Lemsford Road (now Brock House) just round the corner from 33 Hatfield Road. At that time there were two volunteer sessions 10-12 and then 12-2. Others may remember when the evening shift started. As now we always wrote down visitors’ names and had a day book to report any issues. We also had a file of relevant agencies for those in need.

We had mainly male visitors. I don’t remember anyone being banned but we did have to close once due to a visitor bringing in fleas. Three of the visitors stand out in my memory: A had been a rubber planter in Malaya, contracted a virus and ended up sleeping rough on the railway embankment in St Albans; B had been a soldier, was an alcoholic and a keen photographer who came in every day from Chiswell Green and had been befriended by May Badman of Ver Poets; C again an alcoholic had a fine voice and had won a silver medal in Ireland for his singing.

We used to go across to the kitchens of Loreto College to get the leftovers from the nuns’ evening meals in a tin tray, sometimes more appetising than others, to warm up in the oven. Otherwise we made cheese on toast. The drinks had to be paid for, a local neighbour in Lemsford Road, received the takings at the end of the day.

Centre 33 only moved when the landlord, St Albans FE College, wanted it back and subsequently sold it for development. This was sometime in the late 1980s just before I ceased being a volunteer due to being appointed a magistrate in 1989. Mick, the youth leader at the Abbey (and I think a trustee) found our current Spicer Street address. This had been the caretaker’s flat for the toilets downstairs which was then considered unfit for housing. It was only was meant to be stopgap until we found something better!

“We used to go across to the kitchens of Loreto College to get the leftovers from the nuns’ evening meals”

When I became in trustee in 1989 the chairman was David Skidmore, the social responsibility office for the Diocese. Mike, a local senior Probation Officer was a trustee but wasn’t replaced after he retired a few years later. Donald Minter, whom some of you may remember, only joined just before the move and then became chairman and spearheaded the refurbishment which continued through the 1990s, later the bathroom was replaced by a shower and separate toilet.