Initially, the local Ken Hill Estate kindly gave the field in the centre of Snettisham, ideally located adjacent to the school and overlooked by its 13th century church, over to the village for sport, education and recreation.
A management committee was established to run the site for the good of all.
After the end of the Second World War a Pavilion was built on the field as a memorial to the fallen of the village. The cost of the raw materials was raised by public subscription and the labour was given for free by the men (many of them returning veterans) and boys of the area, guided by local builders Bowman, Cutting and Tweedy.
The Pavilion was commenced in June 1949 and opened in 1950, at a well-attended public event. During this the building was recognised and blessed as a ‘war memorial’ by Dr. Herbert, The Bishop of Norwich. There is a plaque on the exterior wall of the building commemorating this and a ‘roll of honour’ inside listing the names of the people who laboured upon it.
This makes the Snettisham Memorial Pavilion rather rare, as it is one of only 63 UK war memorials out of over 90,000 on the Imperial War Museum’s Register, that has a year round, functional, community use in addition to it’s remembrance one.
Both the playing field and Pavilion are now operated by a dedicated, registered UK charity.
We believe that this story is a special one. The foresight and generosity of the villagers before us who came together at a time of severe emotional and economic difficulty following the war, to create something this rare, that has been a well-loved and well-used central piece of village life for over 72 years, linking all the adults and children using it to the past and remembrance is truly inspiring.
We feel it is incumbent upon our generation to revive this special building after all its years service, both for ourselves and for those who will follow us.