History

How it all began

by Alphonse Nuss

Stanford-le-Hope was at one time a prosperous little town, full of life and commercial activity around a cattle market just off Victoria Road. I do not remember the cattle market which ceased trading only a couple of years before I came to live here but I still remember the abandoned cattle pens on the land that later became the BIG M motor parts shop. For a while, Stanford continued to prosper and King’s Parade developed beyond Roger’s DYI tool shop on the corner and the Wallis supermarket.

Unfortunately, the happy days of Stanford-le-Hope were counted. The new Corringham shopping centre and its ample car parking attracted most of the trade and signalled Stanford’s commercial decline. By 1997, nearly half the Stanford shops were boarded up. I was convinced that a local authority alone could not artificially resist the new market forces and that only the people of Stanford le Hope, by working together as a community, could slow down the declining trend and even reverse it. How does one mobilise a community approaching 12,000 people? By appealing to their already established leaders. I struck lucky with my first one: John Guest was already on the same wavelength and as enthusiastic, if not more, about our vision for Stanford. Together we launched a first action group as a crucible for wild new dreams. We first met in a small corner of John’s St Margaret’s church, sometimes competing with the choir or the band rehearsing at the same time. We then called upon more volunteers to represent the various identities of our town. We explained what we wanted to achieve for our community and between 150 and 200 people attended our first general meeting. We named ourselves Hope Committee, elected our first Officers: John Guest in the Chair, Christine Guyon as Vice Chair, Gail Laws as Secretary and Marie Gill as Treasurer. Duncan Grant became also an active and imaginative member and I remember Tony Merry before he had to leave to run the Rotary Club! As Councillors for Stanford le Hope, Roger Moore and myself decided not to stand for Office in order not to “politicise” the Committee. The public was soon very enthusiastic too and many volunteered their skills if we ever needed them.

Our first achievement was Stanford’s first Christmas Tree ever. Its success went beyond our wildest expectations. Other projects proved just as successful: the Millennium celebrations, the naming of two new roads in honour of our two centenarians and of our first baby of the year 2000, the first festival…etc. Practically all our shops our now fully occupied. We would like to take some credit for that.

One disappointment however: the former CO-OP shop on the corner of Central Road. The building seemed ideal as a Community Centre where the various interests of the town could meet and be creative. In order to purchase the building, we constituted ourselves into a prospective charitable organisation under the name of Stanford Community Trust with the purpose of applying for funds from the Lottery and purchasing the building at what was a reasonable price. Unfortunately we were gazumped and the project changed hands, although we maintain an interest in its future development.

The success of the Hope Community attracted the attention of the Local Authority who offered us the possibility of acting also as a Community Forum under the umbrella of Area Governance. We ran the Stanford pilot scheme and then launched the first N.E.Area Assembly.

But the Hope Committee goes on. It is alive and well. We need, however, more and more people to join us and take part in what we want to achieve for Stanford le Hope. Together, we can make it an ever improving place to live in. Our Community is ours to shape up.

Alphonse Marie-Francois Nuss   3/6/1936 - 5/4/2005