At the end of the second World War, the Lancaster family, then residents of Woldingham, bought a section of land in the Garden Village and the surviving Officers’ mess hall and donated it to the citizens of the Garden Village and surrounding areas as a Community Centre and Hall in memory of their two sons who were killed in that conflict.
The land and the buildings were donated in 1948, forming the Garden Village (Woldingham) Peace Centre Charity on the third of November of that year. The building and lands donated were intended as a Peace Centre memorial to the Lancaster’s sons and for the recreation, sports, social and intellectual development of The Garden Village and surrounding vicinity. The Garden Village (Woldingham) Peace Centre, as it is so named, is a registered charity. The Peace Centre hall is located in front of 30 Hilltop Walk.
In 1948 when the Peace Centre Charity was formed, the organisations then in existence which appointed members to the Peace Centre Committee included the Garden Village Girls and Boys Activity Club, the Discussion Circle, the Dramatic Circle and the Womens Club.
The Peace Centre Hall exists for the benefit of the community. The only Garden Village organisation making active use of it today is the Woldingham Garden Village Residents Association, which appoints four WGVRA Committee members to the Charity’s Committee.
The Peace Centre Hall has been much upgraded since its use as the Officers’ Mess Hall and more work is in process to make this a wonderful centre for the whole community.