Civic Society challenge King’s cricket pavilion demolition

Plans to demolish the King’s School cricket pavilion which was dedicated to a historic school’s war fallen are being challenged by local residents and Macclesfield Civic Society.

The King’s School is leaving its present Cumberland Street site next year and moving to a state-of-the-art building at Four Lane Ends near Prestbury.

Following the move, the developers Hillcrest Homes is planning to demolish parts of the Cumberland Street site to help pave the way for 115 new homes – the design and access of which has raised a number of objections from locals. http://www.ilovemacc.com/2019/04/02/kings-school-housing-plans-challenged/

The cricket pavilion, built in 1934 to commemorate former pupils who had died in the First World War, is also planned for demolition and many objectors are calling for the building to be preserved. http://www.ilovemacc.com/2019/04/02/reader-voices-opposition-to-kings-school-plans/

A Facebook group (Redevelopment of Kings Macc Historic Site) has been set up and one of the members, Rosey Green, has said: “My feeling is that a building is not just bricks, mortar, glass, wood and slate.

“I truly believe that if you build a memorial and you say you want it to be a lasting tribute that it should last.

“I think a much more creative approach could have been taken to this, that the school could potentially have saved it on its current site and turned it into a memorial garden.

“And if it absolutely has to be moved, instead of just demolishing it, relocate those materials on the new school – do something creative with them, do something amazing with them that is in line with the new school build, something that the pupils can buy into.

“A memorial isn’t just a list of names or a plaque, even if it is consecrated, that is an important part of it. But the decision was made to build it in the 1930s and the decision was made in 1999 to renovate it so that it could go on being a lasting memorial.”

Macclesfield Civic Society have written to Cheshire East Council objecting to the scheme and suggesting the demolition would be a ‘disgrace’, ‘thoughtless and particularly insensitive’ following last year’s centenary commemorations for the end of the First World War.

Keith Smith, chairman of Macclesfield Civic Society, said: “A lot has been said by the local residents and old pupils of King’s – they are mystified by the attitude of the school over the pavilion and what it means.

“King’s chose to erect the pavilion as a memorial to pupils that were lost at war. Why on earth has it not thought it ought to transfer it to the new site?”

Governors and former pupils at King’s raised cash following the First World War to commemorate those who had been killed in action.

Some of the money was spent on a memorial plaque in 1929, which will be relocated to the new campus, while some was used to pay for the sons of some of those former pupils who died to attend the grammar school.

Five years later, the remainder of the funds were used to build the site as a joint library and cricket pavilion to commemorate the school’s war heroes and provide a practical facility for its pupils.

The pavilion was restored ahead of the school’s 500th anniversary in 2002 after it had fallen into disrepair – following efforts to raise £75,000 for the work in the 1990s – and it has since been used as a cricket facility for King’s pupils and visiting teams.

King’s says the pavilion was built as a facility for pupils to use, and it insists the memory of its war heroes would be better served by providing a new facility in Alderley Road, Four Lane Ends.

Dr Simon Hyde, headteacher at King’s, said: “The authorities of the time decided that the best way to commemorate the school’s war dead was to provide current and future pupils with a practical building which could be used for educational purposes.

“It is the school’s view that the future of the pavilion must be seen in this context – the decision by former pupils and governors to commemorate the fallen by providing a memorial plaque and a facility of practical use to current and future pupils.

“This heritage is arguably best honoured by dedicating a modern facility on our new site – which will be of practical value to our young people – rather than preserving a building that will have lost its purpose when the school relocates.

“The school is fortunate to have found in Hillcrest a developer committed to the retention and re-purposing of the most historic features of the Cumberland Street site.

“They have also developed outline proposals for a new memorial space, which will honour all of the King’s pupils and staff lost in the service of their country.

“This course of action is in tune with the intentions of those who contributed to the original fund and those who paid for the pavilion’s restoration. It would certainly be the most tangible reminder to our school community of the sacrifice of our forebears.”