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Object No. 25 is a postcard of the 'new' Pavilion, one of a set of six commercially produced in the late 1920s - very soon after the building’s opening on 10th May 1924.
The pleasing low structure, the wide veranda and the elegantly aligned half-timbering make a photogenic composition. But it’s the story behind its construction that is worthy of celebration.
Built in 1924 as a memorial “to those who had fallen in the Great War”, the pavilion was funded entirely by Old Breconians. As early as 1918, several months before the eventual Armistice, a “War Memorial Fund” was set up by the Old Breconian Association to receive funds that would be used to in memory of the 35 fellow Old Breconians who had died as a result of the conflict.
The funds raised were sufficient to erect the marble tablet in the antechapel, the memorial cross in Chapel Yard and to construct a long-awaited new cricket pavilion. By 1921, when the Memorial tablet in the antechapel was unveiled, the final official tally was 57 Old Breconians.
As an official record of the teams, the walls of the main room are lined with boards bearing the names of the Cricket XIs and the Rugby Football XVs of more than a century, many of which had been transferred from the earlier "Pavvy".
In a reminder of the Memorial Pavilion’s origins that could never have been planned, the boards include 19 names that appear on both the First World War Memorial Tablet and on the team boards in the building that remembers them.
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View a Century of Cricket XI photographs
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View the 15 41 Exhibition
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The Memorial Pavilion was officially opened by W M Llewellyn OB (School House 1901-06), one of the principal fund-raisers.
In the photograph (left) taken on the day, he is pictured second from the left. The Headmaster, Rev. J L Phillips (Headmaster 1921-1931), is to his right.
In a particularly rainy cricket season, the planned OB match had to be abandoned after a morning of torrential rain. In the afternoon, the weather cleared sufficiently for the opening ceremony to take place in front of a crowd of pupils, master, parents, and OBs.
W M Llewellyn explained that construction of a pavilion had been chosen because many OBs had written to say, “Let some part of your war memorial be connected with the games of the school because as much as we remember the chapel and other sides of school life, the boys who died in the war and the boys who fought in the war were trained in the playing field, perhaps, more than anywhere else.”
With such strength of feeling in the OB community and in the school as well, the progress of the building - from laying its foundation in early 1924 to its completion at the end of April 1924 - had been watched with a critical eye by boys, masters and OBs alike.
Designed by W D Morgan OB (School 1887-91), the new building was a “most commodious building of pleasing elevation in the old half-timbered style". On its completion, the Editors of ‘The Breconian’ declared the universal cry was “satisfaction”.
Thus the new Pavilion took its place centre stage in the school grounds. It was an immediate success but it was not without mishaps. Within months of its completion, the walls needed repair having been damaged by some over-enthusiastic pulling of the ‘Coll. nag’, the grass cutter powered by boys. To make matters worse, the terrible floods of 1927 caused damage to its timber frame.
Indeed, the building has been much repaired over the years. When originally built it had neither electricity nor water. Thanks to the warm-hearted support of Old Breconians, led by the hard-working dedication of P J Owen (School House 1953-58) and generous OBs, the Pavilion was upgraded in 1996 and the utilities were finally installed.
The construction of the Reg Phillips Scorebox in the same year rendered the scorebox on the upper floor redundant. But the walls of the old scorebox are still unofficially adorned with the names of pupils who, through the decades, have watched cricket matches from the small square window in the roof. Like the walls lined with soft pitch pine and the original cast iron spiral staircase, the journey upwards to view the square from aloft will remain in the memories of all those who made it to the top.
The Pavilion wasn’t the first pavilion at Christ College, neither is it the most recent. Younger Old Breconians know the Pavilion as the “Old Pavilion” because they know the pitch-side changing room attached to the Sports Hall as the “New Pavilion”. Older Old Breconians know the Pavilion as the “New Pavilion” because it replaced the “Old Pavvy”, which stood on the edge of the current Astroturf until 1953.
The Old Pavvy was a two-storey brick and timber structure with a tiled roof. It was of interest at the time because because the work was undertaken at the same time as the considerable expansion of School House with the construction of Big School. Details of the Pavilion were published in 'The Architect' in January 1881. The image (left) from the same journal is reproduced courtesy of the HathiTrust.
The Architect 29 January 1881
This building has lately been erected in connection with the extensive additions to the school building, which are in progress. The materials are red brick to the joists, and timber framing filled with brick and rough cast above. The roof and penthouse are covered with brown Brosely tiles, and the woodwork externally painted a dark brown. On the ground-floor are two dressing-rooms, lavatory, and water-closet; above are a dining-room and pantry. The work has been executed by Mr W Bowers, contractor, Hereford, who is also the contractor for the new school buildings The architect is Mr J Bacon Fowler of Brecon and Swansea.
Designed by J B Fowler, the architect of the Big School building, it was completed in 1881 and used on the days of the ‘Athletic Sports’ and on match days for rugby as well as cricket. Lunch was often served in the ‘luncheon room’ on the upper floor on the days of OB cricket matches.
Even before the outbreak of the First World War, the Old Pavvy was in a state of serious disrepair. Letters in ‘The Breconian’ reveal frequent complaints about its decrepit appearance and the water-logged pitch just in front of it. It is no wonder that there was a universal cry of “Satisfaction!” when the Memorial Pavilion was completed.
Having just about survived its use as a makeshift shooting range after the war, the Old Pavvy, was finally pulled down in April 1953, memorably in the same term that sweet rationing ended. By that time the new Memorial Pavilion had rightfully taken its place in the school grounds, and it is the centenary of that Pavilion – “the memorial pavilion”, “the new pavilion”, “the old pavilion”, “the pavilion” – we celebrate in 2024.
Photo: Sports Day 1934. From the E W Lawrance Collection.
Christ College Archive
Christ College Archive
from the EW Lawrance Collection
Christ College Archive
