Frank Bangay

WE had an appointment with ” Mr. Frank Bangay, gas fitter, one morning last month at Borough Green showroom. We hoped to find out something about the life of a fitter in the country and we won- dered if we would get a story of interest to his urban and suburban colleagues. But we need not have worried. Mr. Bangay lives in a cottage next door and anyone in Borough Green who wants the gasman is as likely to knock on his door as to go into the showroom. For every- body in this Kentish village knows Frank Bangay, and he knows everybody. In fact, one can safely say that Borough Green wouldn’t be the same without him. But perhaps you’ve never heard of Borough Green ? Or perhaps you only know it as a village on the A25 to Maid- stone ? It has been described as the un- loveliest spot in the Garden of England, but that is an exaggeration. The trouble is that it is comparatively modern — 80 years ago there was nothing there but meadows— so it has no olde-worlde thatched cottages for tourists to drool over. But whatever Borough Green hasn’t got—it certainly has character, and in recent years it has hit the headlines in the local and the national press as ” The Do it Yourself ” village. Which brings us back to Frank Bangay who, as vice-chairman of the Parish Council, is one of the most active ” do-ers ” of them all. Mr. Bangay was born and bred in Borough Green. He started work there as an apprentice fitter with the Mid-Kent Gas Light and Coke Company, whose headquarters were at Snodland and he learnt his gas fitting in the villages and countryside around. During the war he was with the Royal Pioneer Corps from 1941 to 1946 and came out as an Acting C.Q.M.S., after serving in France, Germany—and the Orkney Islands.

LAND ARMY He met his wife during the war. She was in the Land Army and lived in Forest Hill. They settled down at Borough Green. At first she hated it, but once she had joined in some of the village activities, she changed her mind. ” I’d never leave Borough Green now,” she says. Now, to most of us, earning a living and bringing up a family doesn’t give time for much else. But that’s not the case with the Bangays. It was the story of Borough Green’s recreation ground that first put the village on the map. And Frank Bangay was a member of the Recreation Ground Improve ment Fund from its start in 1947. At that time the recreation ground was nothing but a meadow. People agreed that it would be a good thing to have tennis courts, cricket and football pitches and a children’s playground. But £800 over and above a Ministry grant had to be found to cover the cost. Nobody thought that such a small and inconspicuous village could raise that sort of money. But, led by Mr. Bangay and others, they rolled up their sleeves, held dances, raffles, fetes, carnivals, jumble sales and house-to-house collections, and raised not £800 but £1,350.

SIXTY-FOUR VOLUNTEERS This result was so good that they decided to build a pavilion (Hon. Secretary, Pavilion Building Committee—F. Bangay). With a grant from the Playing Fields Association, they had £750 available. They got 64 volunteers and built the place themselves, a handsome building with clock tower that is now insured for £2,500. It cost the people of Borough Green less than £750 and nothing at all on the rates. Next they built a six-rink bowling green (Hon. Sec. Bowls Green Building Committee—F.  Bangay). A contractor estimated the job at £2,700. With a grant of £450 from the Ministry and a loan of £250 from the Kent Playing Fields Associa tion, the villagers laid it out themselves. It has been pronounced the best green for miles around and the loan has been repaid. (Hon. Sec. Borough Green and District Bowls Club 1956-59—F. Bangay). The recreation ground was now so fine that it was worthy of a proper approach. A derelict stone flour mill was demolished and the stone used for the new entrance (Hon. labourer to bricklayer—F. Bangay). And, providentially, a magnificent pair of wrought-iron gates came to light quite by chance and now make an imposing entrance. Last May, as a fitting culmination to their efforts, the Recreation Ground was officially opened by the Duke of Edinburgh, President of the National Playing Fields Association.

BUSY MAN What with all this and the Invicta Youth Club, which he inaugurated and of which he is chairman, the football club, the cricket club, the Parents and Old Scholars Association, the church and other local fetes, Mr. Bangay is a pretty busy man. Yet he still finds time to act as master of ceremonies at many local functions. Mrs. Bangay is not idle either. She is a sick visitor and was secretary of the Women’s Institute and has plenty on her hands, too. ” What,” we asked tentatively, ” hap- pens when you both have a meeting the same evening ? What about a baby sitter ? ” ” That’s easy,” says Mrs. Bangay. ” We hold a meeting in our own sitting- room.”  And she told us, somewhat ruefully, of a meeting of young people when volunteers did the washing up and some of her best china went for six! It’s anything but a dull life for the Bangays. ” Our next scheme is for a a village hall,” Mr. Bangay told us.   ” It’s going to cost £15,000 and we’ll start work as soon as we’ve got the first £1,000.” And we are perfectly prepared to bet 100 free copies of SEGAS JOURNAL to an extinct farthing that Borough Green will get its Village Hall, with Mr. Bangay among the volunteers.