A Trust was set up to oversee the project, which had to raise from the community the extra funding needed to meet the total cost of £500. The site was supplied at a modest cost by the Franklin family who ran a garage on the land on the corner of Red Cross Road and the High Street. The plot had a 27 feet frontage to Red Cross Road. Local architects Messrs Leighton and Higgs were chosen and Goring builder T. Higgs and Son erected what was described as a ‘thoroughly sound but not over elaborate building’ which was up and running only 3 months after the site was bought.
The new fire station was officially opened on Saturday 15 May 1937, attended by local worthies along with members of visiting fire brigades and the Goring Brigade. The Goring and Streatley Band played until Mrs Palmer, the Trust chairman’s wife, performed the opening ceremony at which she unveiled the memorial stone. Officer George Hill then gave her a silver key with which she unlocked the side door of the fire station and entered the building, followed by members of the Goring Brigade, to each of whom she then gave a key. The ceremony concluded with Mrs Palmer handing over the Deed of Gift of the building from the Trust to the chairman of the Parish Council. The band struck up the National Anthem and all present sang God Save the King.
The Parish Council charged a rent for the premises to the Fire Brigade which covered rates, insurance and maintenance.
In 1938 legislation made the Brigade became answerable to Henley Rural District Council, but after war broke out, in 1941 a National Fire Service (NFS) was created by the amalgamation of the Auxiliary Fire Service and the 1600 local authority fire brigades throughout Britain. In 1942 Goring negotiated the sale of their appliances and equipment to the NFS for £1,000. The NFS existed until 1948 when fire services reverted to local authority control and Goring came under the Oxfordshire Fire Service, run by the County Council.
In 1953 the Charity Commissioners authorized the sale of the Fire Station to Oxfordshire County Council for £1,150. It became disused in 1970 and in 1976 a new fire station was constructed at Cleeve. The Parish Council bought the freehold for £7,500 in the 1980s and used the premises asoffices until recently.
© Alan Winchcomb and Goring Gap Local History Society
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