St Julians was an exercise in communal living
MY STORY about the early days of St Julians Club, Underriver, and the disclosure that one of the members, Swedish actress Mai Zetterling, was under investigation by MI5 requires some clarification.
Bronwen Wells, the present club secretary and granddaughter of one of the founders of St Julians, tells me the details released by MI5 are not quite correct.
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CHILDREN OF ST JULIANS: Taken in the mid-50s, this picture shows the children of the founding mothers and fathers. Left to right are Sarah Morgan, Charlotte deSyllas, Maggie Amaral, Tom Morgan and Tina. Among the women who looked after the children was Miss Maggie Watson, with glasses
"Duncan McDonald, Patricia Burke and Zetterling all lived at St Julians, but none were core founders of the community," she says.
"St Julians did not begin life as a 'Marxist study group', but was rather an exercise in communal living by several professional couples."
The story of this splendidly located house on the slope of the Greensand Ridge above Underriver is worth telling again.
It was purchased in 1951 by a group of professionals, who included two doctors with London practices, Dr Elizabeth Tylden and Dr George Morgan.
The other founders were Leo deSyllas and family, Ian Gibson Smith, a photographer, Margaret Bates, a social worker, Betty Myer, Helena Dennis, Vera Courtney, John Arnold, film producer / ballet dancer, and family, Henry Cornelius, film director, and family, Rowland Hilder, artist, and family and Charles Sidney McDonald, a musician, who was almost certainly the father of Duncan McDonald.
The Amaral family came slightly later, and Mai Zetterling moved there in 1953.
In those days it was difficult for professionally trained wives and mothers to continue their careers, particularly before the advent of playgroups and mother and baby groups.
So St Julians became their communal home. Each family had a separate living area but the children were looked after together and the families had their meals together.
The second important move was to provide restaurant and leisure facilities for people living at St Julians and their friends.
A members' club was opened in 1956 with the provision of a bar. The club developed rapidly when the main outdoor swimming pool was opened in 1963.
The west field was acquired in 1967 and the woods, purchased in 1983, brought the size of the St Julians estate to some 78 acres.
Today it is a proprietor's club. The house has been converted into flats and many of the residents work within the organisation, which is owned overall by a trust.
Facilities are available for family parties and various functions, including wedding receptions, exhibitions and conferences.
Ongoing projects include a plan to reinstate the indoor heated exercise pool with sauna which closed in 1994.
Bronwen Wells tells me that grandmother Elizabeth Tylden, one of the original founders, died recently.
Bronwen Wells' father Tom Morgan, born 1948, who was brought up at St Julians, still lives and works there.
2 Comments
by Gill Moore, Canterbury
Friday, December 11 2009, 6:32PM
“Correction on my earlier comment. It was the summer of 1952 when we grew silkworms”
by Gill Moore, Canterbury
Friday, December 11 2009, 5:48PM
“I found it interesting reading about St Julian's in it's early years. Not only were the children looked after communally but they also had their own school with my mother, Molly Crawford, as school teacher. As Molly was keen on nature studies in 1951 she decided, as there was a mulberry tree in the grounds, it would be good to have some silk worms. She contacted Lullingstone Silk Farm and duly collected the eggs. These hatched and the children enjoyed bringing fresh mulberry branches daily for the silk worms. In time they formed cocoons which were returned to Lullingstone. Their letter (which I have) thanking my mother and the children for their efforts said the silk was of sufficient high quality to go into the Queen's coronation robes.”