MONEY FOR SPORT

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 49, 27 August 1934, Page 8

MONEY FOR SPORT

GIFT TO ENGLISH VILLAGE

The village of Woodham Walter, near Maldon, in Essex, receives a legacy of £50,000 under the will of a London stockbroker for the solo purpose of oncouraging sport, says the "Sunday Dispatch." He was Mr. Henry Walter Thomson, known as tho "squire" of the village. His will showed estate of tho gross value of £458,842, with net personalty £446,081. For more than thirty years, Mr. Thomson lived at The Warren -Farm, a largo and picturesque estate in tho village, which has a population of only 600. Tho money was left upon trust "for tho upkeep of Warren Farm and the oxpenses of organising and encouraging football, cricket, golf, and other pastimes in the parish." Woodham Walter must today be the wealthiest village in England, for, apart from tho £50,000, legacies of money and property amounting to thousands of pounds wore left by Mr. Thomson to his employoes. Other of the parish and various charitable sums wore provided to help tho poor and,ecclesiastical objects. This descent of wealth, however, has put at least one man in the village in a quandary. Ho is Mr. Fred Durham, sen., who was a steward to Mr. Thomson and a life-long friend. Mr. Durham has been set the task of helping the trustees to spend the fortune that has been left the village to encourage sport, but it is so well equipped already that there is only one thing they really want —more players. "During the time Mr. Thomson lived here," Mr. Durham told a "Daily Mail" reporter, "he had cricket and football pitches laid out on his grounds, with tennis courts, and even a golf course. Everybody could play freo of charge. Our only difficulty has been to got enough of the villagers to play tho games. "Wo used to run two football ami cricket teams, but now v.c can only jr,.* enough players to make up a side."