University of Hertfordshire promises Hatfield club has a future

University bosses have denied scheming to close down a long-running Hatfield social club, insisting they have merely temporarily relocated it.

Members of Club de Havilland, which the university inherited when it built its new campus on the site of the former aircraft factory, were told just before Christmas their Monday tea dances would be cancelled until the end of May.

The university says it needs the Comet Room temporarily for teaching during building work, and the club will meet meanwhile in the Welham Green Memorial Hall.

But 74-year-old member Bill Sloan of Mardley Hill, Welwyn, told the WHT: “The hall does not have a sprung floor or a bar, and there is nowhere to get a meal.

“By the time we go back, we will have lost most of our members, and the club will not be viable, which I think is what the university wants.”

However, Professor Di Martin told the WHT: “The university has worked tirelessly to try and rearrange the business and social events taking place in the Comet Room and apologises for the temporary cancellation of some of its services.

“Club de Havilland is very much at the heart of the community, and we thank our regular members for their understanding and support during these temporary arrangements.”