in the aftermath of the first world war, thousands of war memorials were commissioned across britain to commemorate the war dead. in gerrards cross, the local vicar, the reverend john matthew glubb, was keen to have a "living memorial" which would be of use to the village community and its ex-service personnel, rather than simply a monument in its own right. the vicar proposed that the former vicarage stables should be converted for use as a community centre. rather than form a war memorial committee as was the common practice, the village established a community association, whose remit was to "establish, maintain and manage a community centre which shall be a war memorial for activities promoted by the association and its constituent members in furtherance of the above objectives or any of them, the centre to be called the gerrards cross centre".