Humphrey Park Community Centre stands on the western side of Humphrey Lane in Urmston, midway between Urmston and Stretford town centres.  Urmston, which was once a small farming community within the parish of Flixton in Lancashire, grew rapidly into a residence following the building of the railway and became an urban district in 1894, later including the local areas of Flixton and Davyhulme.

 

Before the 1930s, the area around the community centre location was known as Gorsey Brow and the original route of Humphrey Lane would have passed in a straight line through the community centre building and bowling green with the grounds of Gorse Hill Farm on one side of the lane and The Manor Buildings and The Grove on the other. 

 

During the 1930s, Messrs. Longworth and Taylor bought several plots of land in the area for building purposes. They built the Humphrey Park and nearby Newcroft estates in 1937/8. Due to the Great Depression of the 1930s, approximately 100 of the houses remained unsold and these were put up for rent, although many have been sold in recent years.

 

At the beginning of World War II, an air-raid precautions post and shelter was built on spare land at the junction of Humphrey Lane and Humphrey Crescent on the site of the current community centre. This was a surface level shelter, and a great many of these were built all over the country. After the war, through the efforts of the Humphrey Park & District Residents Society, Urmston Council had a large extension added to the air-raid shelter, and this became the original Humphrey Park Community Centre in 1948, at which time a provisional management committee was set up to run it.

 

 

 

 

In 1949, a bowling Green was laid due to the efforts of the centre's first president, Mr Clegg of Humphrey Lane, and this was officially opened by him. Unfortunately, Mr Clegg was in poor health and he died later the same evening. A cup, known as Clegg's Cup, is competed for each year in June in his memory. The Humphrey Park & District Bowling Club was formed in 1950. The Ladies Bowling Club was formed in 1951.

 

In 1959, discussions began between Humphrey Park District Community Association and Urban District Council of Urmston regarding the building of a new community centre. Over the next few years a least two different layouts were considered and estimates in the region of £7,000 to £8,250 were obtained. The original community centre was demolished and rebuilt in 1962. The current building was opened on 5th January 1963 by Councillor Royle-Higginson.

 

No one knows for sure why the original community centre was demolished, but it could have been for one of these reasons:

• It is well known that many ground level air raid shelters were built using a soft lime mortar due to a lack of cement at the time. Perhaps this reduced the possible lifespan of the original building.
  
• Perhaps it was felt that a new building would better serve the needs of the community.

 In 1967, a small extension was built onto the store room next to the kitchen and this became the annexe.

 

 

In 1974, Urmston became a district of the newly formed Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in the County of Greater Manchester. 

A full rewire, with new heating and lighting, was carried out in 2011, followed by alterations to ensure DDA compliance.