The Village Hall in Wartime

The village or parish hall really came into its own during World War Two, being put to many uses. Some of the most entertaining contemporary reports in local newspapers focus on the fundraising drives that were held to raise money for a wide range of wartime causes, from hospital funds to Spitfire purchasing.

In May 1940, Saighton Village Hall in Cheshire put on a concert in order to raise funds for the local hospital. I would dearly love to nip back in time to witness the following delightful programme:

Joan White reprised her famous role as a child evacuee, including a monologue entitled “Mrs Wilkinson-Henn”

Jack Reid, the Chester ventriloquist, brought along his two dolls, Tony and Little Sir Echo

Donald Davies gave a xylophone recital, while Helen Noble played the accordion and H Brown the banjo-lele

Finally, Mr and Mrs Tooth and their friend Mr Prendergast acted out two short sketches

Sometimes I think that despite our modern claims to sophistication, we just don’t know how to put on a good concert anymore.

Google Street View image of Saighton Village Hall - a delightful venue for a fun concert

A show of ingenuity was displayed by Brockhampton WI in March 1942, when they put on a parade of disguised members. Presumably villagers had to guess who was behind various wigs and clever make up. It sounds simple, but probably a good laugh was had by all and it’s just not the sort of thing that can be done anymore, as modern villagers probably barely know each other to begin with.

The village of Naunton had a pig club that met at their village hall, with the idea of providing food locally. In 1942 they celebrated rearing 45 pigs between them.

Finally, I had to smile at this ‘Dad’s Army-esque’ report from the Thanet Advertiser in 1940. Members of Minster Council arrived at the parish hall for their meeting, only to find that it had not been blacked out.

“A hurried conference was held on the pavement and it was decided to adjourn to the ARP post in the White Horse Inn.”

What a delightfully convenient location to hold a dreary old meeting in. The whole thing was spoiled though by a query as to the ownership of the pens that council members were using. Did they belong to the council, or did they belong to the ARP?

Sadly, they belonged to the ARP.

I've got plenty of WW2 themed stories in my Amazon bookshop - take a look at one of my best-sellers set in a London cinema in 1944 - click here

And click here to buy the book of the blog

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Woods Ware China at the Serving Hatch

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