July 2008 Archives

DO YOU remember parading around a field in a white dress, or playing for the Hoole Secondary Modern School football team?

Jean Lloyd, of Hoole, found these photos from her childhood and wondered if any readers recognise them.
Jean, née Jenkins, said: "I was part of the Hamilton Street Methodist Church Sunday School rose queen's retinue in about 1959 when I must have been about eight or nine, I remember us parading around a field at the top of Newton Lane, where the fete was held.

"It was exciting for us - as little girls we didn't often get the chance to dress up and be treated like a princesses for the day.

"I don't know the surnames of a lot of the girls and of course they may have got married now. I would like to hear from any who recognise themselves."

Jean also sent The Chronicle a photograph of Hoole Secondary Modern School's under 13s football team, coached by PE teacher Tom Bateman.

"This was a photo from the school magazine, Hooligans, which was a really good magazine - it always had photos and people wrote articles for it.

"I used to organise the school reunions so I think someone gave it to me then.

"The photo must have been taken sometime in the 1960s."

Do you know any of the missing names? E-mail rebecca. edwards@cheshirenews.co.uk.

ONE hundred years after the first attempt to shut it down, Boughton St Paul's Nursery and Infant School must finally close its doors to children.

The school, in Victor Street, will close next Friday, July 18, as part of Cheshire County Council's Transforming Learning Communities which blames falling rolls across the county.

Parents, staff and governors campaigned unsuccessfully for months to save the school but finally had to admit defeat.

Chairman of governors Susan Churchill says: "For generations Boughton St Paul's school has been an integral part of the community, offering not only superb education in a small, friendly environment but providing help and encouragement to the whole family.

"Over the difficult period of the closure of the school, families and friends have come together to help maintain that support for the children and teaching staff and have shown wonderful spirit.

"We will be sending our children on with a positive outlook and a secure knowledge base and a true value of friendship to spread to their next schools."

The school was founded in 1830 when St Paul's Church set up a day school in the parish for children of the workers of the mills and the leadworks.

In 1852 an additional school, Boughton Industrial School, was built on the corner of Hoole Lane and Boughton for destitute, orphaned and neglected children.

Five years later St Paul's Day school found a new home in the grounds of the industrial school and the next 50 years passed without incident.

In 1908, the year that whippings are listed in the punishment book, attempts to close both St Paul's Day School and the Industrial School failed.

In 1941 Boughton Nursery school moved to a new premises on the corner of Hoole Lane and what was Richmond Terrace.

The school as it is known today was built in 1972 and opened in 1973 on land adjacent to the existing school - the old school remaining in ruins for 10 years before Boughton Retail Park was built.
Ten years later, the school came under a second threat of closure, this time from Cheshire County Council but campaigners succeeded in keeping it open.

In 1995 a new school hall was added before a third attempt to close it in 1999.
In December 2006 Cheshire County Council's TLC (Transforming Learning Communities) programme is launched, threatening a number of primary school in the county with closure.

Unable to avoid the chop, campaigners eventually threw in the towel and pledged to celebrate the school's 178 year history and enjoy the final terms before closing the gates for the last time.

The school will be celebrating with a service at St Paul's Church on Wednesday July 16 at 6pm and all are welcome.

Carnival memories came flooding back to Frodsham as organisers announced this year's event will be the last.

Past events were stuff of local legend as residents threw themselves into the serious business of making sure everyone had fun in the week-long annual community celebration.

It culminated in an eagerly awaited street parade of decorated floats and an afternoon of family attractions on the carnival day field, complete with many a jaw-dropping daredevil display.

But times change - attendance has declined dramatically over the last few years and, with fewer volunteers than ever willing to share the load, the Frodsham Community Association says Frodsham Carnival "has had its day" and they are no longer prepared to organise it.

These photographs throughout its peak between the late 1960s and the early 1990s evoke memories of the thrills of the funfair; colourful fancy dress; the sound of Frodsham Silver Band and children's chuckles; crowds lining the streets to cheer on the parade of floats (remember the buzz of last-minute lorry decorating?) and "Mr Frodsham" himself, the ever-jovial late Don Mellor, who led the parade and supported the carnival for more years than anyone can remember.

Hats off to the legion of volunteers and supporters who worked so hard to make Frodsham Carnival such a colourful part of the town's history.