Results tagged “Upton” from Chester Chronicle - Chester Memories

Tackling rowdy behaviour, disorderly conduct and the alcohol abuse is high on the Government's agenda at the moment.

And it was just the same for residents living around Upton Village Hall during the Second World War.

In 1942, four residents living near the hall, on Mill Lane, complained about the disorderly conduct of certain people attending late dances and the consumption of intoxicating drinks on the premises. The correspondents suggested imposing a closing hour of midnight on all users of the hall.

Despite complaints, the majority of local people seem to have appreciated the facilities.
Upton Village Hall celebrates its 80th anniversary this month, having been officially opened in December 2008 by Lady Arthur Grosvenor.

The hall's history has been chronicled since the early 1920s and a scrapbook containing circulars, programmes, notices and press cuttings up until 1984 was lodged with Cheshire and Chester Archives.

An inventory of gifts was kept, including a kitchen geyser from Mr A Crompton, the first chairman, a gramophone and records from Mr W Clayton and five dozen teaspoons engraved 'UVH' from Mrs C Newport.

Phil Pearn, chairman of the village hall committee, said: "Unfortunately all the spoons are missing so if anyone has one in a drawer at home please could they let us know."
Other titbits from the minutes include, in June 1931, the cricket club agreeing to give a length of matting to the hall in return for two free nights for dances.

Maintenance of the hall didn't come cheap and a minute from 1952 records the purchase of a vacuum cleaner costing £25. With the average salary just topping £100 per annum, it would be the equivalent of spending about £5,000 of today's money to keep the place clean.

In 1953 the conduct of the youth club was considered to be unsatisfactory and the vicar was to be informed.

Earlier this year local resident George Bolton confessed to getting into dances free back in the 40s and 50s.

One of his gang would get in on a ticket and then let the others in through the window.
The village hall underwent a major refurbishment during the 1980s under the chairmanship of Nancy Turton, described in the minutes as a 'young, ambitious, enterprising, energetic and keen chairman'.

Nancy is still a trustee of the village hall. The hall has recently undergone another refurbishment, in a project named 4-SCORE and it now boasts a new kitchen and bar area, a new side entrance with toilet giving better access to the meeting room, increased storage space and a new sound system.

An exhibition celebrating the 80 year history will be mounted this Sunday, December 7 from 2 - 5pm at the village hall.

STAFF from Chester's former psychiatric hospital have been invited to a reunion.
Stan Murphy, who worked as a mental health nurse for 49 years, has organised the reunion for all former staff at the Deva Hospital.

He took up nursing at the outbreak of the Second World War and began work as an auxiliary in June 1940 at nearby Upton Emergency Hospital, near Chester.
He said: "Part of the annexe of Deva Hospital, Chester was taken over by the military on the outbreak of war. "When we went there it was empty, everything was spotless and all the beds just waiting.
"We had to go through the main building to get to the pathology lab, pharmacy, and canteen, meeting mental patients, which made me a little bit scared because I was not used to them at that time.
"When the badly wounded military patients arrived from Dunkirk in the summer of 1940 it was so different.
"It was like a station, it was just crammed, and most of them went to theatre. We really had a 'baptism of fire' when we saw the gruesome sights, but just had to get on with the work without flinching. There were two theatres, one for operating and the other for plastering limbs.
"I was told to give an enema to one man; they all had to have enemas before theatre in those days.
"I had never undressed anyone never mind give an enema; I was shaking and upset the wretched thing in the bed.
"I was embarrassed, I was only 19 and led a rather sheltered life, but the poor man was too ill to care if a donkey had attended to him.
"When he had gone to theatre, I had to take the mattress off quick and change it with one from a side ward while it dried. After that I was very blasé.
"We were responsible for 56 beds. We nursed military and naval casualties, British, Czech, and Poles.
"Convalescents wore bright blue serge suits, white shirts, and red ties, and plimsolls so as not to damage the wooden floors of the hospital.
"The staffs were severe at times. Military personnel measured the spaces between each bed with a measuring stick.
"Later on when the raids were bad in Southampton, and over London, and Liverpool, we had civilian patients, men, women, and children, some as young as five and six on the wards.
"The most upsetting part for me was when we knew they weren't going to get better. There were two small girls, heart patients, and there was no real treatment. It was heartbreaking to think that they wouldn't improve at all."
The staff reunion is on Friday, April 18 from noon-2pm in Upton Royal British Legion Club. Call 01244 340753 for details.