Leisure & Recreation in Hoole: Difference between revisions

[[File:CC1 Bonfire.jpg|left|thumb|''_{Painting of a bonfire lit for the 1831 coronation}'']]

 

 

A painting in the British Museum showing a bonfire lit for the celebration of the coronation of King William IV and Queen Adelaide in 1831 was featured in the Society's Annual Report of 2015. A newspaper account of the event has now been found in the Chester Courant of 13th September 1831 which in spite of its flowery language gives an interesting picture of what happened on the day.

 

 

It would appear that the men had a roast sheep dinner at 3 o'clock, and the women and children had tea at 5.00.

[[File:CC3 Tithe Map.jpg|left|thumb|''<small>Tithe map of Newton - sites of buildings in red; today's places in black</small>'']]

It has never been clear where The Green in Flookersbrook was located. The schedules accompanying the Tithe Map drawn up only a few years later do not list it and the location of the Flookersbrook Pits and the then 30 or so properties rule out likely possibilities, although the water over which the two cannons were fired seems obvious.

 

No mention is made of The Ermine, its landlord nor well-known families from the area. No information has been found about Mr Shand of Liverpool or Mr W Beck.

 

 

 

 

 

Dr Moor became President of the Mechanics Institute in Chester, cataloguing and expanding its library. He sought to open a museum at the Water Tower, the Gentleman's Magazine reporting that he paid 13 guineas for a case of stuffed birds to go there. He contracted scarlet fever and died in 1837 aged 34.

 

A memorial to him in Chester Cathedral is inscribed with the words "cut off at the opening of his professional career by fever caught in attendance of the poor". Records of St John's Church show that he was interred there in the altar tomb of his grandfather Thomas Tolver and his aunt Frances Bagnall; his mother Maria Moor, although recorded on the tomb at St John's was buried at Plemstall Church.

 

 

John Claudius Loudon, an eminent landscape designer and authority, visited the renowned gardens of Hoole House, “''one of the most remarkable specimens of the kind in England''”, in 1831. He was there at the personal invitation of Lady Elizabeth Broughton, who kept the garden for her own use and that of a close circle of friends. He really admired Lady Broughton’s own design of the famous Rock Garden of Hoole House. J.C. Loudon’s article describing it in ‘The Gardener’s Magazine’ in 1838 made it internationally famous.

 

 

 

 

[[File:5LRA1 Plan of Alexandra Park 1903.jpg|thumb|''<small>1903 Plan showing Hoole Public Park Area (Panton Rd was originally called Bater Avenue)</small>'']]

 

 

 

[[File:5LRBA 2a Hoole House Estate Notice of Sale.jpg|left|thumb|367x367px|''<small>Sale particulars for Hoole House 1896 (1)</small>'']]

[[File:5LRBA 2b Hoole House Estate Notice of Sale.jpg|thumb|''<small>Sale particulars for Hoole House 1896 (2)</small>'']]

The opening of the playing field was part of a six-hour tour, the Duke arriving at Hawarden RAF Airport, visiting John Summers Hawarden Bridge Steelworks, and then naming Chester Sea Cadets new training ship “DEVA”.

 

From these original reports it is clear that the Duke’s ability to be interested in people and to make appropriate comments and astute remarks which have been widely reported during tributes to him, and which have brought about the Nation's highest regard, were evident in Hoole on that day, 68 years ago.

 

The gateposts to the playing field still carry commemorative plaques.

 

[[File:5LRH1 Bowls Advertisment April 1842.jpg|thumb|<small>''Bowls Advertisement April 1842''</small>|alt=]]

Bowling has been a popular pastime for centuries and in April 1842 the landlord of the Ermine and Railway Hotel in Flookersbrook was pleased to announce “''the addition of a splendid bowling green''”.

 

 

[[File:5LRH3 Sale of Bowling Green 1974.jpg|thumb|''<small>Sale of Bowling Green 1974</small>'']]

This seems to have been a private club with its own green on the east side of Vicarage Road between Nos.4 and 6. The green is not marked as such on O.S. maps but the vacant land shown between the houses make it easy to identify. The earliest record of the Club dates from July 1910 when Mr. Samuel Davies aged 66 of Fairfield, Kilmorey Park collapsed suddenly while playing there. He was taken to Mr. T.W. Chalton’s house at No.3 Vicarage Road where brandy was administered. Dr. Butt was called but to no avail.

The Club had strong links with the Freemasons and for many years dinners were held in conjunction with the Deeside and the Tattenhall Bowling Clubs. Prominent citizens such as R. Cecil Smith (Hoole Volunteer Fire Brigade and Mayor of Chester), Chas Jones (Agricultural Machinery Merchant at Cowlane Bridge), William Kearton (Guardian of the Workhouse) were associated with the Club which appears to have been a men only organisation. The land it occupied in Vicarage Road was sold for housing in 1974.

 

[[File:5LRH4 Invitation to Tender for Bowl House Feb 1912.jpg|left|thumb|''<small>Invitation to Tender to erect Bowl House and the Park Lodge February 1912</small>'']]

[[File:5LRH5 Drinking Fountain.jpg|thumb|''<small>Drinking Fountain at the Bowl House</small>''<ref>''<small>Copyright Jeff Buck re-used under the Creative Commons Licence</small>''</ref>]]

The Hoole Alexandra Park Bowling Club had always welcomed lady members from the start, a Miss Barton who died in 1940 was “''a member since its formation''”. In 1934 there were 25 lady members, Mrs. R.H. Pryce was a member of the otherwise male committee and went on to be President in 1941; other lady members were also to become Presidents. In 1943 Mrs. E.G.M. Kenney was the first lady to win the Club’s championship. The Club set up a dedicated ladies’ section and although it continues today as a mixed organisation, in 1947 a new separate ladies bowling club was formed.

 

During the 2020 Covid 19 lockdown the Secretary of [[Hoole Ladies Bowling Club|'''Hoole Ladies Bowling Club''']], Jane Branson was able to use the minute books and secretaries’ reports of the Club to provide a detailed history of its formation and activities.

[[File:5LRH8 Hoole Carpet Bowls.jpg|thumb|287x287px|''<small>Hoole Carpet Bowls Club Fixture Card 1977/8</small>'']]

 

The Club was formed in 1902, games being played in a small pavilion attached to the house of its first president, Robert Wallace of “Emrys” in Kilmorey Park. He was a draper with premises at 92 Northgate Street and several of the earliest members were also in the tailoring trade including the Becks and the Todds who both ran shops in Hoole. When the original club room became inadequate accommodation was found first in the Newgate Street Presbyterian Church schoolroom (Robert Wallace was a prominent layman there), the Westminster Hotel stockroom, the Temperance Hall in George Street and then The Elms Pavilion which was the corrugated iron meeting room behind the Council Offices on Hoole Road.

 

 

 

Chas. Sumner talked to Hoole History & Heritage Society about Chester Football Club’s early years. The club was formed in 1885 when Chester Rovers and Old King’s Scholars amalgamated at Faulkner Street, where Chester Rovers had played in 1884. House building caused a move to ‘the Old Showground’ in 1898, to land which had been used for the Royal Agricultural Show in 1893, but further house building in this part of Hoole resulted in Chester Football Club becoming homeless for two years after one season. The team played in Whipcord Lane, when it re-emerged. Eventually moving to the Sealand Road ground, its home until 1990.

 

===‘Hoole boys’ who played for Chester F.C. in the past===

 

In 2010, during the celebration of 125 Years of “The Blues”, one of ‘the City Legends’, Chester F.C. players invited to relive yesteryear, was John “Basher” Evans, from Hoole. Working his way up through the junior ranks of Chester Football, at the age of 18, in 1961, he became a part-time professional, and turned full time professional at 21. At this time, playing conditions, using heavy footballs, often on muddy or wet pitches, meant that strength was essential for success in the game. Always “Basher” to the crowd, possibly due to his robust playing style, John made 44 First Team appearances for Chester F.C. under four managers: John Harris, Stan Pearson, Bill Lambton, and Peter Hauser.