St. George’s Children’s Home

As part of our project to gather West Warrington memories, a member of the public has kindly sent us a scan of a commemorative programme  for the St George’s Children’s Home Garden Fete in Penketh dated 1963, which inside includes a list of all of the Church of England churches in Warrington who had a stall at the fete.

Programme for St George’s Children’s Home Garden Fete, 1963

St George’s Home for Waifs and Strays, by this time known simply as “St George’s”, was run by the Church of England Children’s Society. It had moved to Hall Nook in Penketh in 1934 from its former location at the Limes in Orford Green.

When opened the home was set up to accommodate 30 boys from the ages of 6 to 14 and six boys of 14 or over. Children could be sent to the home from all over the country.

St. George’s closed in 1970, with the last recorded Superintendents being listed as a Mr. and Mrs. Hueston or Huetson (records vary, do any of you remember which was their correct name?). By this time it was considered better for children in care to be kept near to their families wherever possible. Many of the children in the home at the time of closure were relocated to the Ryecroft Home near Manchester, others were moved back to the parts of the country they originally came from.

St George’s Children’s Home, Hall Nook, Penketh

The home was demolished in the 1970’s and Woodley Fold was built on the site.

The commemorative programme shown above mentions that the fete was opened by Keith Macklin of the BBC programme “North at 6”. Some of you may remember Macklin for his Rugby League commentary on BBC and ITV, or if you are big snooker fans, you may just remember him as presenter of the first ever series of “Pot Black” in 1969. But how many of you remember him as a journalist at the Warrington Guardian in the early fifties, or as Head of Public Relations for Warrington New Town in the 1970’s?

Keith Macklin 1931 – 2009

This article was originally posted on Wednesday, March 1st, 2017.