The Turner Memorial Hall, Mansfield Woodhouse
Keith Morris
Keith Morris
Keith Morris
Keith Morris
Keith Morris
Keith Morris
Keith Morris
Keith Morris
Keith Morris
Keith Morris
Keith Morris
Margaret Morris
The Turner Memorial Hall is so named in memory of Frederick John Turner, who was the Land Agent for the Welbeck Estates, after giving a total of forty eight years service to the 5th and 6th Dukes of Portland.
Mr. Turner was aware that there had long been need of a room for parochial purposes in Mansfield Woodhouse and he put the idea before the Duke of Portland who gave a valuable piece of land at the junction of Church Street and Welbeck Road for this.
Sadly Mr. Turner died on March 10th 1906 before the room reached an advanced stage, but it was felt that the hall should be named after him.
The foundation stone to start building work in May 1907 was laid by Miss Emily Need who lived at the Manor House next door to St. Edmund’s Church, and the Parish Room was officially opened in February 1908 by His Grace, The Duke of Portland.
In July, 1924 the foundation stone for the larger hall was laid by his Grace The Duke of Portland in memory of Emily Cunynghame Turner (the wife of the land agent Frederick John Turner) and in November of the same year the hall was opened by The Bishop of Southwell and Lady Hoskyns
The large hall, costing £3,400, had a stage and a superb sprung parquet dance floor. By 1927 a sum of £2,200 had been raised and in order to meet the deficit of £1,200 a three day bazaar was held in November, 1927.
Then in 1993 money from the sale of glebe land was used to convert a dilapidated stone stable block into a coffee shop and drop-in-help centre which opened on 24th May 1993. Also in 1993 a Scout Hut was built on part of Turner Hall Field and was dedicated to the memory of scout Mark Andrew Davies who died whilst on camp.
The Parish Office, Lounge, Main Hall, Stable Centre and Scout Hut are interconnected and are all widely used.
Many groups and organisations hold their meetings in the Hall and on Saturday 1st March, 2008 a Centenary Celebration was held, with the various groups putting on displays and providing entertainment.
People were asked for their memories and this is what I submitted to The Old Mansfield Woodhouse Society who used it in their centenary display:
MEMORIES OF THE TURNER MEMORIAL HALL
by Margaret Morris (March 2008)
In 1933 my mother (maiden name Doris Pickering) went to a Dance at the Turner Memorial Hall with a friend of her sister. It was there that the friend Hilda Fairweather introduced her brother, Richard to her.
At that time, a whist drive was usually held in the lounge, whilst the dance took place in the main hall.
Doris and Richard (widely known as Dick) began courting and were married in 1934. I was born the following year.
Sadly my father died in 1963 aged 50 years, but my mother is still keeping fairly well at 93 years of age.
I feel the Hall has played, and is still playing, an important part in many people’s lives. It is in the centre of the village and a focal point where lots of activities regularly take place.
There is the big Christmas Event, the Summer Fair, the Friday Morning Flea Market, as well as numerous Church activities and coffee mornings. Band Concerts, Yoga, Keep Fit class and Line Dancing are amongst the many activities which I remember being held there.
The lounge is also used as a regular meeting room for many organisations such as the Old Woodhouse Society who have used it for their monthly meetings for many years and the main hall for many big fund raising events, including a Victorian Fair when we all dressed up in Victorian costume.
Although I cannot claim to have met my husband at a dance at the Turner Hall, we did host a Folk Dance/Supper there to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary with help from the Mansfield Folk Dance Club, the late Arthur Froggatt being the caller.
My husband Keith attended the St. Edmund’s Youth Club at the Hall in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, and also remembers when the lounge was turned into an overspill classroom for St. Edmund’s School when the school leaving age was raised from fourteen to fifteen in the late 1940’s.
The School also used the St. Edmund’s Football Field on a weekly basis for sports activities and when it was too wet to be outside the Hall was occasionally used for handball and P.T. and he can also remember the School play being held in the Hall and the Police Ball being held there.
I am sure that Mr. J. W. Turner would be pleased that the Hall built in his memory is still being used so regularly, but personally I am sorry that the name has recently had to be changed from Memorial to Community Hall in order to obtain extra funding. This means that another piece of history and the true meaning of the name of the Hall have been lost.