Extract from

‘This Very Dear Building’:

A History of St Margaret’s Institute

Commemorative Edition April 2008

Catherine Robinson and Elizabeth Wade

In 1940, after the evacuation from Dunkirk, 45,000 soldiers from all over the British Isles were camped on Port Meadow nearby. Mr and Mrs Openshaw and their daughter Peggy, who lived on the corner of Polstead Road and Woodstock Road, conceived the idea of organising social evenings in the hall at St Margaret’s Institute to entertain the men. And so “Maggie’s Club” was born …

150,000 cups of tea

Funded by donations from friends of the Openshaws, club nights were held every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for the next five years. Entrance was free to members of the forces, and local people were also welcomed. Refreshments were served (tea, buns, chocolates, and cigarettes), and there was dancing to the music of Victor Sylvester (at 78 rpm on a radiogram). The club was a huge success. The camp on Port Meadow eventually closed down, but the Royal Army Medical Corps was billeted at St Hugh’s College in St Margaret’s Road, and “Maggie’s” continued in being, serving nurses and orderlies, as well as RAF personnel from nearby aerodromes. The Openshaws’ main helpers were Miss Hancock, a lady in her seventies who lived at 19 Chalfont Road, and Mrs E. Badham, who lived at 11 Frenchay Road. Violet Ford, who served in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, is recorded as saying in 1941, “St Margaret’s is the friendliest and jolliest place I have been to in Oxford”, and Private Johnny Ball asked rhetorically in 1943: “What would Oxford be without Maggie’s?”

For some time during the war, the club co-existed with classes of Thomas Road Central School, which had been evacuated from London. Martin Koretz, who attended it from 1942 to 1944, remembers:

In winter there was a large open coal fire in the main hall on the ground floor. The headmaster, Mr Davis, used to take lessons in this hall and always stood with his back to the roaring fire. We always noticed the smell of smouldering trousers, while all of us were shivering with cold. …At the time there was a tuck shop on the corner of Aristotle Lane, and the boys would race out at break time to buy ‘Fatty Cakes’, oozing with fat. They can’t have done me much harm, as I have weighed only a little over 8 stone for the whole of my adult life.

By June 1945, Maggie’s Club had held 838 sessions, and The Oxford Times printed the following report:

PRESENTATIONS AT FAREWELL DANCE

St Margaret’s Hall, Oxford, was the scene of a farewell dance for the Forces last night, when “Maggie’s”, the club which Mr. F.E. Openshaw, Mrs Openshaw, and Miss Peggy Openshaw have organised for the Forces, held its 838^th session.

The RAMC No. 4 Company dance band gave its services. Mr Openshaw, in a tribute to the help of friends, said that Miss Hancock, who dealt with the tea, had missed only five evenings out of the 838 and had poured out 150,000 cups. Mrs Badham had cut over 60,000 sandwiches and had only missed ten evenings.

Mr Openshaw made presentations on behalf of his family to them and to Mrs Badham, Miss Judy Thorne, and Mr Geoffrey Turner.

Miss Mollie Goodall had collected from the Service men and members of the club, and from these gifts presentations were made by Colonel Maguire, RAMC, to Miss Peggy Openshaw, Mr Openshaw, Mrs Openshaw, Miss Hancock, Mrs Badham, Mr Badham, Mr Geoffrey Turner, and Miss Judy Thorne.

On 21 June 1945, 14 demobilised servicemen who were returning to their homes all around the British Isles wrote the following letter to the Openshaws:

On behalf of our little gang in the corner, we wish to express our grateful and sincere thanks for the happy and most enjoyable evening we had on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of “Maggie’s”.

We all feel sorry to hear that “Maggie’s” may have to close in the near future, for deep down in our hearts, memories of “Maggie’s” will always remain. Most of us will be homeward bound in the near future, and on our return to civilian life if anyone should enquire as to which University we attended during our stay at Oxford, although our answer will be none, we shall be proud to be able to claim the privilege and pleasure of attending “Maggie’s”.

It is with the greatest pleasure that we thank you, Peggy, Granny, and the many other kind helpers of “Maggie’s” staff for the many happy evenings we have had in the past, and we will always associate “Maggie’s” with being the one bright spot in Oxford and a home from home.

Our best wishes to everyone, and may God Bless You All.

Peggy Openshaw (who later married and became Peggy Bainbridge, living at 149 Woodstock Road until her death in 2005 at the age of almost 90) recalled much later: “They were very happy times, and we were very sorry when the club closed. We ended solvent, in spite of charging only one penny for a cup of tea.”