THE Boer War started in 1899 and lasted until 1902, and saw Winsford's own "Buttermilk Soldiers", the 22nd Company of the Cheshire Yeomanry, leaving England for South Africa in January 1900. They returned to Winsford on June 17, 1901, just nine days prior to the official opening of the town's new drill hall, which most people will know today as the bingo hall along Dingle Lane.

Volunteers of the Third Volunteer Brigade of the Cheshire Regiment also spent a year on the veldt and members of the Winsford branch of the St John Ambulance Brigade were there for more than six months.

Coming home to the new drill hall was a fitting monument to their efforts.

Its roots started when the Winsford Volunteers Drill Hall Co was formed and registered on May 17, 1900, the same time as the news of the relief of Mafeking was received.

John Henry Cooke was the secretary but later made director (he also wrote an account of the war in his book, Five Thousand Miles with the Cheshire Yeomanry in South Africa.)

Nominal capital of the company was 3,000 shares of £1 each, but only 1,208 shares were taken up, so the directors arranged with Parr's Bank for an overdraft on the security of the freehold of the property.

James Holland, a Northwich architect designed the building and the construction was put out to tender.

The bid from James Fowles, and Sons, builders of Winsford, was accepted. The price was £2,750 and work started on the land bought from the Verdins.

The drill hall was to be some 90ft by 60ft and lighted from the roof by lanterns running the length of the hall, with a solid floor to deaden the sound of marching, with a wide gallery at the entrance for use of practice shooting and the main hall used for drill and dancing.

There were side rooms for officers, arms and equipment, and a side entrance with staircase leading to the gallery and tower top.

At the rear was a large kitchen and scullery with cooking ranges for banquets and tea parties etc. A sergeant's house was in line with the main building, fronting Dingle Lane, with four bedrooms with a large yard for drilling recruits in dry weather, and an ammunition room with fireproof door.

The architectural style was in a simple renaissance mode and the impressive tower was 46 feet high.

It was reported in the Winsford Guardian supplement of the time that the tower "gave a splendid view of the countryside, and on a clear day the Staffordshire and Derbyshire hills and Welsh mountains could be clearly seen".

The building was heated by steam, and the plumbing and painting was by Jabez Lightfoot of Winsford. The hall was opened by the Earl of Dundonald of which I will relate next week, along with the opening of the Boer War monument.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.