Description:From 'Drake Hall - A War-Time Hostel', a souvenir book produced for staff and residents at the Swynnerton Royal Ordinance Factory hostel at Drake Hall, produced in 1945.
Mr E. W. Wimble, Secretary and General Manager of the Workers Travel Association at Drake Hall. Mr Wimble writes about his time at Drake Hall:
"In retrospect the changeover from organising holidays for workers whether at home, abroad or at sea, to managing hostels for workers transferred from their urban homes to factories on war-work in the heart of the country, was more natural than it seemed at the time. Sea cruising was off, the continent was barred, our own holiday centres were requisitioned, many of our staff were in the services and we were giving a very restricted service in rail tickets and hotel accommodation. It appeared that our talents in organising and entertaining were to lie dormant. Then came the call to the W.T.A. with other voluntary bodies to manage hostels for the Ministry of Supply, and later, other Ministries (Labour, Agriculture, Works), and some business houses and firms. At first a mere list of names of places—very hush hush—and then an official list and some rough plans, and later, the first visits to definite sites. Great factories had sprung up, as it were, overnight. Rail and road communications and 'bus services were operating, thousands of workers were being transported daily to and from nearby towns and villages. Further billeting was impossible and yet still more workers, mainly women, were needed. Hostels within reasonable reach of the factories was the obvious solution. The hostels grew. We became very busy watching them take shape, discussing amenities, settling problems of equipment, furniture, services, routine. Next we moved on to schedules of staff required, shift workings of residents and their meal times, conditions of staff employment, charges, transport, administration—local, regional and national—and much travelling by rail and road, many conferences, interviews, drafting of memoranda, and a thousand and other duties piled upon us. Then one by one the hostels ready, or nearly so, began to take shape. Managers, assistants, welfare officers, recreational, administration, catering and housekeeping staff began to be collected together. Sometimes we got the hostels completely staffed and ready to open but no residents came in. At others staff could not be got but residents would arrive and in these cases some of the residents soon found themselves converted into staff. Soon everything sorted itself out and out of hostels in the raw there developed living com-munities each with distinctive personalities. Drake Hall was one of a group originally planned for eight large hostels. Seven were completed and one was stopped in mid air. The W.T.A. staffed and opened five. After a time five were telescoped to three and the remainder passed to other services. Here, in the heart of the country, for fifty-two weeks out of fifty-two life was made up of shifts with alternations of bed, work, free time and meals. An intensive social life developed. A glance at the pages following will give the outsider some idea of the activities of a hostel, but only the hostel staff or resident really knows how full life was in those war-timedays and what will remain to be carried over to the changed circumstances of post-war. Let us hope that good living conditions, good and regular meals, adequate medical services, good recreational and educational facilities, a taste for the country and country pursuits, a tolerance for one another, a sense of community and the value of good fellowship, will remain with you after you leave Drake Hall and set a standard for your post-war demands and aims. As the W.T.A. picks up again its pre-war activities in a post-war world, I at any rate hope that it has made many new friends who will want to continue their contacts with us and help us to repair the ravages of war by doing their bit to reconstruct the fabric of international friendship through holidays at home and abroad."
Drake Hall was built by the Ministry of Supply to accommodate munitions at nearby R.O.F. Swynnerton and opened in 1942. It was named after Sir Francis Drake. There were 15 residential blocks, each with a male name, arranged alphabetically. At the centre of the site was an assembly hall, games room, canteen, kitchen, sick bay and administrative block. Many of the residents came from Ireland and Scotland and the Manager was Mr J.H. Damms. The Manageress and Welfare Officer was Mrs D.H. Damms. A wide range of activities, entertainments, talks, lectures and dramatic productions were put on for the residents, as well as a wide range of indoor games and sport, including netball, hockey, tennis, badminton, cricket and football.
Towards the end of the War Drake Hall hosted 132 evacuees, all of whom were old age pensioners. It closed shortly after the end of the Second World War but reopened in the 1960s as a male open prison. In 1974 it became a female open prison. Most of the accommodation blocks were rebuilt in 1994-95 and in 2009 it became a closed prison.