Whiteway History� e Salvation ArmyFOR THOSE who can connect with other people’s situations through time, the history of Twerton and Whiteway always has a slightly spiritual feel.

The work of the Salvation Army at Whiteway is another slice of local history, but to trace it we must begin in the city centre. Why? Because many of the fi rst people to move to Whiteway were from Bath’s inner city where the Salvation Army had a strong presence. The relationship between the Salvation Army and the fi rst Whiteway residents had been forged there.

Beginning in the city centreOld newspaper reports record the Salvation Army operating in Bath from 1882. They wore strange uniforms, held open-air meetings and marched through the city playing musical instruments. This disruption to the normal way of life often led to them being attacked. People would pelt their open-air meetings at Kingsmead Square with rubbish and Salvation Army offi cers would sometimes be assaulted.

However, attitudes to the Salvation Army changed over time and they began to be praised for their “social work” in Bath.

A large part of Bath around Avon Street and Corn Street was unfortunately a slum area, where poverty and poor-quality housing were made worse by fl ooding from the river. Today the City of Bath College stands where this world of need once existed.

The Salvation Army set up a post in Corn Street. This was their base for feeding the poor, visiting the sick and tending to the dying. Later, Chandos House (which is today St John’s Hospital) became the Salvation Army Goodwill Centre that poor people would often turn to for help.

The local authority started demolishing slum areas and rehousing the people on new estates. By 1940 many residents from Avon Street, Corn Street, Little Corn Street and Peter Street, had already moved to the Whiteway estate (the building of which began in 1939).

A problem was that people who had relied on support from Chandos House now lived far away at Whiteway. Some of these people still trekked the three miles to Chandos House when they needed help.

Chandos House at Westgate Buildings is where many of the fi rst Whiteway residents had received help from the Salva� on Army

Dilapidated buildings in Milk Street that the local authority earmarked for demolition.

A lot of the fi rst residents of Whiteway came from this street and others like it. Originally built in Georgian times to be a posh part of Bath, fl ooding from the river turned it into a poor area.

Notice the window with no glass. Was the woman with the small boy just posing for the camera, or was she drawing attention to the fact that there were children living in these conditions?

A Salva� on Army soup kitchen at Corn Street in 1928

Continuing at Whiteway Poorer Whiteway residents went on making trips to Chandos House to get support. They reportedly told the Salvation Army, “It’s so diff erent to be up at Whiteway,” though they appreciated having a better house.

It became clear that the Salvation Army needed a Goodwill Centre at Whiteway itself from which to operate. An appeal was put out for a wooden hut and in December 1941 a Claverton farmer off ered to sell one cheaply. Transporting it to Whiteway would be diffi cult. The bombing of Bath in April 1942, and proposed changes to the location where the hut would be sited, created delays. The hut itself was bomb damaged and in need of repair.

In 1943 the hut still hadn’t been installed at Whiteway. But the Salvation Army organised a party for the children, taking them down to the city by bus and giving each child a present. Finally in 1944 the hut was erected. In this year the Salvation Army also worked with residents to raise money for a Welcome Home Fund, for soldiers returning from the war.

By the following year, the hut had 300 children on the registers! They couldn’t all fi t in at once, so they had to come in relays. The hut was also home to several youth clubs, a Sunbeam Brigade and a type of worship group called the Home League.

The hut was used for other purposes too. It became a Vitamin Centre where mothers of small children could access vitamin-rich foods like orange juice, dried milk and cod liver oil. It was also used as a meeting point by an earlyTenants Association and a Whiteway Social Association.

Due to the work of the Salvation Army in the city centre, some of the fi rst families to settle in Whiteway were Salvationists themselves. On Sundays, the Salvation Army would march around Haycombe Drive dressed in uniforms and bonnets, playing musical instruments and parading their banner.

Even with the new Salvation Army base established on Whiteway, some needy residents would still call in at the better

equipped Chandos House in search of advice and assistance.

The hut at Whiteway was later replaced by the brick building shown below. When Chandos House closed in about 1977, Whiteway had the only Goodwill Centre left in Bath. A familiar sight at the back of the fl ats at Haycombe Drive, it closed in around 1997.

A lot of people still hold memories of the Whiteway Goodwill Centre. These include: recollections of being sent to Sunday School at the hut, the brown painted interior of the hut, Joan Curtis playing the piano, going to Girl Guides there, and the playgroup with its small bottles of milk and malted biscuits.

SourcesBath Weekly Chronicle and Herald at: www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.ukSalvation Army International Heritage CentreFacebook group: We Grew Up In Whiteway OriginalsMemories of Whiteway at: www.proudoftwerton.com/memories-of-whiteway

A Sunday School and a ‘Cradle Roll’ at the Whiteway hut

The brick built Goodwill Centre at Whiteway that replaced the hut