By Roger Packham and Peter Connelly
As the population in the village grew in the early years of the 20th century, the need for a new meeting hall was clear, and fundraising started in 1911. By early 1914 sufficient funds had been secured, and local builder Quittenden started work on the hall in June 1914. The hall was ready for use in early 1915, but in March the hall was commandeered as a hospital for wounded soldiers returning from the front and the photo dates from this time. The hospital was staffed by nurses from the Voluntary Aid Detachment (V.A.D.) of the Red Cross. These nurses were all volunteers, and after first aid and nursing training and a successful one-month trial at a hospital they would be given a further 3 month trial on full duties before being accepted on the full-time staff.
Several similar WWI auxiliary hospitals were set up across East Surrey, and would often be tasked with treating ‘shell shock’, a state of battle fatigue now commonly referred to as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) By 1916 the Church Hall was in use as a club, when it was utilised by soldiers from Warlingham’s Court Farm Camp and also Woldingham Camp.
In 1919 it reverted to use as the Church Hall .
In 1925 the Churchwarden, Charles Lockton, set up a small museum in the upper room of the hall to display the many ancient artefacts discovered in and around Warlingham. Much of this collection was moved to the East Surrey Museum in Caterham when it was set up in 1980.
In 1939, at the outbreak of WW2, the hall was again commandeered for war use, but handed back to the village in 1942.
In 1953, to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, the clock was installed at the top of the outside façade. Since then the church hall has hosted many village events, amateur dramatics, dances, jumble sales, markets, sports, etc. – a purpose it continues to this day.
Along from the Church Hall, towards Glebe Rd is the site of Ringer’s Stores, Warlingham’s general store. This was originally set up by Ebenezer Wilson in the 1880’s, before being taken over by Richard Ringer and his wife Mary, who ran a similar venture in Croydon. The photo below dates from the early 1900’s.
On the death of Richard in 1924, the shop was taken over by Robert Coatman. By 1938 the premises had been entirely rebuilt with flats above, and Cullens the grocers occupied the part of the site for many years – the photo below dates from the 1960’s.
After becoming an off-licence in the 1990’s the shop is now a ‘Kwik Save’ which also houses the village post office.
