Until the early 1960s there was a children’s home in Newquay, run by the National Children’s Homes organisation.
This post is to help anybody looking for it to be directed to more relevant forums, where you can see photos and maybe catch up with your former room mates. I stumbled across somebody trying to find others that attended, and to find out where it was … and I became intrigued for an hour or so, so put together the following snippets:
I think I have found where the Newquay Children’s Home was. It became a hotel, called the Tregarn Hotel, Pentire Crescent, Newquay, TR7 1PX. Then, in 2004 a lot of old hotels in Newquay were being converted/demolished to make new flats and they put in a planning application to convert it to flats.
In the event – the developers had over-stretched themselves and this became a derelict site. Quite a few hotels were in the same state round the town as new building ground to a halt. As the original planning permission had lapsed, in June 2010 they submitted new plans.
The hotel had a website, which has now gone, but there is an old copy of it stored here: Tregarn.com
It has already been demolished. Google Streetview, 2009 – if you click on the date (top left) you get to choose which date of Streetview to see.
Websites where Newquay Children’s Home past residents are keeping in touch:
- http://growingupinthench.lefora.com/2010/08/15/newquay-cornwall-nch/
- http://www.theirhistory.co.uk/70001/info.php?p=18&pno=0
I hope you find what you’re looking for.
Misc facts about Newquay Children’s Home:
Although initially a home for children, a lot of children visited the home for holidays.
The address was: Tregarn, Gannel Crescent, Pentire, Newquay.
1939 Kellys directory entry: National Childrens Home, Miss B.M. Grover, Matron, East Pentire, TN2539
Sister Beatrice Glover was in charge at Newquay Children’s Home, Pentire, for some years.
The NCH Newquay Branch was established in 1917 by Rev W Hodson Smith, who served as NCH Principal from 1912-1933.
Photo of Girls from Newquay Children’s Home, 1946
On 12 January 2017, a photo clipped from the local newspaper dated 14 March 2002, was posted in the Newquay Nostalgia Facebook page by Derek Brooks, step-brother of Sheila Rodda, who is in the photo. The wording under the photo said:
This picture, taken in 1946, shows the girls’ primary school in Crantock Street, Newquay. Several of the girls were from two homes in the resort – the National Children’s Home at Pentire and the Army and Navy Home at Narrowcliff.
The picture shows:
- Pat Morris, Betty Earnshaw, Yvonne Clark, Shirley Angilley, Barbara Lagden, Sheila White, Joy Woodland, Doris James, Ivy Drew, Christine Hubber.
- Shirley Morris, Barbara Sylvester, Pat Tremain, Joy Osborne, Pat Penny, Diane Naylor, Ann Hutchinson, Jean Henwood, Shirley Osborne, June Thomas, Jean Parker, Angela Sims.
- Maureen Fitzsimmons, Jill Carter, Joyce Snipp, June Yeoman, Sheila Rodda, June Carne, Claire Rees, Yvonne Gibbings, Shirley Rickeard, Patricia Davies, Pat Clark.
You can see the photo here: 1946, Newquay: Girls from National Children’s Home and Army & Navy Home
Photo of Newquay Children’s Home, 1918
Francis Frith photographed the children’s home in 1918. Here is a photo of the home on West Pentire – if you click on the image, you can buy a print for yourself, a great surprise for somebody if you’re doing their family research!
Reproduced courtesy of Francis Frith.
In 1963 the National Children’s Home on Pentire was sold for £36,000 (source: Newquay Old Cornwall Society)
There was another/separate children’s home operating during overlapping years. Using the name: Royal United Services this seems to have been for army/navy children and orphans. In 1931 the Army and Navy Villas at Newquay, in Cornwall, were purchased for use as a holiday home. This became known as Alexandra House. Source: http://www.plymouthdata.info/Orphanages-Royal%20British.htm – this site has now disappeared.
Another source says: “Royal United Services Home for Girls at Narrowcliff in Newquay, which took in the orphaned daughters of service personnel and daughters of servicemen from ‘difficult home circumstances’ – where, for example, a parent was seriously ill.”
Children at the Children’s Home went to local schools. There are some records at Cornwall Council covering “Newquay County Primary School, Admission register, girls, 1938-1953”. Source: Cornwall.gov.uk
“Indexed, includes wartime evacuation records and children from Royal United Service Orphans Home, Narrowcliff, Newquay and the National Children’s Home, Pentire. Access to this register is restricted for 75 years in line with advice from the Information Commissioner. Please contact the Record Office for information about access.”
List of Names People Use to Find This Home
With such a history behind it, there are a few names this children’s home was known by, including:
- National Children’s Home, Pentire, Newquay.
- NCH Newquay Branch
- Pentire Orphanage
- Alexandra House Children’s Home; Alexandra House Orphanage