Hidden Lives Revealed. A virtual archive - children in care 1881-1981 * Image of handwritten text

Elm Lodge Home For Boys, Waterloo

Photograph of Elm Lodge Home For Boys, Waterloo

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Elm Lodge Home For Boys, Waterloo

Waterloo, Lancashire

(1931 - 1969)

In 1931 residents moved from Seaforth Home for Boys to the newly refurbished premises in Waterloo, Lancashire, which could house over 30 residents aged 7-14. In 1934 the residents of Elm Lodge wrote to people in the district asking permission to call on them and sing carols and the result was £12 towards the home's funds. A party was held in Liverpool's Liver Building in 1939 and 150 residents and former residents attended. The event included supper, a concert and later a film which had been made during the Home's last summer holiday.

The Home was evacuated in 1939 though it is unclear where the residents were sent. At the end of the Second World War the Home reopened and in the Annual Report for 1946 it is noted that the boys from Rochdale were transferred to Elm Lodge. It is unclear whether they had come directly from Rochdale, or from one of the war emergency Homes.

In Autumn 1969 the building was sold as a result of Liverpool's expanding dockland making the area less suitable for a children's home. The Home itself closed and in the same year the Alice Brooke Home for Girls was converted into a Family Home and the residents from Elm Lodge moved in together with their houseparents, Mr and Mrs Hamer.



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