Home sweet home in St Annes for many youngsters in the last century

The Ormerod Convalescent Home, Todmorden Road, St Annes

The old Ormerod Convalescent Home For Children was based in St Annes in the last century. The home, on Todmorden Road, was established in 1890, by the daughters of the late Abraham Ormerod – a wealthy cotton manufacturer from West Yorkshire, who died in 1888.

It was opened by Lady Eleanor Cicely Clifton on September 13, 1890 and handed over to the Church of England sisterhood.

The home took girls up to the age of 14 and boys up to 11.

Children in the Ormerod Home, St Annes. Pictured at a party after a bring-and-buy sale at the home

Originally it had space for 40 youngsters, but by 1939, it had been extended to take 100.

It provided convalescent care to children from industrial Yorkshire, Cheshire and Lancashire, as it was thought the sea air would benefit them.

The home closed in 1971 and was rented to the newly-formed Ormerod Trust as a facility for children with learning difficulties.

The building was demolished in 1984, but the Ormerod Trust continued on. New housing was built on the site of the old home.