If you were in town on Wednesday 23 September, you may have seen approximately sixty people having their photograph taken outside Alexander House in the High Street. This building was the Maternity Home from about 1913 to 1950. There were only two homes in Wiltshire in the early years, so mothers had to come from Chippenham as well as outlying towns and villages to have their babies.
This meeting arose as part of the ‘Pass it on’ project led by Dominic Campbell in association with the new Springfield Campus and Corsham Heritage. The object is to gather stories of the life of people in Corsham (and other local towns and villages) down the decades, so that it may be stored at the Wiltshire History Centre in Chippenham for posterity.
Over 60 people take a tour of Alexander House, where they were born (Pictured: Nicholas Keyworth)
The participants were then invited to the Campus, where some of them were interviewed to paint a picture of their earlier lives in Corsham.
However, the event was so well attended, with people travelling from as far afield as Devon to be there, that it was impossible to gather as many stories as would have been liked. So: were you born in Corsham Maternity Home? If so, let us know and we will pass your name on to Corsham Heritage. There may well have to be another story-gathering exercise in the future!
Pat Whalley