A Little Piece of Tarvin History has Returned Home

On the 29 October and 16th November 2018, TOL published articles entitled "A very Special Fruit Bowl" and " A Detective Story" respectively, about the local history of a fruit bowl that became a cake basket! Below is the third, and final installment, that brings its history update.

Tarvin Tennis club were contacted last year by a lady in Lancashire who sells who sells antiques . She had come into possession of an EPNS (Electro lated Nickel Silver) cake basket that had been presented to a Miss Wilcockson on her marriage by Tarvin Ladies Tennis club in 1923 and she kindly agreed to return the basket to the club in lieu of a donation to charity. This sparked a few days of researching who Miss Wilcockson was but also by me going to Clatterbridge Oncology Centre to donate on behalf of the club.

As it turns out this little basket has a rather colourful history to it! Miss Isabel Wilcockson was the elder daughter of the then Vicar at St. Andrew's, a John Howson Wilcockson , who sadly died in the same year as she was married. The gentleman that she married was Rev. James David Pearson who at the time was Curate in charge at Kelsall church. They moved around Cheshire eventually returning to Tarvin in the 1940 where he was vicar until 1960.

She also had a sister, Marjery, who married a gentleman called Charles Aryton Burgoyne Paris in 1915. He was an army chaplain in the first world war and went on to become a vicar in the Staffordshire region. Her brother William was also a vicar, the whole family was very much involved with the church! The pulpit in St. Andrew's was donated by Isobel, William and Marjery in memory of their mother Helena Mary Wilcockson who lived to the incredible age of 92, committing 70 years of work to the Diocese of Chester and the parishes that she lived in with her husband and then her daughter, Isobel and son-in-law. Between her and her daughter they set up five branches of the Mother's Union in the Chester Diocese.

The Tennis club decided to donate to Clatterbridge Oncology centre as they are fundraising for a new cancer centre to be built in Liverpool. When built, this will be the centre of excellence for the region and all inpatient care will take place there, with the Clatterbridge site being used for outpatients and treatments. They are building a replica of the new hospital in Lego, which when all seven floors are completed will be the biggest Lego structure, in terms of the number of bricks, in the U.K. The replica was at ground level and on display in a large trailer outside. I was lucky enough to get invited into the trailer and saw some of the amazing treatment rooms completed so far. It was so intricate and precise and even had a replica of the proton beam therapy machine! After seeing all that cool Lego I was dying to get my hands on some bricks and used our donation to lay a small section of road. If you are ever in Clatterbridge you can go to the charity office desk and purchase a brick for £1. If you are a Lego fan like me it really is very cool plus you'll be helping a worthwhile cause.

I am thrilled the cake basket has returned home and we've been able to add another little piece of history to its journey. I wonder what the next 95 years will hold for both the cake basket and Tarvin Tennis club.

P.S. It has been decided by the tennis club committee that after its display at our AGM, which was held on 15th March, we would accept the offer from St. Andrew's to display it in the Church where it can be easily seen by all who are interested.