The 18 boys and 16 girls in the Guardians' Homes at Beech Hill (pictured above) were given a very happy Christmas time. Miss Gardner and her friends kindly sent a decorated tree, the branches of which were fruitful with toys etc. The tree was lit up on Christmas Eve and the children were handed presents from a bran tub, also sent by Miss Gardner and her friends.
The interior of the building was nicely decorated, especially the dining room where the children assembled to receive their presents. Over the fireplace was a big card on which one of the boys had cleverly painted several national flags and the words 'A Merry Xmas to all the Allies'.
On Christmas morning each child had a stocking containing a coin, sweets, oranges and apples. At Christmas breakfast corned beef is usually given as an extra, but on this occasion the children had fried bacon and were delighted with it. For dinner there was beef, baked and mashed potatoes, parsnips, celery, plum pudding and mineral waters. Grapes were also included in the menu. After tea the children had oranges and crackers.
The great event of the Christmas time was on Tuesday evening when there was a children's party. A number of visitors helped to add to the enjoyment of the children, who particularly appreciated the conjuring tricks by Messrs Bolton and Cox. The arrangements in connection with the Christmas festivities were carried out by the Superintendent (Mr W. Mathers), the boys' foster mother (Mrs Mathers) and the girls' foster mother (Miss Tilcock).
The aged, sick and others who find a home for the time being in the Luton Union House had the customary festivities at Christmas.
The halls and other parts of the buildings were profusely decorated with evergreens and bunting. The flags of the Allies took a very prominent place in the decorations, which must have involved considerable work on the part of the staff.
As a rule the festivities are confined to Christmas Day, but the war had altered many a circumstance, and here it resulted in a Christmas Eve concert being added to the programme. Through the kindness of Lord Herbert Scott, the band of the 23rd Battalion, County of London Regiment, attended during Thursday afternoon, and under the direction of Bandmaster J. A. Potts. cheerfully sat out in the cold for well over an hour in order that they might play in a part of the establishment where able bodied and sick alike could hear and enjoy the music. This is the second time the band has visited the institution.
A hospital is not the worst place in which to spend Christmas, and children especially find this the case. So far as the patients in the Bute Hospital were concerned - they numbered nearly 30 - the day was made most enjoyable for them.
With the assistance of one or two friends from outside, the staff decorated the wards very tastefully indeed, a distinct colour scheme being adopted for each ward, and in both daylight and artificial light the decorations looked extremely pretty.
Dinners included turkey, Christmas pudding and mince pies for all who were able to partake of these things, other patients having to content themselves with such delicacies as were good for them having regard to the cause of their presence in the hospital.
Just after tea, gifts were distributed from a Christmas tree of quite respectable size by Alderman H. O. Williams, honorary secretary of the hospital.
The matron's appeal for gifts for the Christmas tree again met with a very generous response. As a result it was possible to present each man in the hospital with a shirt and a pair of socks, besides other little things; gloves and various articles of clothing were available for the women, and the children had plenty of toys to amuse them.
Thirty-four patients, including six adults, spent their Christmas in the Spittlesea Isolation Hospital. This was an unusually large number, accounted for by the recent diphtheria outbreak, and it was not possible for patients to have visitors. But as far as possible they were given a good time.
The staff adorned the wards with seasonal decorations, and there was a real Christmas dinner of turkey, plum pudding etc.
A Christmas tree was provided in the scarlet fever block, and though the good-heartedness of members of the staff, assisted by a friend or two outside, it was possible to give each child a toy.
At the Children's Sick and Convalescent Home in London Road there were 24 child patients and all the beds were full. The children woke on Christmas morning to find that the stockings they had hung up had been transformed into pillow cases full of delights. The wards were very prettily decorated. Dinner consisted of roast turkey, plum pudding, fruit etc. The afternoon was given up to games.
On Monday the splendid Christmas tree, sent by Lady Wernher, was unloaded of its presents, which were handed to the children by the Mayoress, Mrs Primett. Yesterday, a party for past patients of the year took place in the Castle Street Hall, and about 110 children aged over five attended.
[The Luton News, December 31st, 1914]