WHEN Angela Horgan, from Parkstone, Poole, was having a "declutter", she came across a book about the National Services Club in Bournemouth.

It was among "dozens and dozens" of books collected by her late father, Alan Davis, a book-binder, who worked for Sydenhams printers in Bournemouth, and was national cycle speedway champion in the 1950s.

Mrs Horgan kindly loaned the book to Snapshots before handing it over to the Heritage Section at Bournemouth Libray.

The club was set up to cater for Canadian and American troops, plus the hundreds of British soldiers who passed daily through Bournemouth during the Second World War.

It was based at the Queen Hotel, Lansdowne, now the site of a restaurant (Ask) and Jacey House.

It operated between 1940 and 1946, and was staffed by 500 volunteers from 50 local churches. The furniture was bought from sales and auctions, second-hand shops and through classified ads in the local press.

Opening the club in December 1940, Lt-Col Sir Reginald Kennedy Cox said: "There is always the danger that people will think of service clubs merely as places for sweet cups of tea and dart boards.

"The British Army cannot fight on dart boards and sweet cups of tea.

"The one thing I invariably look for in a club of this sort is a quiet room where I can get away from the noise of the world at war."

Sure enough, the club eventually incorporated a quiet room. It also had a spacious canteen, well-equipped kitchen, recreation room and two lounges, plus committee room, staff offices, steward's flat and an information bureau.

Every night there would be a dance, concert, whist-drive, film show or discussion groups. There was a chapel where prayers took place every evening, and a repairs department where helpers darned socks, sewed on buttons, stripes and decorations or pressed trousers.

From 1941, there was hostel accommodation, with up to 71 beds, and almost 66,000 servicemen on leave stayed at the club up to 1945. Over six years, some 4 million service men and women were entertained at the club.

Some of the money left over from the club was used to finance Maclean Mobile Canteens, named after local benefactor Sir Alexander Maclean. These were used by Civil Defence Services during emergencies, with two based in Bournemouth and one in Poole.