The Ruby Holloway Bequest to Neston Civic Society

Ruby Holloway married William Carter in 1942. Later for reasons of work they moved to Wirral and Ruby became a manager at Kelvinators at Bromborough. In 1965 they were amongst the first residents of Woodlands Road, Parkgate. They had no children. When they retired, they took over the Post Office in Thornton Hough. They often played bridge with Sidney Holloway and his wife Anne. The Carters’ marriage broke down and they separated, William continuing to run the Post Office. He died in 1988 and Anne Holloway also died around this time. Ruby married Sidney Holloway in 1989, and they continued to live in Woodlands Road. Sidney died in 2004 leaving Ruby a wealthy widow with no family.

Towards the end of her life she started assembling a list of beneficiaries to whom she wanted to leave her money. She asked Anne Jones of Age Concern Neston for suggestions of local charitable groups. Anne suggested Neston Civic Society. Ruby Holloway died in 2012 and, after bequests to individual people, the residue was divided equally between seven charitable and political groups. Each received £41,982.32. The bulk of our money was invested in short term bonds.

We have used the money for various projects around Neston. We have installed two teak benches on Parkgate Road and Ladies Walk, replaced the John Wesley plaque on Parkgate Road with a slate one, printed 5,000 Town Trails, planted an area on the Green in Park Street, paid for a new bench in West Vale Park and bought a strimmer, which has been used by the Civic Society and the Friends of West Vale Park.

We gave £200 towards the installation of the VC stone to commemorate Christopher Bushell at the Parish Church, £25 towards a defibrillator for the URC, £1000 for two benches in the upgraded Sytchcroft Park, £100 to Northern Lights charity and replaced two very old benches at the bottom of Bull Hill and the top of Allans Meadow.

We have paid for an Honours Board in Neston Town Hall to commemorate the names of the Town Mayors, installed two Conservation Area maps on the Market Square and installed an information notice on the Green at Park Street.

We gave £350 to Neston Library towards the renovation of the mosaic. We gave a grant to the United Reformed Church towards the Jubilee garden. We planted three trees at Neston High School to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and in memory of Reg Chrimes and Norman Angel, who were instrumental in bringing secondary education to Neston. We installed a seat on the Wirral Way near Church Lane. We gave £197 towards publicity for the Neston Music Festival.

A fuller version of this article is in Newsletter 101.

© Neston Civic Society 2024