At the start of 1941, plans were afoot in Petersfield to provide a canteen and recreational centre for troops passing through the town during the Second World War.

Kathleen Money-Chappelle, who was an accomplished musician and entrepreneur, was pivotal to the success of what was known as the ‘Home from Home’ canteen.

Previously she had run a simple café for soldiers in St Peter’s Hall, before moving it to the Territorial Army Drill Hall on Dragon Street.

The Drill Hall had been in use for the previous 18 months, where it had grown into an all-day canteen serving around 2,000 men every week.

But in January 1941 the hall was shortly due to be handed over to the Home Guard for use as a training centre.

It was at this stage of the war that Kathleen began to negotiate to obtain a site in the centre of town where a temporary structure could be erected to continue carrying out the work of the Drill Hall canteen.

She wanted to replace the old canteen with her ‘Home from Home’ concept, a non-profit-making venture owned by trustees.

The principle of the new canteen was that all of the profits made should go back into the canteen in the form of recreational facilities for the troops.

Following her appeal in the Squeaker newspaper – the nickname of the Hants and Sussex News, which became the Petersfield Post – a response came from the owners of a plot of land previously occupied by the old brewery in College Street.

The owners offered to donate this site to the ‘Home from Home’ canteen organisers for the duration of the war.

Money for its building fund came from many public and private sources, in addition to numerous dances, variety entertainment, musical afternoons and concert parties organised to raise money for, and awareness of, the new venture.

Four months later, in June 1941, enough money had been raised for building work to begin on the site.

The opening ceremony was held in August of that year and was a very grand affair.

Representatives of the Royal Navy, the armies of Canada and New Zealand, the Royal Engineers, the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, the Royal Air Force and the Auxiliary Territorial Service, plus leading residents of Petersfield, were present for the ceremony. The event included a march past the civic reception at the town hall and a parade through the town.

The canteen soon became a social and recreational centre for soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen and troops from the dominions and colonies, from across a wide area.

It was also a recognised stopping point for military transport on the main London to Portsmouth route.

It was a very international canteen, with British, Canadian, French, Czech and Polish troops all meeting there.

Later there were also Americans visiting from the surrounding country areas.

The canteen served its millionth meal in September 1944.

Its operational peak was reached in the week leading up to D-Day, when over 15,000 meals were served as hundreds of troops passed through the town on their way to Portsmouth.

If you would like to learn more about how Petersfield and Britain fed itself during the Second World War – and try some wartime recipes – you can go along to a talk on food rationing, Victory in the Kitchen, on January 21 at 7pm. More details are on the museum’s website.