Chester Road/The Royalty, union chapel

Shown on Ordnance Survey second edition map of 1896. 1890-1970s? Union Congregational Church. The adjacent New Royalty Theatre incorporates a Gothic building. 'The Royalty Hall' in use since c.1945 may have been church hall? Building used as an auxiliary hospital during the First World War by the Joint War Committee (British Red Cross and the Order of St John of Jerusalem). The committee was ordered to raise and organise Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs) trained in First Aid and Nursing. The nurses were a mixture of qualified nurses and volunteers (mostly middle-class women). VAD hospitals received the sum of 3 shillings per day per patient from the War Office. The building was known as the Social Centre, it was run by the 11th Durham VA Hospital Unit.Mrs Elizabeth Rogers received the Royal Red Cross 2nd Class honour for service to this hospital. In 1925 the church began its life as a theatre and was expanded into neighbouring houses (see HER 16488).