Synagogue at RAF Sealand

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Sealand

Sealand is a community in the extreme northeast of Wales on the edge of the Wirral peninsula. It is part of the Deeside conurbation on the Wales-England border and lies just 4 miles west of the English city of Chester and is some 15 miles north of Wrexham.

Sealand was within the old historic county of Flintshire until 1974, when Flintshire was merged with neighbouring areas to form the new administrative county of Clwyd and Sealand became part of the district of Alyn & Deeside within Clwyd. In 1996, Clwyd was abolished and replaced, in part, with the new, somewhat smaller, county of Flintshire, now a unitary authority.

RAF Sealand was active from 1916 until 1951, when the station was taken over by the United States. It was returned to British control in 1957, and later became a Ministry oF Defence (MOD) facility.

 

Synagogue at RAF Sealand
Formation and Chaplains:	The synagogue was consecrated in February 1945, for the use of Jewish personnel stationed at RAF Sealand. Councillor A. Moss, JP, of Manchester, declared the synagogue open, and the consecration service was conducted by Rabbi Israel Brodie, then Senior Jewish Chaplain to the Forces, assisted by the Rev. Dr. Barnett Joseph, Area Jewish Chaplain, and the Rev. Ruben Abenson, Jewish Chaplain, RAF. In his address, Rabbi Brodie said that this was the fourth [RAF] station synagogue he had had the pleasure of consecrating during the past year....The synagogue has seating accommodation for 75. The sifrei torah were lent by the Higher Crumpsall and Higher Broughton Synagogue of Manchester.(ii)
Activities:	Friday evening services and communal suppers were held at the RAF Sealand synagogue, the communal meal provided through the Forces Hospitality Committee. On Monday evenings, literary and social meetings of the Jewish group were held. In May 1945 the first official RAF language course, in modern Hebrew, was commenced. It was run by the President of the congregation, Cpl. A. Grabman, with the help of the Joint Emergency Committee for Jewish Religious Education. Rev. Israel Chazen of Macclesfield visited the station and the near-by Chester Hebrew Congregation provided assistance.
Officers:(iii)	At the 1945 annual meeting of the RAF Sealand Synagogue, the following were elected: Cpl. I. Claitman - Chairman; L.Ac. P. Cowan - Secretary; and Sgt. L. Jackson - Treasurer
Closure:	The synagogue presumably ceased to function in the late 1950s as National Service was phased out.
Registration District (BDM):	Flintshire, since 18 April 2005(iv) -  Link to Register Office Website.
Notes & Sources (↵ returns to text above) (i) Reserved. (ii) The Jewish Chronicle report of 2 March 1945. ↵ (iii) The Jewish Chronicle report of 26 October 1945. ↵ (iv) Previous registration districts: Great Boughton from 1 July 1837 to 1 January 1970; Chester from 1 January 1870 to 1 January 1903; Hawarden from 1 January 1903 to 1 April 1974; Alyn & Deeside from 1 April 1974 to 1 April 1996; and East Flintshire from 1 April 1996 to 18 April 2005. Any registers would now be held by the current register office. ↵