Please dig deep!

As a result of our recent Cheadle Festival the Together Trust raised a well-earned £14,000. These are vital funds towards the charity’s services providing much needed holidays, equipment and activities for the children, young people and adults we serve.

Simplyhealth team - winners of It's a Knockout round one

It can be difficult today for the charity to fundraise. After the social welfare system came into place in the 1950s, the Charity started to receive money from local authorities who were placing young people within our care. Although still desperately in need of donations it became more difficult to persuade the community to give to a charity who no longer had to rely solely on voluntary funding.

First home on Quay Street, Manchester

Of course this was completely different in the early years. The incredible expansion of its services in the charity’s first fifty years, from the single terraced refuge on Quay Street, showed the overwhelming support from Manchester’s community in terms of contributions. The opening of each new home signified new donations, new support and new events that were put on to ensure more and more of Manchester and Salford’s children were given a chance.

Although the charity around this time was a significant part of Manchester life, well known and well respected, its Committee and supporters still had to work hard for its funding. Every week the local newspapers displayed adverts or letters by the charity appealing for donations. These could be quite forceful in nature, utilising language such as "sick and helpless and ready to die", in order to evoke deep sympathy with the reader and hopefully persuade them to dig deep. Local bazaars were organised regularly to support the various homes and business and prominent people were petitioned to contribute.

Annual bazaar, 1930s

The message was simple then – without donations homes would close, services shut and children left to fend for themselves. Today, despite the financial support which is received, fundraising is still vital to the future of the Together Trust’s services. The message remains the same!