What would you do if...

As we continue to celebrate UK Disability History Month we look back at how our Bethesda Home used to help some of the children who were under its care.

Bethesda group, c.1910

Firstly however, we have to tell you about a new project launched on the English Heritage website entitled ‘Disability in Time and Place’. Launched as part of Disability History Month it reveals how disabled peoples' lives are integral to the heritage all around us. The web resource includes new research as well as photographs from the English Heritage Archive and other collections, including the Together Trust.

Talk explaining what Bethesda does to help the children under its care, 1955

Anyway, back to Bethesda...
The importance of the continued support from wealthy businessmen and the Manchester community at large cannot be underestimated, as highlighted in earlier blogs. However another important contributor to the Manchester Refuge were local children in the area who were encouraged to help their poorer neighbours. Christmas was a particularly generous time of the year where toys and presents were donated to all of the Charity’s different homes and services.

This also provided an opportunity to gain further support for the Charity and make people aware of the work being done by the homes. The document above, for example, is a speech written by a staff member at the Bethesda Home thanking local children for their gifts and allowing them to understand who they were helping. "What would you do if you were born without any hands?" It also helped the Charity to spread awareness of individual services as well as promoting new work that needed fundraising.