Together Trust Archive

With only a few days left until Christmas Day we thought we’d finish off the year with a motto card from 1905. These were created yearly by the Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuge and Homes in order to send to all of their children in Canada. They were also given to all the young people in the Manchester Homes on Christmas Day morning.  motto card for 1905

In the early days of the charity’s formation, the committee helped mainly older boys. It i s likely they were the most visible and mo re likely to be seen sleeping out on the city streets. Looking at the first admission book all boys admitted were aged between 10 and 16. At that time of life the charity deemed boys who had been brought up on the street not easy to manage and a decision was made to take them younger, to try and have a more positive influence. This resulted, in 1875, with the creation of the first O rphan H ome. Originally on Johnson Street, these catered for younger children and were much smaller in size th a n the main Central Refuge on Franc is S t reet.  Orphan’s Homes, George Street, 1904

As promised this week heralds the grand unveiling of our much anticipated Heritage Lottery Funded film, ‘A Journey to Canada’. The production was first shown during our two performances of ‘Deep Pockets and Dirty Faces’ to a live audience. We are now able to put the film online, so that those who couldn’t make the performance are able to see the work created by our young people. A Journey to Canada

We had a fantastic time last week as our Deep Pockets and Dirty Faces project showcased all the work completed so far in two interactive performances. Audiences made up of Together Trust staff, service users and the local community gathered together on the 24th and 25th November to be taken back in time to the nineteenth century. The show included a radio piece, detailing the story of one orphan’s journey from Manchester to Canada and our heritage documentary film, ‘A Journey to Canada’, alongside a live performance. Boat scene looking towards Canada