Together Trust Archive

Exploring services provided by the Charity which are perhaps lesser-known brings me to their work with juvenile offenders which ultimately led to the creation in 1910 of a Remand Home dedicated to the care of young offenders until it closed in 1945.  Even before the creation of the Remand Home the Charity took an interest in children considered to be juvenile offenders. The Charity were particularly interested in the reasons for children being brought before the magistrates, recording that between December 1900 and January 1901 children were brought for, ‘begging’, ‘wandering’, ‘station loitering’, ‘stealing boots’ and being a ‘shop door thief’.  The Children’s Shelter opened in 1884 staying open 24 hours a day for any concerned person or official to take unaccompanied children. Some children found on the streets of Manchester or Salford were however taken to the Police Station and to Court for such ‘offences’ as begging, wandering or sleeping out. The Children's Shelter and R...

Alongside the Charity's regular work in providing homes for destitute children they also operated a Summer Camp offering boys from the poorest districts of Manchester and Salford the opportunity of their first holiday. The camp began on a small scale in 1883 but operated fully from 1886 when between June and September 262 boys enjoyed a week away. This number increased to over 1700 boys by 1899. Before the camp was firmly established in Birkdale, Southport in 1894, it operated from Morecombe, Llandudno and Lytham. M189/9/2/1 Boys Summer Camp, Ansdell near Lytham, 1891 Descriptions of the camp at Llandudno in 1886 from the Charity's Annual Report states a 'military idea pervaded the whole camp' with bugle calls to prayers morning and night. The Superintendent of the camp described how the children had not seen the sea before and the children referred to playing cricket on the beach.  Outside the Summer Camp there would have no opportunity for bathing in the sea or going ...

  The records found in the Trust’s archive are mostly written by those in authority and obtaining the views of the children in the Charity’s care is rare. For those in the Charity's care in the mid-1930s however we have several short essays in response to an essay question set for the children entitled, ‘What I like best at Belmont and why’. The children were only invited to comment on their ‘best’ thing and so the picture we get is not balanced but this is still a valuable opportunity to hear the children’s thoughts on their home life. The answer as to why this essay was set for the children is answered in an edition of the Charity’s magazine of 1935 which explains this was the question set for an essay competition with an annual prize donated by a supporter of the Charity who, the magazine states, enjoyed hearing about the children’s activities. A small selection of these essays written in October 1935 by children aged between nine and 13 reveals some of the ‘best things’ ref...

This year marks some important anniversaries with regards to the Charity's presence in Cheadle.  After the purchase of over 23 acres of land the first of the Charity's children moved into Cheadle in 1920 to a building that already existed known as Belmont House, which in 2023 is currently being partially demolished. The Charity however began constructing their own buildings soon after, the first completed was known as Crossley/Gaddum now home to Inscape House School. The building officially opened almost 100 years ago in July 1923 with 40 boys from the Charity's orphan homes in George Street, Cheetham Hill moving in soon after. Stone Laying Ceremony for Crossley/Gaddum building, Cheadle 1922 Two years later in 1925 later Hayes/Shaw now home to Ashcroft School opened and 20 girls and 20 boys again moved from the George Street homes to Cheadle, meaning all together over 120 children were accommodated on the Cheadle site. The Charity's ambition was however even greater. Th...

I've recently been exploring the history of the Charity's children's convalescent Home "Tanllwyfan" on Penmaen Head, Colwyn Bay. Described as 'the gateway to health' in the Charity's Annual Reports this was the second location for the Charity's children's convalescent home, the first opened in Lytham in 1883. The Lytham property however with only 20 beds hadn't been able to meet the high demand for places for those children not eligible for a permanent home with the Charity, but in need of respite after illness. The Old Colwyn property fit the bill with more space and land. The property had previously been a private residence and a boarding school before it came under the Charity's ownership and was opened as a convalescent home on 7 August 1915. The 1936 Annual Report describes the home as having 41 beds, magnificent views of the sea and an 'abundance of sunshine and fresh air' with ample playing fields where the children '...