Together Trust Archive

It’s been a while since we thought back to our Refuge boys on the Western Front. In September 1916 the Battle of the Somme was still raging and the Manchester population read the newspapers everyday, to try and gain some understanding into what was happening 400 miles away.  Refuge soldiers

The Archives and Records Association (ARA) Conference is over for another year but as always it created plenty of opportunity for debate and learning. For a charity archivist it was a bit like being the proverbial ‘small fish in a big pond’ as professionals gathered from all sectors, ready to convey new techniques, technologies and ideas to the world of archives. For this small fish it meant an opportunity to discover and rethink methods of how to preserve, make access to and promote our own small collection.  Wembley Stadium

Next week sees the gathering of archivists and conservators from all over the UK and beyond, to London, for the annual Archives and Records Association (ARA) conference. For the lone archivist working in the north of England, it’s a chance to travel to the bright lights of the capital city and mix with other like minded professionals. This creates an opportunity to share new ideas, receive advice from your peers and hear about some of the wonderful work going on in archive repositories across the country and beyond.

We’ve had our archaeologist caps on at the Together Trust campus this week. The summer holidays often results in building work to the schools in preparation for a new academic year. The modern age mixes with old as the ground has been dug up to create a 35 metre trench to install fibre optic cabling. It’s this manual work that can lead to surprising discoveries and bring up questions as to how this site used to be. Digging a trench

The vast majority of children who entered the Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges and Homes were from Manchester and the surrounding areas. The charity began with the intention to take boys, and later girls, out of the city slums and give them safe, warm accommodation, where they could learn a trade and create a better life for themselves. A look at the admission books for the charity however, revealed that it was not just Mancunians who passed through the Refuge door.  Of course Manchester appealed to people from all over. The Industrial R evolution meant people had swarmed to the cities looking for work. Certain areas therefore became well known as settlements for different nationalities. Ancoats, for example, became well known as ‘ Little Italy ’, as poverty caused many Italians to move away from their homeland. Ancoats was also home to a large population of Irish workers, many of whom lived in the cellars of the small, cramped houses. Up in Salford and Prestwich,...

Last week’s blog centred round the will of Leonard Kilbee Shaw and the distribution of his final assets. A portion of this went to his adopted son, Robert , who we have mentioned once before in this blog. Robert is an interesting character, not least because of his mysterious beginnings and unknown connection to Mr. and Mrs. Shaw, prior to being adopted by them. We know little about his upbringing and consequent life. However, the release of new documents can often start a new trail to discovery.  Records

It’s been 114 y ears since the Together Trust lost its founder. A man still largely unknown to many, we’ve discussed through several of our blogs the work he did within the charity. From the very beginnings of opening a small home for boys on Quay Street, to the many different homes and services that were running during his lifetime, he left a legacy that continues today.  Leonard Kilbee Shaw

The Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges and Homes had a well known motto in its early days:   'We help those who try to help themselves’. It was a principle the charity stood by. It was the Refuge’s work to help those in need but it also expected those who were admitted to its homes to work hard to become useful members of society.  Working hard in the printing department

The problem with war is people’s lives become numbers. For those who died in a battle like the Somme , which had as many as 19,000 killed o n the first day alone, the sheer logistics of identifying and burying those who had died, was an overwhelming task. Those who were identified became a plot number, those who didn’t got an unmarked grave. The lives and stories behind those people become lost. For the young people from the Manchester and Salford Boys' and Girls' Refuges and Homes who enlisted in World War One it was yet another adjustment to their ever changing lives. World War One Soldier  Let’s take Arthur as a good example : Arthu r was born in Manchester in 1892. His father was a labourer working in the st arch works.  He was born into a family with 2 older brothers and 2 older sisters. He was admitted into Prestwich Workhouse around 1905.  He was admitted to the Manchester Refuges in 1906.  In May of that year he emigrated to Canada.  ...

Today is the 100th Anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme . Lasting over four months and claiming thousands of lives, it was the largest conflict on the Western Front during World War One. Like many other organisations the bloody battle affected the Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges and Homes. There were a reported 19,240 British men killed on the first day alone. Albert was one of those men. In memory of all those who died during the battle, we tell his story. 

This week we’re moving away from our young roots project and heading back home to Cheadle.  Last week we had a visit from a gentleman who used to live at Belmont House , back in the 1950s. This was his first visit to his old home since he left at the age of 7. Consequently we went on a walk of the grounds, both to Belmont House, which is next door to our current offices, and to the buildings onsite, once children’s homes and now schools. Visuals prompt memories and help to reconstruct the landscape as it used to be. Although the charity still resides on the same site it purchased 96 years ago, much as changed. Entrance to the Belmont Estate, 1950s

We ar e excited to announce that the full version of our audio/visual piece for Deep Pockets and Dirty Faces is on our website for everyone to view. The project now has a dedicated webpage on our Together Trust website, to allow us to share some of the amazing work our young people have been doing with the local community and beyond. As well as our audio/visual clip, we will be adding to this page as further work is completed. We hope people will enjoy watching them as much as we have enjoyed making them.     In costume