Today at Central Ref ...... ‘Carrying on for Children’ the story of the Manchester & Salford charity during the Great War

Now I plan to attend the event ‘Carrying on for Children’ at Central Ref which will focus on the work of the Manchester and Salford Boys’ and Girls’ Refuges.

It was established in 1870 to help destitute children in the twin cities and expanded into almost all aspects of child welfare, providing homes, and training for young people along with actively campaigning against the exploitation of children.

It is now known as the Together Trust and not only continues to work on behalf of young people but has an extensive archive of material about its work and those who both worked for it and were helped by it.

It also publishes a regular blog, Getting Down and Dusty, which highlights the history and the continuing work undertaken by the charity


During the Great War many of those it helped volunteered and some of their stories have regularly appeared on the charity’s blog.

But what I had not fully appreciated was the pressure the War put on those voluntary contributions that the charity needed to do its work.

As the archivist of the trust points out in the recent blog post, “the outbreak of the First World War however, saw the charity buffeted on many sides. 

 Fighting for donations against the various War funds that were set up, it saw its financial income cut drastically; an increased number of children needing aid and those boys previously cared for head across the seas, some never to return. 

Despite heavy debt it spent the next four years fighting to continue to provide for those children in Manchester left desolate by the War. It came out in 1918, scarred but alive.”*

All of which brings me back to the event ‘Carrying on for Children’  which will feature stories of the work of the charity during the Great War and is on today at 2 pm in Central Ref, and if you want to know more you can contact the Together Trust.

Picture; courtesy of the Together Trust, www.togethertrust.org.uk

*‘Carrying on for Children’ from the blog, Getting down and dusty,  http://togethertrustarchive.blogspot.co.uk/