Manchester honours and remembers one children’s charity

Now it is rare for the blog to have two differentstories about the same event on the same day.*

The plaque, unveiled, July 20th 2021

But today it does, with the first story going out this morning about the unveiling of a blue plaque commemorating the opening of a refuge for destitute boys on Quay Street in 1870, and the second recording the ceremony which was supported by the Lord Mayor and a host of trustees, staff, and guests.

 

The Lord Mayor unveiled the plaque, watched on by the Charity's C.E.O

Liz Sykes, the archivist of the charity first came up with the idea of a plaque on Sunlight House which is on the site of the former refuge over a decade ago.

 But bureaucracy can grind slow and it wasn’t until recently that all it came together.

 The opening of the Refuge marked the first step in transforming the lives of a handful of boys found on the streets of the twin cities, offering them a bed and breakfast, before turning them out on to the streets again.

 Within a decade the organisers had expanded into a  ranges of activities designed to help young people and a full half century later could point to a whole series of achievements, from rescuing children  off the streets to residential and vocational homes,  seaside holidays, and involvement both in the courts and in legislation to protect young people.

Giles Gaddum acting Chair of the Trustees 

Today that charity still exists but is known as the Together  Trust.

Given the support of both Manchester and Salford city councils over the last century and a half it was fitting that Cllr Tommy Judge the present Lord Mayor of Manchester participated in the unveiling of the blue plaque along with Giles Gaddum acting Chair of the Trustees and the C.E.O of the charity.

But for me it was also the presence of so many of the staff at the event, which sadly was limited by Covid regulations.

The unveiling was followed by a reception in the Lord Mayor’s Suite in Central Ref.

I was there as the author of the Ever Open Door which is  the official history of the charity, but modesty prevents me from saying more.*

But I would just like to mention Julie Isted who commissioned the book, and had faith in a jobbing historian and Liz Sykes the archivist whose deep knowledge of the charity’s work filled the gaps in my knowledge and was always at hand to point me in the right direction, so much so that the book was really a joint venture and owes as much to her as me.

So that is it, one unveiling, 150 years of continuous care for young people, and a permanent reminder of of the work undertaken by the Together Trust.

 Location; Manchester

 Pictures, Quay Street, 2021, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*History is coming back to Quay Street …… today ....remembering 1870, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2021/07/history-is-coming-back-to-quay-street_044300205.html

**The Ever Open Door: 150 years of the Together Trust, Andrew Simpson, The Together Trust, 2020, 140p, £14-99. ISBN 978-1-5272-5671-2. Available from, The Together Trust, https://shop.togethertrust.org.uk/.