Annual Conference: The Charities that began at home
Registration is at 10 am.
Programme
Please note that in view of the limited capacity of the Conference Room it is ESSENTIAL that you notify CALH of your intention to attend, using the Booking Form or by E-mail.
10.00 Registration and coffee
10.45 Susan Woodall: ‘A chaste and pleasing elevation’: making and inhabiting the Cambridge Female Refuge’
The Cambridge Female Refuge opened in October 1838. Initially in temporary premises, the permanent institutional building was behind Christ Church on Newmarket Road and functioned until 1939. Its founding purpose was to bring about the moral reform of women sex workers in the town, training them in laundry and sewing work over a period of around two years before placing them in respectable domestic service. This talk will uncover the circumstances which led women to the Refuge and go through its door to explore how they spent their daily lives once inside.
11.45 David Jones: The Charities of Stephen Perse
Stephen Perse (c.1548-1615) was a fellow of Gonville and Caius College, a physician, financier and philanthropist. He is best remembered by his chief benefaction, the school that bears his name; but he also left money to his college, to the almshouses now located at Newnham, to the building of Maids’ Causeway, and to the maintenance of Hobson’s Brook. His estate also established a small almshouse and school at Barley (no longer extant). Perse, Bursar of Caius for a time, was a shrewd investor. In an age when there were no banks he amassed a huge personal fortune by money-lending, chiefly to small tradesmen. In his will he looked to tackle some of the social problems of the day, and to reduce the Town-Gown friction which was such an unpleasant feature of Cambridge life. The creation of a free grammar school with links to his college was central to both aims.
‘He was a thrifty man, and one who looked to the future…’ [Annals of Caius College.
12.45 Lunch break
Lunch will not be provided, but there are many eating places within a few minutes’ walk of the Library, or you are welcome to bring a sandwich and eat it in the former café area outside the Conference Room.
14.00 Hilary Seaward: John Huntingdon’s Charity: an account from the accounts
The Charity has been supporting those in need in Sawston and surrounding villages since 1554. Hilary Seaward, finance manager for a mere 16 years, will perhaps not surprisingly trace the history of the charity from the accounting records with some surprising results.
15.00 Patricia McBride: Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust
Addenbrooke’s is a great hospital and the aim of Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT) is to make it even better. Patricia McBride, Addenbrooke’s Ambassador, will be talking about the history behind charitable giving at Addenbrooke’s and how ACT, thanks to the generosity of their supporters, are able to fund new and additional services that benefit patients. Enhance existing services to levels over and above those that could be achieved with NHS funding alone, and support innovation and research.
The fee for attendance is £15.00 per head, which includes coffee or tea on arrival: please use the attached Booking Form or E-mail Akirby121@btinternet.com by 28 March 2023.
Please note that tickets will not be issued: if you would like confirmation of your booking, please ensure that you give us your E-mail or postal address on the Booking Form, and enclose an SAE for acknowledgement by post.
Download and complete booking form here.
