Historic fundraising

We had a very interesting talk at U3A today by a lady from Derwen College at Gobowen, Oswestry. It's a residential training college for youngsters with learning difficulties and disabilities where they teach them to live independently. They also give them training in the world of work in the onsite garden centre, restaurant, coffeeshop, print shop, hospitality suite and many other activities too numerous to mention. Students are funded by their local authority but the activities are paid for by fundraising.

It was set up by Dame Agnes Hunt for rehabilitation of patients from the Orthopaedic Hospital next door and was originally called the Derwen Cripples Training College, not a title that would be used nowadays!!

The blip is of a poster for the first fundraising fete to raise money to set up the college. I couldn't get it in one blip so the two extras are the other parts of the poster. Mounted tent pegging sounds an interesting event and the children's beauty contest was an event of it's time! They did well with the fundraising amassing £100,000 in one year, enough set it up.

My brother blipper Malcornorton was in a bad road accident in the 1970s and was there for three months learning to use his arm after surgery so there's a personal connection too.