"The Cradle of the YMCA"

I was lucky enough to be shown round Dunford House on the edge of West Lavington, Midhurst, today. It used to be the home of Richard Cobden 1804-1865, he of the Corn Laws [or anti-Corn Law League], education for all, free trade, and the end of colonialism. When we first married we lived in Bright Street, next to Cobden Street in Queensbury, Yorkshire, so not our first taste of this illustrious pair. There is a Bright Library in the house, as well as bedrooms named for Bright and Cobden. For all his success and renown, including being a Royal Commissioner for the Great Exhibition of 1851, Richard Cobden was a humble man with sound principles, who believed in education and helping young people less fortunate than others.

In 1952 Dunford House was endowed to the YMCA and is still a training centre under their auspices though used by all manner of organisations, including those from the voluntary sector, for conferences and training courses, including journalists who come to practise what to do during a bomb blast. For that course, casualties dripping blood litter the courtyard and woods. Well, it breaks up the monotony for the staff, doesn’t it.

The 30 bedroom house sits in beautiful Sussex countryside and is an absolute haven of tranquillity. You can book B&B here, you don’t have to be part of a training course, and it’s perfect for a quiet retreat. I love it. It was a joy to be able to look round. Thanks, my lovely Sarah, who knows just how much I like to have a nose around.

Most interestingly, the house contains a lot of historical artefacts, including the cradle of Sir George Williams, the founder of the YMCA in London, in 1844. He and Richard Cobden seemed to work to bring Christian ideals into everyday living, which wasn’t always my experience of those in high positions in my childhood. How the cradle comes to be in this place, I have no idea, but its legend is delightful, “the Cradle of the YMCA”.



“That they all may be one.”