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My first taste of charity was with the St. Vincent De Paul Society at St. Anne's church in Blackburn. I used to attend Mass there every Sunday after I got married in 1960 and there was an appeal for men of the parish to join as the present group were either dead or getting too old to do the Society justice.
The duties included collecting each month at the door of the church for Retiring Collections and distributing the money to worthy families or individuals who were in need. I volunteered.
As well as distributing alms to the poor of the parish, we also used to give vouchers to the down and outs who came begging at the church door on a regular basis. The vouchers were for bed and breakfast at the Salvation Army Hostel in town and cost 7/6p for one night. (That's thirty-seven and a half new pence in today's money.)
It was amazing how news got round that our church was giving these vouchers. Within an hour we could have as many as seven or eight people asking for help. We eventually found out that some of them were even selling their vouchers for cash so they could buy wine or meths or whatever they used to drink.
We also used to represent our parish priest on certain committees with other charities. One such meeting was called by Dr. Edward Popham of Mellor Brook whose profession was the study of insects. An expert on the Tsetse fly, he was often a guest of the Pakistani Government to try to control them in their country.
Dr. Popham was also a member of St. Mary's Parish in Osbaldeston and had called the meeting to try to amalgamate all the registered charities to avoid overlapping, and exchange information.
The meeting was attended by many representatives from various organisations, and from that meeting, and on a voluntary basis, the first Council for Voluntary Services was formed. Dr. Popham was elected chairman and I was elected on the committee as chairman of the Aged and Disabled Section.
Many others were willing to serve on the committee including the Social Services, the Police, British Red Cross and many, many more. The first task was to persuade the Council that we needed rooms for meetings etc and we would need offices and money.
The Council refused point blank to part with any money but we were offered accommodation in the old Registry Offices which had just been vacated and which we readily accepted.
The rooms were quite spacious and suited our purpose admirably. I, in my capacity as chairman of aged and disabled, promptly laid claim to the largest room for a Day Centre for the elderly; and approached Jack Walker who was a member of Blackburn Lions to ask if he could help with furnishing the room.
Within seven days we were supplied all the tables, chairs, cutlery, crockery and anything which we needed to set up the day centre. Then, with the help of my wife and two friends we opened the Centre at 4, King Street. The same rooms are now being used for the same purpose by Age Concern.
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