TOPIC:

...."The ladies who weekly distribute the allowances from the Mayor's War Fund to the dependents of reservists now at the front, accepted an invitation to meet the Mayor in the Council Chamber of the Town Hall on Monday afternoon. Of the thirty-odd distributors 22 made it convenient to be present. The names of the ladies who have undertaken the work are as follows:—Mrs. Ashworth, Miss Bickerdike, Miss Birtwistle, Mrs. Blackburn-Brown, Miss Bowen, Miss Brewer, Mrs. Brothers, Miss Coddington, Miss Coe, Miss E. Corte, Miss F. Corte, Miss Cramer-Roberts, Mrs. Chadwell, Miss Davidson, Miss H. Taylor, Miss Dean, Mrs. Debney, Mrs. C. Dixon, Mrs. E. Hamer, Miss F. Heyworth, Miss Higham, Miss Hopwood, Miss Howard, Mrs. W. Farnworth, Miss Fielding, Miss Moffatt, Mrs. T. Parkinson, Miss Pughe, Mrs. Ritzema, Miss Robinson, Miss E. Spencer, Miss A. Spencer, Miss Stones, Mrs. Walker, and Miss Sumner.
....The Mayor said the reason he had called them together was, in the first place, that he might on behalf of the Committee of Management thank the ladies for their services. They certainly had been the most important factor in the work, for whilst the committee sat for an hour or two on each Monday they had been doing all the work of taking the money to the recipients. He therefore begged to thank them for the services they had rendered and the sacrifices which he was certain they must have made in doing that work. It could not be work of the pleasantest nature knowing as they did the character of some of the people they had to visit. He wished to lay before them a statement as to how matters stood and let them see that the committee were not presuming that they were for ever going to carry out this work, for they knew it had grown very considerably. After putting the facts before them he wished to ask them to say whether they were willing to continue their services. Blackburn, he thought, was the only borough in the kingdom which was having the work done in this way. In other towns, in which he had made inquiries, the recipients were either going to the Town Hall in crowds or persons were having to be paid to take it to them. At first the work was very light. They commenced with about 46 cases, now they had 403. Then they distributed about £20 per week, now the amount was £118. Then they had 15 distributors, now the number was over 30. He hoped, therefore, the ladies would continue to distribute the money. If there should be any who, during the summer season, were unable to do so—no doubt there would be—the committee might be able to fill their places temporarily. If they could only continue to carry out the work on the lines begun at the end of the war Blackburn would have a record that would bring glory to the young ladies who had undertaken to carry out the arrangement. It was now nearly nine months since they commenced; in all probability it would be some time yet before they were able to dispense with the weekly sums, for when the war was over some time must elapse before the men were home again, and until then they must continue the distribution. By going to the homes of the recipients, the lady distributors had put restraining influence upon them. He found that in some towns the recipients of the money found their way into the police court, and the money was spent before they reached home. So far as he remembered, they had only had one case of that kind in Blackburn. He thought that spoke very well indeed for the class of people who were receiving the money. He put it down amost solely to the effect produced by the ladies. He was talking to a gentleman that day who said he knew one or two houses which were very much cleaner now than when the men went away. The people did not want to appear in all their dirt when the young lady brought the money. Although they might not see direct results, still in the end they would accomplish a great amount of good by their self-sacrificing labours. In conclusion the Mayor invited free discussion.
....The result of the meeting was that the ladies expressed their willingness to go on with the work. After the meeting they accepted an invitation to adjourn to the Mayor's Parlour and partake of afternoon tea."
The Blackburn Times, Saturday 23rd June 1900