CHARITY COLLECTIONS

KETTLESTONE CHARITY COLLECTIONS

Throughout WW1 there were regular collections for the Red Cross and other charities.

REVEREND SHARE

August 19th 1914 A well attended meeting of women was held at the Rectory at 3pm, at which it was arranged to work for the Red Cross Society for a time. There is to be a house to house collection for same anytime after next Sunday. This in conjunction with the Fakenham branch. Later we may take up the Queen Mary Needlework Guild to make garments for distressed women and children.

House to house collection for Red Cross £2 5s 4d

21st Oct 1915 Red Cross collection house to house. Collection for waifs and strays box

24^th June 1916 Collection for hospitals and medical charities

16^th March 1917 We send £1 7s 7p to the Edith Cavell Homes of Rest for nurses and in a letter thanking for same by her sister, Miss Scott Cavell writes saying that over £16 has been raised for this object. It will be remembered that Nurse Edith Cavell was murdered by the Germans in Brussels by the order of General von Bissing. The father of the Misses Cavell was the Rector of Swardeston Norfolk.

The same day we sent 5s to St John’s school Leatherhead for the education of the sons of poor clergy.

The Red Cross in WW1

At the outbreak of the First World War, the British Red Cross formed the Joint War Committee with the Order of St John. They worked together and pooled their fundraising activities and resources. Fundraising was vital to allow the committee to carry out its work, which included supplying services and machinery in Britain and in the conflict areas abroad. throughout the war. Money and gifts-in-kind received through a variety of funds, collections and donations went towards services for soldiers both at home and abroad. By the end of the war, £21,885,035 had been raised and £20,058,355 spent on hospitals, medicine, clothing, grants and care for the sick and wounded.

The Edith Cavell Rest Home for Nurses, was opened by Queen Alexandra in 1918. The Norwich branch was the sixth in a series of Edith Cavell rest homes, funded by public subscription, and opened across the country. The homes cared for exhausted nurses, traumatised by the impact of the First World War.

The building that housed the Norwich Rest Home is now part of the Maid's Head Hotel - seen in the photograph behind the Edith Cavell memorial.