Mark Bennet, Team Rector at Thatcham in Berkshire talks about his preconceptions of almshouses before he found himself as one of the trustees of Loundye’s and John Hunt’s Almshouses.
He begins:
Before I became a trustee of the Thatcham Parochial Almshouse Charity, the most I had known about almshouses was from Trollope’s “The Warden” as seen on TV and a vague sense that almshouses were an antiquated form of do-goodery providing congenial accommodation for distressed gentlefolk and retired clergy. I was to discover that such a view of Almshouses is a profound mistake.
When I became Rector of my parish, I found myself one of nine trustees of Loundye’s and John Hunt’s Almshouses and the quaintly named “Nine Shilling House”. I read the history of the Almshouses – the charity had once owned a field on which grazed a cow, whose milk was provided free to the Almshouse residents. It seemed that my prejudices were being confirmed.
And then I met the residents of our fourteen flats ……
This is a truly wonderful account from Mark and no doubt sums up exactly what many of us thought about almshouses before we ‘got involved’.
His visions for the future mirror those of the almshouse movement – we know that the almshouse model can play a much greater role in meeting the need for sustainable affordable housing in our generation and beyond; and as more and more almshouses are being built, it certainly looks like the vision is becoming a reality.
A downloadable version of the article can be found here or visit the Church of England website here
Posted 7 October 2020