Worcester Municipal Charities has created another 4 flats for the single homeless in Worcester city centre, taking the total they own to 68, which, together with their other 32 “retirement almshouses” makes it a grand total of “100 not out”.

Robin Walker, Worcester MP and Worcester Mayor Adrian Gregson, with Paul Griffith MBE, Chairman of the Charity, together with the Charity’s trustees and onlookers at “Inglethorpe Court” in the Hopmarket Yard on Friday 13 January 2023 .

Since 2012 the Charity has created 68 new “affordable” almshouse flats for the single homeless, raising the money by selling some commercial properties and then a generous grant of £200,000 from Homes England which made the whole project immediately viable.  

The four flats were created from two ancient former warehouse annexes for the old Anderson and Virgo’s Chemists shop at 12 Foregate Street. When it closed down and became the Good News Shop, the warehouses became surplus to requirements and deteriorated over the years. They were landlocked, so repairs were problematic and they were taken over by pigeons. For a short time they were used as offices by Citizens’ Advice but were no longer needed after the pandemic.

The appointed architects for the building works were Lett & Sweetland, with builders D & S Contractors. The very high quality of the conversion and fitting out was generally the subject of much admiration on the day.

Richard Inglethorpe, in whose memory the 4 flats have been named, was a wealthy benevolent brewer, who originally donated six almshouses to the Charity, now long since gone.

Inglethorpe’s will of 1618 ordained that the almshouses should be awarded to:

“six poor men of the said City being of honest life and report, and such as are either very aged, blind, lame, sick of the palsy, or falling sickness, and by reason of their age or infirmity of body, are not able to work and labour for their living, and also one poor woman, being likewise of honest life and report, and of the age of 50 years at the least, or upwards, which woman shall wash the clothes of the said six poor men, make their beds and attend upon them in all times of their sickness to help them and provide things necessary for them.”

Charity Chairman Paul Griffith commented,

“We won’t be appointing a similar handmaiden here, as I understand times have changed since then, and that some men may even make their own beds!”

WORCESTER MUNICIPAL CHARITIES (CIO) met on 25th January for their ANNUAL TRUSTEES’ MEETING 2023 and agreed to £453,170.62 in grants to “charities doing the most, for those in greatest financial need in Worcester”. To read about how the charity will be spending their money in 2023 and past projects, click here: www.almshouses.org/news/worcester-municipal-charity-awards-435170-62-in-grants

posted March 2023