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An urgent appeal for funds to furnish the Home raised £250
in two months and an order for the furniture made out. Clubs
or individuals were asked for £5 and for which the name
of the donor would be fixed over the door of a room within the
Home.
The next task was to advertise for a superintendent and matron
and out of 120 applicants Mr and Mrs Boyland were appointed
" and no better selection was anywhere or ever made"
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The home was opened by Passmore
Edwards in the presence of the Hodgson Pratt, the Mayor of Ramsgate,
Alderman Blackburn.and 600 Club members who cheerily braved
the stormy weather.
From the day of its opening, on August Bank Holiday of 1894,
the Home was a success. As each resident came back to his club
he spread the tale of its charms. Large excursions organised
by the Home Committee took tens of thousands of London clubmen
to Pegwell. Far and wide spread its fame. A picture fund realised
£100 in a few months. The Home then accommodated 32 residents,
but before the third year of its life had passed it was clear
to the committee that extension would be required.
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| "We had a meeting of the Home Committee at Pegwell one
Sunday, and in the little garden in the rear we decided that
we could manage to spend £2500. We had no money, The Union
had none, being indeed then much pressed itself for cash".
( B T Hall) "Some of us were, however, confident that the
Home had so established itself in the affections of the clubs
of London and of the Home Committees that we could borrow and
beg all such a sum. Borne down (or uplifted rather) by our optomism
the doubtful agreed" |
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| An appeal went out to the clubs and, on the advice of Passmore
Edwards, Maurice Adams was engaged to prepare drawings, adding
bedrooms with bathrooms, and on each floor large lavatories,
where residents could wash without, as then, doing so in bedrooms,
"an arrangement of great economy and infinitely more satisfactory
to residents". |
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