ADVENT REFLECTIONS

For the boys who were in care at St. Joseph's Enfield in the 1930s and 40s, the word Benefactor will always have a special meaning. This is because as children we were constantly reminded that our wellbeing was due entirely to the generosity of our Benefactors. It was the Benefactors who provided the money that enabled The Crusade of Rescue Society to look after and provide for the children in their care. Today, with the “Welfare-State” which is obliged to assist financially in the care of children who have become victims of family breakdown and family bereavement, that will ensure, at the very least, that children do not become destitute and in danger. The only qualification that a Catholic child needed to be accepted into the care of the Crusade of Rescue was that he/she was deemed to be destitute and unwanted by its parents, or often just a single parent. In my time The Crusade of Rescue had a slogan on the side of its vans “that no Catholic child would ever be refused”. At the age of seven I entered St. Joseph's as a destitute child.

The Homes were located in Enfield for boys and at Feltham for girls. St. Joseph's Enfield housed one hundred and fifty boys, plus staff, mainly Sisters of Charity. This was a very expensive operation, requiring large sums of money, just to meet the very basic needs of the children in care. Canon Craven, who at that time was the Administrator of the Crusade of Rescue, and the Sisters looking after us would constantly urge us to pray for our Benefactors. Mass would be dedicated to our Benefactors. Also, many ‘deckets’ of the Rosary would be recited by the boys and Sisters; all being dedicated to help, in some way, the lives of the people whose generous donations provided us with the basic necessities of life.

The only people who we definitely knew to be Benefactors were a Mr. and Mrs. Nichols and the, to us, anonymous Knights of St. Columba, Palmers Green, who provided the wonderful party held on the first Sunday in January. We now realise that the unknown Benefactors must have been both numerous and extremely generous. Both St. Joseph's and its extension, St. George's, were very large buildings and they must have consumed vast quantities of energy. The account for the electricity used must have been high. Lorry loads of coke and anthracite were regularly delivered to feed the boiler in the cellar that heated the water for use in the washrooms, and also provided central heating in St. Joseph's and St. George's. The anthracite was used in the large "Aga" cooker in the kitchen. The children in care had also to be clothed, fed and educated.

In 1933, following an outbreak of diphtheria, a report by the Department of Health declared that the shed used by the boys during inclement weather was inadequate, and a proper heated shelter should be built as a matter of urgency. Canon Craven's report, published in the March 1934 edition of St. Peter's Net, said that although some money was available it was insufficient to commission the building of a new Play Hall. However, Canon Craven was delighted to report, in the next edition of St. Peter's Net, that the Benefactors had responded to his appeal for funds and that there was now sufficient money to allow for the building of the Play Hall. The Play Hall was completed in 1935, and I when I arrived at St. Joseph's in January 1936 the Play Hall was already in use.

I left St. Joseph's for Blaisdon Hall in Gloucestershire in 1942 and to the care of The Salesians of Don Bosco. This was a joint venture between the Crusade of Rescue and the Salesian Community, as they were then known.

For two years or so Blaisdon and the Salesians provided an opportunity for the Boys to learn a trade before going out into the world, for the first time, to earn their living. The success of this joint venture can be seen in the many who regularly turn up at the Blaisdon reunions

Down the years the word Benefactor has retained a very special meaning for me. It was in 2002 that Eric Nutcher and myself were invited to attend the annual Benefactor's Mass. I was intrigued that even sixty years after leaving St. Joseph's, and despite the massive financial intervention by National and Local government, to realize that the Benefactors still had an important and vital role to play in financing the work of the Catholic Children's Society (Westminster), as the Crusade of Rescue had now become known, in assisting families through emotional and financial difficulties.

I have attended every Benefactor’s Masses since 2002 and it has given me great pleasure, not only to see that the numbers of Benefactors supporting the Catholic Children's Society work growing. Furthermore, also to see the number of former boys and girls attending who were in the care of the Crusade of Rescue all those years ago, and increasing year by year. For us it is a "coming home," meeting the boys and girls with whom we spent our childhood, and who we still think of as our brothers and sisters and part of our unique and special family. The bond that exists between the children who were in the Society's care is and will continue to be very strong .

In 2007 I also had the pleasure of attending two services in Westminster Cathedral. They were the Good Shepherd Mass, and the Children's Christmas Carol Service. Both of these services were attended by over two thousand children! These children being the representatives of the thousands of school children who work hard to raise money that helps the Society to continue its work with children, for whom the welfare state may have failed to provide the timely help, so critical for these vulnerable children.

Before the welfare state, children who were victims of family breakdown, or who were abandoned by their parents or parent, received scant regard from the public at large. Central and Local government policy towards such children was: if they were housed in orphanages and not a charge on the public purse, so much the better. These children were then invisible and therefore did not ever surface for closer inspection by anyone. It was the generosity of our Benefactors who provided the money that enabled the Crusade of Rescue to look after the hundreds of children placed in their care. They raised money at a time when poverty was rife throughout Britain, especially in the 1930s, and their money was hard earned. To all the Benefactors who supported the work of the Crusade of Rescue and its successor, the Catholic Children’s Society (Westminster), I offer you my sincerest thanks.

Norman Taylor - January 2008