Without the society’s support I don't know what I would do

11:16am Monday 9th October 2006

THE web of scaffolding poles currently covering the front of the building should not be taken as a sign of structural decay. It's only the decorators in at the headquarters of the Society for the Assistance of Ladies in Reduced Circumstances and the property, like the charity, is not on its uppers.

The one-time gentleman's town house stands in Hornyold Road, Malvern, and there is something especially appropriate about the location.

For Malvern, with its water cure hey-day and craze for walking on the hills, enjoyed a boom in Victorian times and this benevolent society is a national legacy from the 19th Century, yet little known by the general public.

It's very title has the wordage of times past and a rather more genteel age.

The society's founder was Miss Edith Smallwood, a Christian spinster with Victorian values.

She was born in 1859, the daughter of the general manager of the York City and County Bank. However her father died when she was only 16 and left her an income for life.

Whereupon Miss Smallwood saw it as her Christian duty to help those less fortunate than herself. As a young woman she began collecting small sums of money to benefit ladies who through ill health or old age, were unable to support themselves.

Miss Smallwood later moved to Malvern and it was in the hillside town in 1886 that she founded her charity, now one of the largest in the country and known rather more snappily on the internet as SALRC.

She moved to London in 1909, but the Zeppelin raids over the capital during the First World War frightened her and so she returned to Malvern in 1916. In October of that year Miss Smallwood took out a lease on Lancaster House, a flat fronted property in Hornyold Road with the hills rising steeply behind it.

Four years later she purchased the property outright and today, behind its glossy black painted front door, are still the offices of the society set up 120 years ago.

The general secretary is John Sands, who has not been there quite so long. Four years to be precise.

From its title you may assume the charity - which has the Queen as a patron and is administered by a board of four trustees - distributes monetary aid to widows of poor clergymen, brigadiers who have boozed away their Army pension or landed gentry who have lost the lot through changing times and bad investments.

Not so.

"Some contacts are made direct," said John, "but many of our referrals these days are just as likely to come through social workers, citizens advice bureaux, Age Concern or agencies like that.

"They are also not restricted to, shall we say, ladies of more mature years. Any lady over 18 can apply to us for help, but we do try to ensure they are not receiving financial support from any other source as well."

The assistance usually comes in one of two forms. Either as a one-off payment for an essential, such as a cooker, fridge or furniture or as a regular monthly grant to cope with on-going bills.

"During the 12 months to the end of September this year we made one-off grants to 24 women living in Worcestershire," John added, "and 42 women in the county received regular monthly payments."

Nationally the figures were 200 single payments and 550 ladies helped on a regular basis. The total monies involved nationally were something over £700,000. The society has investments of around £23m and it is from the interest on these the money comes to be spent on needy ladies.

Assets or investments are not part of the spending equation and are never likely to be.

If it ever reached that point, the Society for the Assistance of Ladies in Reduced Circumstances would indeed be in need of some financial scaffolding.

The Society for the Assistance of Ladies in Reduced Circumstances is currently seeking a new trustee to join its board.

The four members, under the chairmanship of Olive Wickens of Malvern, currently meet each month in Malvern, usually for about two hours in the early evening. The position is voluntary, although out of pocket expenses are paid. Call John Sands on 01684 574645.

CASE STUDY: CHARLOTTE'S STORY

CHARLOTTE Collins was widowed three years ago when her husband died suddenly at the age of 59.

The couple, who had no children, never owned their own house and Charlotte now lives alone in a Worcestershire market town.

She had worked as an office cleaner, but was forced to give up her job through ill health shortly before her husband died.

Charlotte receives a widow's pension from his employer of £122 per week.

"The law says I only need £57.45 per week to live on so I don't qualify for income support and I receive only limited help with my rent and council tax," she explained. "That leaves1 me with only £67.13 a week. I heard about SALRC through Age Concern and it has been a great help. The society pays the line rental on my telephone and my television licence.

"It also gives me a monthly allowance of £86.50, which allows me to buy necessary items I would otherwise be unable to afford.

"Without this support I just don't know what I would do."