Children North East

Charity Details

Full Name: Children North East
Field: Community Services
Founded: 1891
Headquarters: Newcastle, NE4 6UJ
Charity No.: 222041

History and Activities

Children North East was established in 1891 as the Poor Children’s Holiday Association (PCHA) by fellow Methodists John Watson and John Lunn out of concern for the health of poor children living in the slums of Newcastle. Watson was a cashier for Newcastle Corporation and Lunn the owner of a small shipping business. Poverty was rife in Newcastle with mortality rates well above the national average. In 1891, Lunn wrote to Watson proposing that if there were “any street lads in your Mission to whom a day at the seaside would be a treat… we might organise a trip.” A day trip for 120 poor children was soon organized on a steamer to Tynemouth.  The idea caught the popular imagination and soon there were regular trips paid for through public donations to the charity’s Sunshine Fund. By 1914 day trips and other short breaks had been provided for 200,000 children.

PCHA went from strength to strength. In 1906, it opened the first Tuberculosis Sanatorium for children in England at Stannington. It was a pioneering initiative and thrived under the guidance of Dr Thomas Moffatt Allison (1861 - 1928), honorary physician to the PCHA, supporting sick children from across northern England. The sanatorium was absorbed into the newly formed NHS in 1948.

The PCHA is one of the very best examples of Victorian subscription philanthropy. It stirred the civic imagination and helped raise concern for the plight of children dealt cruel injustices by circumstances, not of their own making, not least was the death or absconding of family members. Nine children’s homes were opened by the PCHA in response, the last remaining open until 1991.

Like so many Victorian charities, the rise of the welfare states posed an existential challenge, demanding either dissolution or re-invention. PCHA chose the latter, renaming itself as Children North East in 1988, and turning to provide a range of valuable services for the 30% of children and young adults in the North East estimated to be living below the poverty line. The charity’s services include baby and toddler groups, peer mentoring, counselling, life and parenting skills training and advice on sexual health, and programmes to help families in crisis. In 2016, Children North East was named Charity of the Year at the North East Charity Awards, 125 years after its foundation by Messrs Watson and Lunn.

Vital Statistics (year to 31/12/2017)

Website
https://www.children-ne.org.uk/

References