One hundred years ago
TABARD STREET FACTORY- WOMEN'S HOME SIR, — May I again plead the needs of this institution? This is now its seventh year of continued existence. It consists principally, as many of your readers already know, of a club, open every evening from 7 till 10, and on Sundays from 3 o'clock. We have also a small kitchen, where cheap daily dinners are provided both for the factory-women and the sick. In the evening there is needlework, music, singing, and games; and it is at this time that the ladies who manage the Home get to know the girls personally, and so to help them when in distress. Many of them are never lost sight of, as after marriage they often return to the old nest, and join the mothers' meetings.
This past year has been a hard one for the factory-women, many of whom were out of work for weeks at a time. Not long ago a firm of furriers failed, and one of our girls was out of work for 11 weeks; she had no sooner found a new employer than she caught influenza, and was very ill. After she recovered, she returned to work again, and had only been back for a week when her finger was caught in one of the machines, and terribly cut and torn. She now goes to the hospital to have it dressed, and then on to work with one hand, at reduced wages.
I do not mean to say that the popula- tion of South London consists wholly of dismal cases like this, but I quote one so that your readers may reahse how useful a Home like ours is, where sad cases, when they do occur, can be helped and looked after.
Subscriptions will be gladly received, both for the Home and the holiday fund, by your obedient servant,
The Spectator 18 June 1892
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