Raising money to help those in need, as
well as raising funds for its own use, has long been an integral part of
school life. Today non-uniform days, or one of a variety of sponsored
events, are the most popular ways of raising money whereas in the past the
emphasis was on encouraging contributions directly from the children, often
after they had had a talk about the work of a particular group or society.
Just three months after it opened The Midland Society for the Blind
(which later became The Birmingham Royal Institute for the Blind) was
invited to talk to the older children. Its object was to educate as well as
raise fund for the Society to continue its work. On that first visit
£1.3s.0d. (£1.15) was raised and in the following year the sum donated rose
to £1.17s.6d. (£1.87). Regular successful appeals were made at the school by
this charity before, during and after the war.
Also vying for the school’s support was The Birmingham Police Aided
Association. Its function was never clearly stated but the collection held
in 1945 referred to ‘clothing for destitute children.’ The amounts
collected varied from year to year. In 1937, for example, it was £1.10s.0d.
(£1.50), in 1943 £2.7s.2d (£2.36) and in 1949 £1.13s.4d. (£1.66).
Birmingham is about as far away from the sea as it could be but the
amounts of money consistently collected for the R.N.L.I. suggested this was
the charity that most fired the imagination of the children and their
parents. After its first appeal, in 1943, the Branch Secretary acknowledged
-
‘the outstanding effort made by the children in collecting
£31.0s.0d. for the Society’.
Further collections, ranging from £15.10s.0d (£15.50) to £21.0s.0d (£21)
were made, and although the very first donation was never surpassed, the
money collected for the work of this charity was far in excess of that
raised for any other organisation.
The sale of poppies, in support of the Earl Haig Fund, was another annual
appeal at the school. Following a service held in the Hall in 1937,
£3.10s.0d. (£3.50) was raised from the ‘sale of tokens’. The next
year no mention was made of the amount of money raised but 467 ‘tokens’ or
poppies were sold. In 1941 the collection reached £10.8s.6d.
(£10.42) but then declined gradually each year until 1948, when the last
recorded figure was only £2.10s.0d (£2.50).
As well as the regular fund raising for named charities support was also
given to occasional requests for help. In July 1934 lapel flags were sold in
aid of ‘Employment Day’, while in May 1941 £5.4s.0d (£5.20) was collected
and shared equally between ‘The Overseas League Tobacco Fund’ and ‘Lord
Roberts Workshops’. In December the same year £19.2s.5d (£19.12) was
collected for Children’s Charities. This substantial amount -
‘in some measure made amends for the years when no collection had been
taken. I am not entirely in favour of persuading young children to go on a
round of friends and others for any such purpose.’
During May 1943 another collection was organised in support of ‘The
Overseas League Tobacco Fund’, The Troops Fund’ and ‘The Lord Robert
Memorial Workshops’. The £9.10s 0d. (£9.50) raised was divided equally
between the three funds.
‘In connection with this fund it is of value, I think, especially as
soldiers overseas are recipients of a post card with their parcel addressed
to this school, and when the post cards are received and read, generally
they are well expressed in sentiment and spirit, and in many ways are
impressive and inspiring. Last year most of our cards were from Malta and
written during the siege of that island.’
Later in 1943 the children collected £2.3s.3d. (£2.16) for ‘The Merchant
Navy Comforts Week’. The Alexandra Rose Day Fund was an ‘occasional’ charity
supported during 1946 and £1.0s.9d. (£1.04) was collected from the sale of
roses.
The Infant children also played their part in fund raising. In December
1941 the children were asked to help raise money for ‘Birmingham’s Warship
Week’ and they certainly excelled themselves.
" A great effort has been made in the school through the National Savings
Group. £142. 5s. 3p (£142.26) has been collected"
Another special effort was made during ‘Wings for Victory Week’ in 1943…
"…we have collected £116.4s.8d (£116.23) in War Savings. Flight
Lieutenant Jordan spoke to the children this morning about his work in
Coastal Command."
.. while during June the following year a staggering £267.0s.0d was
raised during ‘Salute the Soldier Week’.
Children raising funds individually or in small groups, as encouraged by
the popular children’s television-programme ‘Blue Peter’, is nothing new. A
number of enterprising Dolphin Lane children made small articles –
‘pen wipers, comb cases etc. and these have been sold to friends and
relations.’
Among those creative children were:
Margaret Manning 10s.0d (50p) Olive Simmons 10s.0d (50p)
Sheila Holt £1.0s.0d. (£1) Nora Smith £1.5s.0d. (£1.25)
Margaret Rainbow 9s.0d. (45p) Audrey Reeves 6s.11d. (34p)
Sheila Russell 13s.1d. (65p) Doreen Beckett 4s.10d. (24p)
Beryl Young 10s.0d. (50p) Jim Finch £1.5s.6d. (£1.27)
Maisie Taylor £1.10s.0d. (£1.50) Class 2/1 17s.11d. (89p)
The children at Dolphin Lane were also recipients of help and support,
sometimes from unexpected sources. Christmas parties regularly received
financial help and occasional gifts of sweets but in April 1943 the Infant
children,
"…received a gift of chocolate from the Optimists International Club in
Toronto, through the Lady Mayoress’s depot."
while February 1944 a surprise a parcel, containing toys to be
distributed among the Junior children, arrived from Birmingham, Alabama.
‘The toys are really of excellent design and purpose. They are very
pleasing and in these days very acceptable. The children are writing their
own letters of thanks for the toys to The British War Relief Society, Fifth
Avenue, New York.’
There was another surprise delivery in the summer of 1948 when food
parcels arrived from Australia for distribution –
‘mostly to children having no father alive.
‘There was a charge of 2d. per head…this means a return of more than
50%of the takings to form a nucleus of the Christmas Tree Fund.’
The following year the same charge was made for the children to watch a
conjurer and again 50% of the takings (£2.7s.10d. or £2.39) went into the
school’s funds.
Two years later the same ventriloquist returned but on that occasion 1d.
was charged for entry and the proceeds used to pay for the prizes that had
been given out at the recent Sports Day.
The only other entertainment referred to with the intention of raising
funds was an ‘exhibition
by Bruno Tublin’s Puppets’ held immediately after the war had ended.
The voluntary contributions from the children amounted to £3.5s.0d (£3.25).
After the retirement of Mr Sutton fund raising, either for charitable
purposes or for the schools own use, was rarely recorded. There is little
doubt, however, that activities to raise money were organised and the
children, parents and staff of Dolphin Lane School continued to support many
worthy causes as well as raising funds for the schools own purposes.
This is borne out by Linda Harrison who recalls -
‘There were Friday night Bring and Buys (later the Christmas Bazaar),
when all classrooms had their own fund raising evening for parties.
Roll-a-Penny, Guess the Weight of the Cake, Marbles in a Jar etc.’
