Search Results for: YMCA

West Glamorgan Archive Service reference SL WL 5/9/1

The poster is advertising a week long campaign to raise £20,000 to build a new support centre in Swansea for those veterans who served in WW1.  The end of the Great War coincided with the 50^th anniversary of YMCA Swansea. 

On the right of the YMCA Red Triangle logo is a notice which seems rather odd.  It states;

“The balance sheet of the National YMCA is published every six months, properly audited and is a document representing a marvel of enterprising work for God and humanity”.

The reason for the rather odd notice was that the appeal had already been effectively sabotaged and from a most unexpected quarter.

As well as providing YMCA huts at the front line, a considerable amount of work was being undertaken to support troops in Swansea.

50,000 meals had been served at St Andrews Hall (now Swansea Mosque), and where YMCA operated from May 1917 to March 1919. 80,000 sheets of writing paper given out to troops, sleeping accommodation provided to over 250 soldiers and sailors and

7,000 to 8000 free suppers provided. Food and accommodation provided also to 129 survivors of the Rewa, a hospital ship torpedoed in the Channel.

At an Executive Committee of YMCA Swansea on 1st October 1917 Mr. G. P. Cook-Davies stated that the number of Bit Badge Men in the town was about 900 (Bit Badge Men was a term for men who had done their bit but whom now were invalided out through illness or injury).  After discussion it was decided to appoint a delegation to meet with Sir John Llewelyn (YMCA Swansea President) to consider what could be done.  One idea considered was a hostel for soldiers and sailors and the need to investigate potential need.

In early 1919, the Red Cross notified the YMCA was that the building which had been turned into a hospital was expected to be handed back over on the 30^th March

It was agreed to hold an open meeting and in the meantime that the ground floor be used as a club for past and present members of H.M Forces.

A Jubilee planning meeting was held on the 15^th March.  The minutes are difficult to read but discussion involves a possible extension to the hostel as well as a new build erected to the men who have fallen in the war, on the model of the Red Triangle huts.

At a special meeting in March 1919 the appeal was launched with a target of £20,000

Ward lists were produced to target 20,000 houses via 260 canvassers and the Rev. James would target markets and businesses.

Newspaper adverts were also to be placed.  The appeal weeks would be the 28^th April to 10^th May. 300 posters and 500 window bills printed.

The appeal started well with the following promises:

Mr. Napier £200

Mr Cook £200

Richard Lewis £200

J. P Giles £100

S Palmer £52

W J Watkins £50

Total £802

The first indication of the appeal running into trouble comes in a minute dated 1^st April, under a heading the Bishop of Swansea.  The minute states:

“Mr Napier gave a brief report on the meeting of the National Council in London and stated that the Bishop of Swansea would be given an opportunity of substantiating or withdrawing his charge against the YMCA before a Commission appointed by the Council”.

A special meeting of the Executive Committee 16^th April minute states

“The Chairman referred to the Bishop of Swansea attack on the YMCA in the Times Newspaper.  In reference to the Bishops letter, Mr Highman gave exact information with regard to the Association building at Brecon and the success of that enterprise”.

The Cambrian newspaper reported on the allegations and subsequent inquiry by Lord Askwith on the 23^rd May 1919.  The central allegation by the Bishop was that the YMCA national body was competing with existing social organisations and that money subscribed for war purposes was now being used for peace schemes. It would appear that the criticism was triggered by something to do with Brecon YMCA but it is unclear what.  The report by lord Askwith rejected the Bishops criticisms. 

Although the Bishops letter to the Times had nothing to do with YMCA Swansea, the publicity effectively sabotaged the campaign.  The appeal was pretty ambitious anyway, particularly when it was only eight years since a similar appeal had raised the £20,000 for the cost of the building on the Kingsway.

In June the Rev Newton Jones reported that Len Palmer had succeeded in collecting £131, the highest amount secured by a member. The campaign figure now standing at £4548 with another £100 promised from Messrs Baldwin’s.  Another £250 was promised by the Butchers Association.

The minute’s state:

“Mr Napier moved thanks to Rev Newton Jones for his service as the campaign manager.  The campaign had not reached its target.  The attack upon the YMCA by the Bishop of Swansea and prevailing industrial unrest had doubtless influenced events.”

Mr Cook endorsed Mr Napier

“Campaign efforts had been largely controlled by unfortunate circumstances”

The appeal was finally closed with a total figure raised of £5692, well short of the £20,000 target.

Swansea YMCA newsletters early 20^th Century

One of the drawbacks with visiting archives is you find a lot more information than you expected.  It can result in extra research or a new line of enquiry or both.

The YMCA archive has no newsletters from the 1^st WW period but West Glamorgan Archive Service do. There are one hundred names on the YMCA Swansea Roll of Honour (those members who served) and I was hoping I may find some extra bits of information and hopefully identify some of the many Evans, Jones and Thomas etc. Instead I ended up with another seventy individuals to research. Former members that were mentioned but not listed on the Roll of Honour and a whole load of names on the list of junior section members and scouts serving. This no doubt will result in another week or two of research.  Further information in future blogs when I look at the WW1 period in more detail.

The bundle of newsletters in archives also had some which overlap with YMCA archives for 1911/12 period. Looking through them again, I made a note of the name Arnt J Morland, who wrote a few letters back to his friends at YMCA Swansea and who was now back residing in Arundel, Norway.  The letters themselves were of no significant interest, a little update on how he was getting on, at this point undertaking his national service. The fact that he was involved in a much smaller YMCA association in Arundel and words of encouragement to keep up the good Christian work in Swansea. However, a quick google of his name and the town and this resulted in yet another story of interest to record.

Arnt Jacobson Morland was born on the 23^rd June 1888, son of a merchant.

In 1907 he secured some form of Norwegian state sponsored trade placement in Britain and obviously ended up in Swansea. The placement was shipping related but as yet I have been unable to identify with whom exactly.

Judging by the date of the letters he would have been in Swansea for maybe two or three years and being very religious I would guess a member of the Norwegian Church. By 1911 he was definitely back in Norway.  The last mention of him is news of his engagement to Miss Thomsen of Arundel.

In 1916 he started his own shipping company, named Agdesidens Rederi, followed by two more companies, Morland Rederi in 1927 and Morland Tankederi in 1930. 

Morland became a very prominent citizen of Norway, he chaired the Regional Ship Owners Association and for a number of years was a member of the Executive Committee for Arundel City Council. In 1953 he was elected to the Norwegian Parliament but died in 1957 before the end of his term.  Morland was also prominent in the church becoming Vice Chair of the Diocesan Council for Agder.

In 1940 Norway was occupied by the Nazis. A puppet government was installed led by the collaborator Vidkun Quisling, whose name would become a byword for collaborator or traitor. Following the war Quisling was found guilty of murder and high treason and was executed by firing squad on the 24^th October 1945.

The resistance in Norway like most countries included both passive and aggressive resistance.  One of the passive resistance measures was led by the church. Local church leaders in Norway were employed and paid for by the state.  Church leaders therefore refused to take the salaries in protest at the occupation and the collaboration of the Quisling government.

Morland in partnership with Hans Sande, the General Secretary of the Joint YMCA and YWCA in Norway organised the network for raising money for what was effectively a strike fund.  Money would be raised and collected to support the local church leaders to enable them to continue to work but refuse their salaries from the Norwegian state.

Morland was arrested on the 24^th February 1944 for resistance activities and initially held at the Arkivet building in Kristianstand.  Arkivet is Norwegian for archive.  Built in 1935 for the local archive service, the building was taken over as Gestapo Headquarters for Southern Norway.  It is now a museum to the Norwegian occupation and the names of those killed in concentration camps in Norway are listed on a memorial outside the building.

Moreland was later transferred to Grini Concentration Camp, his prisoner number was 11696. Numbers killed at Grini are unknown but we do know they included British Airborne troops who survived Operation Freshman, the attempt to destroy the Norsk Hydro Heavy Water Plant, vital for any potential development of a hydrogen bomb by the Nazis. The surviving British Airborne troops from the operation were held at Grini before being taken to nearby woods and executed by the Gestapo.

Finally Moreland was transferred to Berg Concentration Camp in February 1945.  Berg was a transit camp where many Jews and political prisoners were kept before transfer to one of the death camps in Germany or Eastern Europe. It is possible that he was due for transit but the war at this point was nearing the end and he survived. 

Swansea Museum Collection

Black and white photograph and postcard showing an internal view of one of the wards at the converted Swansea YMCA taken circa 1918. Nurses and patients are clearly visible. Gelatine paper print.

The photograph is the gymnasium, (now Dojo) which is above the Llewelyn Hall Theatre.  The new building opened in October 1913 and within a year the 1^st WW has started.

There are a number of photographs by Chapman the High St photographer of patients and nurses at the hospital. It would appear that a few of his daughters were Red Cross volunteers and a son who was serving in the army, was a member of the YMCA.

An excellent book, Swansea in the Great War by Bernard Lewis has a detailed chapter on the medical provision in Swansea and contains another photograph by Chapman of the staff and patients on the roof of the building.

On the outbreak of war, the Swansea Red Cross Division began the search for suitable accommodation to convert to hospitals.  Early in the search in October 1914 they looked at both Sketty Church Hall and Llewelyn Hall (the YMCA theatre).

Heavy casualties suffered by the British Expeditionary Force in the early months of the war hastened efforts to find suitable premises as hospitals would be required sooner rather than later. It was also becoming clear that more than three Red Cross Volunteer Aid Detachments (VADs) would be required.

VAD 88 was based at Llewellyn Hall and received their first patients on the 3^rd December 1914.  With increasing number of casualties Parc Wern was also opened in 1915.

The Red Cross continued to search for a suitable single building as casualties mounted.  In the meantime a further ten beds were installed at the YMCA.

A special committee was appointed to look at a suggestion by Mrs Elswoth of the Red Cross that a hospital of eighty beds could be run if the whole of the YMCA was taken over.  However as Parc Wern had recently opened the project to take over the whole of the YMCA was put to one side. 

However by early 1917 with no end of the war in sight, a decision was taken to take over the building entirely.  In May 1917 the hospital was fully ready with 140 beds. A year later it had received a total 658 patients as compared to 308 in the previous two years.

The YMCA moved out of the building and down St Helen’s Road to St Andrews Church, now Swansea Mosque.

During the 4 years it was open 1443 patients were treated there.  This included 32 survivors from a hospital ship the Rewa who were landed at Swansea after being torpedoed in the Bristol Channel.

One of the nurses who worked at the YMCA hospital was Mary Morgan nee Corfield. An oral history interview was conducted with her in the 1980s and the tape is part of Swansea Museum Collection (oral history interview SM 1991.11.1.)

She describes how during the war the YMCA played an important support role providing soldiers with food and drink and paper and envelopes for writing. She trained as a nurse and then went to work at the YMCA where the shifts would be 6am till 2pm and then 6pm to 10pm.  Most of the casualties were transferred by sea to Cardiff and then onto Swansea.  Mary remembered that patients arrived with terrible injuries.  Despite the terrible injuries Mary enjoyed her work as a nurse and would have liked to pursue a career in nursing.  However her father put an end to her nursing career as soon as the war was over.

The YMCA Hospital was not for walking wounded or convalescence purposes. It is therefore quite remarkable that only one patient is recorded as dying there.  A second casualty who died is unidentified but was a local man and therefore was allowed to go home.  The one patient who died at the hospital was Lance Corporal Gordon Rankin Inglis, an Australian, wounded at Gallipoli.

At the end of March 1919, the hospital was closed and the building handed back to the YMCA.  It was not the end of the relationship as the Red Cross rented a club room in the building in partnership with the Royal College of Nurses (RCN).  This arrangement continued until the mid-1930s at which point they rented a room at 122 Walter Rd due to the unsatisfactory heating arrangements at the YMCA.

Swansea Museum Collection

Ornate presentation key, sterling silver. Inscribed – presented to the Mayor of Swansea Alderman T. T. Corker JP Feb 3rd 1914. On the occasion of the starting of the YMCA clock. The gift of Messrs Webber and Sons Ltd. Original buckram covered, velvet lined box.

The YMCA was in Herbert Place from 1870 until moving to larger premises at Dynever Place in 1882.  However by 1908, they were again looking for larger premises.

In 1911, they purchased the Longland’s Hotel, formerly the residence of the Bath shipping family. The initial idea was to convert the building, but at some point the plan changed and the decision was taken to knock it down and build the purpose YMCA building we see today.

A fundraising campaign was initiated in 1911 whereby members of the YMCA would try to get pledges from the good people of Swansea for the estimated cost of £12,000 for the new build in ten days at which they were successful. A detailed article on the campaign can be found in the Swansea History Journal, 2014 volume 21.

The building dated 1912 on the parapet actually opened in October 1913 at a cost of £20,000 including the fit out.

The architect appointed was Glendinning Moxham, who was also the architect for the Glyn Vivian Art Gallery.

The building design included a complicated series of access points and stairwells for parts of the building to be divided and shut off including the hostel on the top floor and Llewelyn Hall on Page Street.

The YMCA National Review for 1913 contains the following description and a photograph of the building without the clock.

“On the first floor the general and private offices for the secretarial staff are placed. The large public hall providing seating for five hundred people with ante rooms etc.  A large social hall and games, billiards and dining rooms.

The second floor is devoted to the classrooms and library, kitchens and caretakers quarters.

On the third floor is the gymnasium etc., eighteen bedrooms, bath rooms and lavatories.

The roof is flat and commands an extensive view over the town and surrounding neighbourhood and will form a useful adjunct to the building.

One problem to be faced in the designing of the building was to keep each department separated and distinct and at the same time to access to every other department.

This necessitated the multiplication of entrances and staircases taking up valuable space.  The whole of the building is built of fire resisting materials, all the floors are as practicable of iron and concrete construction. The sanitary arrangements are of the latest and improved types. The heating apparatus is for low pressure water, and the whole of the building is lighted by electricity. Throughout as afar as possible preference has been in every way given to local and local tradesmen to carry out”.

The clock was not part of the original plan but added later.  However a clock of that size requires a significant length for the clock weights, which had not been taken into consideration.

An oral history recording held in the museum SM 1990.11.8, just happens to be the son of the foreman of the YMCA build and he relates the story his father told him.

“In later life he, (his father) became sort of a quite important man in the building trade. He was Clerk of Works for the Glyn Vivian Art Gallery. He supervised the building of that and at one time we had the original building plans, but they have been mislaid.

He was also Clerk of Works of the YMCA building, the Llewellyn Hall, bottom of Page Street. He used to tell the famous tale that on the top corner of the building, high on the top storey is a big clock, which is still there on the corner facing St Helen’s Road. And the architect designed the clock to go in this wall but forgot the clock had to have weights and a pendulum and forgot all about that! When they put the clock in there was nowhere to let the weights hang down because immediately below the clock was the ‘Minor Hall’ and you could not have weights nipping through the middle of the hall so they had to make a special ducting with pulleys and things to divert the weights from the clock round various corners to keep them away from the Hall! To this very day you look up into the ceiling you’ll see funny shaped ducting going across the ceiling”.

The explanation he gives on close inspection in the clock tower does not appear to make sense at first.  However following a more detailed inspection it turns out that boxed trunking which runs down the interior of Page St elevation through the current Chief Executives office and meeting room 10 on the floor below is not hiding electrics and water pipes as you would have expected, but the actual clock weights.