75 years of Citizens Advice in Coventry

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Our story starts with an extraordinary tale from the Coventry Blitz that has been under the radar for 75 years.

After two decades struggling to give advice on a shoe string, and in unsuitable buildings, despite Coventry post-war boom, we were forced to close in 1969.

The dramatic closure and rebirth of Citizens Advice in Coventry is the story of the response of the people of Coventry to the lack of fairness and justice in everyday life.

It is the story of an organisation that eventually earned its position as one of the most used and valued organisations in the City in the 21st century.

Celebrating 75 Years of

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75 Years | Coventry Citizens Advice Bureau

First edition, November 2015

Copyright © 2015 by Citizens Advice CoventryCover and book design: Danielle O’ConnellPhoto credits: see acknowledgements

All Rights Reserved

No parts of this book may be used unlessexpress written permission has beenobtained from Citizens Advice Coventry.

Mark Cook asserts his author rights.

All enquiries to:Citizens Advice Coventry, Kirby House, Little Park Street, Coventry, West Midlands CV1 2JZ

Printed in United Kingdom

This book is the result of a Heritage Lottery Funded project researching, recording and promoting over 75 years of Citizens Advice in Coventry. It was launched at an event in St Mary’s Hall, Coventry, on Thursday 12 November with the aim of celebrating and remembering the night of the Coventry Blitz, 14 November 1940 when our offices were bombed, an event which is also being commemorated elsewhere in the city.

We were fortunate to receive a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to carry out essential repairs to Kirby House, our current home. Part of the grant has enabled us to explore our own history over the past year. Mark Cook took on the role of History Co-ordinator, and during the year we produced a leaflet and display that have taken our story to the people of Coventry, mainly through our tour of Coventry’s libraries and by opening Kirby House to the public during Heritage Open Days. We commissioned a commemorative play, “People”, produced by Theatre Absolute at their Shop Front Theatre in Coventry, and performed as the centrepiece of our event at St Mary’s Hall.

Mark Cook

Celebrating our history

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1 9 4 0 - 2 0 1 5

C ELEB R AT I N G 7 5 Y E A R S o fC I T I Z EN S A DV I C E I N COV EN T RY


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Foreword6

Introduction9

A short history10

In the beginning14

Campaigns28

Reaching outto the city

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Trainingand

volunteering34

Changing issues22

Who we areand what we do

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City of migration26

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Contents

How we wroteour story

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People38

Where we’ve been

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A growingorganisation

48Timeline

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Looking tothe future

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Acknowledgements64

Index66

Kirby Housethroughoutthe years

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Foreword

and the creation of the welfare state –a vision of care and support by the whole country for everyone’s needs, created a series of organisations and institutions that have become internationally known and recognised for their effectiveness and quality. The era of big government had arrived. There was a country to reconstruct, people to be housed, soldiers to be demobbed, and shattered lives to rebuild. The National Health Service, the welfare state, universal education, housing and pensions all date from the post war period. Many people were starting from nothing. Their worlds had been turned upside down – and help was needed. So the Citizens Advice Bureau movement was born. The first branches opened nationally in 1939, with more opening soon after.

Coventry underwent terrible suffering during that time. The relentless bombing of the city and the death, destruction and injury that resulted, families torn apart and destroyed as soldiers served and died, evacuation and other disruption, the list goes on. And in the midst of that, a desire to help those in need. A collective desire to provide mutual society, one for another, that could assist and help people return to a version of normality, and make a future. Advice and support was needed on every front. How to re-establish identity after personal belongings and papers had been destroyed, how to access housing and care, where to get money in order to live, how to find lost and displaced family – so many problems, and out of this need, in the midst of confusion and chaos, during the height of

The social movement of collective responsibility that emerged as part of the post-war consensus

by Simon Brake

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Foreword

the war in 1940, came the Coventry CAB.

Premises were secured, grants were given, volunteers came forward, and wartime pressures were recognised and needs met, and the bureau grew as the city recovered. The intervening years of post war consensus, the liberation and chaos of the 1960s, the financial and labour pressures of the 70s & 80s, the political and societal changes in the lead up to the millennium and beyond, with recession and subsequent growing need emerging more recently, have seen the bureau grow and change, alter and respond, adapt and improve.

The characteristics of the city, of hope and peace, and alongside recovery, innovation and growth, mingled with the continued and changing new arrivals that make Coventry the delightful and graceful city that it is, have shaped and formed the bureau as it is today. Coventry is peopled by dedicated, hard-working and generous citizens, and that is reflected in the bureau. With over 100 current staff, and about 200 active volunteers in our offices and elsewhere, all professionally trained and qualified in our roles, we have grown and changed to support the needs of the city, remaining a community resource, provided by the community, at the heart of the community, helping, campaigning, advocating and representing. This opportunity to document our history as a force for social good, and social progress, is essential, and we are extremely grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund for having provided the grant for this celebration, and I commend it as an excellent read!

by Simon Brake

Finally, it’s important to be absolutely clear - it’s a privilege and a delight to be responsible for ensuring the effective stewardship of the bureau for future generations, and I can only hope that 2090 will see the bureau having developed further during the next 75 years. This is due to the dedication of staff and volunteers, past and present, as well as clients, funders and partners, without whom there would have been no bureau to begin with.

Thank you all.

Simon BrakeChair, Citizens Advice Coventry

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Introductionby Caroline Leighton

Ijoined Citizens Advice Coventry in May this year as its new Chief Executive Officer, enthused and

delighted to become part of this amazing organisation, its people, and the great City it serves. It is also a privilege to be part of the Citizens Advice national network that helps ensure we deliver excellence in our local Advice and Information services, and enables us to play a key role in advocating for change to national policy, amplifying the voice and experience of Coventry people in building a fairer society for all.

Citizens Advice Coventry has grown substantially over the past five years to become one of the largest charities working and supporting the people of Coventry, and reaching out with partners across the Midlands. Last year we provided support to some of the most vulnerable people in the City. The quality and reach of its services has expanded rapidly based on an in-depth understanding of needs, the difference good information and advice makes, and how working in partnership with others, and our clients, builds the trust and skills to make a real difference to people in crisis and improve their lives in the future. We are an integral part of the fabric of the city, sharing its people’s ambition, diversity and hope for the future.

As we celebrate our history and achievements over 75 years we are also aware that we are in another time of great change and challenge for Coventry, our clients, and ourselves.

I am confident that in placing our clients’ needs at the heart of everything we do we will continue to push boundaries and innovate to continuously build our services. We continually strive to find new ways to use our skills and expertise to meet the rapidly changing needs of people in crisis, struggling families, and marginalised communities across the City.

I am sure you have enjoyed reflecting on our history and journey over the last 75 years, but more than that I hope, like me, it has inspired you be part of the next stage of our journey and commitment to deliver even more service to Coventry and beyond.

Caroline LeightonChief Executive Officer, Citizens Advice Coventry

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A short history

well over a million people. We’ve had our ups and downs. Mixed with our many successes, we’ve been hit by difficulties and even disasters, a story that has sometimes matched the issues faced by many of our clients.

Founded to give advice during wartime, especially after air raids, we found ourselves homeless when our office was destroyed in the November 1940 blitz. We struggled for resources through the 50s and 60s, at a time when there was little in the way of national funding. We closed for a period in 1969.

Our “boom time” started in the 70s, slightly later than the city, when we took advantage of national funding to set up a consumer advice centre. Facing difficult times, as the city did in the 1980s, we grew quickly in a planned but dramatic way to meet the needs of the city we belong to. Along the way we’ve had the support of a national organisation that has come to our rescue on more than one occasion and, more recently, has rewarded our innovation and perseverance with National Awards.

The bottom line is that we’ve helped people when they need it. During 75 years we have given advice to

Coventry had two bureaux at the outbreak of World War Two, one supported by Coventry Council of Social Services, the other supported by the City Aid Society. In common with the rest of the country these had been set up by the National Council of Social Services, with a Regional Office in Birmingham.

By October 1940 the CCSS-supported bureau had moved to Earl Street, where it was destroyed in the November 1940 raid on Coventry. Officers from London and Birmingham helped re-establish the bureau within a week of the raid. The two bureaux were affected by the April 1941 air raids, giving advice from outside (and inside) the Council House. In September 1941 the two bureaux merged as a sub- committee of the City Aid Society operating from the Liberal Club, Union Street.

After the war, national financial support was drastically reduced, while the new welfare state and the continuation of rationing led to a massive increase in enquiries: nearly 200,000 between 1944 and 1950. Key figures during this period were our chair, Alderman TE Friswell (1941 to at least 1959), our Treasurer, Dr A Hedley Marshall (1944 to at least 1959) and secretaries including Miss Murphy (1941-47) and Miss Kaye Smith (later Mrs Barragan) (1947-54).

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Header and above The Umbrella Club 97 Little Park Street 1955

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In 1951 funding from the Government to NCSS halved and was cut completely in 1952. The impact on local bureaux is clear. From 9000 enquiries in 1951, the figure plummeted to 3158 by 1953. In 1952 the bureau left Union Street, and spent the next 17 years living a nomadic and hand to mouth existence. In 1954, Mrs Barragan left to be replaced by Mrs Vera Bonhomme (1954-1969). Local newspaper cuttings suggest a renewed vigour in campaigns for suitable premises and council. However, enquiries remained historically low and new premises were unsuitable and short term. For a couple of years we shared with the Umbrella Club, an arts club chaired for a while by our Treasurer. The late fifties and early sixties saw a dramatic rise in enquiries, due mainly to a new Rent Act and issues arising from easier access to credit. The bureau struggled on, with regular resignation attempts by Mrs Bonhomme highlighting funding and accommodation difficulties. She carried on until 1968, by which time she was unpaid, and the bureau had its registration withdrawn because its premises were so poor. The bureau closed on Friday 29 August 1969.

It reopened in April 1970 with new premises and a new Organising Secretary, Mrs Audrey Hart (1970-1981). Audrey, alongside chairs Dr Tom Stone and TH Berrill managed the organisation though a time of change, increasing demand and expansion. Fewer than five thousand enquiries in 1970 had risen to over twenty thousand by 1979. Volunteers doubled to over 30 by 1979. Premises were still a challenge, but this was normally because the organisation had outgrown them. By this time some government funding had reappeared, supporting the growing need for consumer advice, at one point the bureau supported a Consumer Advice Centre as well.

Two trends started at this time, a change in the mix of volunteers, quickly attracting younger volunteers to add to the existing experienced volunteers. The other trend was in seeking and attracting project-based funding to support new activities. The bureau began to offer specialist advice services from solicitors, architects and tax and investment advisers. It also accompanied people to employment and benefit tribunals.

The bureau moved to Fleet House in 1980, premises it would occupy until 1999. 1981 saw Sandra Carrigan take on the post of Organiser, superseded by Cath Smith in 1985. Cath had been the office manager in the Consumer Advice Service. This period saw a massive expansion of paid staff, although many of these jobs were short term,

for instance on Manpower Services Commission projects. The bureau started to run funded outreach services in Willenhall and Stoke Aldermoor and later in Foleshill and Hillfields. In 1986 The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (NACAB) suffered funding cuts that had an impact on local bureaux. In Coventry the bureau became a company limited by guarantee to protect its members.

In 1985 Sue Darling was a volunteer, by 1987 she was a caseworker and in 1989 she became Manager, becoming Chief Executive in 2004 and staying until 2008. Also during this period Val Horton was with the bureau for 25 years as Deputy and then Training Manager. In 2008 the bureau moved to Kirby House and it now has over 100 employees, 200 volunteers and others helping to provide a range of services including The Childrens and Young Persons’ Project (ChYPP), Sorted, Pension Wise, Money Advice and The Big Difference Scheme.

Cath Smith, Fleet House 1987

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Top Local Campaign award, September 2014Above Visit from The Princess Royal 13 September 2012

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In the beginning

sure that the public had support during the Second World War; the Government assumed they would fold after the war finished and many did. Some cities such as Liverpool and Birmingham had extensive advice services already.

In Coventry the voluntary sector was small, and in any case, as a major industrial city the growth of the organised labour movement and welfare provision by some employers was more in keeping with a city that had recently elected its first Labour council. Coventry Council for Social Service set up a bureau in the Constitutional Club in Priory Row and Coventry Aid Society ran one from their offices in Warwick Row.

In October 1940 the CCSS Bureau moved into Barbican Chambers, behind Earl Street, thanks to the support of Band Hatton (now Band Hatton Button) Solicitors. It was a short lived move. Earl Street suffered badly in the November 1940 blitz. It was razed from Much Park Street to Little Park Street. Buildings destroyed included the Barbican Chambers and the mediaeval Palace Yard.

The aftermath was filmed the next day by

No one ever planned it to last this long. Citizens Advice Bureaux were set up in September 1939 to make

legendary film maker Humphrey Jennings. Regional Organiser Richard Clements says he found “The Central CAB had been smashed up in the raid. Premises destroyed and workers scattered. The Second CAB in Warwick Row continued to operate.” Richard failed to contact the Earl Street staff. He discovered that the Organiser had left the city on the eve of the blitz for Sheffield. Richard wrote to Coventry’s MP to suggest, “We ought not to ask him to resume control of it.” Dorothy Keeling, national Citizens Advice Organiser was also in the city and found our new home in Union Street.

We were also affected by the April 1941 raids, giving advice from the steps of the Council House. After this the two offices merged in July 1941 to form Coventry CAB with, for the first time, its own Management Committee..

A night to remember75 years ago Coventry was devastated by its first major air raid during the Second World War. The raid transformed the city and Coventry Citizens Advice Bureau.

Richard Clements had a busy week following the Coventry Blitz on Thursday 14 November 1940. He arrived in Coventry early the next week to find the offices of the main bureau in Earl Street smashed

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Header and above Ministry of Information van in Earl Street, outside the Barbican Chambers, after the 14th November blitz.

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up, files destroyed and the workers scattered. He spent the next few days re-establishing the bureau in the city’s hour of need, and piecing together what had happened.

Richard was the Midlands regional officer of the National Council for Social Services. He was responsible for setting up bureaux at the start of the war. Here he wanted to observe how they coped with the air raids that had been predicted, and for which, amongst other reasons, they had been set up.

Bureaux had partly been set up so that in real crises, especially air raids, people would have access to independent “citizens” advice. The thinking behind this is that it would help avoid civil unrest. It would also help avoid the creation of rumours and public disbelief of MOI information.

Richard’s first task was to find out what had happened, his next to get the bureau up and running again. Luckily for us, his letters from November 1940 survive, telling us what he was thinking and what he and others were doing.

Richard discovered that the main office had been destroyed. The bureau run by the Coventry Council for Social Services had recently moved from The Constitutional Club, 7 Priory Row, to Barbican Chambers, 33a Earl Street. We shared the building with solicitors and had Coventry Labour Party as neighbours. All our paperwork had gone with the building. Not only that, but he was unable to find the Executive Officer, or the other staff and volunteers. He found out eventually that the Executive Officer had left the city on the eve of the blitz for Sheffield with his family. He hadn’t told anyone he was going. Richard was not pleased. In a letter to NCSS in London he described him as having “behaved badly”. Subsequently he advised London, the local MP and the man himself that he should no longer be part of the CAB.

On Wednesday 20 November he found a space to run a temporary bureau in a corner of an office of the Midland Daily Telegraph. By Friday 22 November a new office was set up and by 4th December 1940 the chaos caused by the 14 November blitz had started to calm. In the following week the bureau dealt with 458 enquiries. On Monday 2 December 180 people visited. Richard Clements, Regional Officer, was still visiting Coventry. He wrote to his boss, George Haynes in London, telling him that the Ministry of Information had closed their office in Coventry’s Council House, suggesting that Citizens Advice was fit and working again!

Top Minutes from 3rd July 1941Middle The day book showing enquiries for 1940-42,Our first registration certificate from 1947Above Our minute book from 1941 to 1959

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Histories of Citizens Advice

(Clockwise) The Story of The Citizens Advice Bureax 1964,Citizens Advice Bureaux for the community, by the community 1989,Inform, Advise and Support 50 Years of Citizens Advice 1989

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Who we areand what we do

Partly this was based on existing advice organisations that operated this way.

The wartime government was also aware that in time of war, people were more likely to believe each other than government officials, for instance from the Ministry of Information. The standard of free, impartial, independent and confidential advice was set early, as were the twin aims of offering advice based on comprehensive information and taking up campaigns based on observations from the issues people were raising.

Before the post Second World War welfare state, people had only the option of charities and voluntary organisations for support. Many of these operated at a local level. However, an umbrella organisation, the National Council of Social Services did exist before the war, and had been involved in developing the concept of “citizens advice”. Not surprisingly they were also funded to set up the network. The NCSS, through Regional Officers, sought local organisations that could support a Citizens Advice Bureau. In September 1939 two hundred opened across the country. We don’t know if we were one of the first wave, as the first press report we know about was in early 1940,

From the very start the concept of Citizens Advice was that of citizens offering advice to other citizens.

but it’s hard to imagine one of England’s larger cities not having one (or two!) especially as its engineering focus meant that it would probably be a target in raids that aimed to halt war production. These early bureaux did not have their own rules and constitutions as they were hosted by existing local organisations. Part of the role of the Regional Officer was to help bureaux organise a degree of self-governance. In Coventry’s case one can imagine that Richard Clements was involved in helping the move to the Barbican Chambers. However, any moves to put the Coventry Bureau under the control of the Coventry Council of Social Service were dashed after the strange events of 14 November, and Richard’s view that the local officer should no longer be involved after his disappearance. Richard oversaw the merger of the two bureaux as a sub-committee of the City Aid Society. It remained a sub-committee until it was closed and reconstituted in 1970.

The committee that Richard helped set up involved a small number of high ranking local people. The City Treasurer, Sydney Larkin (father of Philip Larkin) was our first treasurer. A former lord Mayor and Alderman “Tommy” Friswell was elected chair. Early members included Provost Howard from the cathedral. Some of these high profile figures didn’t stay around long. Tommy Friswell stuck it out until

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Header and above Certificate of incorporation, 1987

he had to give up through ill health in the late 50s. Sydney Larkin quickly substituted his deputy (and later successor) Dr Hedley Marshall. Volunteers made up the rest of the early committee. The early bureau had no staff, the secretary was unpaid until Miss Murphy took the role on for £3 a week in 1941. Coventry Citizens Advice remained an organisation with a low budget and one member of staff until it closed temporarily in 1969.

From the 1970s our governance has developed two ways. Firstly, as the organisation has expanded we have developed a staffing structure to support that. We had a manager from the 1970s until we grew big enough by the mid-2000s to warrant a Chief Executive.

Alongside this the role of the committee has changed. In the early days, the committee was actively involved in the day to day work, organising rotas of staff, helping with the paperwork of recording all clients and issues. This partly explains why Coventry CAB struggled on from hand to mouth for so long.

In the late 50s an attempt was made by Richard Clements to develop some sort of Council to oversee the development of the bureau. Richard also intended that this body start taking responsibility for fundraising. Many organisations

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in the city were invited to take part, and campaigns were carried out by mailing and placing articles in the press to persuade employers and trade unions to back the organisation financially. This was a short lived success, as by the mid-sixties most of the limited funding was still provided by the City Council, alongside low or no rent premises.

In the sixties Mrs Bonhomme appears increasingly desperate for help, with ever diminishing returns. By the late sixties she wasn’t even being paid herself, and was suffering from ill health. The dogged determination to carry on that had helped her through the fifties was possibly her Achilles heel. The bureau closed in August 1969. When it reopened in April 1970, whilst some of the committee remained, Alf Peake for instance, there was a new Manager, Audrey Hart. She seems to have developed a more effective relationship with her committee, bringing in, for example, people like Chris Poole from the newly established Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University).

Through the seventies to the nineties the committee developed its membership and role. By 1993 the honorary treasurer role was no longer carried out by the Council’s City Treasurer. During this period some people pop up with different roles at different times, perhaps starting as a volunteer, then gaining a paid post, and sometimes after a break, returning as a committee member, for example Cath Smith. Sue Darling also started as a volunteer and she rose to become Manager.

In 1978 we incorporated as a company limited by guarantee. This increased our capacity to plan and act as a business, whilst safeguarding the organisation from the sort of events that had affected us in the sixties. As the organisation has grown, the Board and trustees have taken an increasingly strategic role in the organisation. They now ensure that we have a business plan that will deliver the type and extent of service needed by the city, and that we have a financial plan to achieve it.

The national organisationThe early history of the national organisation is covered in depth in books written to mark the twenty-fifth and fiftieth anniversaries. In 1938 The National Council of Social Services (NCSS) called together the major voluntary social work agencies, including Liverpool, London, Birmingham, and Glasgow to plan for the creation of bureaux in the event of war. By July 1939 the plan for establishing local bureaux was set out and in September two hundred opened across the country.

In February 1940 Dorothy Keeling was seconded from Liverpool Personal Service Society to the CAB Policy Sub-Committee of the NCSS until the end of 1945.

By November 1940 the CAB Committee of the NCSS (comprising representatives from the regions) had granted recognition to 433 bureaux. In 1941 the Owl emblem was introduced and allowed to be used by recognised bureaux. Certificates of recognition were introduced as well.

The government had viewed CAB as a wartime phenomenon, and had no plans to continue support after the war. Funding for the NCSS support was halved, then halved again.

In 1972 the national organisation became independent of the NCSS and in 1973 named itself NACAB, the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, owned by its members. By 2003 the national organisation shortened its name to Citizens Advice. The national organisation carries out our national campaigning, lobbying and research functions as well as organising common services such as IT, training and national marketing and branding.

It’s also responsible for the provision of up to date national information on all the issues that local offices come across. Of course that’s done via the internet today, but during the Second World War Citizens Advice Notes were produced, and for many years these were known as CANs. They developed into ring binders, so that out of date information could be changed via regular updates that arrived in the post. Today the public can access information via an extensive website. Staff and volunteers have their own internet training and information resource to support them.

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Our changing logo

The first Citizens Advice badge was used from 1941. The owl symbolises wisdom, and even had a name: Minerva, the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom. Earlier books credit the design to Eric Fraser, famous for his illustrations in the Radio Times from the 20s to the 70s and the designer in 1931 of “Mr Therm” for the Gas Light and Coke Company (the precursor to British Gas). Later versions dropped the laurel wreath.

Minerva was replaced by a more modern looking logo in the 1960s. The logo was in keeping with current changes in typography and design, and the new consumer age. Many famous high street logos were developed in this period.

In 1992 the logo was changed again, but not as radically as it might. Heated discussions took place about dropping the word “bureau”. The logo was a modernisation of the previous one, moving to lower case and the then modern looking line.

The bullet was bitten in 2015, as the word “bureau” was finally dropped. The changes are again gradual, losing the bright yellow colour and changing the circle for a speech bubble.

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Changing issues

finding lost relatives, contacting family members abroad. Later in the war we gave advice on rationing and housing.

In the post war period we continued to give advice related to rationing, but our focus shifted to advising people about the new welfare state, on health, housing and pensions. Into the fifties we gave more advice related to personal credit and consumer issues. We had an increase in issues from people in private rented accommodation after the 1957 Rent Act.

Into the sixties, increasingly issues of credit and consumer issues came to the fore. By the seventies we started to see a rise in the number of benefit related enquiries. In the eighties there was a rise in issues relating to debt and unemployment, and this has shifted more recently to swing between issues related to debt and benefits. These are the main reasons people came to us, but there are many other issues that we have given advice on, changing with the times.

We know what issues came to us, because it’s all written down. These days of course, it’s done on computers and gives us a local and national picture

We started during wartime, so much of the advice was related to that: what to do after an air raid,

of the concerns and questions facing people who contact their local Citizens Advice through the internet or in person. Right from the start in the 1940s we have meticulously recorded the questions of our visitors. For many years this was done in ledgers, large books that record the figures in columns against a list of subjects. We know this because we still have most of the books. The early one from before the November 1940 blitz was destroyed in the blast that hit the Barbican Chambers, but we have a record of the questions people had after the blitz. Unsurprisingly people were asking about evacuation, bomb damage and so on. Even during the war people wanted information about government programmes and decisions. They also wanted to know how to challenge some of these decisions. We were asked about family and child allowances, the pre- welfare state benefits. People asked for help in claiming allowances, and in challenging unfair or wrong decisions.

This system of recording was one of the innovations that the pre-war advice services elsewhere had developed. We found a document in the Modern Records Centre at Warwick University that showed the different subjects the BBC received questions about in response to a series of pre-war talks by Richard Clements.

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The big issues of the day. (Left to right) Most popular issue, second and third

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010-

benefits

domestic

domestic

consumer

benefits

benefits

debts

debts

military service

housing

housing

family and personal

consumer and debt

consumer and debt

benefits

benefits

evacuation

employment

consumer

housing

housing

housing

housing

housing

Children and Young Persons’ Project 2012

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We found it difficult tracking changes over the decades. This was because sometimes people have recorded the number of visitors we had, sometimes the number of issues we dealt with. So for instance a person coming to us with problems of debt, marital breakdown and housing could be counted as one visitor or three issues.

Why were people collecting the data?Firstly it gave a good indication of the extent of concern or confusion about the subjects. It gave campaigners the evidence they needed to challenge decisions and policy. As far as bureaux were concerned, it also gave them an indication of the local extent of issues and concerns, and meant they could prioritise training and volunteers in those subjects.

Nationally these statistics gave the NCSS the chance to raise concerns at a government level, and to clarify and provide information back locally. This was the origin of the still current tandem approach to using evidence to target advice and challenge decisions and policy.

We looked at local newspaper articles about Coventry CAB during our research. Sometimes these articles paint a different picture to the one depicted by the statistics.

One example is Mrs Bonhomme’s forays into agony aunt territory in the Coventry Standard in the 1950s. She managed to get a series of columns that tackled leading issues of the day including such gems as “How do I stop my wife dancing?”. Mrs Bonhomme seems to have played for laughs in return for column inches.

The bureau was similarly misrepresented by an article in the Coventry Telegraph in the 1989. Under the headline “Sex? It’s all in a day’s work” lay an article that focussed on the issues facing the bureau at the time, mainly debt and Poll Tax. The article was actually a cleverly disguised appeal for volunteers!

Over 75 years we can see the big issues that influence what people need help with. Since the 1980s the two areas that have dwarfed all others have been debt and benefits advice. Two things are striking. One is that the overall level of enquiries appears to track economic factors like unemployment. The second is that in both areas people are affected by unexpected events: redundancy, death, illness and separation are key changes that can tip finely balanced household incomes into debt. Changes in work status and health are major factors that lead

Citizens Advice Notes 1940

people to seek short term help from state benefits. The fact that these are unexpected and rare events in peoples’ lives makes it more likely that they will seek help and assistance. The most recent trend is that debt is becoming more entrenched as the top issue that people come to us with.

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Header and above Martin Lewis opens Sorted March 2013

Fleet House 1985

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City of migration

elsewhere. For most of our history, apart from the 80s and 90s, Coventry has been a growing city.

During the Second World War we were asked to give advice to new arrivals at the city’s industrial hostels. Many arrived from other parts of the UK, but refugees also came to support the war effort.In the post war period we gave advice to new arrivals from the Commonwealth. At one point in the 50s we held sessions specifically for new arrivals, and we had the first volunteer in the country from the Caribbean giving advice to people from that area. We have a long history of attracting workers and volunteers from a black or minority ethnic background. Since the 1970s we have offered training so we can meet the needs of our varied communities. From the 1990s an increase in issues raised by refugees as well as migrants was apparent, and we’ve worked closely with Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre over the years.

Coventry in the 20th Century was built on migration. The pre Second World War growth in the motor cycle and car industries was made possible by workers that arrived from the metal working towns of the Midlands and beyond. New workers

Cities grow and shrink because of migration: people arriving in the city and people leaving for

were key to the success of these new industries. Women workers joined the factories in numbers during the First World War making the munitions that were used on the fronts. Workers from the Commonwealth countries were already arriving before the Second World War; the Indian Workers Association started in Coventry 1938. During the war not only did Commonwealth immigration continue (it was encouraged by the government) but a new influx of workers came from other parts of Britain. The Government directed workers to Coventry to maintain and increase production of military equipment.

Many of these new workers lived in hostels, mainly on the edge of the city: Tile Hill and The Chase, Willenhall, for example. In addition the city became home to refugees fleeing from occupied Europe, for instance Poland and the Ukraine and countries in West Africa amongst other countries. Our minutes note that we were asked to provide advice to people living in the hostels. The decision was taken to offer training to workers running the hostels.

In the post war period the bureau was increasingly aware of the issues facing new arrivals to the city. A large minority of these were from the Commonwealth countries and they faced problems with housing, immigration, employment, racism

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and discrimination. Mrs Bonhomme developed relations with newly formed groups representing Asian and African-Caribbean people in the city. In 1959 she tried running sessions aimed at these groups, with little success. In the 1960s, she did recruit someone she claimed was the first Caribbean CAB volunteer in the country.

Coventry has played its part in not just welcoming, but also offering support to people escaping from persecution, totalitarian regimes and war. The bureau supported people after the Hungarian uprising of ‘56, the expulsion of Asian people from Idi Amin’s Uganda in the 1970s, asylum seekers from civil war in the Balkans and Afghanistan in the 1990s and most recently those seeking refuge from conflicts in the Middle East, most notably, Syria. In the 1970s specific training was provided so that volunteers could offer effective advice to Ugandan Asians.

We’ve developed a good relationship with Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre (CRMC). Sabir Zazai, the first manager of our Sorted project, is now director of the charity. This relationship has recently led to our involvement in a Home Office funded Integration project in partnership with the City Council, CRMC and Coventry Law Centre. The project helps the most vulnerable refugees from Syria start a new life in Coventry.

Header Community Cohesion Award 2013

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Campaigns

practice. During the wartime Citizens Advice successfully campaigned for cheese rations to be increased for people with smallholdings to the level given to farmers. In the 1950s we presented evidence to an enquiry into redundancy carried out by Coventry Labour Party. In the 1960s we worked closely with Trading Standards to campaign on issues raised in our Consumer Advice Centre. Since the eighties we have run regular local campaigns on issues such as pay day loans and the level of debt in the city. More recently our award winning Campaigns team has promoted research on charges by private lettings agents.

We work with public agencies dealing with unemployment, benefits and housing benefit to challenge poor decisions and to raise issues where policies unfairly impact on one section of the public. We don’t just raise these issues locally, together with offices from other areas Citizens Advice nationally takes these up with agencies and government departments and decision makers.

Social policy work predates Citizens Advice

We don’t just give advice. We also campaign on issues that clients raise about fairness and bad

Bureaux. Inter war voluntary organisations, such as Birmingham Citizens Society (BCS), were campaigning on the issues their clients faced. They highlighted where policies were not being applied accurately, and where they were unfair or had unintended consequences.

In 1935 Richard Clements, secretary of BCS, later to become the Regional CAB Officer in the West Midlands, conducted a series of BBC radio talks based on the issues that faced people. After the series people wrote in with the questions they still had; we found a summary of the issues raised in the letters in the Modern Records Centre. This was used as a model for compiling information about issues raised in early bureaux. An early wartime success for Citizens Advice was the campaign to secure an extra cheese ration mentioned in the introduction above. We also secured extra clothing coupons for pregnant women.

From the outset in 1939 we collected data on the issues people raised and reported these nationally. These were used by the NCSS to highlight concerns to government departments and decision makers.

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Header, top and above Debt Advice Campaign February 2011

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After the Second World War there was a shift to campaigning on issues arising as a result of the changes brought about by the development of the welfare state, including campaigning on poor process or unfairness in the new systems.

One area that changed dramatically in the 1950s was in issues facing private tenants and their landlords. The 1957 Rent Acts offered better security of tenure and rent controls for private tenants. However they also presented problems. Private landlords often needed advice on whether to keep a home they were renting or to sell it to the sitting tenants. Tenants were faced with the need to decide whether buying the home they rented was a good idea.

In late fifties Coventry workers in the major industries faced a wave of short time working and redundancies as these industries restructured. In 1957 we gave evidence to a review of redundancy carried out by the Coventry Labour Party.

The 1960s saw a consumer boom in the UK, and Coventry was one of the more prosperous cities. This new prosperity brought new problems as consumer issues became increasingly common and an area where new campaigns emerge. Poor quality of goods and services were challenged and the impact of new consumer spending had an impact. Easier credit and hire purchase made the acquisition of large consumer goods such as cars and white goods easier. It also led to financial problems and debt in some households, especially when employment was short term or low paid. We ran a government funded Consumer Advice Service in the 1970s from Shelton Square. Some of this work was transferred to the City Council’s Trading Standards Department, other services were absorbed into the bureau. From this period onwards advice and campaigning on debt has been an ever increasing part of our workload.

We have also campaigned on the impact of new benefit schemes and cuts or changes in benefits over the years. During the 1984 miners’ strike we offered advice to the families of striking miners in Coventry and Warwickshire, and campaigned on poor and wrong decisions at a national level. This led to controversy. A Conservative MP accused CAB of taking a political stance in supporting miners. The subsequent royal commission rejected this, and praised the local and national actions that had been taken. The career of the complaining MP never recovered.

We have campaigned against unfair policies and poor decisions across the range of benefits from

pensions to unemployment to disability payments and still do today. We work closely with local departments to highlight areas where decisions are inconsistent with legislation or policy. We also campaign when we find that policy has an unfair impact on a particular group of people. The research and campaigning work we do here in Coventry contributes to national campaigns and lobbying. It’s not always one way traffic. Agencies work with us to see how they can improve their processes and services, and we can offer better advice and support to the people of Coventry.

Our local efforts have gained us awards as national campaigning bureau of the year, and for our local campaigns.

Below Oscar Award 2012, Debt Advice Campaign February 2011Opposite (Clockwise) Awarded at Annual Conference 2013, Campaign against Legal Aid Cuts 2010,(Bottom left) Warning about used cars 2013,Debt Advice Campaign February 2011

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Reaching outto the city

services. We have worked to reach communities that might otherwise be neglected. During the war we ran short lived offices in Radford and Foleshill.

Outreach wasn’t really on the agenda of the resource-starved post war bureau; it was a struggle enough to keep one office going at times, but we did try to set up sessions elsewhere.

From the 1980s when we could take advantage of area based programmes such as the Community Programme and Urban Programme, we held regular and much needed sessions in Foleshill, Wood End, Willenhall, Stoke Aldermoor and later, with SRB funding, in Wood End and Hillfields. In 2012 our Childrens and Young Persons’ Project (ChYPP) started training local volunteers that are now based in over 50 schools in the city.

On reopening after the November 1940 blitz we opened a bureau in Radford on the then new estate. Actually, Richard Clements, regional officer, set this up, he had previous experience of setting up centres on new estates in Birmingham. This one didn’t work, after a few weeks it closed through lack of use. Richard grumbled that workers from the

We’ve always been aware that a city centre base will not be accessible for everyone that needs our

Daimler factory were going to the factory welfare officer instead. We did establish a wartime bureau in Foleshill that lasted until 1943. In our minutes we found a request from wartime hostels to give advice to new arrivals working in the factories.

In the 1950s there was little in the way of outreach; there was one attempt to set up evening sessions in Cheylesmore, but these soon petered out.

By the 1970s, we were in a better position to support outreach services. We found funding to support this through the 80s and 90s. Cath Smith remembers how difficult it was to take all the advice information, then in large ring binders, to each session!

More recently we have offered sessions at health centres and doctors’ surgeries

In 2011 we established the ChYPP project, focussed on supporting children, young people and their families. We trained up volunteers to deliver advice in 50 schools across the city. People who can’t be helped on the spot are referred to caseworkers in Kirby House.

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Header Outreach 2009 Above Godiva Festival 2010

Outreach stall 1980s

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Training andvolunteering

An early volunteer, Miss Field, gave up a well-paid job to organise the office between 1940 and 1941. During the war training on post-raid welfare and social welfare was developed. Many women voluntary helpers, taking up post-raid or welfare work for the first time were among the keenest attenders. Support given by the Women’s Voluntary Service was a factor in the success of the courses.

In the post-war period the number of volunteers matched the small scale of the organisation, although we have newspaper reports asking for volunteers and describing the training available. From the seventies we started to see an increase in student volunteers thanks to our links with Lanchester Polytechnic (now Coventry University). We also attracted people, especially women, who had finished working, no longer had childcare responsibilities or wanted a change. During this period we can see the “career path” that many took, from volunteer to paid work, and sometimes to a place on the Management Committee. At least two of our figureheads took this route.

The training offered to volunteers became more extensive and covered not just knowledge but

Citizens Advice was founded on volunteering.

also the skills and sometimes the attitudes needed from volunteers. This was at a time when locally and nationally we began to focus on the quality of the advice we gave. Volunteers do not just give advice, many volunteers then and now were able to offer administrative skills, or, for instance, take responsibility for looking after the Kirby House Courtyard.

Training has been at the heart of support to volunteers to ensure that they have the knowledge and skills needed to offer effective advice. In the early days we came across proposals for training programmes that offered courses in precautions during air raids amongst more familiar subjects.We have little record of the training in the fifties and sixties. By the 1970s we realised that it’s not enough to have people who can access information and have knowledge of the issues. By the seventies volunteers themselves were reporting difficulties in providing effective advice to people with mental health problems for instance. Staff also had training, for instance in anti-racism and anti-discrimination, to ensure that our services were open to all.

Of course much of our training has been part of national programmes, with courses developed nationally and delivered locally. Many courses are shared with other local Citizens Advice services.

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Header Volunteer development day 2010Above Volunteers painting 45 Warwick Road February 1970

Volunteers on reception 2014

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We’ve moved a long way from the days when volunteers were left to their own devices. As well as access to information and training, they are supported by supervisors and caseworkers in their work with clients to make sure that the advice given is as thorough and consistent as it can be.

Often people volunteer because they want to do something socially useful and to give back to society; this has always been the case. Volunteering is also a great way for people to develop their skills, get experience and improve their chances when looking for work. Volunteering opportunities and placements are very popular with students from Warwick and Coventry Universities. Sometimes this gives law or social work students real experience of interviewing and casework.

In Kirby House we have a dedicated training room, where we are also able to deliver IT training. Much of our training is available online for staff and volunteers. Every volunteer has a training programme to help them get the skills and knowledge they need, and so we can ensure that the public get the consistency and expertise they deserve.

Top Sorted volunteers 2014Above Billie Noble’s volunteer letter

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Staff and volunteers in Fleet House 1980s

Volunteers in Fleet House 1980s

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People

The focus here is on some of the figures from our early years. Sometimes it was difficult to find out about people; their background, other achievements and even photographs have been hard to come by. Here is a taste of the people who contributed in our formative years.

Early minutes show the involvement of several civic dignitaries when the bureau was formally constituted after the April 1941 blitz.

Councillor/Alderman TE “Tommy” FriswellTommy was a leading council figure in the pre-war period. He was chair of the Civic Aid Society CAB sub-committee from 1941-59. In the pre-war period he was involved in establishing The Memorial Park, Gosford Green, Whitley Hospital and Baginton Airport. He was also an active freemason.

Sydney Larkin Sydney was the father of Coventry-born poet Philip Larkin. He was City Treasurer from 1922 to 1944, succeeded by Dr AH (Hedley) Marshall. He

We could have filled the book with stories and profiles of people who have been involved in our story.

appears as our Honorary Treasurer from November 41, but is conspicuous by his absence, resigning in July 1944.

Dr AH (Hedley) Marshall He also sat on the committee from 1941. By 1944 he succeeded Sydney Larkin as City Treasurer and as our treasurer. He continued in the post until at least 1959. He was also active in the creation of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants (CIPFA), and the Institute of Local Government at Birmingham University, He has a CIPFA award named after him, he remained City Treasurer until 1964.

Provost HowardHe appears on our early committees. He was the head of the Cathedral, and a key figure in developing Coventry’s role as City of Reconciliation. A suite is named after him in St Michael’s House (11 Priory Row, one of our Georgian sister buildings).

Mrs BonhommeMrs Vera Bonhomme first appears in our minutes book in 1954. On 21 January 1954, a selection committee was held to choose a successor to Mrs Barragan.

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Alderman T E Friswell our first Chair

Four candidates were interviewed for the post: all women, all married, two from Coventry, one from Kenilworth and one from Leamington Spa. One other candidate failed to attend. One candidate impressed the committee, but they felt she had little experience of social work. Mrs Bonhomme had the advantage that she was already a volunteer at the bureau, albeit only for a few weeks.

The post was offered to Mrs Bonhomme on the day, and “the press photographer of the Coventry Evening Telegraph arrived to take a photograph of the new Secretary at 8pm”. The photo appeared in the paper the next day, with Mrs Bonhomme sporting one of her trademark hats. We learn from the accompanying article that she graduated from Manchester University and took post graduate studies at the University of Vienna. She had worked in the information department at GEC in Coventry from 1938 to 1953. “….a widely travelled woman, she speaks several European languages”.

The level of her education is remarkable in an era where only 10,000 people graduated each year (today the figure is about 350,000) and only a quarter of those were women. Fewer than 1500 people took higher degrees at that time, of which only one in five were women.

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The meeting following her appointment held hints of difficulties to come, with notice to leave the Rotary Room premises being a major agenda item.By the AGM in April, the bureau was looking to share with the Marriage Guidance Council at 2 Lansdowne Place, Warwick Road.

Mrs Bonhomme remained in charge from 1954 to 1969, although she retired briefly in 1960, but her reign was dogged by chronic problems with funding and premises, despite her knack of securing press coverage for the bureau.

Cath SmithCath managed the Consumer Advice Centre in Shelton Square before becoming Manager in 1985. Famous for getting trapped in the Fleet House lift, as Chair from 1995-2004 she supported Sue Darling and it was during her tenure that the bureau moved to Coventry Point in 2000.

Sue DarlingSue started as a debt caseworker in 1987, by 1989 she had become office manager. She is our longest serving figurehead, serving until 2008. Sue masterminded the move to Coventry Point in the year 2000. She was responsible for the expansion of the bureau and was a tenacious fundraiser, many local press articles have her challenging the City Council to maintain or increase their support for the bureau. However in the background she was successfully developing alternative sources of income that laid the foundation for today’s wide range of project based income. Sadly, Sue died of cancer shortly after retiring from the bureau. Her name lives on in the Sue Darling Memorial Hardship Fund, the hardship fund set up in her name that is still active to this day. Donations from clients and others who want to support the organisation are paid into this fund. It is used to support the hardest hit of our clients.

Cath Smith’s rescue from the Fleet House lift 1980s

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Kinder Scout Event 2012

Charley Gibbons and Simon Brake 2015 Board meeting 2014

Bureau away day 2010

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centre and city, that’s not been our story.

We probably have more in common with those areas of the city that faced uncertainty and poor surroundings.

Over seventy-five years we’ve occupied fourteen buildings as our main offices. Of these, half have been demolished. Three are now listed buildings. Following the blitz, we had a stable home in the Rotary Rooms at the Liberal Club in Union Street. By all accounts, these were cramped and difficult to get to, accessed by the rear stairs and at the top of the building.

By 1954 we were given short notice to move from the Rotary Rooms, The Rotary Club had asked us to find other premises after hosting us since just after the November 1940 blitz. The minutes say “members of our committee who were Rotarians didn’t seem to be aware…”

After a short period sharing with the Marriage Guidance council in 2 Lansdowne Terrace, Warwick Road, now under the Ring Road, our treasurer found us room at 97 Little Park Street. Dr Hedley Marshall was chair of The Umbrella

Whilst the post war story of Coventry has been told as the rising from the ashes of a new, modern city

Club, an Arts Club that had secured temporary use of 97 Little Park Street. The building was already scheduled for demolition to make way for Civic Centre buildings. You’ll recall that Dr Marshall was also our treasurer, it’s likely that he suggested that CAB share the building out of some desperation. By contemporary accounts the building was not a good place for a bureau. Reports suggested that there was no telephone and little in the way of heating. Despite having signs fixed to the front, we were never going to stay there long. We left in 1957, before The Umbrella Club left the premises. We moved to more temporary accommodation, this time a short walk away in St Mary St. On top of the unfinished foundations of the pre-war Herbert Art Gallery, wooden huts had been erected. We occupied one of these, but we don’t yet know which one! We stayed in this temporary home for eight years, again with little heating, and little space. By 1966 we were back in Priory Row, in number 8, next door to the first bureau location. On checking records we found an entry in the telephone directory that shows that at some point in 1967 we moved to 45 Warwick Road for a brief period, before returning to Priory Row.

Something had to change; poor premises must have contributed to the closure of the bureau in 1969. When we reopened it was in a newly redecorated

Where we’ve been

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45 Warwick road. We hadn’t escaped the world of temporary homes though. After three years we had to leave, so that the building could be demolished for the Ring Road.

We didn’t move far, only as far as Queen Victoria Road. Whilst the Drill Hall next door was demolished, this building still exists, we moved on for more positive reasons. Our rapid expansion meant that we had to move again! We spent six years in 7 Warwick Row. More precisely, to the rear of that building. It was described as “purpose built”. Larger than a garage, smaller than a scout hut, it was in the backyard of number 7 and was accessed via a gate at the front. The roof fell in on us while we were here. We moved again, we had to, we’d outgrown this one too.

We moved to the first floor of Fleet House, part of the Lower Precinct, fronting Corporation Street. We’ve never stayed anywhere longer. We stayed here for over 20 years. Access was by a lift that notoriously trapped our Manager, Cath Smith, who had to be rescued by the fire service. The spectre of demolition appeared again and we had to move by April 2000. The site is now a multi-storey car park in the redeveloped Lower Precinct. In looking for a new home it is rumoured that we nearly secured almost perfect premises, with space, level access and a good location. We, like many households,

had to settle for something else. We now had space, but we ended up on the fourth floor of one of Coventry’s least popular office blocks. Not only that, there wasn’t even room for our by now well established early morning queue.

We got it right by our most recent move. We planned it, looked at different choices and settled on Kirby House in Little Park Street. We moved there in 2009. Will we stay there? We have already added a floor in Royal Sun Alliance House next door, so we have shown that we are adept at using our resources creatively. As far as we know Kirby House is not due for demolition any time soon, and we’ve just invested Heritage Lottery Funding in it. It’s likely that changing circumstances and priorities will mean we move again. But when and where to? Time will tell.

Header The Liberal Club 1960sAbove The Hut, St Mary Street 1960s

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26 Warwick Row 1939-41

97 Little Park Street, “The Umbrella Club”1955-57

2 Lansdowne Terrace, Warwick Road1954-55

7 Priory Row1939-40

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33a Earl Street, The Barbican ChambersOctober-November 1940

The Rotary Rooms, The Liberal Club, Union Street 1940-54

The Hut, St Mary Street1957-66

8 Priory Row1966-69

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13 Queen Victoria Road1971-74

Fleet House, Corporation Street1997-2000

Coventry Point, Market Way2000-2009

45 Warwick Road1970-71

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7 Warwick Row1974-79

Kirby House, Little Park Street2009-

The buildings in colour still exist, whereas those in black and white have been demolished over the years.

Illustrations by Xingyi Deng

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A growingorganisation

of rapid growth during our history.

We survived on a shoestring all the way through the forties, fifties and sixties. Newspapers report increasingly desperate pleas for funding from local organisations, industry and the Council, this being despite the City Treasurer also being our treasurer! At the same time the national organisation struggled for funds, and therefore support for local bureaux was limited.

From the sixties we’ve had several periods of rapid growth in volunteers, funding and staffing. In the 1970s we obtained funding for providing a local Consumer Advice Centre that ran parallel to the main office. Our frequent office changes in the seventies were the result of outgrowing premises; before this we’d either been evicted or our premises were condemned as unfit!

The level of staffing, volunteering and project activity has grown with each successive Manager or Chief Executive as each has been able to “grow” the organisation from the legacy of their predecessor. Our more recent moves have been able to focus on making sure our premises are accessible to and meet the needs of the Coventry public, keeping

You can see from our funding and the number of staff and volunteers we have seen phases

pace with the increase in services we are providing.That our services are needed and popular has never been in doubt, our trademark queue testifies to that. What has changed is how we’ve been able to meet that demand.

We can divide our history into four phases:

The formative years 1940sAlong with the other bureaux that started at the outset of the Second World War, we did what we could to give people advice in hard times. In Coventry, the number of people who sought advice soared each time Coventry was bombed. There was also a steady increase in visitors during the war and into the post war period.

The stagnant years 1950s and 60sOur capacity was hampered by poor premises, a low level of staffing, and subsequently our capacity to use volunteers effectively. We were also affected by diminishing national resources and support. The 50s saw our number of clients fall. Despite a lot of press coverage and attempts in the late 50s to create a representative council comprising local organisations including industry and trade unions, our infrastructure suffered from lack of funding and the uncertainty of our venues. The crisis came to a head when we closed down in 1969.

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Era of organic growth 1970s to 2000We thrived from the time we reopened in 1970. We were able to expand the number of volunteers and staff, funding increased as we sought and gained other sources of income in addition to funding from the local authority. As mentioned elsewhere, our changes in venue during this phase were driven by growth. Sometimes changes in funding meant that staffing and volunteering levels rose and fell dramatically when projects started or finished. Some of the fluctuations in volunteering and staffing can be explained by people re-volunteering after finishing short term paid work, for instance posts funded by the Manpower Services Commission.

Strategy and planning 2000-presentSince the Millennium our funding and location have been more stable. Our Trustee Board has a much more strategic focus that supports the Chief Executive and the Senior Management team planning ahead to match staffing, accommodation and funding to longer term service provision. Header First days at Kirby House 2009

Above The ChYPP launch 2012

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(Clockwise) Staff at Fleet House in the 1980s, Fitting out the Sorted Kitchen 2012,The Big Difference Fund launch 2012

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0

50

1979-80 1990-1991 2000-2001 2012-2014

100

150

200

Staff

Volunteers

500000

1000000

1500000

2000000

2500000

0 1979-80 93-94 2004-2014

-500000

Expenditure

Surplus

Income

People 1979 - 2014

Funding 1979 - 2014

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Timeline


1940s 1950s

Mrs Bonhomme1954 - 69

We were set up to meet the public’s wartime need for information about evacuation, air raids and rationing.After the war we met demand for information about the new welfare state, including pensions, unemploymentand benefits.

We suffered due to national decline in support for Citizens Advice. We also had to cope with short term and unsuitable premises. In 1957 we gave evidence to a local inquiry on redundancy in the city. We also gave advice on the new Rent Act and debt arising from easier access to credit.

WHAT DID WE DO?

Coventry is major centre of war industry. Hit by two massive air raids in 1940 and ‘41, plans to rebuild the city start almost immediately.

Major rebuilding of the city centre after the Blitz.Massive industrial expansion of the city based on war time shadow factories.

IN THE CITY

Mrs Murphy1941 - 48

Mrs K Smith1948 - 54

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1960s 1970s

Audrey Hart1970 - 80

Problems with temporary and unsuitable premises continued to plague us. In 1969 our building was deemed not suitable and we had to close down. We started to deal with a rise in questions about consumer rights.

Once we restarted in 1970 we grew quickly, taking advantage of national funding for providing consumer advice. We outgrew our buildings quickly as the number of enquiries, staff and volunteers grew.

Coventry Boom Time: post-war rebuilding continues in the city centre and new estates.Coventry City FC enjoy successin the Sky Blue era.

High inflation and public spending cuts start to affect unfinished projects in the city.Start of the industrial decline that transforms the city.

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1980s 1990s

Our growing team of staff and volunteers had to cope with an increasing workload due to large scale unemployment and poverty in the city. Volunteers included retired and redundant workers and unemployed graduates.We also gave advice to the families of miners during The Miners’ Strike in 1984.

We faced difficulties finding the funding to support the demand for advice.In the middle of the decade we have to lose staff, butthis recovers by the endof the decade.

WHAT DID WE DO?

Coventry hits hard times: the Ghost Town era. Major industries such as machine tools close.Coventry City win the FA cup. Population of the city falls for the first time in the century.

Recovery of the city’s economy and growth ofthe two universities. Shift from manufacturingto business services.

IN THE CITY

Sandra Carrigan1981 - 84

Cath Smith1985 - 89

Sue Darling1989 - 2008

Annual reports across the decades

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2000s -2015

The decade saw a shift in how we find funding to support the different forms of advice and support we offer.We focused more on specific issues and are able to demonstrate the differencewe make to our funders.

The emphasis shifts firmly to providing a service that meets the changing needs of people in the city. New offices mean better waiting areas and interview rooms. We continue to expand our work to families and young people, people in debt and people suffering serious illnesses.

Most of the remaining car industry moves out of the city.Big plans for redeveloping the city centre are scaled back after the 2008 money market crash.Coventry City moves from Highfield Road to Ricoh Arena.

The city develops a reputation for innovation and technology; the car industry is still a major source of employment andlocal pride.

Charley Gibbons2008 - 15Caroline Leighton2015 -

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Looking tothe future

also a good way to describe our progress in the city.

Losing everything in the November 1940 blitz and closing down in 1969 could both have seen the end of us. Each time the people and institutions of the city, helped by our national organisation, rallied round to keep us a service controlled by local people.

We’ve adapted to help and support the people of Coventry during difficult times: wartime air raids, post-war housing problems, the industrial decline of the city in the 70s and 80s, the impact of the banking crisis of a few years ago. We’ve worked hard to keep local and national government agencies working for the benefit of the people they are there to serve.

The key has, of course, been the team of volunteers, staff and trustees reflecting the diversity of the city. That is the open secret of the success of Citizens Advice.

This has been a history of citizens advice in Coventry, so we’re a little hesitant to start predicting the future, but what signs are there in the past that

TThe Story of the Phoenix rising from the ashes is often used to illustrate the Coventry Story. It’s

suggest where me may be heading?

One thing that’s been a constant has been our queue. Changing venues, technology, levels of staffing or policy never seem to make a difference. It’s a measure of how important the issues are to the people that come to see us. It’s also a reflection of the trust people invest in the organisation and the ethos that lies behind it.

Whilst many things have, figures from the past would probably recognise the four key values of our service: free, impartial, independent and confidential. Whilst these are core values, it’s probable that we will develop new services that we can charge for to maintain income. When it comes this trend will be hotly debated at a national and local level.

Sadly, demand for advice is not likely to drop. The government naïvely thought that the need for advice would fade after the end of the Second World War and the introduction of the welfare state. The opposite happened. People needed advice and information about changes and new ways of doing things. They also needed support to challenge badly drawn up policy and poor decision making by new institutions. Each change in legislation brings new changes and new challenges. Every time changes are made to the law or benefits,

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there are people affected in different ways. Part of our role is to identify the impact on people and explain the changes to them.

A recent shift has seen a shift in the “safety net” of the post war welfare state. Recent governments have talked of dismantling or rolling back the welfare state. This has an impact on those who find themselves facing difficult times; they no longer have the options and choices that existed before.

More positively, we are starting to provide services that are aimed at preventing people getting into difficulties in the first place. Our Sorted project aims to help new social housing tenants sustain their tenancies, helping them become more confident managing a household budget and looking to find ways, for instance, to eat better for less.

We are also better placed to be able to record and promote the difference we make. It’s no longer enough to rely on numbers through the door to justify our existence and funding. We have the tools, locally and nationally, to measure, for example, how much money our advice saves people, and also what the social return is for the funders of our projects.

Cutting the ribbon for the Big Difference Scheme 2014

Header Our queue in 2015Above Winning awards at the AnnualConference 2014

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Kirby Housethrough the years

We’re privileged to have occupied Kirby House since 2009, a wonderful listed building in the city centre.

The building itself has a chequered history.

It was saved in the 1980s following a campaign led by The Coventry Society. The façade was saved, whilst the rest was rebuilt reusing parts of the old building. You can see how poor a state it was in from the colour photo from 1970.

We think there may have been an earlier mediaeval building here before Kirby House was built in the early 18th century. The carvings of dragons in one of the offices certainly look mediaeval!

The house escaped the blitz, but the 1942 photo shows it wasn’t ageing well. It was doing better than its mediaeval neighbours in Cow Lane however. They were demolished in 1937.

The house was listed as a historic building in 1952 and twice threatened with demolition as part of the plan to develop Little Park Street as Coventry’s Civic Centre. Heritage Lottery Funding in 2015 supported essential repairs and improvements, so visitors to Citizens Advice Coventry can now see it at its best.

A small group of staff and volunteers planned and carried out improvements to the courtyard of Kirby House. The simple addition of flowers and benches has made the courtyard more welcoming to visitors

and complemented and set off the repairs and restoration of Kirby House.

At first glance, Kirby House appears to be an early Georgian town house. Impressively decorated, it bears the hallmarks of a gentleman’s residence. Little Park Street had been an important mediaeval residential street in Coventry, and even up to the blitz large mediaeval homes survived in the street. There are two similar Georgian buildings in Coventry. 7 Little Park Street (part of the Castle Pub) and 11 Priory Row (near the Cathedral, now the Provost’s House) share similar designs and features. All three are listed as rare examples in Coventry. It’s no surprise that wealthy and influential people reused existing sites on a prestige residential street. What is slightly odd is that Kirby House is set back from the road, whilst 7 Little Park Street is not. There had been other mediaeval houses in Little Park Street that had courtyards, Bridgeman’s House further down was one. A further clue comes in the findings of

Our Georgian staircase taken in 1856

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a report on Kirby House produced by the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings for the defence of the building at the 1970 inquiry into its possible demolition. Professor Lyndon Cave from Leamington Spa produced an architectural study of the building that incorporated the case against demolition and suggestions for reuse of the building. He said that the building was an exceptional example of carpentry techniques spanning several centuries. He also pointed out that the floors and roofs suggested that the Georgians had enlarged an existing Jacobean house from the 17th century. He suggested they had extended at the rear and the side, added an extra floor and had built a new façade. He said that the small staircase was Jacobean (this is now modern) and that the large staircase was Georgian. Further clues are that the rooms are smaller on the lower right hand side of the building, and the door height into one of the rooms is lower than the rest.

Built for residential use, by 1870 the house was occupied as offices by Thomas Kirby, a local solicitor, where we get the name Kirby House from. There are lurid reports of a murder in the house in the late 19th Century (and subsequent reports of a ghost). By the outbreak of the Second World War the house was starting to lose its looks

Kirby House in 1937

Kirby House in 1942

Rear of Kirby House in 1937

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At this point the Council looked for commercial developers to convert it to office use. By the time developers were found in the early 1980s the building had deteriorated so much that the only option was to keep the façade and rebuild behind. The floor plan and rear elevation were copied as far as possible, and internal fittings such as door frames, panelling and the magnificent staircase were reused. On completion the building was occupied by Varley Hibbs solicitors.

There is one further mystery. In one of the rooms there are carvings of dragons and mythical beasts. These are clearly reused from somewhere else, and are probably mediaeval. But where did they come from, and how did they find their way here?

Rear of Kirby House seen from the Post Office sorting office in the 1960s

and attraction. In photographs recording the soon to be demolished Cow Lane in 1937, Kirby House has a sign outside proclaiming offices to rent. By 1942, although not badly damaged in the war, the building was starting to look uncared for. Still offices to let on the second floor, but broken and taped up windows and a chalk written sign on the front door: “stirrup pump inside” suggested that the front door was unlocked.

The building was listed in 1955 as an excellent example of a rare building type in Coventry. The City Council had other plans however. They bought the building with the intention of demolishing it to form part of the new civic centre zone of the post war city centre. They were denied permission to demolish it in the 1950s, and again in the 1970s as we saw earlier. Lyndon Cave suggested that the building become a civic residence for the Lord Mayor, going as far as to give rooms names such as the Mayor’s Parlour and the Lady Mayoress’s Parlour (now the office of our Chief Executive).

Under threat of demolition 1969

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Restoring windows in 2015

The Georgian staircase in 2015

Beware falling masonry! 2009

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How we wroteour story

We had some resources already; a group of staff put together a compact history of our first seventy years that featured in the 2010 annual report.

We have a small archive of historical documents: our pride and joy is a minute book that covers from 1941 to 1959. The early minutes are handwritten by our then secretaries, and later typed and glued in. We also have a collection of annual reports from 1970 to the present day with a few gaps. These tell us a lot about the number of enquiries, issues faced, how we gave advice and who was part of the organisation: staff, volunteers, board members. They also give us an insight into the financial and premises problems faced by the bureau. We have day books recording the issues that people asked us to help with from 1940 to the 1960s.

We have gaps in basic information from 1959 to 1970. Some of this we have filled by finding press coverage of our annual reports and Annual General Meetings. We were helped in this by finding that Coventry History Centre has extensive microfilm copies of local newspapers. Someone had also indexed many of the mentions of CAB, although with a gap from 1942-51!

We thought we’d make some notes about how we carried our research and wrote our history.

We’ve copied many of the press cuttings so we have our own record of these now.

Many of the annual reports give details of staff and volunteers, so we have tracked down staff, volunteers and board members from the past and talked to them. Some former staff and volunteers donated or lent us documents and memorabilia from the past.

We tried to find members of the public with stories to tell, but this has proved more of a problem. We also found photographs of some of our former homes in Coventry History Centre. Some buildings were difficult to track down. We are taking photographs of those that are still standing. We found out about photographs and slides in the City Architects office, these included amazing colour slides of changing Coventry in the 60s, including poignant slides of Kirby House in a state of dereliction.

We found information in other archives too. Birmingham Archives has a set of fascinating letters relating to the fate of Coventry CAB in the 1940 and ‘41 bombings of Coventry. We were able to prove that we occupied 33a Earl Street, not Old Palace Yard, in 1940, and that the story about advice being given from the Council House steps dates from April 1941, not November 1940 as we

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previously thought.

Other archives we visited include the Modern Record Centre at Warwick University where we found a copy of Citizens Advice Notes from 1940 and letters about the Bureau from the 1950s.

Mark Cook, Our History Co-ordinatorStaff researching in Coventry History Centre 2014

Following the research period, we started writing and putting together our leaflet and our display. Meanwhile we had the idea to commission a drama production for our celebration event. This gave us the tricky task of completing our book to tie in with the event!

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Acknowledgements

Many staff and volunteers gave up lunchtimes and other times to research, plan, make choices and discuss findings.

Special thanks to the following:Kuldip Galsinh, Beverley Foster, Grant Seastram, Bev Street, Hannah Lambert, Sophie Parkes, Natalie French, Amy Rugg, John Veveris, Sue Adams, Karen Clark, Sue Bullock, Joanne Adams, Caroline Ward, and many more too numerous to mention!

Thanks to the Money Advice Service, ChYPP and Sorted for hosting the project during the year.

To two Chief Executive Officers: Charley Gibbons who established the project, and Caroline Leighton who supported and encouraged it.

Board members including Simon Brake, Kirstie Kelly, Jenny Blakemore, Terry Bond.

A special mention to Jean Rawlings who, as a volunteer, masterminded and carried out the improvements to the courtyard of Kirby House.

Former staff and volunteers who told us their story,

We’d like to thank everyone who has joined in, helped or supported our history project.

were interviewed, lent us photos and memorabilia: Cath Smith, Vera Usherwood, Billie Noble, Val Horton, Alison Inman.

Colleagues from other Citizens Advice services for leads and encouragement including North Liverpool, Birmingham, Wolverhampton.

Organisations who have supported the projectCoventry University Graphic Design BA Hons

To Lisa Webb who helped us work with students to design our book, leaflet and display. To the “winning team” that came up with the best design, Jamie Macaffer, Ko Zin, Ahmad Ali, Xingyi Deng, and especially to Danielle O’Connell who worked all summer to make it happen.

Theatre Absolute: Julia Negus and Chris O’Connell for writing and producing “People”.

Coventry History Centre for the research and for permission to use images on pages 11, 15, 58 and 59.

Chris Patrick from Coventry City Council for permission to use the colour slides of forgotten Coventry from the 1960s on pages 42, 43 and 60.

The Birmingham Archive for access to the

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astonishing files on Coventry CAB during the Second World War.

The Modern Records Centre at Warwick University for access to documents about Coventry CAB during the war and from the 1950s.

City Libraries to John Lloyd who suggested our library tour and all the Community Library Managers who made it happen.

Leachprint for the quality of their printing and their reputation for spot on delivery.

Mark thanksMy uncle, David Singleton, for inspiration.

Individuals who offered advice and support including Marie Rowe and Pete Walters and others

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IndexAfghanistan 27

A

Baginton Airport 38Balkans, the 27Band Hatton Button Solicitors 14Barbican Chambers, Earl Street 14, 16, 18, 22, 62Barragan, Mrs Kaye (nee Smith) 10, 38BBC 22, 28Berrill, Mr TH 12, 19Big Difference Scheme (formerly Fund) 12, 57Birmingham Citizens Society 28Bonhomme, Mrs Vera 12, 20, 24, 27, 38-40Bridgeman’s House 58

B

CCarrigan, Sandra 12Cave, Lyndon 59Chartered Institute of Public Finance Accountants (CIPFA) 38Chase, The, Willenhall 26Cheylesmore 32Children and Young Persons’ Project (ChYPP) 12, 32Citizens Advice logo 21Citizens Advice Notes, (CANs) 20, 24, 63Clements, Richard 14-19, 22, 28, 32Community Programme 32Constitutional Club, The, Priory Row 14, 16Consumer Advice Centre 12, 28, 30, 48Coventry Blitz (April 1941) 14Coventry Blitz (November 1940) 10, 14, 22Coventry City Aid Society 10, 14, 18Coventry City Council 48, 60Coventry Council House 10, 16, 62Coventry Council of Social Services (CCSS) 10, 14, 18Coventry Labour Party 16, 28, 30Coventry Law Centre 27Coventry Point 40, 46Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre 26-27Coventry Society, The 58Coventry Standard 24Coventry Telegraph 24, 39Coventry University 34, 36Cow Lane 58, 60

D

E

Daimler factory 32Darling, Sue 12, 20, 40

Earl Street 14

Field, Miss 34First World War 26Fleet House, Corporation Street 12, 40, 43, 46Foleshill 12, 32Fraser, Eric 21Friswell, Alderman TE 10, 18, 38

F

Gas, Light and Coke Company, The 21Gosford Green 38

G

HHart, Mrs Audrey 12, 20Haynes, George 16Herbert Art Gallery 42Heritage Lottery Fund 7, 43, 58Hillfields 12, 32Home Office, The 27Horton, Val 12Howard, Provost 18, 38Hungarian Uprising 27

IIndian Workers Association 26Institute of Local Government, Birmingham University (Inglov) 38

JJennings, Humphrey 14

KKirby House 12, 32, 34, 43, 47, 58-61Kirby, Thomas 59

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SSecond World War 10, 14, 18, 20, 26, 48, 56, 59Shelton Square 30Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) 32Smith, Cath 12, 20, 32, 40, 43Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) 59Sorted 12, 57St Mary Street 42, 45St Michael’s House 38Stoke Aldemoor 12, 32Stone, Dr Tom 12Sue Darling Memorial Hardship Fund 40Syria 27

TTherm, Mr 21Tile Hill 26Trading Standards, Coventry 30

Uganda 27Ukraine, The 26Umbrella Club, The 12, 42

V

WWarwick Road 42, 44, 46Warwick Row 42, 44, 47Warwick University 36West Africa 26Whitley Hospital 38Willenhall 12, 26, 32Women’s Voluntary Service 34Wood End 32

MManpower Services Commission 12, 49Marriage Guidance Council 40, 42Marshall, Dr AH (Hedley) 10, 19, 38, 42Memorial Park, The, Coventry 38Midlands Daily Telegraph 16Miners Strike 1984 30Ministry of Information 16, 18Modern Records Centre, WarwickUniversity 10, 22, 63Murphy, Miss 10

LLanchester Polytechnic 20, 34Lansdowne Terrace, Warwick Road 40, 42, 44Larkin, Phillip 18Larkin, Sydney 18, 19, 38Lewis, Martin 25Little Park Street 58Little Park Street, 97 42, 44Liverpool Personal Service Society 20

U

Varley Hibbs Solicitors 60

NNational Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux (NACAB) 12, 20National Council of Social Services (NCSS) 10, 12, 16, 18, 20, 24, 28National Health Service 6

OOld Palace Yard, Earl Street 14, 62

PPeake, Alf 20Pension Wise 12Poland 26Priory Row 38, 42, 58Priory Row, 7 44Priory Row, 8 45

QQueen Victoria Road 43, 46

RRadford 32Radio Times 21Rent Act 1957 22, 30Ring Road, The, Coventry 42Rotary Rooms, Liberal Club, Union Street 10, 14, 42, 45Royal Sun Alliance House 43

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Our story starts with an extraordinary tale from the Coventry Blitz that has been under the radar for 75 years.

After two decades struggling to give advice on a shoe string, and in unsuitable buildings, despite Coventry post-war boom, we were forced to close in 1969.

The dramatic closure and rebirth of Citizens Advice in Coventry is the story of the response of the people of Coventry to the lack of fairness and justice in everyday life.

It is the story of an organisation that eventually earned its position as one of the most used and valued organisations in the City in the 21st century.

Celebrating 75 Years of

Documents

75 years of Citizens Advice in Coventry