History
Late 1800’s:
Sister Carroll Hogbin (a member of the Deaconess’ Institute) and Arthur Issac Groves (a Leicester born businessman), realised many people were confined to their homes due to their disability and decided to do something about it.
March 1898:
Sister Carroll and Arthur held a social evening at the Bishop Street Methodist Church and invited as many disabled people as they could. On the day, around 200 people turned up. It was such a success they decided to make it a regular event. It resulted in an organisation being formed, under the leadership of Arthur Isaac Groves, named it ’The Leicester Guild of the Crippled‘.
1903:
Sister Carroll Hogbin died on 12 July of this year. She was 31.
1906:
The Bishop Street Methodist Church was becoming to small to house the ever-growing number of members so the organisation decided to build their own building. The Vice-President, Albert Sawday, was also an architect and surveyor and estimated they could build “a handsome hall with a kitchen and all necessary rooms for around £4000”.
19 June 1909:
This date marked the official opening of the Guild Hall. It was the work of a Leicester firm of architects Albert Sawday and partner T. T. Sawday and builders A. and W. Chambers. It was an accessible building and all on one level (only the balcony was on the 1st floor) this building was “very progressive and forward thinking at the time”.
Activities and concerts took place at the Guild Hall on a regular basis. The activities included sewing, artificial flower making, cane weaving and rug making.
1925:
Back in 1923, the Guild bought a plot of land at Cropston to look to build a holiday home. It took two years to build and was ready to be opened on Friday 3 July 1925.
1928:
Arthur Isaac Groves died on 8 January. Six weeks later, his wife, Mary Ann Groves, took over as President of the Guild. Only two days into the position Mary died on 19 February.