I AM currently carrying out research into the treatment of pauper children in the Fylde, Garstang, Chorley and Preston areas with particular emphasis on those who lived in the local workhouses.

My supervisor, Dr Steven King, reader in history at Oxford Brookes University, is contributing a chapter on children's homes to a book on the welfare system which is currently being planned and has asked me to assist.

Children's homes were the institutions in which the workhouse authorities, the Board of Guardians, housed their younger charges and, although the Guardians and their workhouses were abolished in 1930, children's homes under the supervision of local authorities, survived into the 1950s.

There are many people still alive who experienced cottage homes at first hand and I should be grateful if I could ask any of your readers who lived in such accommodation at any period, even if only briefly, to get in touch with me and tell me of their experiences. Confidentiality will, of course, be guaranteed if required and no identifying names will be used in the eventual text unless specifically authorised.

May I ask that any contributions be sent either to Dr Steven King at the Department of Humanities, Oxford Brookes University, Headington, Oxford OX3 0BP or to myself at the address below.

Martin Ramsbottom,

16 Crown Mews,

Kirkham

PR4 2HW

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