St Hugh's Home For Boys, Lincoln

The Bishop of Lincoln in the company of the local dignatories officially opened St Hugh's Home for Boys on a rather wet 12 September 1896. The local community had already generously supported the Home and the 12 boys resident, for four years. After some alterations to the building, called Newport House, St Hugh's was able to house 40 boys aged 7-14.

The local Committee's Chairman, the Revd Canon Blenkin, appealed for local donations to help furnish the Home and was answered by neighbouring families who provided the beds - with each bed carrying the crest of that family. The Master and Matron, Mr and Mrs Perkins, Mrs Vaughan the Honorary Secretary, and the Revd Alfred Hunt, who was the Diocesan Treasurer, gratefully received these gifts. The Revd Hunt regularly helped the Home with his Lantern Lectures, these were always a local favourite and a good fundraiser.

As the Home was quite financially successful, in 1899 they built a covered playground and other improvements, which consisted of a playroom and toilet that cost all together around £500. In 1900, an Under-Matron joined to be trained with the Matron and Master to hopefully, one day, run her own home. In 1901, it was proposed that a Girls' Home could be built to generate extra funds to pay off the Lincoln Home's mortgage, but the Society thought it wise to pay off the mortgage independently rather than generate any more expenditure.

Another fundraising event was the annual 'Lincoln Imps' display. They were a gymnastic squad of 13 of the Home's boys who performed musical dumb-bell drills! The boys thoroughly enjoyed performing these displays but only after they had completed their homework from the local school!

Sometime after 1903, the Master and Matron changed to Mr and Mrs Keeley. The Home also turned into a hostel around the 1950s-1960s and closed around 1972.