St Margaret's Home For Girls, Nidd

Although many of the Society's children's homes were transferred to us from other bodies, the majority were actually founded by the Society. St Margaret's Home for Girls in the West Riding village of Nidd, was one such home. Local architect, Mr FH Hargrave, designed the Home, and the building and furnishing of the Home was paid for by the Society's local benefactor, Viscount Mountgarret. St Margaret's was founded with the intention of housing girls from nearby Bradford. As the wealth of that industrial city had grown, so had the gap between its richest and poorest citizens.

The Home was dedicated to St Margaret by the Bishop of Ripon on 24 September 1908. It was a rather soggy start for St Margaret's, and the ceremony was described in the Society's magazine Our Waifs and Strays as being held in 'atmospheric conditions, unfortunately not of the brightest'. Lieutenant-Colonel Beresford-Peirse acted as the Home's Honorary Secretary when it opened, and he was later replaced by the Revd J Fowler.

Summer holidays were always a favourite in all the homes and St Margaret's was no exception. As well as various entertainments and teas, organised by the Mountgarrets, the 28 girls (all aged 5-15) also benefited from having tea at the 'Rose and Crown' in Wormald Green. The girls commemorated the end of the First World War with 'tea and games' when they joined in with Nidd's Peace Celebration of 1918.

In 1938 the girls of the Whitehaven Home For Girls were moved to Nidd after that home closed and St Margaret's had enjoyed a recent modernisation. The needs of society changed in later years, and the Home became mixed in 1946, changing its name simply to St Margaret's Home. It closed 10 years later in 1956.