The Francis Willmer McAualay Memorial Cottages have been part of the community of Aylesby in North East Lincolnshire since the 1920s. Yet many people in the communities nearby are probably unaware of the cottages, their history, their purpose or about the local Captain after whom they are named.
So, in 2019 a grant was obtained to help do more research into the history of the cottages and to prepare this website and other materials. In this way the history of these fascinating buildings and the people behind them can be shared with a wider audience.
A charity has overall responsibility for the cottages and another local social enterprise acts as the managing agent for the buildings and the tenants. In 2019 the Directors of the social enterprise – Capacity Buildings Ltd – and the trustees of the charity worked together to ensure a grant could be found to do this research.
The grant funding comes from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and is made possible by money raised by National Lottery players. The Trustees and Directors are grateful to the National Lottery for their support.
Our primary project is “Community Housing Association Memorials” and runs from mid 2019 to mid 2020. The materials the project prepares will be our legacy. Staff at Capacity Buildings Ltd (in Grimsby) are being supported by Voluntary Action North East Lincolnshire (VANEL) who are providing further expertise. There are also many volunteers helping with the project to make it all possible.
The project has a wider scope than just looking at the Memorial Cottages in Aylesby. We’re interested in a wider understanding of Almshouses in our area too.
The project will also enable local residents, including nearby primary school pupils to discover the origins and explore the history of local almshouses, some of which, like the ones in Alyseby, were built to commemorate local heroes who fell in the First World War.
Capacity Buildings Ltd works with local communities to help them to learn and develop ideas through community research and various communication skills, and they will include both young and older participants to get involved with this project. Working with heritage volunteers, project participants will gain a deeper insight into this previously under-researched part of their history, as well as teaching them valuable new skills to use in order to tell the story about local alms houses.
We hope you find this website of interest.
If you have information that you think would be helpful to our research, please get in touch.
“We are extremely please to have received this award thanks to National Lottery players, and we are confident that the project will support both young and older residents to be active citizens through learning about their local heritage”
The Directors and Trustees commenting on the award
Further information:
The Lottery Good Causes website
The National Lottery Heritage Fund
Capacity Buildings Ltd website
VANEL website
Francis Willmer McAulay Memorial Cottages is the charity that owns the cottages. Contact Capacity Buildings if you want to make contact.
The Almshouse Association (we are members)
Further thanks to
Our volunteers:
Doreen Tyson
Tony North
Richard Wendel-Jones
The team:
Karl Elliott, Project Manager
Andy Mason, website and technology
Paula Grant, Contract Manager
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Get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss the project or have useful ideas or information.
Go back to the homepage to start exploring our information.