Invalid Children's Aid Association, Manchester, Salford and District

The material comprises annual reports only.

The declared objectives of the Invalid Children's Aid Association was to seek out delicate and crippled children up to the age of leaving school, and to bring them in touch with agencies which prevent and cure diseases . The Association provided helpers to assist families to supervise medical treatment required by doctors, it also undertook to send children to medical institutions when necessary. The Association supplied food and wheelchairs to patients. Appropriate cases were notified to the Association by doctors and hospitals, school medical officers and other welfare agencies. The Association stressed its commitment to close supervision of each patient and assisted in getting places in convalescent homes for children when necessary.

The Association had its origins in work undertaken by the Manchester University Settlement for disabled children. The Settlement set up a Santa Fina Branch whose aims were:

1. The supervision and assistance of the cripples in its district. 2. The provision of recreation for them. 3. Cooperation with other societies for the supplementing of existing work. 4. The collection of information as to the causes of physical disablement in the district.

In 1903 the Cripple's Aid Federation (Manchester and Salford) was formed to which Santa Fina affiliated. The federation developed into the ICCA in 1906, and was based at the University Settlement's headquarters in Ancoats. In 1918 the ICCA became a completely independent organization, and moved its headquarters to Manchester city centre. One of its original tasks was running the Lancastrian Day School for Crippled Children, which was taken over by Manchester Education Committee in 1913. Over the years the Association's area of activity extended beyond Manchester and Salford into Lancashire. In later years the Association increasingly acted as an agent for local authorities in finding places for children in convalescent and recovery homes, and in foster-care, and children were visited by Association members for the duration of their treatment. With the expansion of state welfare from the late 1940s the activities of the Association became more focused, although it continued to provide various forms of material assistance. It also ran the Taxal Edge Convalescent home for Boys in Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire. In the 1950s, the ICAA affiliated with the London Invalid Children's Aid Association, which had been founded in 1888. In 1968 the Boy's and Girl's Welfare Association became trustee for the Association, and took over the management of the charity. Although the ICAA continued to be a separate charity, it presented a joint annual report with the Society from 1972-3.

The records of the Invalid Children's Aid Association (London) are at London Metropolitan Archives, and include a file of correspondence on the Boys and Girls Welfare Association incorporating Manchester, Salford and District ICAA (1954-1984). Reference: LMA/4248/A/03/005.