FERN STREET SETTLEMENT founded in 1907, owes its existence to a remarkable woman, Clara Ellen Grant OBE, who dedicated her life to bettering the conditions of children and families in the East End of London.
rerrer Contact Fern Street
Born in Frome, Somerset, Clara arrived in Wapping as a young teacher in 1894, taking on the role of headteacher of Devons Road Infant School in 1900 (now Clara Grant Primary School). Compelled by her Christian faith to address the poverty and deprivation blighting the lives of her young pupils she founded Fern Street Settlement in 1907 to serve as a hub to improve the health, education and living conditions of families in Bromley-on-Bow. These included regular medical, dental and maternity clinics, a nursery school, ‘thrift club’, distribution of clothes, shoes and baby equipment and perhaps most famously, the weekly Farthing Bundle ceremony.
Clara Grant
It was the weekly distribution of these small packages of toys that earned Clara Grant the nickname
The Bundle Woman of Bow.
These bundles proved so popular that in 1913 Clara was forced to adopt a
height restriction – only those children who could walk under her small wooden arch inscribed
“Enter all ye children small – none can come that are too tall ”
were able to receive, although we doubt she stuck to the rules.
See short video below on The Bundle Woman of Bow.
The much-loved Farthing Bundle ceremony continued long beyond Clara’s death in 1949 and was still going as late as 1984.
However, as slum clearance moved young families out of London, a crisis of poverty and isolation among the ageing East
Enders left behind shifted the focus of the work of the Settlement.
The nature of the East End is always to change and evolve with the shifting demographics of its community. So, after a
period of attending to the needs of the elderly, the work of Fern Street Settlement returned to being more family focused.
Undoubtedly, the object of The Settlement and Means of Achievement still stay core to the work that is done today.
In 2014 Fern Street Settlement relaunched its work with children and families in partnership with All Hallows Bow Church and in 2019 the joint project took the name of The Fern Street Family Centre.
OBJECT OF THE SETTLEMENT
The object of the charity shall be to provide for the material and moral needs of persons resident in Fern Street and the neighbourhood thereof who are in condition of need, hardship or distress.
MEANS OF ACHIEVEMENT
To create opportunities within our local community for families to thrive, children to flourish and for our community to connect. Through these activities, the Settlement comes into contact with all aspects of the community and is able to establish who are in need and thereby offer assistance.
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