You may know that Mildmay’s origins stretch back to the mid-1860s and the work carried out by the Reverend William Pennefather - the vicar of St Judes, and his wife Catherine.
St Judes, which was located in Mildmay Park, Islington, was a lively Victorian church of over 1,000 people. William developed a number of projects known collectively as Mildmay Institutions, providing spiritual guidance and care for the sick.
Our Registered and Compliance Manager, Teri, WhatsApped this message yesterday: "What a morning!! Remember I told you my crazy story about St Jude's Church and my inspiration for the homeless project? I have always been fascinated by St Jude's Church, as this is where William Pennefather was based as a vicar when he founded Mildmay Mission. Learning about this history was what inspired my idea for the homeless project. I finally decided to go to a service at St Jude's this morning. There was a lay service taking place at St Jude's Church, and I received a very warm welcome. When I informed the warden that I work at Mildmay, he became very excited as he knew all about the history of our hospital and William Pennefather. Coincidentally, the church was saying special prayers for Mildmay during the service, as they had just received our prayer diary. Then the warden asked if I would like to speak to the congregation! I was a bit stunned as I had only come to visit, I certainly hadn't prepared a presentation or anything like that. Anyway, I agreed to do a speech and ended up telling the congregation all about the rollercoaster we as a hospital had been through, and how we had been inspired to return the hospital to its roots. The presentation went down extremely well with the congregation and afterwards so many people came up to me saying they were so inspired and would love to support Mildmay. The church coincidentally also does work with homeless people and wants to build on links with us. It's so exciting!!"
It's only right that Mildmay reconnects with the place of its origin, and the possibility for new collaborations (and for gaining new supporters of our charity) is an amazing opportunity.