Ellen Dickie - 'Forthgiving' 18.00 for 18.30 meal @ Westlands

FORTHGIVING

It came as something of a surprise when Ellen Dickie, Chair of the charity forthgiving, introduced her talk by taking Club members back to 1809, the year of the foundation of the charity that was ultimately to become forthgiving. Glasgow, she said, was then a thriving City, but a group of merchants and tradesmen recognised the appalling poverty of those living in the slums. They decided to found a charitable society to give support to those in greatest need. It ultimately became the Incorporated Glasgow and Stirlingshire and Sons of the Rock Society.  Not, as Ellen put it, a name that trips off the tongue.

In the mid and later 1800s, Scotland operated the Old Poor Law run by the kirk sessions in rural areas and the magistrates in the burghs. It divided those in need into two categories: the deserving poor and the undeserving poor.  The predominant concept was that it was the individual’s responsibility to keep out of poverty.  Failure to do so was seen as a defect in character. 

‘You could be forgiven’, Ellen suggested, ‘for seeing the modern welfare system as being a world away from those 19th century attitudes; but the system we currently have is full of holes, as demonstrated by the need for food banks.’ Coronavirus in particular has highlighted the inadequacy of Universal Credit and its underlying failure to address need.  Ellen illustrated this: 65% have missed meals to cut down on food costs; 80% of those claiming this benefit do not have enough money to cover rent, food and bills; 24 per cent of children in Stirling are living in poverty. While the workhouse and the Poor Law have been superseded, the concept of the deserving poor and undeserving poor has unfortunately not died out with them.  The stigma of poverty still exists: people who receive benefits are often seen as scroungers and a drain on society.

In 2004, the Society reviewed its philanthropic aims and operation.  In effect, it reconstituted itself as a grant-making charity supporting individuals in Stirling and Falkirk, subsequently adding Clackmannanshire.  In the light of its experience in the intervening years, in 2016 the Society raised its profile with a more interactive website, and in 2019 it was agreed that the trading name should be changed to “forthgiving”, with the strapline “Giving directly to local people in crisis”.  Ellen gave examples of the support forthgiving makes to individuals and to bodies such as Start-up Stirling.  Often, she said, it is the ability to provide a relatively small grant, for example for short-term childcare, that can allow individuals to undertake an appropriate course of re-training.  Membership of forthgiving costs only £25 per year; the help forthgiving can offer, Ellen emphasised, can make a significant difference to a person’s life.  The forthgiving website is: www.forthgiving.org.uk.

Peter Holmes thanked Ellen for an illuminating and moving account of the imbalances in society, and of the vital need to provide support to those in crisis