150th Anniversary Celebrations

The Retreat celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1946 in a variety of high profile events and publications. The main celebration was held at the Retreat on 11 May 1946, with a programme of tree planting, and celebratory speeches which were later reproduced in a souvenir brochure. Descendants of the Tuke founders were present and American Friends were represented. In addition there was a special commemorative meeting at Friends House, Euston Road, London on 21 May 1946. There was also a BBC broadcast service from the Friends Meeting House in York, on Sunday 12 May, and a broadcast BBC play, ‘The Walls are Down’, on the topic of mental illness on 5 July 1946. A special commemorative book, Light through the Cloud, by L.A.G. Strong was commissioned and issued by the Retreat, and there were two special articles to commemorate the 150th anniversary written by Marjorie Garrod and Gwendoline Knight, and by E.E. Taylor published in The Friends Quarterly Examiner. A major illustrated article also appeared in Picture Post entitled ‘Life in a Mental Hospital’, describing the experiences of a journalist and a photographer from the magazine who visited the Retreat during 1946. As well as the meetings and publications, the Retreat also issued a special Appeal for funds.

1945-1949

12 files, 1 booklet, 2 documents

Open and available at the Borthwick Institute for Archives. This material has been digitised by the Borthwick Institute for Archives as part of a Wellcome Trust funded project, and can be freely accessed online through the Wellcome Library catalogue.