The Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green

History

The Parmiter’s Foundation arose from a charitable gift in the 1681 Will of Thomas Parmiter, a silk merchant who lived in Bethnal Green. The Will made provision for “six almshouses in some convenient place upon the waste of Bethnal Green and further, for the building thereof one free school house or room wherein ten poor children of the Hamlet of Bethnal Green may be taught to read and write”.

From these small beginnings and with the help of other legacies and gifts over the centuries, the Parmiter’s Foundation has continued its charitable work through the separate School and Almshouse charities in accordance with Thomas Parmiter’s Will.

The first Parmiter’s School and Almshouses were opened off Brick Lane in 1722. The School moved to larger premises in Parmiter Street in 1839 and then to Approach Road in 1887. In 1977 Parmiter’s School moved from Bethnal Green to Garston in Hertfordshire. The building was then subsequently used by Raines School.

Parmiter’s Almshouses also moved to Parmiter Street in 1839, where they remained in use until they were destroyed by enemy action during the Second World War.

Parmiter’s Almshouse and Pension Charity was reconstituted in 1913 and provides support for approximately 150 Bethnal Green pensioners in the form of a supplementary pension, events and hampers.

Since the Second World War, the Trustees pursued a site for new Almshouses within the area of the former Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green all to no avail. In recognition that a number of Bethnal Green residents wanted to move to the Essex area the Trustees developed 6 two bedroomed bungalows in Clacton, Essex, which opened in 2010 for Bethnal Green residents only.

Charity Activities

To qualify to be a Pensioner applicants must be state pensioners and have resided in the area of the former Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green for at least two years.

The Trustees do not hold a waiting list for Pensioners, so applications must be made at the time when vacancies are advertised.

Appointments are made periodically and are advertised via our current pensioners – who are each sent a copy of the application form to give to those they know who might wish to apply – leaders of groups who run sessions in community centres within the area and adverts are placed on this and Tower Hamlets’ social media sites. The location where we must place one of our recruitment posters is St Matthew’s Church, Bethnal Green.

Pensioners receive a pension of £75 twice per year, which are paid in June and December.

The Trustees organise 5 events for our Bethnal Green Pensioners each year.

These include:

• Two meals with entertainment in Spring and Autumn.
• An annual day trip to Eastbourne on the Sussex Coast. Pensioners who come on the trip are given £15 each to pay for their lunch. The coaches leave from Cambridge Heath Road at 9am sharp and leave Eastbourne at around 5pm to return to Bethnal Green by about 7.30pm.
• In order to underline the importance of maintaining links with Bethnal Green, Parmiter’s School invite Pensioners to visit the school in Hertfordshire every July and December. Here we have a three course meal and are served and entertained by the pupils. This is a popular afternoon out for Pensioners, who catch the coach from Cambridge Heath Road.

For those Pensioners who can no longer get out and about or choose not to join us at our events, Trustees arrange for them to receive a Hamper at Christmas or Eid

When there is a vacancy in one of our Almshouses in Clacton, Trustees will contact all existing Pensioners, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and all the Registered Social Landlords with properties in the Bethnal Green area, asking them to draw the vacancy to the attention of any of their friends or neighbours or tenants who may be interested. The vacancy is also advertised on the Almshouse Association website.

Our Clacton residents also become a Pensioner of the Charity and Trustees organise an annual visit to them, when we take them for a meal at a local restaurant.