My pal John Jennings, who has died aged 88, was founder and director of the Liverpool Simon Group, a charity for homeless individuals.
John was working as an inspector for the Liverpool Port Well being Authority within the Nineteen Sixties when he discovered in regards to the founding of the Simon Group in London by Anton Wallich-Clifford, a probation officer who was looking for new approaches to serving to individuals on the streets.
In 1966, utilizing his personal modest financial savings and £500 raised from mates, John gave up his job and based the Liverpool Group, buying a store premises in Fox Road, Everton. He distributed sandwiches and opened an evening shelter. In 1968 the Catholic archdiocese loaned a big home in close by Shaw Road, and in 1971 a “home for homeless youths” was purchased.
Within the winter of 1972, after a request from a neighborhood Methodist minister, John opened a Simon home in Rochdale, and in 1973 the charity’s identify was modified to Petrus. Later, an evening shelter opened within the crypt of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, together with Catholic social companies, accommodating 30 males nightly, amounting to 1,000 people every year. In 1979 a second neighborhood home and a dry home for recovering alcoholics have been opened.
Initially the neighborhood survived on donations in sort from many sources, together with a neighborhood bakery, the Little Sisters of the Poor spiritual neighborhood, and merchants on the close by Paddy’s Market. After articles have been revealed within the Catholic Herald and the Liverpool Echo, money donations started coming in. Group volunteers additionally carried out avenue and pub collections at weekends.
The neighborhood was staffed largely by younger volunteers, who got here for six months and labored for board and lodging. In an period when homeless provision was usually authoritarian and paternalistic, residents at Petrus have been handled with consideration and respect, no matter their circumstances, sharing cooking and sleeping preparations.
Although John was Catholic and socialist in perception, the neighborhood eschewed any overt spiritual or political associations. The ethos was communal and humanitarian. John himself was delicate mannered, even tempered, sensible and pragmatic. Younger volunteers discovered him an inspiration, with many happening to profitable careers within the caring professions.
Born right into a Catholic household in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, he was one of many 4 kids of John Sr, a railway employee, and his spouse, Mary (nee Walsh). After attending Yew Tree secondary college in Liverpool he labored at a butchers’ store earlier than doing his nationwide service with the military, spending a while on a posting in Austria. On his return he labored for the Port Well being Authority till making his resolution to commit the remainder of his life to working with homeless individuals.
John retired from Petrus in 1990, and in time the assorted companies supplied by Petrus have been absorbed by native housing associations. He continued as an organiser and volunteer in neighborhood initiatives, together with the Drive Group Hub, Dovecot, and St Dominic’s meals financial institution.
John’s siblings predeceased him. He’s survived by 14 nieces and nephews.
