Constitution of the Jewish Home for the Aged, Penylan House, 1959-2000, Cardiff

Description

A Constitution for the Home for Aged Jews. The document covers many different aspects of the Home, the first being the 'Title': the original statement that the "Charity's" title would be the "Jewish Retirement and Nursing Home, Cardiff" was amended with a handwritten note, adding that the charity was "formerly known as the South Wales, Monmouthshire and West of England Jewish Home for the Aged". The words "Penylan House" are also added to the proposed title. This could suggest that this is a draft of the constitution, which may be altered before further printing.

The second point addresses the 'Objects' of the charity, which is "To provide an Orthodox Jewish Home for the aged persons of the Jewish faith of either sex who have attained the age of 60 years". Following this, written in pen, is a specification that the person must have been resident in South Wales or the West of England for at least two years. This sentence is then crossed out.

Financial support is described as coming from residents, voluntary public contributions and grants from the government. Information is also given about management of the Home, with sections on The Board of Management, The Executive Committee, Life Officers, Trustees and Power of the Board being included. Details are given about The Annual General Meeting (for subscribers), the Extraordinary General Meeting, the Treasurer and the Secretary. Finally, the booklet states that the Constitution may only be amended at an A.G.M. or an E.G.M. by vote. Added at the end in pen is the sentence "a member of the board who is absent for 6 meetings is not eligible".

Pencare (formerly known as 'The Trustees of Penylan House') is a charity, which offers care for elderly people of the Jewish faith and is currently based in Cardiff, although the catchment area for the home covers South Wales and the West of England. Pencare has been working with Linc Cymru to redevelop their care home, Penylan House, to ensure high quality care to Cardiff's elderly Jewish community and extending the care to elderly people not of the Jewish faith.

Mr Henry Silver and other members of the Cardiff Jewish community had originally founded a Home for the Aged in 1946 in Canton. In December 1948, the Home moved to Holme Towers in Penarth to provide more space for its large number of applications. Despite the beautiful surroundings, the Home in Penarth was quite isolated, so the difficult decision was later taken to move the Home to Penylan Road in Cardiff, meaning many residents were now closer to their friends and relatives. Residents moved to Penylan House in February 1959.

Sources:
http://opencharities.org/charities/243968 http://www.housingcare.org/downloads/facilities/generated-brochures/134508-penylan-house-nursing-home-cardiff-wales.pdf;
Cajex, Magazine of the Association of Jewish Ex-service Men and Women (Cardiff), Vol. IX, No. 1, Ninth Year - March, 1959, pp. 60- 65.

Depository: Glamorgan Archives.