Bristol Guild of the Handicapped

The assets previously owned by the Guild of the Handicapped, were transferred to Bristol Charities in 1986. The income is used for the benefit of physically disabled Bristolians.

The Guild was created by Ada Vachell, a campaigner who worked tireless for the “poor and needy” in an age before the welfare state.

Popularly known as “Sister Ada”, she cared for hundreds of disabled and sick people in Bristol.

Born in Cardiff in 1866, Ada’s family moved to Sneyd Park when she was nine. Inspired by the death of her two sisters to scarlet fever, Ada opened her first home called the Guild of Brave Poor Things in Bragg’s Lane, St Philips, Bristol in 1913.

She also started Sunday classes for servants, a club for girls and a Scout group, as well as the Invalid Children’ School in Churchill, Somerset, so that disabled youngsters could escape the city slums.

In 1918 the name of the Guild of the Poor Young Things was changed to the Guild of the Handicapped to meet the wishes of the lads and younger men who found the original name a source of misunderstanding and adverse criticism in their workshops..