By Isle of Wight Observer
The Isle of Wight Observer published on October 8th, 1910, contains this appeal for old clothes or money from local residents to help young children in Ryde who were sent to school without warm clothes or shoes.
We are obliged once again to make an appeal on behalf of the poorer children attending the elementary schools in Ryde. The arrival of the cold weather will not long be delayed, and many children will be insufficiently clad and shod, unless the more charitable of our readers will assist the masters and mistresses of the schools to provide them with clothes and shoes. It is hard enough for adults to feel the pinch of poverty, but the spectacle of a child suffering through poverty ought to excite sympathy in the most unimpressionable person. If people could see the little children in the schools and observe how inadequately some of them are clothed, there would be no hesitation in lending a helping hand. The teachers in the schools see them daily, and do their best, but without help from the public they cannot do very much. There must be many in Ryde who have articles of children’s clothing, which have been outgrown or outworn, which could be turned into a useful garment for a poor child. Any such clothing, or in default of such a small subscription will be welcome and should be sent to Mr. J. W. Trodd, at the Bettesworth Road Schools.