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Their Formation and History
In the 1800s the army provided little comfort
and welfare for the soldier outside his barrack room which in itself was
primitive and with few bathing facilities. There was a camp canteen where
brewers sold beer under contract but nothing else.
So it was that in 1857, a Church of England
Institute was opened in South Camp Aldershot aimed at giving men somewhere to
go for peace and quiet. The facility did not last for long despite a donation
of £1000 from the Minister for War towards the provision of a place where
Chaplains could meet the men on a friendly footing. However it was not until
the 1880s that the idea really caught on when a group of officers including a
Chaplain, hired rooms in Aldershot Union Street and
soon followed this by building the Victoria Institute nearby. The institute provided refreshments (but no intoxicants); hot baths, games rooms and
quiet rooms and was a place where any soldier was welcome whatever his religion.
The success of the Aldershot Institute was so
great that others quickly followed in the main military towns and the first
overseas Church of England Institute was opened in 1891. In the same year the
Church of England Institutes were formed under the Companies’ Act to coordinate
the activities of the Association of Institutes and a fund raising campaign
initiated to expand the movement. The Queen and other members of the Royal
Family became Patrons of the Association and by 1917 there were 105 Institutes
worldwide. In 1902 the name was expanded to “Soldiers’ and Sailors’” and then
in 1930, when the number of Institutes had fallen to 31 to “Soldiers’, Sailors’ and
Airmen’s Institutes. In 1958 Clubs was preferred to Institutes in the title and CESSAC came into being.
By the 1970’s only one club remained at
Dhekelia in Cyprus.
Today the Military personnel in Cyprus are served by four CESSAC Centres at Dhekelia, Episkopi, Nicosia and Akrotiri, the last having been
transferred recently from the YWCA.
In addition in the mid 1990s a new centre was
set up at Blandford followed by a second at Wilton in 2003 and a third facility at
Larkhill in 2005. All the centres provide a valuable service to local
personnel.
In 1972, with only one centre in Cyprus to
manage, the CESSAC Council decided to re-focus on rented housing for elderly
ex-service personnel and their partners and the Church of England Soldiers’, Sailors’
and Airmen’s Housing Association (CESSA HA) was formed as a non profit-making
Housing Association registered with the Registrar of Industrial/Friendly
Societies under charitable rules. It also registered with the Housing
Corporation, a Government agency that ensures public money provided for housing
is used properly and wisely.
For further information please visit our 'Home Page' or access and print off the
Request for
Information Form and send it to our Head
Office address or contact us by e-mail.
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