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Late in
1994 the Darlington Housing Action Group made a public appeal, asking 700
people (hence the "700 Club" name) to give £50 or to lend that amount for two years. The vision was that this would raise
£35,000, enough to buy a terraced property and convert it to accommodate
four or five homeless people. The young were seen as particularly
vulnerable. Some could find temporary shelter through the Darlington Nightstop (now Stop2Night) project. Others did not qualify for Nightstop and
fell through that safety net.
The appeal was launched, with a mock doorway placed on Darlington
High Row. Tony Blair MP and Alan Milburn MP both attended, people
pledged and donated money. Over the ensuing months others added to the
amount in the money pot.
The original vision was to meet a real need in a specific, though limited way.
However, the possibility arose of the Council wishing to dispose of some
flats they owned in Grange Road and the vision for a hostel began to take shape.
Those flats have become Hope House. The rest,
as they say....
Do, please, Contact Us if you
want to know more. Suggestions for what we should include in our site and
any positive criticism is also most welcome. And you might even fancy
helping with the site itself? Whether one of our residents, a friend or
someone who has no connection whatsoever with the 700 Club, we always
value approaches about help and assistance.
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Hope House
(one of our hostels) |