The Passmore Edwards Centennial

John Passmore Edwards funded more than seventy public buildings stretching from St Ives to Herne bay. It was Edwards who bought Skippings farm for the NSE and he went on to build five of the Homes and the administrative building still in use today. To Passmore Edwards Centennial marks the anniversary of the death of this Victorian Philanthropist with a series of events at as many of the surviving Passmore Edwards buildings as possible. I have also written a new account of the life of this extraordinary Cornishman which has just been published. "Funding the ladder; the Passmore Edwards legacy", tells of Edwards' journey from a small Cornish village to becoming a wealthy London Newspaper owner and publisher, and the history of the buildings constructed through his bequests. The book is available direct from the publisher, Francis Boutle Ltd, and my author fees are being donated to restoring the Blackwater institute, the first of the Passmore Edwards buildings.