Madam, - Hugh Oram (An Irishman's Diary, November 8th) writes that the oldest charity in Dublin is the Sick and Indigent Roomkeepers Society of 1790. However the Methodist Widows' Home (now known as Eastwell Residential Home) was established in 1766 by Rev John Wesley for 26 "reduced widows" in very difficult, financially stressful, times.
Originally operating from Whitefriar Street, moving to Grantham Street in 1858 and to its present address at 12 Palmerston Park, Rathmines, Dublin 6 in the 1920s, the home now offers sheltered housing to older ladies of any denomination or none, whether widowed or single.
Can we claim to be the oldest charity in Dublin? - Yours, etc.,
KINGSLEY PRESCOTT, Administrator, Eastwell Residential Home, Pine Valley, Dublin 16.