Belgian Badge Day

Prize horses at Bedford cattle market, c.1912 [Z50/142/635]

Sunday 22nd November 1914: The total raised for the Belgian Relief Fund by means of a Badge Day held at Bedford  yesterday has been announced as £423.5s.9d. This was a little behind the £570 raised in a single day at Cambridge but still represented a magnificent effort by the town. Teams of ladies sold badges throughout the town for a minimum of one penny or any higher amount the purchaser cared to donate. A collection was made by men in the cattle market and in the evening the members of C.E.M.S. collected over £10 in the High Street. A German shell from the battle of Mons and an iron cross from Louvain were on display an Mr Hockliffe’s shop and could be viewed for a small admission fee. Both the poor of the town and the soldiers responded generously to the appeal. The money given was mostly in pennies which were collected at intervals by a motor car and taken to 83 Harpur Street for counting.

Source: Beds Times 20th November 1914; Ampthill and District News 28th November 1914