New blue plaque for Preston charity after mystery of the missing original goes unsolved

The distinctive marker was put in place on the side of what was then the Golden Ball - at the junction of Garstang Road and Woodplumpton Lane - back in 2005. It highlighted the founding of the Broughton Catholic Charitable Society (BCCS) in that location more than 200 years earlier - an organisation committed to alleviating poverty in the area.

Following the closure of the pub in 2007, the plaque survived the building’s conversion to three different Indian restaurants over the next decade - The Bay Tree, The Gate of Bengal and Touch of Spice.

The society remains in existence to this day, but the pointer to its long past went missing in 2019, a matter of months before the structure it was attached to was flattened to make way for a new residential care complex.

Three years on, and Broughton Parish Council has funded a brand new blue plaque to recognise the group’s vital historic and ongoing role.

BCCS secretary Peter Van Parys told the Lancashire Post that he was delighted to see an acknowledgement of the society’s history once again take pride of place in the centre of the village where it was founded. However, he added that the whereabouts of the original sign remain a mystery.

“There were rumours going around at the time that the building was going to be demolished and [it was suggested that the plaque] had been stored somewhere.

“But nobody knows where it is now - it just never turned back up.”

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Peter says that it is fitting that the society is being newlycommemorated, particularly in the wake of the Covid pandemic - because it was during the dark days of another disease outbreak that it was founded in 1787.

“The original idea came from the smallpox epidemic at the time. Many farmers died from smallpox, leaving their wife and the family to survive - so everybody got together and started a charitable trust to help the widows.

“And now we've all just gone through a pandemic of massive proportions, very similar in [that] it killed a lot of people.

“Nowadays, websites and things like that are all very well [for recording local history], but there’s no substitute for walking past a plaque. Seeing it prompts people to talk about it,” Peter explained.

The new plaque - now on the “extra care” building that replaced the pub - uses the same wording as the original that went walkabout.

The BCCS is thought to be the oldest Catholic charitable society in the country and currently boasts around 1,200 members - including 180 priests. Peter says that he is keen to see new people join to stem a general decline in numbers in recent years - and so to ensure the organisation’s longevity.

Membership is open to anyone of the Roman Catholic faith who was born or raised in the old county palatine of Lancashire - which incorporates the diocese of Lancaster, Liverpool, Salford and Shrewsbury - or whose parents were.

All fundraising is done internally from members via subscriptions, almsgiving and legacies. “We don't rattle the bucket,” Peter laughs.

In addition to what he describes as the “spiritual benefits” of membership, the society’s founding charitable principles remain very much intact. Each year, suggestions are invited from members about good causes that the organisation could support, either at home and abroad.

In 2019, a "Relief of Hardship Framework" was also established, with the intention of funding several charities with annual grants over a maximum five-year period. To date, a total of £54,000 has been granted through this mechanism to groups including Read Easy (Preston), Chorley Help The Homeless and Lancashire TAGG.