Casgliadau Arlein

Donations board from The 'Rest' Convalescent Home, Porthcawl. Three section wall mounted wooden board carrying the name of all the contributing donors.

The 'Rest’ was opened on 17 July 1878 to replace the previous ‘Rest Cottages’ which, from 1862 had been used as a convalescent home for the invalid working classes, was the original idea of Dr James Lewis of Maesteg with support from Florence Nightingale. In 1877, men rescued during the Tynewydd Inundation of 1877 recuperated there. When the new ‘Rest’ opened it had 7 ‘inmates’ in 1910, 1,725 patients passed through its doors that year.

The new institution was maintained and supported by private contributors which included landowners, industrialists, trade unions and many private individuals. It was built in three sections between 1878 and 1909. Patients had to be sponsored by a welfare organisation, trade union or the Cooperative Society.

It closed in October 1915 and re-opened in November as a convalescent home for wounded soldiers, a role it again carried out during the Second World War. The home closed finally in 2013 and is being currently (2018) rebuilt as private flats.