Dornakal Fund for the Needy, based in Dornakal, India, provides monthly support for the basic needs of 36 widows and widowers plus any special needs they may have such as medicines. At Christmas the fund also provides a celebration meal and a present of a sari for the widows and dhoti for the widowers plus a bed sheet.
Joyce Bridgewater founded the charity, originally called the ‘Widows of Dornakal’. Joyce was married to Gilbert and they lived in the West Midlands until her death in 2014.
In 1947 Joyce and her first husband Alan (Ross), with two young children, went to India to work. Alan was an accountant and was sent to India by the Methodist Missionary Society (MMS).
At that time in India the Church of England and the Methodist Church were amalgamating and the accounting procedures for each church were being brought together. As treasurer of the Diocese, Alan was in charge of all the finances and so took the burden of accountancy from the ministers, missionaries and Indian clergy. Alan would also sometimes take church services when they were in English though he and Joyce did learn Telugu, the local language.
Alan and Joyce were in India for ten years and during this time three more children were born to them. Most of the time Alan and Joyce lived in a compound in Karim Nagar. Alan’s work involved a lot of travelling and Joyce worked in the laboratory in the nearby Mission hospital. In 1957 the family returned to England to continue their children’s schooling.
A number of years later there was a need for a teacher in the newly established School for the Deaf within the Cathedral compound of Dornakal, South India. Joyce, now a widow and retired teacher, volunteered her services which were warmly accepted and in 1977 Joyce travelled back to India to work in the school. Joyce worked as a volunteer, supported by the MMS for travel between the UK and India and was provided with a house and servant by the church; all other expenses were met by Joyce’s pension.
During this time in India, Joyce would deal with requests from people asking for help. Some of those in most need were widows; in India, without support from a family, they are destitute.
When Joyce returned to the UK in 1985, she believed that the work of supporting the needy widows and widowers local to the Cathedral compound should continue and so she set up the fund which is now called ‘Dornakal Fund for the Needy’. Joyce asked Kantha, a lady who was working at the Cathedral compound to administer the fund. Kantha agreed and has been doing this ever since with the help of her nephew Anil. Joyce settled in Dorridge and sought support for the fund from local churches and individuals.
Mrs Kitty Gundy, a friend of Joyce’s at St. Philips church Dorridge, became involved with the Dornakal fund when she took over as chair person of the Mission Beyond the Parish committee in the early 1990’s. For many years Kitty sent Christmas cards to all the beneficiaries & this has continued until her death in January 2024.
Kitty introduced Ben Bradshaw to Joyce in late 2005 & he became the funds treasurer, continuing until 2009 when he handed over to Norman Powell who carried on until his death in 2022. Kitty & Ben, along with his wife, Ruth remained supporters of Dornakal during all this time.
The fund is now administered by Janet Powell (treasurer / trustee) from Dorridge Methodist church, Carol Linfield (trustee) from St. Philips Church, Dorridge, and Gemma Mason (trustee) a previous member of St. James Bentley Heath.
Dornakal Fund for the Needy 