The Third International Research Conference of the VAHS was held at the University of Liverpool, 16-18 July 2008. The conference opened with a keynote address on ‘Help and Need in Medieval Europe’, given by Professor Miri Rubin, Queen Mary, University of London. Dr Linda Mahood gave the second address on ‘Feminism and Voluntary Action: The Life of Eglantyne Jebb, Founder of Save the Children’.
A book launch, sponsored by English Heritage, was held to to mark the launch of Building a Better Society: Liverpool’s Historic Institutional Buildings by Colum Giles and Ian Goodall.
Excursions inclided a social policy tour of Liverpool led by John Lansley and Colum Giles to see early social housing and other remnants of the history of Liverpool’s social policy and a coach trip to Port Sunlight Village, built by William Hesketh Lever, the owner of a soap works on the banks of the Mersey.
A co-edited volume of papers from the conference entitled Understanding the Roots of Voluntary Action: Historical Perspectives on Current Social Policy was published by Sussex Academic Press in 2011.
