c1978: a proposal/writing relating to an idea of Michael Sorensen's for 'The William Allen Society') in the book "Working on Self Respect: Writings on Offenders and other homeles people" a book of Michael Sorensen's writing edited by Richard D.Grover published 1986 from which I quote from the back cover of the book:

"Michael Sorensen was a social experimenter and a Quaker who was never content just to think about social issues. Through long and sometimes exhausting processes he sought to test out ideas for enabling men and women, who had no home other than an institution, to regain a place in the community. A place based not on the rest of the community's acceptance of passive and pathetic people who are to be pitied and carried, but a place won through each individual's recognition that they too have a role to play. They too have something to give to others and can claim the selfrespect that each of us finds so vital to our sense of well-being.

This book draws together the varied writings of a true social experimenter who worked with prisoners of war, in a prison welfare department, in voluntary organisations and alongside people from every possible institutional background. He found confirmation of his own discoveries in the work of the early, radical, Quakers. But what he argued for, often in the face of an officialdom loathing change, was drawn from his own working experience. It is because his work has an historical root, rather than despite it, that its importance to contemporary social issues has increased with time.

Michael Sorensen's writings provide valuable insights and a source of hope for anyone concerned about 'community care' and for the many thousands of men and women for whom prisons, hospitals and lodging houses remain the
only homes they know."

quoting again(from pages 77-8):

"The papers on the William Allen Society itself extend only to the first explanatory leaflet, a proposal for William Allen Industries and part of an article titled "A Social Experiment's Debt to Earlier Friends" published in March 1978. This last reference is reproduced in full later in this collection (pp.111-115)."

Here is the text of the first explanatory leaflet:

'THE WILLIAM ALLEN SOCIETY:
EXPLANATORY LEAFLET
There are thousands in this country who are alone, without family or friends who will protect them if they are ill, or in other trouble. Some have simply outlived those who were close to them; others have spent so much of their lives in institutions that they have gradually lost touch with normal life.

A few of these live in Peter Bedford Trust care and have at least that measure of safety. But what if they move on? They are in any case to be multiplied by the many others who will
move out of psychiatric hospitals and other institutions during coming years. In leaving, they need an alternative which is at least as safe as the care they have known.

Again, as the Trust has learnt in discussing this theme, there are very many more in ordinary life - men, women and children - for whom safety is a cause for anxiety. They live
with family at present but are handicapped. And what is to happen to them when their protective family has gone? Are they to pass into homes, in new and strange places? Does
society really function well by allowing some of its number to be treated as so many problems, to be passed to the hands of social workers?  Several pioneer organisations have been working for years on better alternatives, enabling handicapped people to live usefully in everyday society: the Cheshire Homes, for example, Camphill Village Trust, Richmond Fellowship and
so on. The Bedford Institute Association, which enabled the Peter Bedford Project to start, now offers a contribution to join these others. This experiment, named the William Allen Society, will draw upon the experience of the Peter Bedford Project and Trust, and upon the inheritance of Quaker social beliefs which is in the Association itself.

Aims
The essential Quaker contribution to social affairs was declared by John Bellers in the 17th century. Since all human beings were unique and precious, he argued, society dared lose no one or it would be the poorer. And so those who were odd men out had not to be feared or pitied but respected; and the arts of social organisation had to do with recognising individual gifts and talents and letting them find proper expression. They were needed. William Allen, from whom the experiment takes its name, lived one hundred years later and was of the same
enthusiasms as Bellers. He wanted to find better ways of running our lives rather than remedy the consequences of living wrongly. The William Allen Society will experiment in ways of closing the gap between domestic family life and those who are at present excluded from such life. It will be a sort of club, experimenting in sharing. Clubs and societies by and large are for the protection and advancement of their members, and they tend to exist for those who are in any case not ill-placed in the world. The William Allen Society will be open to those who seek something better, although the cost to a member will be no more than a small amount of trouble and an inclination to see the dignity of others enhanced.  The Society will be non-denominational and open to those of all faiths and origins.

Membership
Membership is open to all who share the Society's aim.  Although no distinction will be made between the ill and the well, admission will need to be governed by the current resources of the Society. Some members will be those who hope to see their dependent pass at some time into a caring and trustworthy community. Others might see themselves as having resources to give to the work. Underlying the whole endeavour will be the awareness that we are all in the same boat and that circumstances change with time.

The society's resources
The Society will have the use of some houses in London, leased by the Peter Bedford Housing Association. It will hope to acquire also a rural property, to be used as a place for retreat and work for some members and a residence for others, and a seaside holiday centre will also be needed later on. It will also work closely with other organisations with which it has cordial connections, such as Ockendon Venture and Pilsdon Manor. As time passes, the Society will have legal and financial trustees so that it can act in loco parentis for some of its members. Finance There is no membership fee at present and the Society's work will be paid at first from charitable funds. It is also expected that some financial support will come from William Allen Industries, based upon voluntary effort, the profits from which will be made over the Society's work.'

pp78-80 "Working in Self Respect: Writings on Offenders and other homeles people" Michael Sorensen, edited by Richard D.Grover published 1986 by Peter Bedford Trust, Legard Works, 17a legard Road, Highbury, London N51DE

Further leaflets were produced later but I quote this to make a start at describing Michael Sorensen's ideas and what followed.