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Irene Prestwich

A woman of the landed gentry who opened her beautiful home for the world

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Miss Prestwich was a woman of wealth, surrounded by a host of servants and living in a most gracious house in acres of beautiful gardens. She gave up her wealth and opened her home as a conference centre for Moral Re-Armament, later making Tirley Garth and its estate the property of a charitable trust. And via Tirley Garth people from all walks of life and from many countries in the world came to talk, to discuss and to take up the absolute standards that she found through MRA.

The grandson of Gandhi was a visitor; leading political figures from many emergent nations called. Groups who had been sworn enemies in their own countries found peace and friendship and a will to work together after staying at Tirley Garth.

Trade unionists and management sat down together at weekend conferences, civic leaders joined in pledging themselves to working for the betterment of all. Delegations went to Northern Ireland, South Africa and other countries—where bitterness and strife had caused such deep divisions among people—to give the message that Miss Prestwich had herself found in the 1930s.

She was a tiny and delicate woman, of immense charm and engaging courtesy. Yet deep inside was a giant with steel-like convictions and a determination and desire to help others that brought her wealth and home into full play in the greater nature of life itself.

Birth year
1884
Death year
1974
Nationality
United Kingdom
Primary country of residence
United Kingdom
Birth year
1884
Death year
1974
Nationality
United Kingdom
Primary country of residence
United Kingdom