Many of the families arriving in Great Britain from the German refugee camps after World War Two had children of school age for whom it was important to provide summer camps to keep contact with their Latvian heritage. It was also necessary to find suitable accommodation to care for Latvian war invalids. On 16 March 1953, the Latvian National Council's Head of the Educational Section, the Very Rev. Jāzeps Savickis, announced that a property suitable for children’s summer camps and parents’ holidays had been found near Almeley, Herefordshire. The property was rented from the local council and on 18 July 1953 the first summer camp took place. The property was known as the “Latvian Home” and Jānis Skujevics became the first manager, undertaking these duties up until 1976, with Marija Ķeņģe (long-term chair of the women’s section of the Latvian Welfare Fund and graduate of the Kaucminde College of Home Economics in Latvia) as housekeeper. She brought the soul of the Latvian homestead to the Latvian Home.

The Latvian National Council was the formal tenant of the House, and a separate committee under the Council’s aegis was created to oversee its management, the first honorary chairman being the ambassador Kārlis Zariņš. In time, the Home became a significant meeting place for Latvians including 50 permanent residents (war invalids, the elderly and people who could not work through infirmity), summer camps for Latvian children and young people, annual general meetings for different Latvian organisations, “3x3” camps (intergenerational camps of Latvian families), scout camps, and midsummer festivities.

The Latvian National Council had wanted to buy the property outright from the beginning but the local council would not agree until the middle of the 1980s, when the property was finally acquired on 21 December for the sum of £175,000. On 23rd April 1989, a celebratory event was organised called “The Latvian Home is ours”, which was even attended by a film crew from Rīga.

In 1991 the British government made significant changes in benefit support resulting in much reduced income for the permanent residents that no longer covered the House’s outgoings. In July 1997, the Latvian National Council agreed to sell the property. The income gained from this sale went to support other ventures (redecoration of the DVF London House, reconstruction of Rowfant House and a subsidy for the newspaper “Brīvā Latvija”).

Organisation “Daugavas Vanagi” Central Board meeting. 27‒29 June 1974, Almeley, Herts. Sound recording by Harijs Blezūrs.

25th anniversary of the “Latvian Home” at Almeley. 11 June 1978. Address by Latvian National Council in Great Britain and “Latvian Home” chairman Augusts Abakuks.

Representatives of the Latvian Lutheran Church, Latvian Catholic Church and Latvian Orthodox Church offer congratulations on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the “Latvian Home” at Almeley, 11 June 1978.