Ruth's story

I remember well my first day at Child Poverty Action Group. It was 49 years ago. 

I was fresh out of university, initially having studied Sociology at Essex under Peter Townsend. I remember turning up for my interview and being taken aback seeing him on the panel! I didn’t know he chaired CPAG at the time.

When I look back over those 50 years since I started work, I feel immense pride at having been associated with CPAG for so long. But I also look back with shame and anger that, despite the best efforts of CPAG and others, the problem of child poverty is in many ways worse than it was then. 

I am leaving a gift in my will to CPAG so I can contribute to the security of the organisation’s future, so that CPAG is always there to provide a secure future for children and families in poverty. By supporting the organisation in this way, I hope my gift will enable CPAG to concentrate on what it is there to do: end child poverty, once and for all.

Baroness Lister of Burtersett CBE is Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at Loughborough University and a peer since 2011.