It is with deep sorrow and a heavy heart that we announce the passing of John Hubert Cox MBE who died peacefully at home on 21st December 2025 at the age of 95, John had a life well lived and was cherished by everyone, we will miss him dearly.
Mary and Joseph House are delighted to offer our congratulations to John Hubert Cox – Chair of The Joseph Cox Charity 1977 to present. He has been awarded MBE in the Kings New Years Honours list 2023 for services to homeless people. Pictured below John with his family and our Home Manager, Julie, outside Windsor Castle after collecting the award. A few days after John visited M&J to celebrate this huge achievement with our resident’s and staff. John gave a lovely speech commemorating our residents and staff and both Nick and our resident advisor Dennis gave speeches to congratulate John!
Mary and Joseph House are delighted to offer our congratulations to John Hubert Cox – Chair of The Joseph Cox Charity 1977 to presentwho was awarded MBE in the Kings New Years Honours list 2023 for services to homeless people
On the 29th December, the Manchester City Treble Trophy Tour took a pitstop and visited Mary and Joseph house! We invited the families of residents and staff along to celebrate with us and commemorate the huge honour it is to have had this opportunity! We couldn’t resist a good photo opportunity, many of our residents, staff, families and friends took the chance to remember the moment! A big thank you to everyone that showed up to support and celebrate Manchester City’s historic Treble Trophy win!
We commemorated the 60th anniversary of the Joseph Cox Charity with a weekend of celebrations for everyone to enjoy! We began our weekend celebrations on Saturday with a mass from Bishop John Arnold and Father Eammon. In preparation for the weekend we had two marquees erected in our communal gardens! Pictured below, the amazing buffet made in house by our amazing catering team. During we had harpist, Elfair Davis playing beautifully throughout. We had some amazing speeches from John Cox, Joanne, Sharon, Julie and our resident advisor Dennis who finished with a three cheers for John! We kicked off our celebrations on the Sunday with a fantastic performance from the Steel Drums Band, who performed many classic hits! Our fairground games and petting zoo went down a treat with the families of residents and staff who came down to celebrate with us. All throughout Sunday we had a caricaturist on hand to capture many of our guests with some stunning drawings, Pictured both Alan and Dennis proudly showing of their creations! A huge thank you to all families and friends of Mary and Joseph house and The Joseph Cox Charity for supporting us and celebrating a momentous sixty years and we hope to see you all at the house again in the foreseeable future!
Mary and Joseph House are proud to be hosting a weekend of celebration to mark 60 years of The Joseph Cox Charity The founder Mr Joseph Patrick Cox started the charity in 1963 to care for the needy and less fortunate and provide them with a home, Joseph sadly passed away in 1977 Josephs son John Hubert Cox followed in his father’s footsteps as chairman of the trustees, keeping true to the ethos of the charity and continuing to expand its work whilst supporting and making donations to a number of other charities holding a similar ethos and outlook The celebration will also recognise the long-term service of the trustees and the Management Committee, who work tirelessly alongside John to ensure that the charity can continue its good work for many years to come The charity’s current chair is Johanne O`Rourke who joined the committee in 1984 and became chair in 1994 taking over from Alan Bancroft when he retired
Mary & Joseph House were delighted to welcome Councillor Donna Ludford, The Mayor of the City of Manchester to our home. Accompanied by her husband, the Mayor’s Consort, Councillor Sean McHale, we had a great day and hope these pictures reflect some of the highlights. It was an especially poignant day for Mr John Cox, whose father founded the Joseph Cox Charity. Look closely in the background and you’ll see a photo of John’s father, Joseph Cox, meeting the Mayor almost 60 years ago! Members of the The Joseph Cox Charity Committee, who support our home, were also with us to share in this special day.
We are proud to announce that Beswick Library hosted an exhibition of some of the therapeutic art work created by our residents, the art was on display from May until July 2017 We believe that our local community is a vital part of helping our men in their recovery and continued well-being and over recent months Beswick Library has become a massive part of our connection to the wider community, hosting a men’s social group, every Thursday from 2 .00pm – 3. 30pm This has provided our residents with a venue to relax socialise and meet new people, our residents have made many new friends and we are indebted to the wonderful staff of Beswick Library for making this possible. We are very proud to have this opportunity to showcase some of the artistic talents and achievements of the residents to the wider community. We hope to continue to meet new people and be a larger part of this great community. Therapeutic Art At Mary & Joseph House we understand that participation in meaningful activity plays a key role in the management of illness leading to the possibility of recovery. For many of our residents past and present, the art group has provided this activity by being both a creative outlet and a welcoming social setting to develop new skills, improve self-esteem and gain greater confidence and independence. The subsequent pride in achievement has played a significant role in the improved health of many group members especially evident in those returning to independent living.
In March 2015 we were assessed by Investors in People. We are very happy to announce that we have received this award yet again, along with a glowing report. Investing in People is what we do at Mary and Joseph House, encouraging staff by enabling them to gain the experience they want and the skills they need. During the inspection, staff had the opportunity to anonymously give their views on Mary & Joseph House as a workplace. The report begins “I can honestly say it was an absolute pleasure to meet the team and complete the assessment at Mary & Joseph House” and goes on to say “People feel valued and appreciated”. One member of staff was quoted as saying they “feel privileged to work with the men” and “care here is not about ‘bath and clean’, its about quality of life, dignity and respect”. We were very pleased that a member of staff told the inspector that “coming to work here has been life changing, I am happy and the job has raised my self esteem, it has made me a better person”. Investors in People was established by the UK Government to help organisations get the best from their people. Organisations that demonstrate the Investors in People Standard achieve the accreditation through a rigorous and objective assessment to determine performance. The Investors in People prestigious accreditation is recognised across the world as a mark of excellence. If you would like to read the full 2015 Investors in People report, please pop in and ask any member of staff who will gladly provide you with a copy.
As always, we celebrated ‘Dignity Action Day’ (formally Dignity in Care Day) by running an event that both staff and residents can get involved in. This year our Activities Co-ordinator, Andy, organised a ‘Great M&J Bake Off’, which was very successful and resulted in some tasty cakes. We also offered staff and residents the opportunity to update our ‘Dignity Tree’, a project that started in 2014, where people can communicate what dignity means to them. Mary & Joseph House received the Dignity in Care Award in 2008, and has continued to value their principles highly. We strongly believe that each and every individual should be treated with dignity, and has the right to have a ‘voice’.
