RESOURCES: Classic Text Revisited... Friendship's Highway MaryHeath-Stubbs, 1935 (second edition)

This book charts the history of the Girls' Friendly Society between its foundation in 1875 and 1935. Historians have tended to see the society as a conservative, class-based organisation intent on controlling girls' sexuality and inculcating appropriate feminine behaviour. And there is much in Friendship's Highway to support this interpretation. The organisation was explicitly set up to prevent girls from "falling" (being sexually active), with "purity" being a fundamental requirement of membership. Linking into the Anglican Church, the society adopted a two-tier class-based model, bringing upper-class "associates" together with working-class "members". Its services included clubs, hostels, the promotion of domestic service and an emigration support service.

But there are some surprises. The society seems to have encouraged members' involvement in decision-making at all levels. By 1920, its central council had to include at least three members. Friendship's Highway also represents the society as seeking to respond to the changing circumstances of girls, particularly during and after the first world war. It developed a range of provision for non-members, including mobile outreach.

Friendship's Highway is essentially a history for insiders. As such, it is a frustrating read. It often goes into tedious detail, while assuming considerable knowledge about the organisation. But the book does offer some insight into the dilemmas facing organisations as they seek to adapt to meet young people's changing needs without compromising their fundamental principles.

Reviewed by Carolyn Oldfield, information officer at The National Youth Agency. She has a PhD from the University of Warwick for research on work with girls and young women in the inter-war years.