THE Salvation Army's Home Farm has been at the heart of life in Had-leigh since 1891 but few of the inhabitants were happy to see the charity when it arrived in the area, according to a new book.

The Home for Inebriates drew strong local opposition when it opened at Victoria House, now the site of the Victoria Corner roundabout, in 1891.

More than a century later the farm and training centre has become firmly rooted in the community and a new book, launched at the training centre in Castle Lane in Hadleigh, tells the history of the unique centre and its ups and downs over the years.

Hadleigh Salvation Army Farm - A Vision Reborn begins in the late 19th century when founder William Booth decided he wanted to set up a training farm to help the down and outs from East London.

Author and retired teacher Gordon Parkhill, 73, said: "His idea was to try to give a second chance to people who were finding their way to the Salvation Army hostels because there was no work.

"The scheme was set up for people who were not just unemployed but almost unemployable."

In the 1920s and 1930s, the scheme developed to offer basic farm training for boys aged between 14 and 19 before they were shipped to Australia, New Zealand or Canada to start a new life.

The book features four individual stories of people who came through this training scheme.

Mr Parkhill said: "These are the things that have really made the research really interesting but the difficulty of trying to go back more than 100 years is that the records no longer exist.

"Quite a few of our discoveries have come by chance."

The title of the book refers to the centre's work training people with learning disabilities, which Mr Parkhill feels is an extension of Booth's original vision.

Hadleigh Salvation Army Farm - A Vision Reborn is Mr Parkhill's second book about the Salvation Army, following the publication of the Spirit of the Sea in 2002, which marked the centenary of the Leigh Salvation Army.

He worked with fellow Salvation Army member Graham Cook and they teamed up again for the latest book.

Mr Parkhill took on the writing and research and Mr Cook worked on the format and put together a collection of 200 photographs of the farm over the years.