CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
THE CRAVEN AND BEAMSLEY TRUSTS
April 2008 – March 2009
One of the ‘perks of the job’ as a trustee of the Craven and Beamsley Trusts, is discovering the wealth of varied activity taking place in our equally diverse region, which encompasses small rural villages like Slaidburn and large towns such as Keighley and Skipton, and market towns like Settle.
It is a real privilege, when evaluating an application from a project, to meet some of the individuals who are ‘working their socks off’ for their community, usually giving their dedicated services entirely free.
I am happy to report that we have again been able to support a wide variety of organisations and individuals in the Craven area, the details of which are set out in the following pages.
In order to augment our finances, and thereby increasing the money available
to make grants, we have again held fundraising events during the year. There
were performances by Mikron Theatre Company at Addingham and Sedbergh. They
presented “Fair Trade”, the story of the Co-operative movement,
in their hallmark style with its mixture of humour, music, physical theatre
and strong narrative. Both performances, sponsored by The Sir George Martin
Trust, were well attended and very much enjoyed.
Another very popular event was the Open Garden at Netherwood House, Ilkley.
For this our thanks go to one of our trustees, Peter Marshall, and his wife
Pamela. The combination of the duck pond, daffodils and woodland garden in
a lovely setting on the edge of Ilkley Moor always attracts admiring crowds.
The very talented Collegium Regale, the King’s College, Cambridge Choral Scholars, gave us a concert at Skipton which was up to their usual very high standard and well received by an appreciative audience.
Despite the current economic downturn, we are fortunate in having sufficient available funds to be able to offer similar amounts of grants as in previous years. However, we do need continued financial support if we are to maintain our grant-making at the present level. There are various ways of supporting the Craven and Beamsley Trusts such as The Friends Scheme, Donations/Gift Aid, Legacies/Named Funds, Give as You Earn, Corporate Sponsorship, details of which can be seen at the end of this Review.
Once again, many thanks for the enthusiastic support given to the Trusts
by my fellow Trustees, our secretary Linda Lee, funding administrator Stephen
Crossley-Smith, the Friends and many, many others.
Jeremy Mackrell, Chairman
of The Craven and Beamsley Trusts
Full grants list available here