SUMMER 2016
Still little to report but again, the affairs of the Trust proceed as usual, with all the new Trustees now fully functional.
Once again we were represented at this year's Fun Walk in May by a couple of Trustees ably assisted by a group of Billericay School students (and a Member of staff), who gave up their time to support our main fund raising event.
The resulting increase in our funds due to the sponsorship monies is greatly appreciated and the students will be formally thanked by the Trust at a later date.
Once again I ask all Grantees, both past & present to consider joining us in the future.
The future outlook for the Trust remains good.
SUMMER 2015
Our activities over the past few months have been very mundane but suffice it to say, the affairs of the Trust have been carried out with the usual attention to detail and hard work by all involved.
We have welcomed two new Trustees - Mr Keith Wood & Ms Vicky Macmanus and we look forward greeting Ms Pat Stockdale later this year when she takes over from Andrew Mackenzie. Andrew is retiring at the AGM in order to spend time with his family abroad.
The Fun Walk took place in July some two months later than usual which led to our representation being limited to the Chairman & Ms Macmanus. However, the Chairman's grandson accompanied us on the walk & I am glad to say a significant sum of sponsorship monies has been promised for our efforts. Once again I ask all Grantees, both past & present, to consider joining us in the future.
The future outlook for the Trust remains good.
SUMMER 2014
Fun Walk 2014.
Our intrepid Trustees have once again completed the Fun Walk course & have raised a sizeable amount in sponsorship. This year we were accompanied by Mrs Hutt’s six year old son who made light work of the effort! May I encourage any of the current or past recipients of an award to similarly take part in the 2015 event to further raise awareness of our endeavours & bring in much needed funds to help meet our aims.
We were very fortunate to be chosen as one of the charities helped by Waitrose Limited & I am pleased to say that the donation received from Waitrose was not insubstantial. Our thanks go not only to Waitrose Limited but also to the many customers who supported us with their green discs. The picture shows Mrs Hutt receiving the donation from Ms Stella Thomas.
Prospects for the foreseeable future remain favourable & hopefully, we will be able to further develop the worth & value of the Trust.
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SPRING 2014
Two matters dominated our endeavours over the past few months, both matters seem to have been resolved and we are looking forward to the future with renewed optimism.
Application Form
You may have already noticed that our new Application Form is now available on this website. The new form has been prepared to assist applicants provide the background information the Trustees need to assess properly each application in order to make appropriate awards and to ensure, as far as is possible, that our available funds are primarily distributed to the most deserving applicants.
Fun Walk 2014
This year the Fun Walk is being held on Sunday 18th May and as this is our main fund raising event, some of the Trustees will be taking part. Once again, I invite any of our current or past grantees, who are available to similarly support the Trust.
Prospects for the foreseeable future are favourable and hopefully we will be able to further develop the worth and value of the Trust.
Autumn 2013
This year has been a very busy year for the Trust and has been, generally, very successful.
Notably, we received more applications for assistance this year than our normal average and with our income remaining relatively constant over the year, we had to disappoint a number of applicants.
However, fund raising had a high emphasis and a number of welcome donations were received. Our involvement with the Billericay Fun Walk raised a further amount.
Work is proceeding to update and further improve our Website. We will, shortly, include an array of new photos of Billericay which when installed on the Homepage, will, hopefully, show Billericay at its best. Additionally, we are working to revamp the Application arrangements and the associated documents to ensure the whole process is more applicant friendly.
A short article about the Trust is included in this year’s Town Guide and it is hoped that this will showcase our work to a wider audience and attract further support for our work.
Summer 2013
As you will see from the photograph and short video clip, our intrepid group of Trustees braved the challenges of Barleylands and successfully took part in this year’s Fun Walk.
As Trustees, we regard the Fun Walk as an opportunity to promote the Trust and to focus our efforts on raising funds for our coffers. We look forward to next year’s Fun Walk, when, hopefully, we will be joined by any past or present Grantees who are anxious to support our endeavours.
In the near future, it is our intention to set up a Showcase page in our website to exhibit original work by any of our Grantees, past or present and we look forward to hearing from any of our students who would like to use this facility. There will be a few rules, as yet unspecified, to follow but we had in mind promoting any original written or artistic work to assist the relevant student in his or hers endeavours.
One of our students, Vicky C, is continuing her studies and has set up her own Blog/website which can be found at: www.livingportraits.blogspot.com. The picture below shows Vicky’s painted ink landscape depiction of Billericay High Street at the junction of Chapel Street.
March 2013
Regrettably, a number of our Grantees did not get their awards in good time for the beginning of this Spring term. The Trustees appreciate how important the funds we distribute to our Grantees are to their financial planning and thus, when things go amiss difficulties can ensue.
We apologise for the late distribution of these cheques and are happy to say that the administration glitch that caused the difficulty has been resolved so that, hopefully, future grants will be paid as usual.
December 2012
At our recent AGM we bade farewell to our long serving Clerk to the Trustees, Richard Lambourne.
Richard has been with us for some 13 or so years and has carried out the Clerk’s duties with charm, patience and a good deal of hard work. With our thanks for a job well done, we send Richard our best wishes for a long and happy retirement by the seaside in Kent.
The photograph shows the Chairman presenting Richard with a study of Billericay High Street featuring the War Memorial at the junction with Chapel Street. This piece of artwork was produced by Victoria Cracknell, one of the 2011 grantees who is in her second year studying Art at South Essex College in Southend.
We welcome Ms Jenny Moore as our new Clerk. She is taking over from Richard early in the New Year.
The Trustees are working on plans for the coming year with Fund Raising as our major focus. We will, once again, be taking part in John Baron’s Jubilee (Fun) Walk and are hoping that some of our grantees will be able to join us in this venture.
Meanwhile, we send the Compliments of the Season to our Readers.
June 2012
Since our last set of notes, we have worked hard to develop the aims of the Trust. At our forthcoming AGM, Mrs Lyn Bowditch will be joining us as a Trustee and we look forward to welcoming her to our fold.
On one of the hottest and sunniest days of the year, four intrepid Trustees took part in the Billericay Jubilee Walk. The photo shows them immediately prior to setting off and we were delighted to report that we all completed the walk unscathed. For the record, we raised several hundred pounds for our coffers.
In future, we will be asking grantees to take part similarly and, thereby look forward to a significant increase to our fund raising.
Further development work is planned for the immediate future and, in particular, we will be seeking bequests and legacies from interested Billericay residents, to ensure that our asset base grows to meet the continuing demand for assistance from the Trust.
December 2011
At the recent AGM, we bade farewell to our long serving Chairman, Geoffrey Buckenham. Geoffrey had decided to retire having spent over 15 years as a Trustee and we applaud all the effort and hard work he put into his time with the Trust. 
Anthony Page was elected to replace Mr Buckenham as Chairman, with Councillor Richard Moore replacing Geoffrey as the Basildon Borough Council’s nominated Trustee. We welcome Mr Moore to our ranks and look forward to his contribution to the work and development of the Trust.
During the past 12 months much has happened to the Trust and we are delighted to tell you that our activities in the Billericay Fun Walk raised a significant amount of money. We are looking forward to improving on the amount raised at the 2012 Fun Walk and, additionally, we are hoping that some of our Grantees will take part on our behalf.
We received a very generous donation from the Billericay Round Table which enabled us to assist a number of Grantees including one with help for her travel expenses to attend College.
The picture (with acknowledgements to Ron Poulter) shows some of the Trustees taking part in the Fun Walk. All of them managed to complete the course unscathed and are determined to take part in 2012.