Supporting Stratford with £1.2m of grants - where the town trust money was spent
TWENTY-SIX children gave a stirring performance at the PlayHouse in Stratford on Wednesday (11th September) evening.
But it wasn’t part of the venue’s entertainment calendar, but rather a musical ‘thank you’ to Stratford Town Trust, which was holding its AGM.
Stamp, a children’s choir, was born out of a £10,000 donation to St Andrew’s Church in Shottery to help fund its children and families work.
The choir, which is open to all youngsters who want to sing, performed a heartfelt medley of songs and even managed to boost numbers at the AGM with family and friends support from the tiered seating.
The children went off to rapturous applause and provided the perfect demonstration for the trust – it’s grants make a difference.
The £10,000 for St Andrew’s also helped fund ‘stay and play’ sessions and a delicious sounding chocolate church (a free event involving crafts and chocolatey activities).
The money was given to the church in 2023 – which was the calendar year the AGM was examining, a year which saw the trust generate an income of £3.7 million.
Chief executive Sara Aspley told the meeting: “Over the year we awarded a total of £1.2 million in funding to 155 charities. That’s a 40 per cent increase on the number of charities that we supported last year.
“Every organisational group that we fund works directly in support of local people with the aim of improving lives in so many ways that it would not be possible for me to list them all here now. Our grants range in value from a few hundred pounds to £100,000.
“Personally, I’m always drawn to the smaller grants because they can often have an immediate and direct impact on people. Our small grants programme is for applications up to £2,000 and in 2023 we awarded 27 of these. As we all know, the smallest things can make the biggest difference and so I’d like to highlight a few of the small grants here for you this evening.
“Funding of just £300 to the Stratford Soroptimists bought plants and equipment to ensure that the cottage garden that they have created at Stratford Hospital looks its best all year round.
“Shottery Youth Theatre was awarded £1,500 to support the continuation of its long-standing tradition of producing an annual pantomime.
“And, finally, many of you will be familiar with the Lifeways Therapy Centre in Albany Road. In 2023 they were awarded £500 towards vital wellbeing events for local carers, including a spring get-together, a Christmas party and a summer outing.”
At the other end of the scale was £100,000 for the Stratford Youth Collective, money which helped secure the town a building on Birmingham Road for a youth club. That opened last year and now, the trust said, regularly supports 250 young people aged eight to 18.
Sara also touched on some of the projects being worked on in 2024, including the creation of a 14-acre wildflower meadow at Rowley Fields.
Work has already started on part of the land with a further four acres to be added next year.
As for the trust’s financial situation, that also seemed to be blooming.
Rebecca Hampson, the trust’s head of finance, provided the headline figures: an income of £3.7m and net assets totalled £58.5m, £0.9 million on the previous year.
Thirty-six per cent of the income from the Guild Estate – just over £726,000 in 2023 – is endowed to King Edward VI School.
The main assets, Rebecca explained, are held in property (£32.8m), property funds (£4.6m) and investments (£20.1m).
She also updated members about the property portfolio: “In 2023, the trust made three property disposals, the first being the Coach House pub on Rother Street in March 2023, which generated proceeds of £0.7 million. Then, in June, the trust sold the Windmill and the Garrick pubs for a combined value of £2.3m.
“These sales were part of our property strategy with the aim to try and rebalance our investment portfolio, so it is less dependent on Stratford properties.
“The physical property portfolio, which comprises over 100 properties, including retail, industrial and residential, yielded 8.1 per cent, which was ahead of 2022 by 0.5 per cent.
“This was mainly due to lower property related costs in 2023 than the previous year.”
One Stratford property (or half of a property) was added to the portfolio, the WHSmith building on Bridge Street. The trust already owned the part of the store that’s on the High Street.
Another property issue was also spoken about at the AGM: the trust’s search for a new home after its former landlord in Masons Road asked the charity to leave. Nothing has been found, as yet, Sara told the meeting, but a new contract on the temporary home at Venture House will give them more time to find a solution.
She also added: “We’re almost at the end of our five-year strategic planning period and very soon work will start on the plan that will take us to the end of 2031. I want us to build on the success of recent years. We will start with a large-scale consultation asking members, stakeholders and the public for their views. And we can’t wait to hear from you.”
