Founded in 1994 by a group of prominent and professional people from the town, the Carterton Educational Trust continues to support young people from the local area by providing financial support to enable them to take full advantage of educational opportunities.
Receiving charitable status in 1995, the Carterton Educational Trust was the first charity of its kind in the town. In the 28 years since the Trust was formed, led by headteachers from the town’s five schools, school governors and local government officials, it has awarded grants totalling more than £37,600 to over 230 recipients.
Typically, grants are awarded to help towards the cost of books and materials for university students or to help less affluent families to afford school trips or school uniforms. The Trust also supports local playgroups and sports clubs, helping towards the cost of play materials and equipment. On several occasions in the past, the Trust has given grants to students enabling them to undertake gap year projects such as teaching in Africa or China or helping to fund children to continue with music lessons that their parents would otherwise be unable to afford.
Jenna Gordon in India
Although the amount of grant awarded to each applicant is not a considerable sum of money, even small sums can make an enormous difference to changing lives. Due to the disruption experienced by local schools during the past eighteen months due to the Covid pandemic, applications for grants have been minimal. Grants are available to all age groups, children, and adults, providing the applicant lives or works or was predominantly educated in Carterton, and the funding is for any educational or sporting pursuit.
The Secretary to the Carterton Educational Trust says they are “always keen to hear from any company or individual who may consider donating or leaving a legacy to the Trust. We have been restricted in our own fund-raising activities over the past twenty months and do rely on local businesses and individuals to support us as we do not, unlike other Trusts, have a substantial capital sum invested or a regular source of income such as rental from property,” they continue. “We plan to have a stall at the Carterton May Day Fair run by Save the Children, and again at the Christmas Lights Switch On in December 2022, as attendance at these events will help us to raise awareness of the Trust. We would love more people in the local area to become actively involved with the Trust, not only as benefactors but also as grant applicants.”
Past recipients of grants awarded by the Carterton Educational Trust include Imogen, who in the summer of 2018 received funding for a school residential trip. “Imogen had an amazing trip and came home full of confidence and so happy because she had tried too many new things” her Mum explained.
In May 2018, Zoe Boyer received a grant from the Trust to help towards a trip to Uganda. She says “I had the most amazing time in Uganda, building a playground for the children of a school near Jinja. It was the most overwhelming feeling seeing all those children having the time of their lives playing on a playground which we built for them.”
Zoe Boyer
Patrons of the Trust are Professor Sir Tim Brighouse, former London Schools Commissioner, MP for Witney and West Oxfordshire Robert Courts, the Bishop of Oxford the Rt. Revd. Steven Croft, and The Rt. Hon. Lord Hurd of Westwell, CH, CBE.
To find out more about this Carterton charity, visit cartertoneducationaltrust.weebly.com
