Lord Mayors of London, like their organisation, the City of
London Corporation, have long been interested in creating a
well-run and stable society, a prosperous City with amenities for
all their citizens; some carried out their charitable work well
outside the City, but many chose to concentrate their activities
here.
Fit for the Future
The Lord Mayor’s Appeal 2012 will help five charities – the
primary being Barts and The London Charity on behalf of the Trauma
Unit at The Royal London Hospital. The Rowing Foundation, London
Youth Rowing, Fields in Trust and Futures for Kids will also
benefit, creating a healthier future for all.
Lord Mayor David Wootton’s chosen appeal theme ‘Fit for the
Future’ aims to promote better health opportunities for all,
including those from some of the UK’s most deprived areas such as
Tower Hamlets where shockingly 50% of local children live in
poverty and where infant mortality is double the national
average.
2012 will see the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee as well as the London
Olympics and Paralympics so it’s an ideal time to make sure that we
are all ‘Fit for the Future’. The money raised through the appeal
will touch the lives of many by helping to improve trauma care,
helping to relieve poverty and hardship and by giving young people
from deprived areas new sporting opportunities.
Barts and The London Charity
Barts and The London Charity as the main beneficiary will manage
the Appeal for the other four charities. The Charity is independent
and only supports innovative projects such as the revolutionary
cyberknife radiotherapy, which is being funded by the London
Freemasons.
Every second counts
The Trauma Centre at The Royal London Hospital is the UK’s
flagship trauma and emergency centre and home of London’s only air
ambulance. The Royal London Hospital has pioneered and refined
trauma care, leading to patients having a 38% greater chance of
survival following major trauma than the national average. The
centre is planning to use part of the money raised from the Appeal
to purchase a revolutionary mobile scanner which will be one of
only three in the UK.
Lord Mayor David Wootton says: “This ambitious Appeal will
benefit many - those
who are ill or injured and need top-class and immediate medical
attention and those who need open spaces and sporting facilities to
help enjoy healthier lives, a vital component of the London
Olympics legacy.”
David continues: “My sporting background is as an oarsman and I
also want to use this Appeal to benefit charities that offer rowing
as a healthy activity to disadvantaged young people, particularly
in London.”
Barts and The London Charity is busy planning fundraising events
to get Londoners involved, including a Carol Service at St Paul’s
Cathedral on 20th December 2011 which everyone is invited to.
Other events include an evening at the Mansion House, a City abseil
and a regatta challenge. Supporters of the Appeal are also
organising events including a long distance bike ride, trading day
and river race.
Why the Trauma Centre needs your help?
- The UK’s flagship trauma centre cares for London’s most
seriously injured.
- 50% of patients are as a result of road traffic accidents, 25%
as a result of violent crime (gun and knife) and 25% other causes
including heart attacks and falls.
- Its patients have a 38% greater chance of survival following
major trauma.
The Rowing Foundation
The Rowing Foundation was founded in 1980 with the aim of making
rowing accessible to those under 18, or in full time education, and
disabled athletes.
The Foundation offers grants to small clubs and organisations to
provide rowing facilities to young people, to junior coastal rowing
and to adaptive rowing.
The Foundation also supports a programme that helps individuals
with spinal cord injury to use a sliding rowing machine through the
application of non-invasive surface electrodes to paralysed leg
muscles, resulting in enormous health benefits.
London Youth Rowing
London Youth Rowing is a ground-breaking sports initiative,
developing young people through physical activity, and opening
access to rowing at all levels. Over 5,000 Londoners now
participate in their indoor and on-water rowing activities.
Important new initiatives include the ‘Mobile Learn2Row’ project
which brings rowing into the communities where young people live, a
rowing programme on the Serpentine in Hyde Park, and the first ever
Rowing Academy at Mossbourne Academy in Hackney.
Participants come from many ethnic backgrounds, some have
disabilities, some have never done sport before and some will
become future rowing stars. All of them help to fulfill the
charity’s mission: Making Champions Every Day.
Fields in Trust
Fields in Trust’s current flagship programme The Queen Elizabeth
II Fields Challenge aims to safeguard and celebrate 2012 outdoor
recreational spaces in the UK, as a permanent tribute to both HM
The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympics and
Paralympics. With sites ranging from bicycle trails to woodlands
and playgrounds to sports pitches, this legacy will offer something
for everyone and ensure that communities have the opportunity to
live healthy and active lives for generations to come.
Fields in Trust is the only national charity working to ensure
that playing fields and outdoor spaces across the UK are
safeguarded both now and in the future. Since 1925 Fields in
Trust’s work has protected 1281 sites - more than 8700 acres.
Futures for Kids
Futures for Kids was established in 2008 by a group of people
who work in the futures and options industry. The aim of the
charity is to ensure better lives and futures for the world’s most
vulnerable and socially excluded children, and to provide those
working in all areas of our industry such as banks, brokerage
houses, exchanges and software firms with a vehicle to facilitate
donations and participation.
As a result of fundraising events over the past three years,
Futures for Kids has raised over £1 million to help thousands of
children worldwide.
We hope that you will join with us to help bring about a
healthier future for all, especially those in the most deprived
areas. To get involved with our fundraising events or to find out
how you or your organisation can donate to the appeal visit the
Lord
Mayors appeal website.
Model Lord Mayors
Dick Whittington was a model Lord Mayor, generous during his
life and on his death, when he left all his money to charity.
Whittington endowed almshouses, libraries, a ward for unmarried
mothers, and even a very useful public amenity, some public
lavatories known as Whittington's Longhouse.
Education and the Church were key concerns of early Lord Mayors.
Among the rest, Hugh Clopton, a Mercer who was Lord Mayor in 1491,
endowed his home town Stratford Upon Avon, including Clopton
Bridge, and chapel, and funded exhibitions for poor scholars to go
to Oxford and Cambridge. Stephen Jenyns, Merchant Taylor from
Wolverhampton, who was Lord Mayor in 1508 founded Wolverhampton
Grammar School and also built much of the church of St Andrew
Undershaft in London. In 1907, Lord Mayor Sir Wiliam Purdie Treloar
started a fund for children with disabilities, aiming to
build a hospital and school outside the city for children with
non-pulmonary tuberculosis. The following year he opened this
school, known as Treloars, which has since become one of the
leading special schools for disabled young people.
CSR in the present day
In the present day Lord Mayors and the City of London
Corporation consider a vital part of their role to be promoting and
discussing charity and corporate social responsibility with
the City and the
Livery. The Livery alone raises some £41m a year for charitable
causes (Mercers, 2007). Today, every Lord Mayor has a charitable
appeal which aims to raise money during the mayoral year, and Lord
Mayors take part in numerous fundraisers and events promoting
charity.
This extends from financial donations to donations of time
through City business volunteering, - assisted by
City
Action, a free volunteer matchmaking service, to the
Heart of
the City initiative, which aims to help companies set up
an effective corporate responsibility programme. The Lord Mayor's
Dragon Awards for social and economic regeneration of
communities are one of the most prestigious awards of their kind,
and have been organised each year since 1986.
Finally, the City of London Corporation has an active programme
of corporate social responsibility through the
City Bridge Trust, the surplus of money endowed
for the upkeep of London's bridges. The Trust
gives grants worth some £17m a year. The City of London
Corporation is one of the most signficant funders of the Arts
after the Government and the BBC, and also supports seven
specialist schools and three City Academies.