28 October 2007
Ancient London trust celebrates £200 million investment in the
capital's future-facing charities
1 November sees The City Bridge Trust grants hit £200 million
mark
An ancient fund that originated nearly 1,000 years ago with
taxes raised by William Rufus to maintain London Bridge will reach
a major milestone on 1 November.
The City Bridge Trust has made more than 5,360 grants over the
last 12 years to the benefit of charitable causes in Greater
London. The grants, currently totalling £199.9 million pounds will
shortly soar past the £200 million mark as a new set of grants are
approved at the Grants Committee meeting on 1 November. The meeting
will highlight the positive effects that this enormous sum has had
on beneficiaries of The City Bridge Trust grants, and the thousands
of lives that have been touched as a result.
Bridges bring gold to London
The City Bridge Trust grants have their origins in a historic
‘bridge tax’ which were gathered into a fund administered by Bridge
House Estates. Although primarily responsible for maintaining
London Bridge and the bridges crossing the Thames into the City of
London, since 1995 this fund has distributed accumulated surplus,
through the The City Bridge Trust, to London charities and
community groups. The City of London – which looks after the Square
Mile business district at the heart of London, is the sole trustee
of The City Bridge Trust.
Holding their breath on 1 November…
Several organisations wait to hear on 1 November if their grant
applications are successful. For some, this will be a second or
third successful grant application, reinforcing The City Bridge
Trust’s endeavour to continue helping projects that the committee
believe have been exceptionally successful. They include:
- Froglife Trust
- Alone in London
- The Food Chain
Clare Thomas, Chief Grants Officer for The City Bridge Trust,
said: “Contrary to what people may think, it certainly isn’t easy
giving away £15million pounds a year. We receive approximately 600
grant applications each year from incredibly diverse organisations
for varying amounts of money. Our job is to decide which projects
will benefit most from funding and our hope is that the beneficiary
will grow and develop as a result of their grants. The success
stories that have fed back to The City Bridge Trust over the years
are testimony to its vital importance in helping London’s extensive
voluntary sector.”
Leaping into Action
+ Froglife Trust. The City Bridge Trust has been key to this
national environmental organisation’s bid to conserve frogs, toads
and other amphibians. In February 2000, The City Bridge Trust
awarded a grant of £95,000 towards Froglife’s ‘Pond Doctor’ Scheme
to conserve pond habitats in London, with a third year’s support
being agreed in April 2002. The City Bridge Trust contribution to
this project meant that the 785 ponds visited by the Pond Doctor
and all areas, from the presence of amphibian species and
dragonflies to the use of chemicals were taken into consideration.
These 785 London ponds benefited from a substantial increase in
amphibian populations, improvement in health and carers of the
ponds became less inclined to use chemicals. A further grant of
£96,000 was awarded in 2004 enabling the organisation to engage
young offenders on environmental volunteering projects. Without The
City Bridge Trust, this organisation would not have been able to
properly fund its extra schemes such as Pond Doctor since 2000.
Froglife Trust has bid for £132,888 to fund the London Standing
Water Habitat Action Plan which aims to promote the importance of
London’s ponds and lakes to all Londoners.
+ Alone in London. Founded in 1972, Alone in London works with
homeless and potentially homeless young people seeking either to
rehabilitate them or prevent them from becoming homeless in the
first place. The organisation’s main focus is on family mediation -
aiming to find solutions to conflict so that young people can
remain in or return to the family residence. The organisation was
first awarded a grant of £35,000 by The City Bridge Trust in
February 1996 to fund one year’s family-based work. In 1997 a
further grant of £58,000 backed the program for a further two
years.
Alone in London hopes to receive £74, 371 on 1 November
+ The Food Chain. The Food Chain provides a free-meal service
every Sunday to housebound people with HIV, their dependants and
carers. With £110, 400 worth of funding from The City Bridge Trust,
The Food Chain has managed to reach a far greater number of people
in need. Nutrition plays a vital role in helping those who are
severely disabled by their illness to maintain strength and combat
the effects of living with AIDS. The Food Chain prides itself on
offering both user specific meals and tailored individual care.
Says Laura Willoughby MBE, Chief Executive at The Food Chain,
“The grant from The City Bridge Trust has allowed us to support a
permanent member of staff - a service manager - enabling us to
enlist the assistance of 1,000 volunteers and increase the number
of people across London that we help. The post has allowed us to
develop new services in response to consultation with our service
users and HIV professionals – ensuring we are meeting the specific
needs of those we reach with our service.”
The Food Chain hopes to be awarded £110, 407 to meet the costs
of a senior staff post managing their food service across
London
They’ve come a long way
- Heart’n Soul
- Trinity Community Centre
- Samaritans
+ Heart’n Soul. In its first few years of grant-making The City
Bridge Trust awarded Heart’n Soul, a key organisation in the
disability arts movement, £40,000 to purchase a touring bus which
was used to transport their performers around the UK. Since then,
partly as a result of this initial funding, Heart’n Soul has grown
at an incredible rate with further funding from The City Bridge
Trust and is now held as an example of good practice by the Arts
Council England, with their ground-breaking model rolling out
nationwide. Heart’n Soul’s main aim is to empower people with
learning disabilities and to give them a safe environment to
develop their social ability and personal confidence.
+ Trinity Community Centre (TCC). Since 2004, thanks in part to
a previous contribution by The City Bridge Trust, the Trinity
Community Centre owns and occupies what was previously a large
church in East London. Over 60 different groups, representing over
60 different ethnic groups, use the facility for social,
recreational and educational services. TCC set up ‘Project Dost’
five years ago to provide specialist, individual and long-term
support for young refugees who have arrived in the UK as asylum
seekers or as victims of child trafficking. In 2006 The City Bridge
Trust awarded £103,000 to the Centre for the salary and associated
costs of an Advocacy Advisor for young unaccompanied refugees.
Project Dost aims to help them face the challenges of adjusting to
a new culture, education system and society, whilst also offering
them the opportunity to play and enjoy their youth.
+ Samaritans. Support from The City Bridge Trust has had an
enormous impact on the work of the Samaritans, Central London
Branch, who provide continuous emotional support to those
experiencing despair. A grant of £148,000 was made to the charity
to extend an SMS text-messaging service aimed at people aged 24 and
under with whom texting was proved to be extremely popular. The
City Bridge Trust grant will help the Samaritans pioneer a new way
of responding to a growing problem amongst our youth today.
Sarah Anderson, Director of the Samaritans CLB branch, says;
“Everyone is delighted with the grant from The City Bridge Trust.
This funding is vital to enable our volunteers to reach one of our
primary target groups – young people in London. SMS texting has
already proved very popular amongst young people, with over 170,000
texts received by Samaritans across the UK and Ireland in the first
year of its introduction. Young people in London need emotional
support and text messaging encourages their communication with
Samaritans, Central London Branch. In addition, the grant has
funded the salary of an Outreach and Communication Officer who
provides essential support for our ‘Young People in Crisis in the
Capital’ Programme.”
With hundreds of similar success stories from beneficiaries of
their grants, The City Bridge Trust is proud of its £200 million
investment in the capital and looks forward to witnessing the
social benefits of their next 12 years of grant-making.
Ends
For press enquiries please contact:
Fiona McKenzie or Carie Barkhuizen at Rain Communications UK Tel
020 7222 4345 or email
fiona.mckenzie@raincommunications.co.uk or
carie.barkhuizen@raincommunications.co.uk
Notes to Editors:
The City Bridge Trust
The City Bridge Trust is London’s largest independent grant-making
trust, of which the City of London Corporation is the sole trustee.
Through its grant-making and strategic initiatives, The City Bridge
Trust works closely with voluntary groups and charities to reduce
disadvantage in London. www.citybridgetrust.org.uk
City of London Corporation
The ancient City of London Corporation has a 21st-century role
supporting the business City as the world's leading international
financial and business centre. The City of London Corporation
provides local government services for the City of London “Square
Mile” at the heart of London - but its responsibilities also extend
far beyond the City boundaries and include paying for and running
the Barbican Centre, Epping Forest, Hampstead Heath, and three
wholesale food markets, as well as acting as the London Port Health
Authority. The City of London Corporation is the sole trustee of
The City Bridge Trust.