Over the last ten years, Newsquest has given more than £3 million in total to help charitable community causes from Scotland and Northern Ireland to the West Country.
The five trustees struggled this year to choose between hundreds of deserving applications, but narrowed the list down to those which they thought would deliver practical benefits to communities served by any of Newsquest’s 165 local news brands.
That, says Newsquest, meant good news for the young homeless people of Bolton and Blackburn in the North and also Bracknell in the South, with grants of more than £18,000 in total to help them through this winter. There was help elsewhere in the country with food, clothing and furniture for those who might be lucky enough to have a roof over their heads, but still have little to spare otherwise. And then there was money as well to support projects providing regular hot meals for the poor, the elderly and the isolated.
The unique and indispensable contribution of hospices caring for patients with life-limiting illnesses has been recognised by generous grants before, but justified another £25,000 this year.
The Scouts are also regular recipients and bagged £15,000, which is buying them tents for bigger and better adventures when they go outdoors, while paying for some urgent repairs to the places where they meet together indoors. There were also grants of £23,000 to spruce up facilities in some of the community halls that will be hosting all those pantomimes and parties this Christmas and New Year.
The trustees also made grants to improve access to sporting activities for everyone, whatever their abilities. That meant an outlay of some £15,000 altogether, including £4,000 in Southampton for children’s sport and £5,000 in Bradford to get the locals out on the water in a pair of double scull rowing boats. Money is also going to support sporting projects that include solo sailing for the disabled off the coast of Dorset and special saddles for a disabled riding group in the North West.
The two biggest awards of £15,000 each went to two charities founded in the 19th century by a group of benefactors including novelist Charles Dickens. They are now known as the Journalists’ Charity and Newstraid, both helping people who have worked in the newspaper industry but have fallen on hard times.
“Experience has taught us that real benefits are more likely to be delivered by smaller, well-defined and well-targeted donations,” said Simon Westrop, chairman of the trustees.
“So we tend to like simple things we can understand and which deliver obvious and immediate improvements to people’s lives. This year, the two tumble dryers for a night shelter for homeless people in Lancashire are a good illustration of what I mean.
“We are still interested in joining with other donors in big projects as well, but usually we will want to make sure that the majority of funding is in place before we participate, rather than seeing the project left unfinished.”
