GBCT’s latest newsletter is now available. Download it in PDF here or read a short summary below.

Community Heroes – A Message from the Chair of Trustees

At the time of writing our annual newsletter the world faces many unique challenges. I reflect upon the importance of volunteers and those who work for the betterment of their local communities, many of whom will likely be supporting our emergency services and / or those who need support in our communities at this difficult time, and whose number will no doubt include many of George’s friends and colleagues—we wish them all well.

Through the GBCT, George’s legacy lives on and I know there will be many organisations we have supported who will also be undertaking invaluable work at this time too. The GBCT continues to be ’open for business’ and welcomes new grant applications. The Trustees will endeavour to review any ‘priority’ applications quickly during this period.

On a happier note, looking back over the past 12 months we have many positive stories to share from the GBCT. We have continued to be busy awarding grants over the past 12 months, bringing the overall figure to over £120,000.

I hope that you enjoy reading some good news in our newsletter.

Maria Bairstow, Chair of Trustees

New Grants

• BASICS Essex Accident Rescue Services (BEARS) – Emergency Aid
• Criminon – Enhancement of Skills
• London Wildlife Trust – Enhancement of Skills and Volunteering
• Cambridge House – Enhancement of Skills
• Sudden Productions – Enhancement of Skills & Volunteering
• Bristol Carers Support Centre – Enhancement of Skills
• Revitalise – Volunteering

Updates from Grant Recipients

• Hovingham Defibrillator, opened in April 2019
• Church Lads and Girls Brigade, training defibrillator purchased and workshops being run
• London Air Ambulance, invited to visit their base to see the new GBCT supported training equipment and have a tour
• Snow Camp, successful pilot of the GBCT supported mental health programme

It’s GBCT’s fifth anniversary and our special edition newsletter is available here.

Our fifth anniversary since the GBCT was established coincides with us reaching the incredible milestone of £100,000 worth of grants awarded to communities across the UK! From Cornwall to the North of England, East Anglia to Wales, over those five years we have proudly supported:

• 1 4×4 Search and Rescue Vehicle
• 1 Bike Hub Centre
• 6 Ahoy Shipmates
• 9 Community Access AEDs
• 20 Engineering volunteers
• 43 Young leaders qualifications
• Over 50 community initiatives
• Over 2500 people receiving training in first aid

….and much more! Read our special edition newsletter to revisit what GBCT has supported over the past five years.

GBCT will also be marking its fifth anniversary with a special event in Brompton-by-Sawdon, the location of our first Community Access AED project, in May. We would love to see our supporters there, further details are on the back page of the newsletter.

GBCT’s latest newsletter is now available. You can read it below or download it, with full pictures, in PDF here.

• Latest News

Prime Minister ‘Opens’ GBCT AED

In June, The George Bairstow Charitable Trust were delighted to attend the official opening of the new community access AED at the Moneyrow Green Memorial Hall (Holyport) alongside Theresa May MP, local residents and other supporters of the project.

A grant from GBCT helped provide funding and the AED displays a plaque in memory of George, who was a regular visitor to the village.

Trustee Matthew Leopold (centre) said a few words about the GBCT to the assembled group, and was joined by Katie Bairstow (centre left), Ian Cressey (right) and Faye Wilson-Cressey (left).

• Updates from Grant Recipients

The East Anglian Air Ambulance’s (EAAA) GBCT supported CPR training programme has, as of October 2018, trained 530 people! In April GBCT made a grant of £870 to support the purchase of training manikins so that the EAAA could extend its staff and volunteer training programme, which was previously supported by GBCT, to members of the public. This is a great achievement and we’re proud to be a part of efforts to increase the number of people in our communities who are potential life savers.
We’re pleased to hear that the Bemerton Heath Bike Hub is off to a strong start, following its launch in September 2017. You may recall that GBCT’s grant enabled the purchase of the cabin needed to house the hub. To date, the project has engaged four young people from the local secondary school who attend the weekly bike club, plus a broader group who use the facility to work with the Hub Manager Simon on a 1-2-1 basis through referrals from local agencies such as the probation services, mental health teams and one of the project’s Trustees who mentors a number of young people. In addition, some of the pupils referred by a local secondary school have also been doing their Duke of Edinburgh awards with the team and one has stayed on as a volunteer. The project hopes to build on its early success and continue to engage more young people over the long-term.

We were also delighted to hear from Revitalise that the £1460 grant we provided last year has enabled 20 young volunteers (aged 16 to 25) to take part in their respite holiday programme for disabled people. The volunteers worked with Revitalise staff to enable the guests to experience independence, opportunity and choice, whilst enabling careers to have a break. Of the volunteers, 87% said their experience had improved their self confidence and 79% said their experience had encouraged them to take a more active part in their home community. One volunteer described it ‘as a life changing experience’.

Ulverston Inshore Rescue recently featured in a BBC news article about the response to the Windermere Ferry fire. The team were one of a number of organisations who responded to the incident, no doubt making good use of their GBCT support response vehicle.

Lastly, GBCT has also been doing some outreach work in ‘thanks’ for a grant it received. Trustee Ian Cressey ran an AED familiarisation session with work colleagues at ExxonMobil using the AED training equipment funded by ExxonMobil’s Volunteer Programme.

• Recently Awarded Grants

The development of skills is being supported by a GBCT grant to e:merge, a Bradford based charity that is running a Role Model Leader programme. A GBCT grant of £4400 will support a current e:merge volunteer, Megan Lamb, as an intern on the programme. The project aims to give each ‘Role Model Leader’ a year’s full-time experience as a youth worker, attaining a Level 2 (or higher) qualification in youth work plus support with taking future career steps. They are supported by a weekly in house training session with a line manager and mentoring from within the e:merge team of experienced youth workers. Through the experience they will be able to improve their leadership skills, confidence and employment opportunities. The Role Model Leaders are involved in street based sports to engage other young people in the community, along with group work on a range of topics including staying in education.

The Trustees have been impressed with the outcomes for the 10 young people on Criminon’s skills based distance learning programme for offenders and ex-offenders, which was supported by a previous GBCT grant. A further grant of £1714 has been made to support another ten young people over the coming year.

Volunteering amongst young people and the development of skills is being supported by a GBCT grant for the London Wildlife Trust’s Wild Action Programme, an eight week practical conservation volunteering programme. A grant of £2500 will fund the travel, tools, equipment, lunch, clothing and personal protective equipment for approximately 50 young people.
The programme supports an approach in which the natural environment is not seen in isolation, but as an essential component ‘at the heart of outdoor experience, of adventure, of learning, of creativity, and of wellbeing.’ The volunteers will join cohorts of up to 10 young people on a skills development programme structured over 8 weeks, through which they will undertake practical outdoor conservation, work towards a John Muir Award, and complete accredited media training.

The provision of emergency aid in communities continues to be supported by numerous GBCT grants. In addition to our support of the EAAA (see left) for first aid training, GBCT has also made a grant of £630 to St Andrew’s School Leatherhead to enable the school to  purchase an AED trainer and first aid training equipment. Faye Wilson-Cressey is a Geography Teacher at the School and, inspired by the Holyport AED unveiling that she attended, the school is pressing ahead with plans to purchase two AEDs and the GBCT grant will enable staff and students to participate in familiarisation sessions.

GBCT has also been providing further support to charitable emergency service organisations. A grant of £1485 has been made to Bucks Search and Rescue to support the purchase of a new digital radio network for use during emergency search and rescue operations. Similar to Surrey Search and Rescue, who GBCT previously supported, the Bucks team is part of the UK’s Lowland Rescue Service and assist the police in finding and helping vulnerable missing people.

London’s Air Ambulance (LAA) is to benefit from a £2000 GBCT grant to cover the cost of      purchasing a new advanced training manikin. Scenario based training using manikins is an essential part of the learning and development for clinicians. The LAA estimate that over a year up to 400 students, medics and healthcare professionals will benefit from this equipment, both from its own staff and via its Institute of Pre-Hospital Care. A number of George’s friends have either benefited from this or similar training, so with this first hand knowledge the Trustees are pleased to support the LAAs initiative.

One of two new GBCT supported AEDs will be available to Exmoor Search and Rescue aboard their fourth emergency vehicle, thanks to an £850 grant. Members of Mountain Rescue England and Wales, as well as the Peninsula Mountain and Cave Rescue Association, they serve large parts of Devon and Somerset. The second AED will be available to the public in the village of Hovingham in North Yorkshire, supported by a grant of £750. Overall, this takes the number of GBCT supported AEDs to eleven.

• Thanks to Our Supporters

GBCT relies upon the generous donations of its supporters and the Trustees would, once again, like to thank all of GBCT’s donors.

A huge well done to George’s cousin Kit McCrystal for completing the Edinburgh Marathon in aid of GBCT in May. Kit completed a challenging Edinburgh course (there’s quite a few hills in Edinburgh!) and has raised over £3600 for GBCT, a tremendous achievement. Thank you Kit!

We would also like to say thank you to the customers of the Old Post Office Tavern in Brompton for their on-going support of GBCT, most recently a £100 donation from the Vale of York Lodge Advancement (pictured right—Maria receiving the donation from Tavern Proprietor Neil).

If you’re raising funds for GBCT please let us know. We’d love to be able to say thank you and support you via our social media pages.

• About The Trust

The GBCT was set up in March 2014 in memory of George Bairstow and exists so that the difference George made to people’s lives can continue. George was committed to charitable work and lived his life to help others. He died in November 2013 in a car accident, returning home from a volunteer duty with St John Ambulance on Bonfire Night.

The GBCT’s goal is to empower communities to make a difference by providing grants in support of:

• The provision of emergency aid
• Volunteering among young people
• The enhancement of skills among  young people

• Keeping in contact with GBCT

Visit our website at www.gbct.org.uk or email us at info@gbct.org.uk

Find us on Facebook at georgebairstowct for all the latest news and pictures and, don’t forget, we’re on Twitter too at gbct_uk.

Copyright © 2018 George Bairstow Charitable Trust. All rights reserved. George Bairstow Charitable Trust (GBCT), a charity registered in England and Wales (1155769).

GBCT’s latest newsletter is now available. You can read it below or download it, with full pictures, in PDF here.

• Latest News

1432 Trained…..and Counting

In 2016 GBCT gave a grant to the Great Western Air Ambulance (GWAA) to enable the purchase of the training equipment for its Great Western Heartstart initiative. Between February and December 2017, 1432 people have been trained in CPR, approximately 2/3rd from schools / colleges. All this delivered by over 100 volunteers that GWAA have trained. In 2018, GWAA aim to build on  their success and reach 2000 people trained by year-end.
The GBCT is delighted to hear what a successful initiative GWAA have launched. We know George would have been immensely proud and supportive, having himself delivered Heartstart courses to hundreds of Durham students with Durham LINKS. hundreds of.

Ironman Chris

GBCT Trustee Chris Monk has conquered the gruelling Taupo Ironman Triathlon in New Zealand in aid of GBCT.

Chris completed the 3.8km swim, 180km bike ride and the marathon run in an impressive 11 hours and 22 minutes. At the time of publishing Chris had raised £1000 and his donation page remains open if you’d like to support him. https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/chrismonkironman

From everyone at GBCT we’d like to say a huge thank you and well done to Chris for his efforts, also to his wife Nicola for the support she’s  given him during endless hours of training. Enjoy a well earnt rest!

• Updates from Grant Recipients

In our last newsletter we announced grants to support two new AEDS. The first, in Wintringham (North Yorkshire) was commissioned in February, with the residents organising  first aid training to ensure familiarity with basic life support techniques and the new device. The AED is located on the Village Hall with a plaque acknowledging the funding from GBCT and other supporters. An ’opening’ ceremony for the second AED in Holyport (Berkshire) is due to take place in May and GBCT Trustees hope to attend.

We have also received an update from the communities of Foxholes and Butterwick in North Yorkshire, following the grant they received towards two AEDs in 2017. Both AEDs have now been commissioned and the Parish Council arranged for training to be given to a number of local volunteers.
GBCT has now supported nine community access AEDs available to communities 24/7:  seven in North Yorkshire, one in Berkshire and one in Englefield Green, Surrey. A question we commonly hear is how does a community access AED work in practice, such that the AED is kept secure whilst also being available for use by the public in an emergency?’. In the locations GBCT has supported, where there is no venue open 24/7, the AED is usually housed in a secure weatherproof cabinet on an external wall e.g. of a Village Hall or indeed in a disused phone box, as in Brompton. The cabinet is then secured with a combination code lock and the information panel advises potential users to firstly call 999 for an ambulance. The ambulance service hold a database of AED locations and access codes, they will then provide the access code to the caller.

We have also received an update from the Families United Network, following the £1000 grant reported in our previous newsletter to support young people with additional needs or disabilities to learn new cookery skills. Each week the young people have been taking turns to devise a simple menu, go shopping for ingredients and prepare a meal for the group. This has proven a huge success and is one of the initiatives supporting the participants to transition to independent living. Participants have also been taking part in ‘bake off’ style competitions and have baked cakes for fundraising events.

Recently Awarded Grants

GBCT is supporting the provision of emergency aid to multiple communities and seriously ill people with  a significant grant to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA). The GBCT’s grant of over £5500 will enable the YAA to purchase three heated patient rescue blankets for use on their two helicopters, which undertook 1414 rescue missions last year alone. The advanced technology in these reusable blankets provides an effective form of mobile hypothermia prevention in the pre-hospital emergency care environment. Advanced medical equipment is rarely cheap, but the Trustees are reassured by expert opinion from a paramedic friend of George’s who has worked on an air ambulance that the equipment represents good value for money and delivers notable patient benefit, given that air ambulance helicopters are inherently cool places and they usually attend the most critically ill patients.
Supporting both the provision of emergency aid and development of skills among young people, the GBCT is providing a grant of over £1000 to the Church Lads and Girls Brigade (CLCGB) towards the cost of an AED and a training AED. The CLCGB is The Anglican Church’s own uniformed youth organisation which over a typical 12 month programme would enable participants to cover a range of activities including camps, youth leadership training weekends and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DoE). The AED will primarily be available to DoE leaders for improved emergency aid provision as part of a wider project to improve equipment provision e.g. GPS trackers, to support safe participation, but it will also be available at other CLCGB events. In considering the application, GBCT encouraged and offered grant support for the additional purchase of a training AED so that the young people will also be able to familiarise with an AED as part of their existing first aid skills training.
A GBCT grant supporting the development of skills among young people has been made to Cambridge House, which is a Southwark based charity that assists vulnerable adults and children in crisis. The grant of £1600 will support their ‘Stand-up’ programme, which is an intervention project for highly vulnerable 16-25 year olds who are at risk / are involved in criminality and / or gang activity. The programme aims to return them to employment, education or training via: 1:1 mentoring support; social cognitive skills sessions, to enable better management of emotions and behaviour in challenging situations; role model ’inspire’ sessions led by previous participants; and sixteen specialist workshops. The workshops cover a wide range of topics, including: health and wellbeing; housing rights; sexual health; budgeting and money management; and employability skills. Since 2014 the organisation has worked with 40 young people and 78% are now in work, education or training, versus 17% at the beginning of the programme. GBCT’s grant will support the sixteen specialist workshops in the current programme.

A GBCT grant of £1600 has been made to Resources for Autism, supporting  both the provision of skills and volunteering among young people. Resources for Autism supports families who are struggling to care for a child with autism. They train and support volunteers to visit these families, to pass on knowledge of autism, coping strategies and communication techniques that will help the families look after their child. They will engage in activities designed to support the development of the individual with autism, improving communication and life skills and the time the volunteer visits the family also provides valuable respite to parents and siblings who are acting as carers. GBCT’s grant will cover the cost of training fifteen young people to be volunteer supporters for families with an autistic child. The volunteers, who are typically students, provide three or more hours per week to the family they support. The training covers six core areas, including: autism awareness; first aid; safeguarding; play and communication; working with families; and active support. Resources for Autism supports the volunteers with expert staff and regular supervision, the volunteers also have access to a resource base for activities.

Thanks to our Supporters

GBCT relies upon the generous donations of its supporters and the Trustees would, once again, like to thank all of GBCT’s donors.

We’d like to make a special mention and thank you to ‘Books that Benefit’ for their £300 donation to GBCT. Run by Annabella Villers, one of George’s relatives, ‘Books that Benefit’ is a second hand bookseller that donates its takings to charity. The GBCT are very grateful to everyone who has purchased books via ‘Books that Benefit’ and made this donation possible. If you’d like to explore their stock visit www.abebooks.co.uk and look under ‘Booksellers’ in the red coloured bar at the top of the page and then search for ‘Books that Benefit’.

….and please don’t forget that in May, Kit McCrystal will be running the Edinburgh Marathon  in aid of GBCT. To date, Kit has raised £1100 and is over 50% of the way to meeting his £2000 fundraising target. We wish Kit every success and if you’d like to support him, you can find his sponsorship page on BT My Donate at: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/kitmccrystal1#donationSummary. Good luck with the training Kit!

If you’re raising funds for GBCT please let us know. We’d love to be able to say thank you and support you via our social media pages.

About the Trust

The GBCT was set up in March 2014 in memory of George Bairstow and exists so that the difference George made to people’s lives can continue. George was committed to charitable work and lived his life to help others. He died in November 2013 in a car accident, returning home from a volunteer duty with St John Ambulance on Bonfire Night.

The GBCT’s goal is to empower communities to make a difference by providing grants in support of:

• The provision of emergency aid
• Volunteering among young people
• The enhancement of skills among  young people

Keeping in contact with GBCT

Visit our website at www.gbct.org.uk or email us at info@gbct.org.uk

Find us on Facebook at georgebairstowct for all the latest news and pictures and, don’t forget, we’re on Twitter too at gbct_uk.

Copyright © 2018 George Bairstow Charitable Trust. All rights reserved. George Bairstow Charitable Trust (GBCT), a charity registered in England and Wales (1155769).

GBCT’s latest newsletter is now available. You can read it below or download it, with full pictures, in PDF here.

• Latest News

AEDs Go Wild in Sussex

The Sussex Wildlife Trust have taken delivery of their GBCT supported AED, one of two which will accompany their volunteer work parties. The volunteers are often carrying out nature conservation work in remote areas where, in the event of an emergency, help can be some time coming.

Pictured above are a group of the Wildlife Trust’s volunteers taking delivery of the AED (thank you to ©Sam Roberts/Sussex Wildlife Trust).

Winner! Best Charity Stall

GBCT can now call itself award winning, having won the prize for the Best Charity Stall at the Englefield Green Village Fair in June 2017. Maria and Vivian Bairstow were delighted to collect the award from the Mayor of Runnymede and the Fair Committee. GBCT have attended the fair for the last two years to raise awareness of the Trust’s work, including the nearby GBCT supported Community AED, and to support this by offering first aid and AED demonstrations. The team even managed to give the Mayor and his family a quick demonstration as they judged the show! Thanks go to Katie Bairstow, Kat Stoner, Faye Wilson-Cressey and Ian Cressey who supported Maria and Vivian on the day.

• Updates from Grant Recipients

In July some of our Trustees were able to visit the St John’s School Leatherhead Community Holiday, to see the great work that the team from the school were doing. Visiting on the ‘painting evening’ it was clear that the young people on the holiday were having a very enjoyable and enriching time, but what pleased the Trustees most, given GBCT’s aims, was to hear from the young volunteers and their parents just how much they had learnt and developed as a result of their experience. Under the guidance of Neil Whitmore, History Teacher and Director of Community Partnership at St John’s, it was clear that the programme delivered very   positive outcomes for the children attending the holiday, their parents and the volunteers themselves. As a reminder, GBCT’s grant covered the cost of a theatre visit and volunteers t-shirts, which featured Aladdin and a GBCT logo!

It has been full steam ahead for the Helston Railway Preservation Society’s Juniors Day. Thanks to GBCT’s support, up to 20 young people have been actively involved in work on the railway and they are currently working on a Lamp Hut for the railway, which involves refurbishing a surplus hut from St Erth station that has been acquired from National Rail. The Society has also been able to improve links with local colleges and is hosting a student from Cornwall College for 9 months’ work experience, whilst students from Helston Community College are able to volunteer via their Duke of Edinburgh scheme.

Ahoy Shipmates! Our six GBCT supported shipmates at   Deptford are making tremendous progress on their courses. The last update we received was that all six had completed their bronze award and were working hard towards their silver and gold awards, covering a variety of sailing and powerboat   qualifications. We hear that the young people are actively involved with the charity and are volunteering their time to support it, which is both supporting other participants and   enabling them to developing a range of new skills as they get involved in fundraising, administration and maintenance.

• Recently Awarded Grants

The network of GBCT supported Community AEDs continues to expand and support the provision of emergency aid.

Residents in the village of Wintringham in North Yorkshire have been awarded a grant to match community fundraising towards the cost of their new AED, which increases the number of GBCT supported AEDs in the Brompton-by-Sawdon area to seven.

The second grant, which is for £500 is being made to the Berkshire community of Holyport. The village is a place George knew well and he was regular visitor, often with Trustee Chris Monk, to The Jolly Gardner pub. George’s friend, who now runs the pub, is one of the community members leading the Community AED initiative.

Five young people from Country Durham will be able to enhance their skills and volunteering via Street Games, thanks to a GBCT grant of £1250. Street Games aims to make sport more widely available for disadvantaged young people and to maximize the power of sport to change young lives and to change disadvantaged communities. GBCT’s grant will enable the five young volunteers to attend a three day residential, during which they’ll learn the leadership and teamwork skills needed to be sports and fitness volunteers in their own community.

Young people in Bedforshire will be able to learn new cookery skills for a year, thanks to a GBCT grant of £1000 to the Families United Network (FUN). FUN aims to provide children and young adults with additional needs or disabilities with the support and leisure  oportunities needed to reach their full potential. GBCT’s grant will support the delivery of cookery skills over the course of a year, covering the costs of the ingredients and hard-copy instructions for the participants. George was a keen baker so the GBCT is pleased to be able to support others develop their skills in this area and we look forward to sharing news of how the participants progress.

Skills is also the theme of GBCT’s grant to Peaceful Hearts, Peaceful Minds. The community based group in Daventry has been inspired by the personal experience of its founder and will teach yoga as a new skill to young people from disadvantaged and / or vulnerable backgrounds, including those who have suffered traumas and mental health problems. GBCT’s grant of £130 is providing the equipment for a pilot with seven young women living in looked-after care. The programme will be based on a modernised version of the ‘Eight Limbs’ yoga model, which will include topical issues affecting young people such as drug / alcohol abuse, nutrition and mental health. GBCT wishes the group’s pilot every success.

• Meet Our Volunteers: Nick Paterson

Nick joined GBCT as a Trustee in 2015 and has known the Bairstows for many years, having been George’s Headmaster at Woodcote House. Nick brings to the Trust a wealth of education experience, which is particularly useful to the Trustees when considering grant applications that focus upon the development of skills of young people. Nick continues to teach at Woodcote House and facilitates the annual GBCT presentations, which explain what the GBCT is and why it is significant to Woodcote House; they also include first aid   demonstrations. Trustees Matthew and Ian were very grateful to Nick for imparting his teaching experience to help them channel the enthusiasm of the children participating in the talk they gave!

• Thanks to our Supporters

GBCT relies upon the generous donations of its supporters and the Trustees would, once again, like to thank all of GBCT’s donors.

One our supporters is already preparing for a marathon fundraising event in 2018. Kit McCrystal will be running the Edinburgh Marathon in May 2018 in aid of GBCT. We wish Kit every success and if you’d like to support him, you can find his sponsorship page on BT My Donate at: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/kitmccrystal1#donationSummary. Good luck with the training Kit!

If you’re raising funds for GBCT please let us know. We’d love to be able to say thank you and support you via our social media pages.

• About the Trust

The GBCT was set up in March 2014 in memory of George Bairstow and exists so that the difference George made to people’s lives can continue.

George was committed to charitable work and lived his life to help others. He died in November 2013 in a car accident, returning home from a volunteer duty with St John Ambulance on Bonfire Night.

The GBCT’s goal is to empower communities to make a difference by providing grants in support of:

• The provision of emergency aid
• Volunteering among young people
• The enhancement of skills among young people

•  Keeping in contact with GBCT

Visit our website at www.gbct.org.uk or email us at info@gbct.org.uk

Find us on Facebook at georgebairstowct for all the latest news and pictures and, don’t forget, we’re on Twitter too at gbct_uk.

Copyright © 2017 George Bairstow Charitable Trust. All rights reserved. George Bairstow Charitable Trust (GBCT), a charity registered in England and Wales (1155769).

GBCT’s latest newsletter is now available. You can read it below or download it, with full pictures, in PDF here.

• Latest News

UK Youth’s ‘GBCT Day’

UK Youth held their GBCT supported day on 2 June at their New Forest outdoor activity centre, following the grant announced in our May newsletter. The young people participating enjoyed a variety of activities over the course of the day, including raft building!

We’ve received fantastic feedback about the day from the team at UK Youth and the positive impact it has had upon the disadvantaged young people who attended. UK Youth’s event leaders said that they could really see the difference in the participant’s confidence, skills and ability to recognise, and also to believe in, their talents.

First Aid on the Water

GBCT has awarded a £2500 grant to Herts Boat Rescue, to fund their first aid equipment for 2017. Based in Hertfordshire, the charity is primarily a volunteer flood rescue team, part of the UK’s national flood response capability, but also uses its expertise and equipment to provide safety consultation and event cover for planned activities such as triathlons and other events in / around the water.

GBCT’s grant will ensure that the team have the first aid supplies they need to deliver life saving care. Specifically, it will cover: the provision of medical oxygen supplies, which is a vital resource for first responders treating seriously ill patients; replacement of defibrillator pads and batteries that are no longer serviceable, keeping these life saving machines operational; and replacement of general first aid supplies and kits.

We’ll keep you up to date with the team’s activities in future newsletters, but you can also follow them and hear their latest news via their Facebook page @hertfordshireboatrescue.

•  Updates from Grant Recipients

In December GBCT made a grant of £3400 to Tonybee Hall’s Make It! Youth programme in London’s East End, enabling the involvement of Made in Hackney, a community kitchen, to teach the young people how to cook healthy food. Vivian and Maria Bairstow visited the participants during their community project in May and were delighted to see how successful the cookery had been. Split into small groups, cookery projects took place across all three days of the event. We hear that cooking ‘damper bread’ on the fire pit was the highlight for the participants!

•  Recently Awarded Grants

The network of GBCT supported Community AEDs, supporting the provision of emergency aid, has been further expanded with two new grants.

Residents in the village of Ebberston in North Yorkshire have been given a £1000 grant towards the cost of their new AED, taking the number of GBCT supported AEDs in the Brompton-by-Sawdon area to six. The Defibrillator Group in the village is planning first aid training for the community when the AED enters service.

The second new grant is to the Sussex Wildlife Trust for £600. The grant will purchase one of the five new AEDs the Wildlife Trust is planning to buy for its ranger vehicles. Managing 30 nature reserves, often in remote areas, the programme is intended to ensure that AEDs are available to its conservation volunteer work parties and the public in these areas where medical help maybe quite some time away. The Wildlife Trust will be training all of their leaders in the use of AEDs as part of the roll-out and will be marking their vehicles to ensure members of the public know that an AED is available. To find out more about the Wildlife Trust visit www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk.

To support volunteering among young people and the enhancement of skills among young people a grant of £1000 has been made in support of the St John’s School Community Holiday. Located in Leatherhead, Surrey, the school runs an annual holiday week for 20 children and young people with special needs, also giving their parents a respite break. For the children and young people, the holiday is designed to ensure they have an enjoyable time by participating in a range of activities, that are both fun and challenging to them. To enable the holiday to take place, about 30 Sixth Form students from the school, both past and present, volunteer under the leadership of a volunteer senior team and a member of staff who is a child expert, ensuring the children can be managed and cared for appropriately. This is a great opportunity to encourage young people into volunteering, and indeed some of them return to volunteer in subsequent summers.

GBCT’s grant will fund the cost of the volunteers accompanying the children on a West End Theatre visit during the holiday. The Trustees selected this aspect of the holiday because George worked at the Theatre Royal in Windsor before starting at Durham, where he then continued his involvement with student theatre at St Aidan’s College. The holiday takes place in August and an update on the visit will follow in our autumn newsletter.

•  Meet our Volunteers: Chris & Nicola Monk

Wedding bells have been ringing and we’re delighted to congratulate GBCT Trustee Chris Monk and fellow GBCT supporter Nicola Monk (née Helme) on their wedding in May.

Chris knew George from a young age and they later became reacquainted through St John Ambulance’s Medical Response Team in London. Chris works in IT and is one of our founding Trustees.

Nicola met George via St John Ambulance LINKS, volunteering with Hull LINKS whilst George was volunteering with Durham LINKS. Nicola has extensive professional experience in the charitable sector and has been supporting the Trust’s working committee on fundraising, communications and outreach.

Chris and Nicola also met (you guessed it) via St John Ambulance. Whilst currently living in Australia, they married on Saturday 20 May at Wokingham Town Hall. During the day they also found the opportunity to raise over £350 for GBCT by donating the proceeds of the sweepstake on the wedding speeches to GBCT. Nicola’s university friend Rob McDowall guessed the closest time and won a bottle of champagne.

•  Meet our Volunteers: Englefield Green Fair – 24 June

Following the success of our stand last year, GBCT will again have a stand at the Englefield Green Fair on Saturday 24 June. Alongside the Coopers Hill Trust, where we’ve recently supported a new Community AED, our volunteers will be on hand to both talk about the work of the Trust and to demonstrate first aid skills. If you’d like to know how an AED works come and talk to us and practice on our AED trainer and resuscitation manikin.

•  Thanks to our Supporters

GBCT relies upon the generous donations of its supporters and the Trustees would, once again, like to thank all of GBCT’s donors.

In May the GBCT Chocolate Brownie Chat took place. We saw pictures of many tasty bakes and heard about some great conversations. We were most tempted by Jenny Martin’s Chocolate Brownie Chat that featured four types of chocolate brownie! Thanks to the efforts and generosity of Jenny and her colleagues GBCT also gratefully received a donation of over £140.

The Trustees also took the opportunity to enjoy some brownies at their May meeting.

We’d also like to congratulate George’s cousin Jemima on completing the Hamburg       Marathon. Setting an impressive time of 3:43:58, Jemima has raised over £1700 for GBCT. A fantastic achievement. Thank you to everyone who has supported Jemima and GBCT.

If you’d like to make a donation you can do so via our website www.gbct.org.uk and if you’re raising funds for GBCT please let us know. We’d love to be able to say thank you and support you via our social media pages.

•  About the Trust

The GBCT was set up in March 2014 in memory of George Bairstow and exists so that the difference George made to people’s lives can continue.

George was committed to charitable work and lived his life to help others. He died in November 2013 in a car accident, returning home from a volunteer duty with St John Ambulance on Bonfire Night.

The GBCT’s goal is to empower communities to make a difference by providing grants in support of:

• The provision of emergency aid
• Volunteering among young people
• The enhancement of skills among young people

•  Keeping in contact with GBCT

Visit our website at www.gbct.org.uk or email us at info@gbct.org.uk

Find us on Facebook at georgebairstowct for all the latest news and pictures and, don’t forget, we’re on Twitter too at gbct_uk.

Copyright © 2017 George Bairstow Charitable Trust. All rights reserved. George Bairstow Charitable Trust (GBCT), a charity registered in England and Wales (1155769).

During the week of 15 May we’re inviting all our supporters to join our new event, the GBCT Chocolate Brownie Chat.

Chocolate brownies were a favourite of George’s and he even had his own special recipe, so it seems appropriate that a chat over a brownie is how we spread the word about GBCT further. Our aim is to continue to support the increase in volume and variety of grant applications we’re receiving, so we can continue to expand the support we provide to communities. It would also be great if we could raise some money for GBCT too.

Is it easy to do? Yes, it’s simple. Bake, or buy, some chocolate brownies and share them with your friends and / or colleagues. Either give them out or leave them in a communal area. Whilst they’re being enjoyed have a chat about GBCT and spread the word.

What will I say about GBCT? We all have our own stories about why GBCT is important, but we’ve also got a handy information leaflet you can use too. From the links below you can download our GBCT leaflet, event poster / template and a copy of our latest newsletter. We’d recommended printing a copy of each and leaving them next to your brownies.

• GBCT Leaflet
• Chocolate Brownie Chat Poster
• GBCT Newsletter – May 2017

Would you like to hear about my event? Yes please! We’d love to see some pictures, either via our Facebook, Twitter (#GBCTBrownieChat) or via email to info@gbct.org.uk.