Trust Newsletter – April 2018

 

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

Ironman ChrisFoxholes AED 1

  • 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).

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