We do not run shops, projects or services of our own. Our work is to listen, to consider, and to make modest grants to individuals and households of Stretton on Dunsmore whose circumstances call for help.
Each of our programmes inherits its remit from a historic parish bequest. Together they allow us to respond to a wide range of village need without ever straying from our charitable purposes.
We make one–off grants to residents of the parish experiencing financial difficulty — due to illness, bereavement, unemployment, family emergency or other sudden changes in circumstance. Grants are modest and are designed to ease a specific pressure rather than replace statutory support.
Typical uses: essential household goods, travel to medical appointments, assistance with an unavoidable bill, small costs connected with a funeral.
Following the tradition of Herbert's (or School) Charity, we provide grants to help young people and adult learners from the parish meet the cost of study, training and practical learning. We focus on the gap between what formal funding covers and what a family actually has to find.
Typical uses: books, uniform, equipment, course fees, travel, music tuition, apprenticeship costs.
We support the advancement of health and the saving of lives — with particular care for residents who are ill, disabled, or recovering. Grants may help with specialist equipment, respite, or the everyday consequences of a new diagnosis.
Typical uses: mobility aids, medical equipment at home, therapy not available on the NHS, short respite breaks for carers.
The Poor's Plot (or Coal) Charity has, for generations, helped older residents of the parish meet the cost of heating their homes. The fuel has changed; the principle has not. In cold months we continue to offer quiet help with heating costs where it is most needed.
Typical uses: help with a winter fuel bill, emergency boiler repair, warm clothing for older residents living alone.
Everything is handled in confidence. We do not publish the names or circumstances of grant recipients.
Clergy, teachers, social workers, health professionals and other village neighbours are very welcome to refer someone to us.
We are a very small, volunteer–run parish charity. We do not make grants to organisations outside the parish; we do not fund commercial activity; we do not provide loans, ongoing income, debt advice or emergency out–of–hours response.
When a need falls outside what we can help with, we try to point the enquirer towards a more appropriate body — the parish council, Citizens Advice, the local food bank, or another grant–making trust in Warwickshire.