The Earl created an endowment for the house that in its day generated sufficient income to pay for staff and provide for the boys who lived there. Over the years this endowment simply could not keep up with the demands made on running and maintaining a large and rambling property. Edward House was later used as a space for holiday activities and home for a pre school nursery enjoyed by many local children. Finally, the Trustees had to make the decision to sell the property and in 1999 the property was sold and proceeds invested.

The charity was relaunched, renamed and restyled to bring it into line with the needs of the 21st Century. The new charity is run under the same general guidelines as we think befits the Earl’s generosity, and under the revised trusts both boys and girls are eligible.

With the advent of more widely available web sites around 10 years ago we launched our first webpage, we produced application guidance both to enable more robust assessment but also to hopefully manage expectations of applicants who spend time and effort in requesting funds. From this point applications were received from all corners of England.

The majority of our investment inevitably went to larger organisations able to complete the application process once they had discovered our existence. In most instances our investment was to contribute to a large fund-raising target or at best to lever in further support.

Rather than always being reactive, Trustees have piloted a number of targeted initiatives in the past including the successful “Great Day Out”. This scheme invited nominations from the public for a young person aged between 11- 17 who, due to person qualities, kindness or application deserved a day out paid for by the Trust. We were ahead of our time in supporting young carers and a good number of awards we made with Day’s Out to the sea side, London, to a football match or pop concert and even a day at a safari park.

We also invested in a pilot hardship scheme targeting young people in significant financial need. Memorable successes included the purchase of a bicycle for a young man in care who was “thrilled and eternally grateful” plus numerous basic ‘hairdresser kits’ for students who couldn’t afford to buy them for their course and in one case, some new clothes for a young person who had nothing to wear to a job interview.

These small interventions were greatly appreciated by the recipients but also felt like modest amount of the Trusts money was really making a difference? Unfortunately, those small grants were proportionately very time consuming and potential recipients hard to reach.