Community

This charity can help villagers, who find themselves struggling to meet an immediate financial need or pressure, by means of a grant.

Enquiries and applications for financial support for, or on behalf of residents of Somerford Keynes or Shorncote should be addressed at this time to Mrs Clare Baker. This may be by email or telephone, in the strictest confidence at [email protected] or on 07870 851353.

Financial requests may be for a wide range of purposes which could include

• supporting an individual’s educational needs by paying for textbooks or school uniform
• the repair or replacement of essential but unaffordable household items
• heating costs and/or general household bills
• urgent health or dentistry costs
• exceptional transport costs, such as for hospital visits
  

Each application is considered at the charity’s trustee meetings, in the strictest confidence, by the board of trustees : The Privacy Notice posted on the village website provides more detail about the trustees’ responsibilities in this regard. 

The trustees are, or have been, village residents ; two are nominated for terms of four years by Somerford Keynes Parish Council, one by the Parochial Church Council (PCC) and another is co-opted every 5 years by the other trustees. They are:

Mrs Diane Gibbons

Mrs Ellie Tracy

Mrs Clare Baker

Mr Graham Shearn

The History of the Charity
George Soley Foyle died in 1839 leaving a bequest of £200 to be invested by the Minister of Somerford Keynes, Wiltshire (now Gloucestershire). He instructed that the interests and dividends should be divided amongst “such poor and indigent persons resident in the Parish of Somerford Keynes as the Minister shall think proper”.

A few years later, in 1857, Joseph Mill provided an endowment “for the provision of blankets or clothing at Christmas for poor families in the Parish of Shorncote”. Three further charitable endowments followed and all five were subsequently consolidated in 1967 into the single Charity we know today, its’ objective being to provide grants of money or gifts for the benefit of residents in need in Somerford Keynes or Shorncote. 

The Somerford Keynes Village Charity is registered and regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales.

More than 60 Somerford Keynes and Lower Mill households have already signed up for our community scheme to bulk purchase solar panels for their homes. Installing solar panels should cut our energy bills as well as cutting Co2. By purchasing together we can make the process both cheaper and simpler. If you haven’t already signed up, and would be interested in joining us, then please visit the Thames Head Energy website for more information.

The Village Hall outside wall, together with the Phone Box on the main street, hosts the village AED Defibrillators. 

To use it call 999 for an ambulance and follow their instructions. Do keep the phone number of willing neighbours near to hand.  The ambulance service can call them to fetch the AED while you do CPR.