We have recently received your kind donation of £750 – which is a fantastic help towards the work we are doing at the group.

1st Bilston Scout Group is one of the oldest in the World and has been in existence (on the same site in Bilston, Wolverhampton, West Midlands) since 1908, so a 115 year tradition of offering scouting to the young people of the area.

We have always owned our own property, but in early 2021 after almost 10 years of work we managed to purchase the land we occupy from the local council. We have already completed two phases of project work – land purchase, fencing, landscaping and memorial groundworks. In part due to the ever increasing costs of running the building and the group, we have been struggling for funds to complete the third phase of the program. Your kind donation will help with this.

This phase is the refurbishment of the hut (which we have somewhat neglected over the 10 years pending us securing our place on the site) with decorating inside and out, a new kitchen and equipment and the purchase of some replacement key equipment including tables and chairs.

With us being a full and active group our core and reserve funds maintain the running of the building and the group but to continue to thrive we need to invest in our building and equipment and your donation will make a massive difference to the group and the wider users of the building.

Thank you.

Stuart Evans
Group Scout Leader
1st Bilston Scout Group

Thanks again to the James Beattie Trust, for very kindly donating £750 to the Manna Soup Kitchen in Heath Town.

On Tuesday evening, I popped into the New Testament Church of God Community Centre, Woden Road to meet the volunteers and to get a photo of the team.

The soup kitchen operates every other Tuesday and usually accommodates between 40 and 70 people including children.

They serve a three course nutritious meal and often have some foodbank items to hand out after the meal.

They receive some donations from local people and organisations like Fare Share, but the money donated by the James Beattie Trust gives them a better choice of ingredients to use for each meal.

The volunteers come from across the city with the youngest in the team, being just five years old.

Once again, many thanks

Best wishes

Simon Archer

Publisher

West Midlands Magazines Ltd

e: simon@westmidlandsmagazines.com

1. www.westmidlandsmagazines.com

m: 07534603662

The hamper appeal required some items and just like Father Christmas 🎅🏼, The James Beattie Charitable Trust stepped in and helped the appeal 🎉🎉🎉 we cannot thank you enough Vicki, and the trust for helping so many families in Wolverhampton have a nicer Christmas! This is just a part of the donations we managed to get with the amazing financial contribution.

Background

The hamper appeal started 11 years ago now when my then 4 year old daughter saw an advert on the television for children that do not get anything at Christmas and asked if she could give a couple of things from her Santa list to them as she was upset, this then pushed me to write a small post only Facebook page and we ended up sending about 20 toys to The Haven in Wolverhampton, it has literally evolved over the years and had gone from strength to strength. Last year for example we supported 171 families to include 260 children, this year we are helping 211 families and over 450 children!

We rely solely on donations and I operate from my living room! We used to use the offices at my work to store the items and to build the hampers…but unfortunately our offices were sold and so we now work from home. We have only managed to do the appeal this year due to very kind people offering out their garages and spare bedrooms for storage and BT open reach for lending us their offices to build them.

This year we are supporting:

The Haven Refuge

Jericho House Refuge

Mencap

Olivia’s Closet

Big Venture centre

7 local Wolverhampton schools (10 or more families each to support)

Nominated families within the local Community

Penn Hospital

We then deliver the hampers out.

This is the link to the group’s Facebook group:

Caroline Lockley

We are Circus Starr, a community interest company that is passionate about sharing the magical art of circus with those who are disabled, vulnerable, and disadvantaged. We started making a positive impact on young lives 35 years’ ago and never stopped. Put simply – we bring fun to those who need it most.

A circus displays various beautiful art forms, as well as providing comical entertainment. We know how life changing the arts can be, and that’s why we strive to make it available for everybody no matter what obstacles they may face.

After 35 years of sharing our world class show, we hope this will be a time to bring communities back together and want to thank James Beattie Trust for their continued belief in what we do.

“….it didn’t go without hiccups for us, however, being in an environment where people understand makes the whole experience worthwhile!”

Judith Halle

Grants and Trusts Manager
For and on behalf of Circus Starr

T:  01260 288690

M: 07794094822

E:  judith.halle@circus-starr.org.uk

W: www.circus-starr.org.uk

Starr in the Community CIC, registered in England & Wales, registered company no. 07477542

Registered office: Dane Mill, Broadhurst Lane, Congleton, Cheshire, CW12 1LA

Play in the Park 2022

We are Castlecroft Rangers, a community football club based in Wolverhampton. Since being founded in 2011, we have helped people of all ages and backgrounds access community football in a welcoming and friendly environment. As part of our ongoing to commitment to the local community, we host an annual charity event for local charities, most notably Compton Care (Formally Compton Hospice). This year we have added an U12’s Girls Team to our growing club and are looking at the possibility of more young teams joining us in the future. Over the years we have had incredible support from The James Beattie Charitable Trust. This has helped us to grow and offer football to more and more people. Covid nearly crippled the club, but thanks to the generosity of The James Beattie Charitable Trust, we were able to survive and are now going from strength to strength.

Kind regards

Max Woodhouse

Castlecroft Rangers

Local community volunteer group, Hands On Wednesfield (HOW), would like to thank the James Beattie Trust,  for their very generous donation towards the Christmas Toy Project.

This is the second time the Trust has helped out and because of their generosity, HOW were able to purchase and distribute toys to children from families across Wolverhampton, who were facing financial hardship at Christmas.

HOW joined forces with the Christmas Lunch Project, who had identified those in need and had organised a food parcel for 900 families.

The James Beattie Trust donation, along with others, allowed us to fund presents for 253 children in the Wolverhampton area (almost double the previous years’ total)

A small army of volunteers came to help with gift wrapping and then distribution to the homes of these families, helping to make their Christmas just that little bit more special.

We can’t thank you enough for this donation, which was even more needed in these difficult times.

Simon Archer

“Here at the end of a successful community tree planting event, are Penn Climate Action key members, Carol Hyatt, Steve Downes, Professor Ian Trueman and Ralph Aldous. Two years earlier, fellow member Lesley Cook had said “Wouldn’t it be good if we could have an orchard?” and with the unanimous approval of our local community and the support of the James Beattie Trust, we have started to plant Warstones Community Orchard. We imagine school children picking apples on their way to school, from apple trees they helped to plant! And just maybe…their children’s children picking apples too!

We are all looking forward to organising our next Community tree planting event to plant the next lot of apple trees in the Autumn.”

Our heartfelt thanks for your kind donation, and to our volunteer researcher Jill who first heard about your Trust and applied for a grant.

We are a small, friendly charity that works hard to keep people connected and living well in later life, particularly those who are in poor health, caregivers and the bereaved.  We prioritise the most isolated clients who are struggling without supportive people around them.

The last couple of years have been hard for many of us, but particularly so for older people in our community.  Sadly, we continue to see an increasing demand for our telephone and pen pal befriending services as well as for our support programmes for caregivers and the bereaved.

Your donation will help with our vital work to bring social connection, friendship and emotional support to clients in the Wolverhampton area who are lonely and have no one else to turn to.

Thank you.

Thomas Memery

Director

Lois Winstanley

Grant Fundraiser and Communications Manager

Omega | Staying connected in later life

National Association for End of Life Care | Registered Charity No.1120322 | Registered Company No. 6196052 | Omega, London House, Town Walls, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY1 1TX

Telephone: 01743 245088 | Website: www.omega.uk.net

Wolves in the Woods, Boundary Way Project: April to July 2021

With grateful thanks to James Beattie Charitable Trust the very popular and successful Wolves in the Woods outdoor stay and play sessions were delivered during Spring and early summer 2021 in Boundary Way Community Garden, Warstones.

Keeping in mind the restrictions and impact of Covid-19, we continued to follow guidance and procedures to limit the spread of the virus and ensure our audiences felt safe in the sessions.

Our overarching aims were:

• to support development of under 7s and their parents and caregivers through play
• help reduce feelings of isolation and loneliness of caregivers of young children by creating a space to share stories
• to support physical and mental wellbeing of young children and their caregivers in this area of the city through outdoor play opportunities

This project aimed to enable Wolves Play Café to engage with at least 60 under 7s and their caregivers in Warstones/Merryhill area of Wolverhampton, which is in the top 10% most deprived areas in the UK, through Wolves in the Woods forest play sessions led by an Early Years Specialist. The sessions were free to access with a range of forest play, STEM related play opportunities, all within Covid-19 guidelines.

Wolves Play Café staff delivered fortnightly sessions as soon as Covid-19 restrictions allowed from April 13^th to July 7^th 2021. Our participants, children and adults, had opportunities to socialise with others and help to build peer support networks between caregivers in the community. Little ones gained new skills, had opportunities to learn from first-hand experiences and caregivers shared and took part in simple play ideas to support their children’s learning, fun and development in and outside of sessions.

Happy Stories and impact measurement

During the sessions we use accessible feedback methods such as pictorial surveys and reviews to gain views, opinions and ideas from both children and adults.

We asked participants what they enjoyed most about the sessions:

“Playing in the mud kitchen, singing and listening to stories, discovering things outdoors (bear/ball hunt, magnifying glass), having a cup of tea and doing mud paintings”.

“The children enjoy it and always learn something new and meet new friends :-)”

“I also like the fact that wolves in the woods has given us the opportunity to be involved more with our community, especially for us the Boundary way allotments”.