Last week Involve Swindon held a 10th anniversary celebration and the Trust was invited to attend. Involve Swindon works with companies to encourage their employees to volunteer for local community projects. Rod Hacker as Chair of Swindon branch attended and was presented with a special recognition award for the number of local volunteers from companies that we use on the canal. Special mention was made of Ray’s continued efforts and the flexibility and co-operation he shows in dealing with volunteer opportunities. The actual Award will be displayed in the shop. Well done Swindon!
The week before, Ken, Chris and myself attended a Business Expo in Chippenham organised by the Economic Development department of Wiltshire Council. A good number of local businesses and some community organisations were in attendance and our stall generated some good interest. It really felt as if the Trust “had arrived on the scene” if you understand what I mean!
I had an interesting morning at the National Trust headquarters in Swindon on Thursday – their head of legacy fundraising had invited myself and a couple of other fundraisers from local charities to learn a little from their more experienced team. There are some surprising statistics about legacies – although 74% of the UK population support charities whilst living, only 7% leave something to charity in their wills. It would only take a 4% increase in that figure to generate an extra £1 billion pounds for good causes. Enough of stats, suffice to say that I learnt a few things that will emerge in our literature soon. I think the most important thing is to note that people give support in different ways. Some prefer to donate, some to become members and some to leave a legacy. And all need to be looked after.
A disappointment this week with the Melksham River Festival plans for September – we failed to get the grant from Big Lottery’s Awards for All. Don’t worry, we are meeting tomorrow night to come up with plan B – the show will go on. As I walked the dogs along the towpath at Semington in the sunshine this morning, I was amazed at the number of boats, cyclists and walkers – can’t wait until they can all turn up to Melksham along the Wilts & Berks.
Kath Hatton
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