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About our grants
Policy
The primary objective of The Sir James Knott Trust is to help improve the conditions of people living and working in the North East of England.
Grants are normally only made to registered charities specifically operating in or for the benefit of the North East of England (Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, County Durham inclusive of Hartlepool but exclusive of Darlington, Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland).
The Trustees have wide discretion on the distribution of funds and meet to consider grant applications three times a year. Grants totaling about £1million a year are made, funded out of income.
The Trustees try to follow the wishes and interests of the Trust’s founder where this is compatible with the present day needs of the North East. Charitable works known to have been of particular interest to Sir James are given special consideration, for example: Army Benevolent Fund, Northumberland Playing Fields Association, Mission to Seafarers, Royal British Legion, the YM and YWCA, Barnardo’s, RUKBA, Historic Churches Trust, schools and universities.
In recent years, grants have been given in support of the welfare of people who are disadvantaged, the young, the elderly, the disabled, education and training, medical care, historic buildings, the environment, music and the arts and seamen’s and service charities.
Applications should be submitted at least 3 months before a grant is required.
Examples of recent grants
Community Issues and Events
Formed in 1992 UTASS (Upper Teasdale Agricultural Support Services) is a vibrant and unique organisation based in the picturesque village of Middleton on Teesdale. It is managed by local people for local people and now has over 900 ‘family’ members. Their friendly, dedicated team together with a band of local volunteers works hard to provide a wide range of support services to communities living in the rural Dales area. Teesdale is one of the most sparsely populated areas in the country and before UTASS many people felt isolated and overwhelmed by the growing difficulties that rural communities face. Thanks to UTASS the people living in the Dales area face a brighter, more prosperous future. The Trust recently awarded UTASS £2,000 to help with their running costs.
The Sunderland Community Furniture Service runs a series of projects whereby they collect and repair unwanted furniture and cooking appliances and then sell the items cheaply to residents living in Sunderland. Not only does this help the environment but it also helps project volunteers gain the necessary skills to return to the jobs market. In six years they have served over 5000 customers. In addition to the furniture they also collect and recycle paper, textiles and even old meals on wheels cartons! The Trust was particularly impressed that they ran a modern day apprentice scheme, training people who have been unemployed or with learning difficulties in the art of recycling and furniture repair. The Trust awarded the project £5,000
Service Charities
The Sea Cadets were set up in 1854 and have provided many young boys and girls with valuable skills to help equip them for later life. There is a strong contingent of Sea Cadets Units stretching right across the North East which the Knott Trust has supported for many years. Many of these Units are based in depressed areas with little or no facilities for children and teenagers. The Units all have a very exciting programme of events and activities for the children including sailing, canoeing, learning how to cook etc. The cadets also find time to raise money for local charities by bag packing at local supermarkets and marching on Remembrance Parades. Here we see cadets from HMS Jellicoe, based in Byker, Newcastle, participating in a ‘Ready, Steady Cook’ Challenge.
The Trust also supports the Reserve forces and Army Cadets Association in the region and we contributed to their trip to Normandy for the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Over 200 veterans from the region were able to attend this event. Major Cochrane from the Royal Artillery wrote ‘the trip was unqualified success – the town really made us feel welcome. With your kind assistance we were to remember our fallen and ensure they will not be forgotten.’ On average each unit receives £3,000 per year to help maintain their programme of events.
The 1932 Blackhall Squadron Air Training Corps based near Durham, offer a full programme of exciting events and activities to their 35 young members: including adventure training, participation in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme, flying/hand gliding etc. In 2004 they began fundraising for a 21st century flight simulator which would help teach the cadets the principles of flying and contribute towards reaching their BTEC in Aviation Studies. The Trust awarded the budding pilots £1,000
Historic Buildings and Heritage
Nearly every village, town and city across the British Isles has a war memorial of some form to commemorate those who have lost their lives during conflicts. The War Memorial Trust was set up to ensure that these memorials and what they represent would be looked after for future generations. The Trust has over 200 enthusiastic volunteers working hard across the country to monitor and protect the condition of war memorials. In association with English Heritage, they began to run two schemes whereby they donated funds to Grade II listed memorials in conservation areas and give out grants to help smaller projects. In 2004 the Trust gave £5,000 towards protecting the many memorials in our area. The North East England has a proud military tradition and the Trust thought it befitting to honour the men and women who died serving their country.
The Knott Trust has a special interest in maritime in the North East and is proud of our long tradition with the high seas! In 2005 the Mary Joicey Maritime Trust approached us with an ambitious but very worth while project to bring back the Mary Joicey lifeboats back to Newbiggin by the Sea. It is hoped that the lifeboat, currently in Reading will act as an enabler for a training, tourism, heritage and volunteering project with the ultimate aim of developing a purpose-built heritage centre. The restoration and building project will cost c£1.3m but in the meantime, they needed to raise £850 for promotional materials, stationery, postage and volunteer expenses. The Trust was only too happy to help.
Education
The Bellingham Community Trust in Northumberland wanted to improve childcare facilities in this very rural part of Northumberland. Parents from the local community, members of the local council and others all worked together and in April 2005 the North Tynies Neighbourhood Nursery opened. Now the nursery has room for over 50 children living in the surrounding 5 villages.
The Sage in Gateshead is renowned for hosting brilliant concerts but they also run a series of exciting education and community programmes, encouraging over 1 million people per year to get musical. The ‘Early Years’ programme involved bringing 9 musicians from diverse musical backgrounds to work with young toddlers in nurseries across the region. To help run their educational programmes the Trustee’s awarded the Sage £50,000.
Arts and Culture
The National Youth Orchestra teaches music to talented 13-19 year old children across the country. As part of their aim to bring classical music to young people, the NYO run a series of subsidised concerts around Britain. The Knott Trust has in previous years donated around £8,000 to help stage these concerts in the North East. More recently we helped to fund around 8 students from the North East area who where picked to join this high profile, prestigious orchestra. Their final concert of the season was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 as part of the Proms series from the Royal Albert Hall.
Dance Kaleidoscope is an energetic youth dance theatre group based in North Shields. They provide budding dancers and performers with valuable training and performance experience for young people aged between 9-19 years old. The dancers visit theatres and enter choreographic competitions and perform for people living in sheltered housing or local community organisations. Recently their old mini bus broke down whilst they were touring in France and when they returned home the group began actively fundraising to buy another, more reliable mini bus. The Trust awarded the dancers £1,000 towards their new bus.
Environment
The Durham Wildlife Trust does a wonderful job of protecting the wildlife in County Durham area. With a few members of dedicated staff and many enthusiastic volunteers they work tirelessly to maintain over 25 nature reserve sites and 4 visitor centres in the area. The Low Barns Nature Reserve & Visitor Centre in Witton-le-Wear opened in 2005. This 50 hectare wetland site, which includes a butterfly garden, is certainly an asset to the local community and beyond. The Trust was delighted to contribute £4,000 to the project.
Scotswood City Garden is an excellent project with an array of plants, orchards, vegetable beds, herbs, meadows, wildwood and a recyclable stream. Every year they run an annual International Work Camp with allows a group of overseas students to spend 2 weeks at the project on a working holiday and meeting local people. This not only benefited the students but it also gave many of the local children the opportunity to learn about countries that they may not have a chance to visit themselves. The Trust gave the project £500.
The Farne Islands is an internationally important breeding site for sea birds. The island hosts breeding grounds for terns, auks, shags, cormorants and many more birds. The Natural History Society of Northumbria needed funding to help conduct a study of the birds during their breeding season and the sea water where they feed. The Trust gave £4,000 towards the cost of the 6 week project which enabled the scientists to understand a great deal more about the birds.
Health
Huntington’s disease is a progressively degenerating and terminal illness of the central nervous system. The Huntington Disease Association helps suffers and their families cope with the disease. The Trust gave £2,000 to help the Association pay for a Regional Care Advisor who would help families across the North East Region.
The Wilderness Medicine Society considers medicine and first aid in the extremes of climate and environment. Every year they host a conference at a University. In 2005 this event was held at Newcastle University. During the conference there was a series of lectures and workshops. Students from the University benefited from an introduction to many areas of medicine and wilderness first-aid that is not covered by many medical schools or in the curricula of other degree courses. In addition to this the Medical School, University and Union Society will benefit by adding to their reputations for hosting national events of high standards. The Trust awarded the Society £3000 to help make the event a success.
Public Services
The Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade formed in 1864 and in association with the HM Coastguard volunteers from the Brigade provide vital coastal search and rescue on the beach, rocks and cliffs along the Northumberland coast line. They are one the busiest ‘watches’ in the country, on average they have over a 100 callouts per year. Having good reliable communication equipment is particularly important for their frontline Initial Response Team and in 2003 they began fundraising for £2,500 to buy new radio equipment. The Trust gave the Brigade £2,000 and they were able to purchase 8 marine hand held VHF radios.
Housing
‘Moving on’ is an independent charity working with young homeless people aged between 16-25 and living in the Durham area. With over 130 referrals last year they help young people by providing advice on housing issues i.e. how to apply for housing, what their options are and what financial advice is available to them. The also support young people in their accommodation by providing practical and emotional support at a critical time in their lives. The Trust gave the charity £9000 to help with their running costs. The breakdown on the nuclear family and the early age at which many young people are sadly forced to become independent makes a charity such as this an invaluable social support.
In 1866 the ‘Little Sisters of the Poor’ came to Newcastle from France and established a home for the elderly in Clayton Street. Two years later they moved to premises on Westmorland Road and have provided many elderly people with a quality home in a friendly, caring environment ever since. Recently the Sisters started a day centre so that other elderly people living in the area could meet new friends; enjoy a cooked meal and the many facilities at St Josephs. The kitchen facilities in the old building however did need replacing and we were contacted to help renovate the community kitchen which needed special non slip flooring and rails. The Trust awarded St Josephs £1,000 towards the project.
Every Christmas, with the assistance of the Whitley Bay round table and Home Housing, the Trust delivers a Xmas food hamper to the pensioners and those in need living in the Knott flats in North Shields. These flats were built by Sir James so that retired seaman could look out to sea.
Health
Queens Nursing Institute, in conjunction with the Community Kitchen, recently completed a Healthy Diet project for families living in the West end of Newcastle. Around 10 families volunteered to attend a one week course to learn the about the benefits of eating more healthily and were taught how to cook fresh food. The Trust contributed £1,000 towards the project.