Family fun at Thanet Community Forest School thanks to local trust fund

Families at the Easter fun sessions

Familes have taken part in Easter-themed workshops at the Thanet Community Forest School thanks to cash from a local endowment fund.
People of all ages enjoyed free activities including, arts and crafts, willow weaving, making bird feeders, bird watching, site walking and history. The day was topped off with an Easter egg hunt.

The morning and afternoon sessions were at the forest school’s base in Dane Valley. The school, which has charitable status, offer events and sessions for the community throughout the holidays. It was created by St Anthony’s teacher Luke Evans and is based on a former landfill area which has been turned  into a young woodland with nearly 6000 trees planted in the last decade.

The aim is to teach under-privileged youngsters about sustainability, ecology, conservation and the environment.

Some £8,000 for the family fun project came via Kent Community Foundation from two endowment funds held with the grant-making charity- Albert Burn’s Children’s Trust Fund and the Lawson Endowment Trust for Kent.

As a result of the day, grandmother Nicola Design is now planning to volunteer for Thanet Community Forest School.

She said: “It’s all due to Kent Community Foundation and the funders – I’d like to say a huge thank you. All the children today have thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It’s been a little bit windy but we haven’t let that stop us! It has been brilliant fun.”

Kent Community Foundation’s endowment now stands at just over £18 million. For philanthropists who want to provide a lasting legacy for their local community and perhaps pass the heritage of giving on to the next generation of their own family, then endowed funds are extremely powerful. An endowed fund is invested to produce an annual income which is distributed as grants each year.

Thanet businessman Albert Burns left instructions in his will for his legal advisors Boys & Maughan Solicitors to create a lasting legacy for children. He particularly wanted to support smaller charities that don’t have the resources of the larger children’s charities.

Boys & Maughan Solicitors work with Kent Community Foundation, which manages the grant-making on their behalf.

Ian Priston, from Boys & Maughan Solicitors, said: “We are delighted to be working with Kent Community Foundation. They have enabled us to establish a significant legacy fund that will continue to benefit local communities for years to come and means to reach out to many more Kent children’s charities than would have been possible if we had attempted to manage the trust independently.”

Natalie Smith, Director of Grants & Impact, KCF, added: “We support a vast array of fantastic projects throughout Kent, many of which are doing amazing things to help disadvantaged children and young people.

“So many of these projects are volunteer-led and make a life-changing difference to vulnerable young people in our county. We are so thrilled that Mr Burns’ generosity and passion to support these projects can live on beyond his lifetime.”

To apply for funding through Kent Community Foundation visit www.kencf.org.uk/apply