| Description | These trusts were originally managed by Trustees of Stourbridge and Dudley Preparative Meeting and relate to Friends in Worcestershire.
Susanna Cole Trust
In 1668 Susanna Cole of Chadwick [Chadwich], Worcestershire gave £80 to trustees to be used to help Quakers or others in need within Worcestershire. The Susanna Cole Trust continues to give grants to the poor of Worcestershire and it also helps with the costs of education, hospital care or care in a convalescent home.
Ann Hemmings Trust
In the 17th century, Ann Hemming of Chadwick [Chadwich], near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, was imprisoned in Worcester goal for the non-payment of tithes, where she died in 1672. While imprisoned, she conveyed to trustees a farm near where she had lived so that it could be used to provide relief for poor Friends or non-Friends of Worcestershire. In 1792, the trustees were able to add to this, by purchasing land nearby. The seventeen and a half acres belonging to the Ann Hemmings Trust were sold in 1860, the proceeds continuing to be used to help the poor.
William Harwood Trust
In his will of 1769, William Harwood of Bewdley left £500 to be used to provide relief to help poor Quakers in Worcestershire.
Bromsgrove Trusts
These are made up of several gifts made by Friends which were invested in houses in in Bromsgrove. Robert Hill gave £100 to be used for the relief of widows and children, or other Friends, in Bromsgrove while Henry Parker and William Clark left £100 to be used for the relief of Friends in Dudley. The properties were sold in 1848 for £330 and about half of this was spent on repairs to Dudley Meeting House. The remainder was invested in bonds. Any profits were divided into thirds, with one third going to poor Friends, one third to Friends in Bromsgrove and one third to Friends in Dudley.
Over time, these Trusts have been amalgamated into one, known as the Susannah Cole Trust Fund and Others. Today, the objectives of the Susannah Cole Trust Fund are to help Quakers in need who are members or attenders of Warwickshire Monthly Meeting and who live in Warwickshire or parts of Worcestershire. Examples of help provided include the allocation of grants to the elderly or disabled to pay for domestic or gardening help, or to get taxis to and from Meeting for worship, grants to provide those elderly Friends in residential care with some personal spending money, grants to help elderly Friends on limited budgets pay their bills, or grants to help students at college or university with the purchase of books or equipment needed for their studies. |