2007 was a difficult year for the Foundation due to the untimely deaths of both our Chairman Brian Burgess and also Derek Bonham who through his position as Master of the Company was an ex officio Trustee. In the first place we needed to find replacement Trustees and did so in the shape of our then new Master Geoffrey Vero, Past Master John Curteis and Simon Curtis all of whom have already made their mark in their different ways. I was invited to take over the role of Chairman.

My first job as Chairman was to review our corporate governance and via a new Trust Deed introduce, inter alia, new arrangements for fixed terms of office for Trustees and the ability to appoint a greater number of Trustees than the restricted number allowed for in the original Deed. I am pleased to be able to say that the New Deed has received the blessing of the Charity Commission and is now operative.

The good news for 2008 is that, in spite of the Tsunami in the financial world which has seriously impacted the values of our investments, we estimate that our grant making capacity will be £35,000, £10,000 greater than the £25,000 we gave away in 2007. The increase arises from a combination of factors;  the steady and very welcome increase in the number of Feltmakers making annual contributions to the Charity under our St Clements scheme, and a couple of imaginative fund raising initiatives by Geoffrey Vero and Simon Curtis (both Trustees). We believe that our investment income is unlikely to be significantly affected by the upheavals in the financial world at least in the current financial year.

I felt that it would be of interest to give an outline of where the money goes. In the first place, and ever since the Foundation was formed in 1969, and also with the partial support of the Haberdashers Charity, we make grants to pensioners of the Hatting Industry. In 2007 we gave just under £9,000.

We then have a number of charities which we regularly support. For the last four years (and in some cases much longer) we provided prize money for the Feltmaker Design Award, responded to the annual Lord Mayor’s charity appeal, and provided a bursary to the hatmaking students at Kensington & Chelsea Art College. We also supported Lord Mayor Treloars College for disabled children,

Providence Row clients using the breakfast service at their Dellow Centre. For more information click on photo.

Each year we also respond to a number of other appeals for help and last year, in line with the custom of having a Master’s Charity each year we gave £1,000 to Cancer Research UK in recognition of Derek Bonham’s illness.

Peter Grant

Chairman of Trustees