Adrian Wedgwood: 25 years as Trustee with Barton's Community Charity
March 2023
Adrian became a Trustee of
the Eleemosynary Charity in 1998
and has been a Trustee of our
community Charity ever since.
Prior to its creation on 19th
December 1902 there were several
'parochial' charities in Barton
under Needwood. These included
the William Key Charity (created
c1651), Alice Kinstone, Mary
Holland & Pinners Patch
charities. Eleemosynary Charity
Trustees met before each
Christmas in Dr Bill Taylor's
home to decide how they should
distribute the few hundred
pounds of interest available.
All that changed when we were
offered a couple of thousand
pounds for the tiny Pinners
Patch on the other side of the
A38. Sensing a potential
development opportunity the
Trustees were persuaded to
decline the offer & obtain
professional advice. The result
was a settlement worth many tens
of thousands and the Pinners
Patch is now covered by the
Argos warehouse! Sensing the
need for a more modern &
professional operation, whilst
honouring the terms of the
original legacies and, with the
prospect of other property
developments, the opportunity
was taken to create the Barton
under Needwood & Dunstall Key
Trust on 21 September 2007.
Other small charities, including
the Charity of Charles Arkwright
for the benefit of the poor of
Dunstall, were incorporated. The
Henry Warford Charity was
excluded because this included
Tatenhill.
Adrian said, ‘Whilst
I was a member of Barton Parish
Council (chairman 2009 - 2011)
we were approached by Aggregate
Industries with an offer to
establish a fund to 'compensate
the village for disruption
during excavations & benefit our
community'. As the Council was
concerned about mixing Public &
Private funding my proposal to
explore this with the Barton &
Dunstall Key Trust was accepted,
and, with the help of Trustees
Jim Black & John Moffat we
negotiated an Agreement that now
generates a generous sum of
money each year for the Key
Trust to invest. Since then our
Breach Close plot was sold for
mineral extraction.
During my 25
years working with our dedicated
Trustees & five Clerks and seven
years as chairman, I've been
delighted to make many
presentations, supporting the
ambitions of young people and it
has been a matter of great pride
to see the Trust develop into
the very substantial Charity
able to assist organisations and
individuals in our communities
of Barton & Dunstall. I'm
particularly pleased to have
initiated the John Taylor High
School Leadership Award, seen
the excitement created at those
presentations in front of a
packed School Hall, and that the
Trust reached out into our
village to assist those whose
homes were flooded when the
brooks overflowed.’
Would
William Key be surprised that
his original bequest to 'pay 10
shillings to the Vicar for
delivering a sermon on Good
Friday' has become a significant
charity able to help local
organisations, young people with
extra-curricular activities and
parishioners in need through
illness, disability,
bereavement, or accident.
Jacqui
Jones, Chairman of the Key
Trust, said ‘The Key Trust is
immensely grateful to Adrian for
his input over the years,
initially as Chairman and more
recently as a Trustee. When he
retired as Chairman his many
initiatives and hard work left
the Trust in a position to
significantly benefit our
community in many different
ways, and hopefully we have
continued his good work with his
valued input as a Trustee’.
The
Trust says thank you to Fos
Rogers, also retiring. Fos
joined us ‘for a year’ as the
PCC representative and, due to
Covid and other things, stayed a
few more. We are grateful for
his input and wisdom over his
time with the Trust.