Upshalls Charity

The Upshalls charity is a long-standing institution which can trace its origins back to 1863, when it was founded to benefit the poor of the village. Its present trust deed sets out these objectives for the charity.

• To help improve the quality of life of the less fortunate residents of the village.
• To help, so far is practical, to alleviate the suffering of residents where this is commensurate with the modest size and scale of the charity’s funds.
• Give priority to improving the quality of life of residents and promote social interactions to combat potential loneliness.

Another local charity, the Shirley Sowerby Memorial Trust was founded more recently and is now linked to the Upshalls charity. It was established with the objective of providing parishioners of pensionable age with additional comfort at Christmas time.

The charity has seven trustees and is registered with the Charity Commission. Meetings of the trustees are held at least once a year and, more importantly, when a request is received for help from a resident of Thorpe on the Hill.

In recent years, the main activity of the linked charities has been the provision of a Christmas lunch for local pensioners. Small donations have also been made to other causes. For example

• Help with payment of fuel over the winter due to family finances being hit by unexpected unemployment. 
• Help with the cost of transport when a family member had a long hospitalisation and there was no public transport available at the time the person needed to be at the hospital 
• Flowers sent to a parishioner who was having a difficult time 

The charity’s funds are modest but, if you wish the charity trustees to consider a grant, please contact the charity secretary at upshalls1@gmail.com provided details of the amount you are applying for, who it is for and contact details of the person applying. All applications are treated in confidence.