Convalescence
Heating & Warmth Aid
Small grants towards heating costs and draught-proofing for parishioners recovering from illness at home, where staying warm is part of a safe convalescence.
About this categoryEastham & District Welfare Trust is a small parish charity providing relief in cases of need to residents of the Parish of Eastham, near Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire — funding small, practical help for those who are sick, convalescent, disabled or infirm.
We are a small parish charity, so each pound is recorded, each grant logged and every parishioner helped in confidence. These figures are taken directly from our annual return to the Charity Commission for the year ending 31 March 2025.
We were constituted under the Scheme of 17 January 1984 to look after the parishioners of Eastham who are sick, convalescent, disabled or infirm. Over forty years on we still believe a welfare trust should do small, unshowy, accurate things — well, at the right moment.
We help with the small costs that recovery and infirmity quietly bring: a contribution towards a heating bill during convalescence, a piece of mobility equipment the NHS will not supply, a few weeks of help while a parishioner is unwell. The Trust is small and our grants are small; what matters is that they reach the right person at the right time.
Everything we do is rooted in the Parish of Eastham — the small rural parish near Tenbury Wells in north Worcestershire, in the Teme valley, that the 1984 Scheme defines as our area of benefit. We do not work beyond the parish boundary, and have never asked the Commission to widen it.
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Each category is considered by the trustees at their meetings. Grants are small and the Trust is small — we hold our reserves carefully and respond when a need is brought to us.
Convalescence
Small grants towards heating costs and draught-proofing for parishioners recovering from illness at home, where staying warm is part of a safe convalescence.
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Quiet support
Trustees make small, prearranged pastoral visits to parishioners who are sick or convalescent — a quiet hour, a kettle put on, and a careful note of any practical need.
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Practical help
Small one-off grants for practical recovery costs — a fortnight's groceries after a hospital stay, a household item replaced, the modest expenses recovery quietly brings.
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Equipment
Small grants towards items not readily available elsewhere — a piece of mobility equipment, a recovery aid, a small adaptation that helps a parishioner manage at home.
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Carers
Modest grants for parishioners caring at home for a sick, disabled or infirm relative — a few hours of help, a tired washing machine replaced, a small respite where need is real.
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Visits & calls
Trustees make occasional friendly check-in calls to parishioners who are unwell or recovering — a short conversation, kept simple, for as long as a parishioner welcomes it.
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Garden help
Small grants for practical tasks parishioners cannot manage during illness or infirmity — a garden kept tidy, a hedge cut back, a few hours of help with what cannot wait.
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Discretionary
Where need is genuine and falls within the Scheme of 1984, trustees may make a small discretionary grant — quietly, without paperwork, and only after careful consideration.
About this category
The Trust gives small grants to parishioners of Eastham who are sick, convalescent, disabled or infirm. Even modest gifts let us hold a quiet reserve and respond promptly when a need is brought to the trustees.
A short note from the trustees about what a quiet weekday morning of pastoral visits in the Parish of Eastham can look like — and why the visit happens before the request.
We never make a noise about the visits. Most parishioners on our small round do not think of themselves as needing a charity. They have worked, they have raised families, they have known the parish for a long time. What they often need is for somebody to sit at the kitchen table while a letter is read carefully and a small worry is discussed. After that, very small grants quietly go a long way.
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Parish lunch
The Trust's annual winter lunch in the parish — a quiet, two-course meal and a small raffle whose modest proceeds go to the Trust's grant reserves for the year ahead.
Book a seat
Open afternoon
A quiet autumn afternoon — tea, a short walk through the parish, a few introductions to the Trust's work, and any donations going gently to the Trust's small grants reserve.
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For volunteers
A short, tea-and-shortbread introduction to the Trust for any parishioner curious about helping or being helped. Honest about the work, frank about the small scale of the Trust.
Register
Trustees' note
Forty-one years under the same Scheme, and one rule still governs everything: dignity is not a luxury we add at the end — it is the first decision we make about how a grant is offered.
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Annual report
The Trust's accounts for the year to 31 March 2025 are filed and on the Charity Commission's register. A small year of small grants, careful reserves, and steady parish casework.
Open the summary
From the parish
A short note from a parishioner who, recovering at home after an operation, received a small grant from the Trust towards the practical costs of those first quiet weeks of convalescence.
Read the noteThe Trust's work is only ever as good as the local network around it. We are grateful for the partners who refer to us, fund us, host our meetings, and lend us their expertise.