The Hosking Houses Trust was registered as a charity in 1995, found its premises in 1998, started fund raising in 1999 and our first resident arrived in 2002. Initially, we had no financial backing at all and the most memorable comment was, “Fund raising to support clever women? An impossible task, it would be easier to raise the dead”.
We ignored this and allocated five pounds to buy stamps, thereby starting a systematic programme of applications to charitable trusts, organisations and individuals that continues to this day.
The results of our fundraising efforts to date are shown below. It should be noted that while some grants were restricted for specific purposes most were for general revenue needs.
Our financial year runs from April to March and you can download our accounts here.
We are grateful for previous support from the following organisations:
| Arts Council West Midlands | 2012 | £15,000 Lottery funded revenue |
| ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND | 2017 | £37,000 small capital grants to build the studio |
| 2020 | £14,000 Management Consultancy | |
| 2021/22 | £29,000 Project grant for ‘Open House’ | |
| All Souls’ College, Oxford | 2014 | £500 |
| 2015 | £250 | |
| Amazon Literary Partnership Grant Fund | 2022 | £2,500 |
| 2023 | £2,500 | |
| 2024 | £2,500 | |
| Anson Trust Charitable Trust | 2013 | £3,000 Round the Square publication |
| £2,000 annually forthwith: | ||
| 2015 | £1,000 extra | |
| 2019 | £1,000 extra | |
| 2020 | £1,000 extra | |
| 2021 | £1,000 extra | |
| 2022 | £2,000 extra | |
| 2023 | £3,000 | |
| 2024 | £3,000 | |
| Ashley Family Foundation | 2011 | £10,000 |
| 2012 | £7,500 | |
| 2013 | £5,000 | |
| ALCS authors’ Licensing and Copyright Society | 2015 | £2,500 |
| Aurelius Charitable Trust | 2016 | £450 |
| Misses Barrie Trust | 2018 | £2,500 |
| Batty Foundation | 2008 | £3,000 |
| Catherine Cookson CT | 2022 | £500 |
| Charlotte Bonham-Carter Trust | 2015 | £500 |
| William A Cadbury Trust | 2009 | £5,000 |
| 2018 | £2,000 | |
| 2019 | £1,500 | |
| 2022 | £1,500 | |
| Chase Charity | 2001 | £3,000 |
| Coutts Bank Charity | 2013 | £300 |
| Denny Trust | 2011 | £5,000 |
| 2013 | £5,000 | |
| Marc Fitch Fund | 2011 | £1,000 Round the Square publication |
| Foundation for | 2002 | £27,500 |
| Sport and the Arts | 2003 | £5,000 |
| 2007 | £80,000 | |
| Foyle Foundation | 2011 | £3,000 |
| 2014 | £1,000 | |
| 2016/21 | allocated £50,000 (£10,000pa restricted for bursaries each year for five years) | |
| Paul Getty Jnr Foundation | 2012 | £3,000 |
| J A Gillett Charitable Trust | 2015 | £400 |
| Golsoncott Foundation | 2022 | £750 |
| Allen Lane Foundation | 2009 | £1,000 |
| Lloyds TSB Foundation | 2006 | £2,000 |
| Persephone Press | 2009 | £100 (plus fees for HHT reproduction rights) |
| Perry Family Trust | 2022 | £500 |
| Pilgrim Trust | 2009 | £5,000 |
| The Mill Garden Trust, Warwick | 2016 | £300 |
| Rigby Foundation (local) | 2009 | £2,000 |
| CA Rooke Foundation (local) | sponsored Christmas card several times | |
| JC Seccombe Charitable Trust | 2019 | £200 |
| Split Infinitive Trust | 2006 | £500 |
| Sue Thompson Trust | 2011 | £1,000 |
| Stratford Town Trust | 2016 | £300 |
| William Syson Foundation | 2022 | £1,140 £1,500 |
| 29th May 1961 charity | 2018 | £3,000 |
| 2019 | £3,000 | |
| 2020 | £3,000 | |
| Waitrose Ltd. (Stratford branch) | 2016 | £260 |
| Garfield Weston | 2008 | £2,500 |
| 2020 | £3,500 | |
| Evelyn Williams Trust | 2001 | £500 |
Appeals to individuals
In our early days of fundraising, we compiled a database of approximately 500 individuals of creativity, interest or wealth and wrote to them requesting support between 1999 and 2010. This was before recent restrictions on making personal appeals were introduced and about £16,000 was raised, on which we claimed back Gift Aid. Those who agreed to have their names made public include:
Joan Bakewell, Mary Jane Baxter, Susan Blackmore, Carmen Calill, Louise Campbell, Sheila Cassidy, Wendy Cope, Romola Christopherson, Felix Dennis, Margaret Drabble, Kathleen Duncan, Helen Dunmore, Fiona Ellis, Tracey Emin, U.A.Fanthorpe and Rosie Bailey, Helen Fielding, Katie Fforde, Maggie Gee, Victoria Glendinning, Jane Glover, Valerie Grove, Christopher Hampton, Sheila Hancock, Christina Hardyment, Seamus Heaney, Susan Hill, Michael Holroyd, Nick Hornby, Howard Jacobson, A.L.Kennedy, Ian and Anita Lancaster, Pru Leith, David Lodge, Joanna Lumley, Sue MacGregor, Norma Major, Miriam Margoloyes, Victor Margrie, Val McDermid, Kate McLuskie, Jan Mein, Jane Miller, Deborah Moggach, Deborah Orr, Gillian Plain, Phillippa Pearce, Harold Pinter, Claire Rayner, Gillian Reynolds. Prunella Scales, Alan and Lisa Spanos, Elizabeth Speller, Barrie and Millicent Stead, Posy Simmonds, Janet Suzman, Alan Titchmarsh, Emma Thompson, Claire Tomalin, Harriet Walter, Marina Warner, Neale Watson, Stanley Wells, Ann Widdicombe.
Partnerships
Currently, we are pleased to be working in partnership with Coventry University Arts and Humanities Department.
Previous partnerships include The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Mercury Musical Developments.
Furthermore…
We have received other forms of help over the years, including repeated sponsorship of our annual Christmas card and other printing costs from Fred Winter Ltd., Fishy Business, Arden Veterinary Stratford Group and Virago Press. We have also received:
• a year’s free cleaning from Stratford Merry Maids
• furniture and photography from Harrison Antiques
• use of premises at Stratford Guild Chapel and the village hall and St Helen’s Church at Clifford Chambers
• loans from Warwick Playbox Theatre and Warwickshire County Council for a computer and laptop
• aerial photography of Cliffored Chambers from John Miller
• concert collaboration from King’s High School for Girls, Warwick
If we have omitted anyone, we are sorry.
We rely on the generosity of our supporters to make our work possible. Please consider making a gift to help us. To donate to HHT, go to our Support Us page.