Warwick Apprenticing Charities
This Charity was formed by the combination of the five Warwick apprenticing charities which had been formed during the 17th and 18th centuries – those of Sir Thomas Puckering, John Hadley, George Webb, Richard Lane and Sir Thomas Delves. There had been a number of other apprenticing charities but some became lost and others became merged with other town charities. The combination of the five was effected by an order and scheme of the Charity Commission dated 28th November 1930.
This scheme also widened the Charity’s terms to include assisting the training of residents in any trade or occupation with clothing, tools, travelling expenses and training fees in addition to the traditional payment of apprenticeship premiums.
Due to the decline of the traditional apprenticeships the Charity’s income was increasingly used to assist individuals with sundry purchases such as tools for starting a trade. In the 1973 review of local charities under the Charities Act of 1960, the trusties were reported as having difficulty in effectively using their income.
More recently a wider view of “training” has been taken by the Trusties, and assistance is now given to students at university and other colleges, and to payment of courses which develop initiative and maturity such as “Outward Bound”. The success of this strategy has been such that the annual distribution of funds began to exceed the normal income.
During recent years the short fall has been met by generous donations from other local charities – The King Henry VIII Endowed Trust, The Warwick Relief in Need Charity and also lately The Charity of Thomas Oken and Nicholas Eyffler.
Nearly 100 young people receive grants each year after making application and having attended an interview with Trustees.
The most recent Scheme – sealed 21st October 1981 – states the main purpose of the Charity as being to: –
“..apply the income of the Charities for the advancement in life in assisting persons resident in the Town of Warwick who have not attained the age of 25 years and are in need of assistance and who are preparing for, entering upon, or engaged in any profession, trade, occupation or service by providing them with outfits, tools or books, or by payment of fees, travelling or maintenance expenses or by such other means for their advancement in life to enable them to earn their own living as the Trusties think fit”.
