During the year a number of small grant were made primarily in the field of music. These included the Bach Players, Handel supporters, Southbank Sinfonia Youth Orchestra, English National Opera touring to schools, Live Music Now, The St Hilda’s Oxford Rameau project. A grant was made towards the National Gallery appeal for the Titian ‘Three Ages of Man’. Further grants were made to the Courtauld Institute of Art, St Christopher’s Hospice, St Mango’s, Water Aid and Children with Cancer UK. In addition we continue to support ‘Listening books’ which brings audio, video and literature to the aged and incapacitated.
As each year, we continue to support our ongoing project in Latin America working with ANIA. These projects were sponsored in conjunction with the Orbis Pictus Trust. The project this year took place in Iquitos and was linked to a project by CREA to rescue and raise threatened amazon manatees which are on the WWF threatened species list. A Further children forest project was created in a Kukama native community called Puerto Prado located in Nauta one half hour south of Iquitos. The project extends over 12 hectares of rain forest. The community has created a private conservation area in 100 hectare of their territory which they consider of vital importance ‘because it is the place where our children will learn how to manage our natural resources in a way that benefits us and nature’. This project has been such a success that we have been asked to sponsor an extension in 2015.
The project has been visited by Ecotourism visitors. The success of the project has led to requests for 2 further projects in communities 10 to 20 km away. These requests will be considered for inclusion within the 2015/16 budget. In addition, the Foundation is sponsoring in 2015/16 a micro-project to help protect hundreds of deeply deprived children in a horrendous slum environment (Favella) on the outskirts of Iquitos where there is no sanitations, physical abuse and countless homeless children.
Finally, in October 2014, the restoration of the Romanesque wheel window at Patrixbourne was completed and a dedication service was held.