War Memorials Trust
| Formation | 7 May 1997 |
|---|---|
| Legal status | Registered charity |
| Purpose | protection and conservation of war memorials in the UK |
| Location | |
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Region served
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UK |
|
Membership
|
1,809 |
|
Patron
|
HRH the Duchess of Cornwall |
| Website | www |
War Memorials Trust works for the protection and conservation of war memorials in the UK by providing free information and advice as well as administering grant schemes for the repair and conservation of war memorials.
The Trust works with other organisations such as English Heritage and Historic Scotland to better safeguard the future of war memorials in both their social and historical context.
The charity’s four objectives are:
War Memorials Trust was registered as a charity on 7 May 1997. It was originally known as Friends of War Memorials. Sir Donald Thompson, then MP for Calderdale, Winston S Churchill, grandson of the wartime Prime Minister, and Ian Davidson, a former Royal Marine, were amongst those involved in founding the charity. Sir Donald Thompson became the Director-General of the charity and Winston S Churchill the President.
The Trust’s charity deed outlines the aim "… to educate the public and to foster patriotism and good citizenship by remembering those who have fallen in war by preserving and maintaining war memorials."
At the end of 2004 the Trustees of the charity decided upon a new name, War Memorials Trust, to replace Friends of War Memorials. The change came into effect in January 2005, along with a change of logo.
The Trust has a conservation team who provide free advice about war memorial issues. In 2011 the charity dealt with 600 new cases and 1,028 general enquiries (2010: 573 new cases, 969 general enquiries).
Cases that the Trust has recently been involved with include:
The Trust is a member of the War Memorial Action Group, set up by the Heritage Lottery Fund, to discuss the problems of protecting and restoring war memorials and identify what can be done to ensure they are in a good condition in time for the centenary of the outbreak of World War I.
The Trust administers grant schemes which between them cover the whole of the UK. These grants fund conservation work, like-for-like repairs, and structural repair, as well as the addition of names where they can be accommodated on the memorial. Routine maintenance is excluded.
Since 1998, War Memorials Trust has administered the Small Grants Scheme, which offers grants to eligible repair and conservation projects to all types of war memorials in the UK. In Scotland, the Trust administers the Small Grants Scheme in Scotland for freestanding war memorials, funded with Historic Scotland. In 2011, 57 offers were made to the value of £73,526 through both grant schemes (2010: 74 offers, £75,758).
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