Bardney · Southrey · Tupholme · Bucknall
Each fund does one small thing, in one corner of the Witham valley.
We make grants of typically £40 to £400 across four parishes. Each fund has its own purpose, its own criteria, and its own modest annual budget. Together they account for almost all of what we do.
Southrey Widows' Pension
Quarterly pension to eligible widows of Southrey.
No. 02Parish Hardship Fund
Small cash and in-kind grants for households in difficulty.
No. 03Schools & Pupils Grants
Educational grants to Bardney and Bucknall primaries.
No. 04The Quiet Door
Emergency reserve for urgent cases between meetings.
The Southrey Widows' Pension
A quarterly pension paid to eligible widows of the parish of Southrey. The original Kitching bequest specified this fund first, and we have honoured it without interruption since 1864.
Who is eligible
Any widow over the age of 60 whose ordinary residence is in the parish of Southrey, and who has been resident there for at least seven of the last fifteen years. The pension is means-tested in a quiet way: there is no application form, but the trustees discuss each new addition to the list with the recipient's parish priest or one of their neighbours, with their permission.
What we pay
A quarterly cheque, posted in a hand-addressed envelope, on the second Friday of February, May, August, and November. The cheque amount is reviewed annually by the trustees and currently stands at £62.50 a quarter — £250 a year — the same in real terms as the amount the trustees set in 1968.
2024 in numbers
- · 9 pensions paid quarterly
- · £2,250 paid in total
- · 3 additions to the list
- · 2 bereavements among existing pensioners
Supported in part by the annual collection at All Saints' Southrey and by an anonymous endowment top-up of £700 received in 2019.
The Parish Hardship Fund
Small cash or in-kind grants for households in difficulty in any of the four parishes — a heating bill, a bed for a child, a fortnight's groceries after a redundancy.
Who is eligible
Any household ordinarily resident in the parishes of Bardney, Southrey, Tupholme, or Bucknall, in some form of acute financial difficulty — including but not limited to: a recent loss of employment, an unexpected funeral cost, the breakdown of a household appliance, a winter fuel shortfall, a short-term shortfall in childcare or school costs.
How to apply
By a single side of A4 addressed to The Trustees, Kitchings General Charity, The Old Vestry, Church Lane, Bardney LN3 5UF — by post, by email to [email protected], or by ringing one of the trustees. The trustees meet quarterly to consider applications. Urgent cases are handled through the Quiet Door (Fund No. 04).
What we offer
Cash grants of typically £40 to £400, paid by cheque or by direct transfer. In-kind grants — a delivery of heating oil, a payment direct to a uniform supplier, an arrangement with the local food larder — where the trustees judge that more useful.
2024 in numbers
- · 54 applications received
- · 47 grants made
- · £186 average grant size
- · £8,742 total disbursed
- · 10 working days median decision time
Supported in part by the Witham Walks, the four annual church collections, and a regular small donation from the Bardney Heritage Group.
The Schools & Pupils Grants
Grants to Bardney CE Primary and Bucknall CE Primary for items not covered by the county budget, and small individual grants to pupils for things their families would otherwise struggle to fund.
School grants
Annual block grants of typically £400 to £700 to each of the two primary schools, made at the November trustees' meeting on the basis of a short note from the head teacher describing how the money would be spent in the coming school year. In recent years these grants have paid for library books, music tuition, an outdoor learning shed, a coach to Lincoln Cathedral, and the temporary roof patch on the back classroom at Bardney described in our January news note.
Individual pupil grants
Small grants — usually £25 to £150 — to families in either parish to cover a specific cost: a winter uniform, a residential trip fee, a musical instrument hire, a piece of safety equipment. The school nurse or head teacher will sometimes make the application on the family's behalf, with their consent.
2024 in numbers
- · £1,200 total block grant to the two schools
- · 19 individual pupil grants
- · £1,486 total in pupil grants
- · 0 applications turned down
Supported in part by the parents and friends associations of the two schools, who make a small reciprocal donation each summer term.
The Quiet Door
Our emergency reserve. Single one-off grants of up to £400 made within seventy-two hours when something has gone wrong and the household cannot wait for the next trustees' meeting.
When we use it
The Quiet Door exists for the kind of need that has a deadline attached: a meter that will be cut off on Friday, a bereavement cost that is due tomorrow, a school trip that leaves on Monday morning. Applications are accepted by phone or email at any time and a decision is made by the chair, the secretary, and at least one other trustee within seventy-two hours.
How it is controlled
Quiet Door grants are reported to the next trustees' meeting in full, with the applicant's name anonymised in the public minutes. The total Quiet Door spend in any year is capped at £3,000 by the trustees, and the chair may not approve more than £800 in a single calendar month without convening a special meeting.
2024 in numbers
- · 14 grants approved
- · £260 average grant size
- · £3,646 total disbursed (£646 over the cap, met from reserves)
- · 42 hours median decision time
Funded in 2026 by the Winter campaign described on the home page. Make a gift to the Quiet Door →
Apply, or support a fund.
One side of A4, addressed to the trustees at the Old Vestry. Or a small donation to keep the reserve in good order.