Welcoming guests to Ingatestone Hall

21st April 2022

We welcomed 80 of our fundholders, donors and supporters to Ingatestone Hall for our first Spring Reception in two years.

It was great to be back together again, and we are so grateful to our President Lord Petre for allowing us to hold our event in his lovely home.

Evenings like this are valuable opportunities for us to bring our people together, sharing stories about funds and talking about issues that are being tackled in our local communities.

Two local voluntary organisations spoke and shared how financial support from ECF has helped to further their work. These were:

BOSP (Brighter Opportunities for Special People)

For over 30 years BOSP has been supporting families who have children with disabilities or life-limiting conditions.

Their sessions for those aged 0-25, help to develop their independence, self-esteem and communication skills, while improving parents’ well-being by providing much needed respite. This care allows them to spend quality time with their partner or other children, do work or catch up on much-needed sleep.

We supported BOSP with a grant of £20,000 to run a respite service for children in Basildon and Brentwood who could not return to school full-time once lockdown lifted.

Kool Carers

If a parent has a disability or illness, their child or children will often take responsibility for some of their personal care and tasks around the house, such as cooking and cleaning, alongside looking after any siblings.

Time out from the pressure of caring responsibilities is so important for young people in this role.

Kool Carers was set up in 2018 to provide a safe environment where young carers can access professional support, to help them cope with their responsibilities, while they attend group events and other fun activities.

We awarded Kool Carers a grant of £5,000 towards the salary of a full-time administrator to help further their work.