Annual Report 2023 to 2024
It was a very interesting and challenging time in different ways for the Jack Harrison VC MC Charitable trust in this year.
With myself doing two jobs and working a lot of hours every week as a care worker in the community for the vast majority of this time, it certainly narrowed my chances of fundraising ventures, but then an opportunity came my way, which brought a new way of fundraising which I am now starting to develop.
That opportunity was handed to me when I was booked to give a talk at The Charterhouse in Kingston Upon Hull about the man who our charity is named after, for which I was sent a cheque for £100 some time later and which can be seen in our tax return for the year.
I have since been booked to give talks about my Great Auntie Ada Vallinda Walsh, aka Sister Agnes Walsh, for which I am being paid, and will be banked and will show up in our next annual report and tax return in due course.
We also needed to grow our amount of trustees to help with administration etc, and increasing our skillset and as recognition for support that certain people showed at various points, which is why we appointed Shane Blades and Abi Webster as trustees, although at the same time Jon Hilton decided he could no longer commit the required time, so instead in a trustees regular meeting, we decided because of his dedication and sterling work, to simply name him as an honorary trustee moving forward, simply because he does still want to be involved in what we are doing and because he has great know-how to help get certain projects for fundraising up and running.
During the year I was also able to make a valuable link with the two men who have taken over and reopened the Battery Fort Paull Heritage site and, after storing a vast collection of WW1 artifacts and memorabilia there, we now have a full display in one of the rooms there which can be viewed by anyone and does also have a collection bucket in place for people to donate to the charity when they go and see it.
That took quite a few journeys to take the whole collection there and then set it up in the room where it is proudly displayed now and included some very heavy lifting as well, but I can safely say that it was definitely worth the considerable effort and it adds another branch to our fundraising efforts.
Moving forward we have some very exciting plans, including an exhibition about Auntie Ada which is already booked for this coming September, and we have made considerable progress in other areas important for the charity which will appear in the next annual report including our planning for the exhibition in September.
For instance, I have personally taken on a few trips and research regarding other prominent people from Hull and East Yorkshire’s local history and I am now starting to put those to good use, allowing me to teach people about these prominent persons that I believe everybody needs to be educated about, I have also made a very useful link with the former Lord Mayor who instituted the Hull 100 Centenary Cream Plaques as a great source of information and we are on the brink of appointing one of her team from that project as another trustee in the coming weeks.
The charity will also become even more prominent in due course with our work regarding the exhibition in September attracting the interest of BBC local news, with even the potential to go national and because I have been invited to speak at Hull City Council’s annual Holocaust Remembrance service in the Guildhall at the end of January, among other bookings I have received as well.
Charity 2023 to 2024 accounts
Incomings:
13/11/2023 £10.00
16/11/2023 £57.01
18/03/2024 £100.00
Balance on Account £1,695.70
Jack Harrison VC Statue Campaign Sort Code 83-04-25 Account number 19312619