Happy Fifth Birthday to us

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Posted on April 25, 2015 by Matt Betts

Happy five years to us! We were founded five years ago with the remit to:

i) To provide respite, relief and assistance for the suffering and distress of children and vulnerable adults who have disabilities, or who are physically or emotionally deprived or neglected, and their families.
ii) The relief of the sick/poor living in the UK either generally or individually through the provision of grants, goods or services.
iii) To advance in life and (relieve needs of) (help) young people.

Thank you for your support over the last five years, we really appreciate it. Thanks to you, we have been able to support so many people and charities.

A Word of Welcome and Thanks

Posted on October 26, 2011 by Matt Betts

A word of welcome from our chairman…
THANK YOU! I want those to be the first words in our charity’s first newsletter, because without support and interest from people like you, Living By Giving simply would not exist. It is your charity, so again, THANK YOU!

It’s amazing to think that as a Trust we’re only a year old, but already, for a small charity, so much has been achieved. In our first twelve months we’ve enabled a child to spend time at Derian House Children’s Hospice in Lancashire, we’ve sponsored other sick children to go on holiday and supported the families of sick children in hospital. In London we’ve helped out at a soup kitchen and also helped to initiate a fund for those affected by this summer’ s riots. In addition, we helped to fund a student volunteering in a reconciliation project at the Dachau Memorial Site – that’s a diverse set of projects to be involved in!

And that’s how Living By Giving hopes to make a difference. There are many great charities and social projects out there, but rather than compete with them, we hope to build networks between us, and initiate new projects. Our aim is to advance the standard of life for all people in need; the poor, the disabled, the deprived. With such a large remit, we’ve decided to take a particular focus for three-years and our first cycle of projects (2010-13) is associated with young people – “Living By Giving… Young People New Experiences”.

At the grand old age of 32, I’m probably falling out of the bracket of ‘Young People’ myself, but I have to say that the new experience of becoming a Trustee has been wonderfully enriching and great fun. My fellow trustees – Matt Betts, Stephen Daly, Dail Maudsley and Sadie Vile – are all people I met in Lourdes, and our inspiration for setting up the trust was our life-changing experience of volunteering to help the sick and disabled.

So much in our society today encourages people to hold on to what they have got, and to hoard for an uncertain future. The world seems to promote a message of ‘Living By Taking’ – there is an unspoken fear that sharing your time, energy and resources with other people will leave you going without. In fact the opposite is true; our experiences as Trustees have proved that giving time and energy to others actually enriches you. Life is unpredictable, and so the best place to invest your resources is in the here and now, in relationships with other people. Giving really is the best way of living.

We have a number of exciting projects in the pipeline, and we’re looking to involve as many people as possible. We always need help with fundraising and publicity for events such as our first birthday party, and would appreciate anyone who can volunteer their time. If you’re interested in finding out more about how you can help or would like to get involved right now, please just get in touch with us. And if you have any suggestions for how we can be “Living By Giving…Young People New Experiences”, do let us know.

With sincerest thanks again for your help and support in our first year.

Johan Bergström-Allen, Chairman (2011 – 2012)

Read our newsletter here

Thank you

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Matt Betts

Thank you to all our supporters who came along to our First Birthday Party on Saturday 22 October 2011 and to all those who donated towards our event.

We have many people to thank, but we would like to publicly thank the following people for their help in making the event a success:

Firstly, we would like to thank our fundraising committee, for helping the trustees with organisation and for being heavily involved on the night: Anna Ball, Terri Betts, Jane Cadogan, Pippa Hembry, Andrew Loynd, Patrick Noble and Alex Turvey – thank you all for your incredible efforts.

A big thank you also goes to the following people (in no particular order):

Philomena and Mary for preparing all the wonderful food, and to Jane for your invaluable help in the kitchen all night
Christophe and Lina for helping behind the bar
The Bikini Beach Band
Paul and Tony – our brilliant DJ’s
Pauline – for cake, sausage rolls, and babysitting
John for various logistics and bringing us all the drinks
Claudine – for driving Steve to collect things
Duncan & Chloe for providing the PA system
Errol Bracken for his speech (and dancing)
Neil and Sophie for the lights
Janet for her generosity
Bluepepper Design
All those who donated a prize to our raffle
Gibbs Hartley Cooper for their generosity
The Arundell family
The CA
The British Province of Carmelites
Walworth Parish, but especially Kevin and Francis
All the Lourdites!
EBU
Kerry Betts and The Happy Tea Company
www.costumes4ushop.co.uk for loaning various props
The amazing staff at the St Bride Foundation
All the trustees! Dail, Matt, Johan, Sadie and Stephen

If you would still like to donate to us, please visit here, and thank you!

Johan Bergström-Allen, Chair (2011 – 2012)

First Birthday Party – Details

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Matt Betts

Thank you to everyone who has bought a ticket for the Living by Giving Trust First Birthday Party. We are looking forward to seeing you on 22nd October 2011 from 7.30pm!

Since we haven’t had much of a summer this year, the event will have a summer theme and will include music from The Bikini Beach Band, a raffle, a cash bar, food, and much more, and will take place at the famous St Bride’s Foundation in the City of London, close to the historic area of Fleet Street and the famous St Paul’s Cathedral. See details on how to get there, below.

Please feel free to dress up as summery as possible (though you may want to bring a jumper for the journey there and back!).

Please don’t forget to bring cash for our cash bar and raffle!

And, finally, if a friend or family member would like to come along and haven’t bought a ticket, please buy here.

How to get there:

St Bride Foundation
Bride Lane, Fleet Street
London EC4Y 8EQ
T 020 7353 3331 (Map)

Tucked away just behind the main streets, the building is signposted from Fleet Street and New Bridge Street.

Underground

Temple District and Circle line (13 mins to Foundation)
St Paul’s Central line (7 mins to Foundation)

Buses

Fleet Street, east end: 4, 11, 15, 23, 26, 76, 172
New Bridge Street: 45, 63, 100

Main line rail

City Thameslink (2 minutes to Foundation)

Nearest car park

Hillgate House
Limeburner Lane
London EC4M 7HY
Open 24 hours a day.

From Ludgate Circus, up Ludgate Hill and take the second left into Old Bailey, then left into Limeburner Lane.

Use Journey Planner to play your journey

First Birthday Event

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Matt Betts

We are very excited to reach a year of our charity Living by Giving Trust, especially as we have been able to support so many different projects in just one year.

Amongst the various undertakings we have been able to support, in 2010 we sponsored a child to travel with the Glanfield Children’s Group and in 2011 we gave some financial support to CA helpers and also provided some funding to support the gap year work of Roy Scivyer in Dachau. If you would like to support us in fundraising for future projects like this, please join us for our “First Birthday Celebration” on 22nd October 2011 in London.

You can purchase tickets online here: http://www.bmycharity.com/1stB irthday