Charity News

Camaraderie and community: the Men’s Shed
With annual costs of just £30,000, the Haberdashers’ small grant of £2,000 made a considerable difference to this volunteer-led organisation. Here’s why it matters to those who attend the Men’s Shed.

 

All the tools are neatly laid out, each screwdriver and pair of pliers in their rightful place along the length of the ‘shed’. There is clearly a great deal of care and attention here, and not just for the hardware. 

This is the Men’s Shed (soon to be rebranded the Joy of Sheds), a... Read More


Preventing knife crime deaths through first aid
With a Small Grant of just £1,892 the Company is helping young people in London learn how to prevent deaths from knife crime with charity Street-Doctors.

 

There are two impressive things about the work of Street-Doctors. First, the sessions they deliver for small groups of young people are potentially life-saving: teaching simple, memorable steps with the aim of preventing deaths from knife crime. Second, and equally impressive, is that the sessions are run exclusively by volunteers.... Read More


New energy and vision for All Saints, New Cross
It was the strangest of years for Father Grant Bolton-Debbage. He began his role as priest-in-charge at All Saints, New Cross, in the midst of a global pandemic. Father Grant tells us of his hopes and dreams for the church and wider community. 

 

Stepping up on to a makeshift step Father Grant pulls himself up to peer over the fence into the church’s garden. He breezily explains that for some reason the gate is padlocked from within, so the only way to access the garden is by first manoeuvring... Read More


Opening doors for a future in engineering
The Company has been supporting the Arkwright Engineering Scholarship since 1997, sponsoring 77 talented engineering scholars. This year is their 30th anniversary and we celebrate with a story of Haberdasher Apprentice, Lisa Davies. Lisa with Andrew Tarpey, Liveryman and Arkwright's Company Contact

 

The Smallpeice Trust’s Arkwright Engineering Scholarship programme is designed to inspire sixth form students to pursue their dreams and change the world as future leaders in engineering... Read More


Knitting a yarn back to our ancient art
The Company awarded its first grant to Cockpit Arts in 2012. Since then this partnership has grown in strength and helps link the Haberdashers' Company to its roots in the world of textiles and fashion. 

The Clerk's modelling debut, in Haberdasher scholar Olivia Holland's knitted silk jacket

It’s not often that you see a Clerk of one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies modelling a one-of-a-kind, hand-made, all-the-colours-of-the-rainbow, silk jacket... Read More


The Haberdashers' Charitable Foundations 2020 - 2021

 

If you let me, I'll be your biggest cheerleader
Not far from the shadow of Canary Wharf is the Pepys Road housing estate. Here young people grow up in complex lives of poverty, domestic abuse and a lack of access to opportunities. Drugs and violence are commonplace. The Haberdashers' Company's Major Grant awardee XLP is determined to change that narrative. 

XLP youth session

 

A small group of young people turned up for the XLP youth group on a bright autumn evening, the youth workers ready to greet them. There... Read More


Haberdasher scholars share good news stories
Part of the joy of working with the Charities Committee is receiving emails from scholars who have benefited from Haberdashers’ support. At the start of this new academic year we celebrate with those students who have received an award from the Company.

Eva Shah

AkzoNobel Science Scholar (graduate, Bath, Biology) says ‘I am writing to share that I have graduated with a first-class honours BSc in Biology (with professional placement) and I have also... Read More


Creating better lives through fashion
Director for Charities, Susan Barry, was invited to be part of a very special Topping Out ceremony at awardee London College of Fashion’s new building in the Olympic Park.

 

The London College of Fashion began its life in 1906 following the merger of three local trade schools. Since then they have had various teaching and learning spaces spread across the city, making collaboration a very challenging issue.

The ‘Topping Out’ ceremony marked the completion of the structure itself.... Read More


The Thomas Arno Award
The highlight of my summer In August 2021 eleven Haberdasher students went to explore a part of the very beautiful, wild and at times remote Scottish Highlands. They took part in a unique canoe and camping expedition, spending three nights in the wild. This is the story of their trip.

Up until spring 2021 we continued to have hope that the trip to South Africa could go ahead as planned. This is the annual trip organised by the Wilderness Foundation and funded by the Company. It gives a group of students from across all Haberdasher schools... Read More