Archive for category: home page news

1 July 2026

Our Annual General Meeting was held today in No. One Court at the Old Bailey, with a reception afterwards in the splendid surroundings of the Grant Hall.

At the AGM, attendees heard an inspiring story from Daniel who has turned his life around after leaving prison and receiving a grant from the Fund to buy an electrician’s toolkit and setting up a successful business. Our guest speaker, Her Honour Wendy Joseph, KC, a former judge at the Old Bailey and a Patron of the Fund, then held the audience enthralled with her thought provoking and insightful reflections on justice and rehabilitation from her years “on the bench”.

1 July 2026
Our 2026 Annual Report was published today.

Highlights

Highest ever number of grant applications;
Record income levels; and
Strong investment performance.
On the back of introducing the online grant application in May 2025, we made over 1,600 grants, 25% more than last year, with grant expenditure hitting an all-time high for the third year running of £317,000. We also saw an increase in donation income, largely from the livery companies and the 200 Club, topping £200,000 for the first time.

Over the last three years, income from donations has increased by just over 10%, but over the same period grant expenditure has nearly doubled – meaning that the gap between regular income and grant expenditure has grown significantly, exceeding £100,000 this year and likely to be even higher next year. This means we have become increasingly dependent on fundraising income to be able to continue to fund all eligible applications. This year, again, we benefitted from some fantastic fundraising efforts by the Sheriffs, the Recorder and from other sources, which you can read more about in our Annual Report. In total, nearly £200,000 was raised from these events, resulting in total income just short of £1/2 million – the highest ever, higher even than in our bicentenary year. This enabled us to also fund 4 rehabilitation projects.

Thank you to everyone for your generous support to enable this.

2025/26 Annual Report

29 April 2026

We are very pleased and honoured to welcome Her Honour Wendy Joseph, KC, and Thomas Grant, KC as new Patrons of the Fund. Her Honour Wendy Joseph, KC, is a former judge at The Old Bailey and author of the acclaimed “Unlawful Killings” and “Rough Justice”. Thomas Grant, KC, is a practising barrister and the award-winning author of “Court Number One: The Old Bailey Trials that defined Modern Britain”.