Members who attended last year’s AGM will recall the announcement that the Hampshire Archives Trust had been left a very generous legacy in the will of James and Mary Ann Wilkes. James Wilkes had been a longstanding supporter of HAT, and it was both kind and very generous of him to remember HAT in his will and to leave us a sizeable legacy to help support our work. JW had also always shown an interest in and had supported the work of the Victoria County History Hampshire (VCHH). Although the legacy to HAT was made without restriction, it did also ask that strong consideration should be given to the VCHH when considering a future grant.
As you will be aware, HAT has two categories for grants: small grants of £500 or less, or larger grants of up to £10,000. In order to honour the request in Wilkes’ legacy and to facilitate an application from the VCHH for a larger grant to support a suitable project, the HAT Trustees created a special category for the VCHH to allow for a one-off large grant.
The VCH Hampshire subsequently submitted an application for funds to support the research, editorial work and publication of a new Red Book to cover Old Basing, Steventon and environs (fourteen parishes in all); a project which would take an estimated three years to complete. HAT’s Board of Trustees were happy to approve a grant of £60,000 to the VCHH to support this exciting new project. We were delighted to be able to honour the terms of Wilkes’ will and to support VCHH in completing this important project. Although this grant fulfils HAT’s obligation in terms of the legacy, like all other organisations, the VCHH will of course still be able to apply for future grants under our established small and large grants scheme.
We wish the VCHH well as it now progresses the work on the new Red Book and we look forwarded to its publication in due course.
