1st July 2025
Today was the fourth year that the Sir George Martin Trust teamed up with Leeds City College to recognise and celebrate six of their most committed and hardworking Access to Science Professions students. Sir George was very passionate about the healthcare profession and so in 2022 the trustees thought it would be fitting to award six students with a £600 cash prize to recognise their achievement of going back to college later in life to pursue a healthcare career and go onto study a degree at a West Yorkshire university. The Leeds City College tutors chose this year’s six winners for achieving excellent academic results whilst also continuing to work outside of college and look after family. Our Vice-Chair of Trustees, Sarah Blenkinsop was there to hand out the prizes and hear the winners’ inspirational stories about all their hard work.
L to R: Emmanuel Ugbogu, Billy Robinson, Betherny Plews, Sarah Blenkinsop, Emma Poppleton, Lauren Jackson, Boyelany Diouf.
9th June 2025
Great board meeting and tour of the fantastic CATCH Leeds today! We aim to hold all our trustees’ meetings at local charities which the Trust has recently supported and the trustees thoroughly enjoyed meeting lots of the CATCH youngsters and meeting the animals on their farm. Thanks so much to Founder Ash and the team for being so welcoming and ensuring we had a great visit https://www.catchleeds.org/
5th June 2025
So glad I could attend NEST Helping the Homeless’ launch event in Halifax today! NEST were the first charity to receive a multi-year grant from the Sir George Martin Trust last year and it was wonderful to see how far the amazing Hazel Brindle and team have come. What started as a very small, Rotary Sowerby Bridge project, giving out rucksacks and essential items to local homeless people, has grown into the independent NEST charity which is now working across West Yorkshire and helping hundreds of homeless people with home starter kits and much more to come https://nesthelpingthehomeless.co.uk/
1st July 2024
Another great day at Leeds City College meeting the winners of our 2024 Sir George Martin Trust £600 award scheme for Access to Science profession students! Six students really stood out, achieving excellent academic results whilst also continuing to work outside of college and look after their family. They are now going onto university to get a step closer to their new healthcare career. The awards were started in 2022 as our founder, Sir George was a Leeds businessman, a former Lord Mayor of Leeds, and he was very passionate about the healthcare profession. Our long-standing trustee, Janet Martin came up with the idea and it’s great to be able to help West Yorkshire individuals as well as local charities and churches through our funding.
Image – L to R: Lilly Osei Elboateng, Fatoumata Loum, Morven Whyte – Chair of Trustees at Sir George Martin Trust, Rebecca Cooper, Carlie Martin and Charlotte Scott.
4th April 2024
I don’t often have time to attend celebration events as my Trust Manager role is focused on visiting charity and church applicants when they are applying to us, but we’ve supported SNAPS Yorkshire a few times and the venue was close to another charity I was visiting, so it was great to join in their 20th anniversary celebrations in Leeds. SNAPS began in 2004 as a parent led group, and now delivers physiotherapy, support and play to an average of 180 families each month. The party was filled with happy kids and their families, along with the charity’s trustees, volunteers and supporters – it was a real success. Happy birthday SNAPS!
25th April 2022
After 26 years of committed grant-making to small charities in Yorkshire, the Denton Charitable Trust has decided to wind-up its giving and merge its remaining funds with the Sir George Martin Trust.
The two West Yorkshire-based, independent funding organisations have a strong history of working together, with the Sir George Martin Trust’s former Secretary, Peter Marshall OBE, helping the Denton Charitable Trust’s Founder, Susan Wood, to set up her Trust back in 1996.
Susan said: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed running the Trust for all these years and feel honoured to have met so many passionate, dedicated charity workers and volunteers who work tirelessly to help those in need. Over the last 12 months we have made a number of larger donations to charities which we have supported before, but we didn’t want to ‘spend-out’ completely and felt it was important to keep giving in the future. The integration with the Sir George Martin Trust is an excellent solution as we have the same ethos and are both focused on supporting disadvantaged and vulnerable people in West Yorkshire by providing grants to mainly locally-based community charities.”
Roger Marshall, Chair of the Sir George Martin Trust added: “I have known Susan for decades and the Denton Charitable Trust has done some excellent work which is very much aligned with our aims and values. We are incredibly grateful to the Denton Charitable Trust for entrusting their funds with us, especially at a time when so many local charities need more funding in order to meet increased demand. With this injection of funds, the Sir George Martin Trust can have an even greater impact and help more West Yorkshire communities and the charities which support them.”
Image – left to right:
Carla Marshall, Trust Manager, Sir George Martin Trust; Roger Marshall, Chair, Sir George Martin Trust; Susan Wood, Founder & Chair, Denton Charitable Trust