This Charity exists primarily to provide grants for the furtherance of educational needs for people of all ages living in and around Malmesbury. Its funds are limited but have been augmented by fund rasing in recent years. A BRIEF HISTORY In 1723 Elizabeth Hodges of Shipton Moyne made her will. Appreciating the value of education, she left £30 per annum (raised from land in Gloucestershire) to be used to provide a school for boys in Malmesbury. At that time education was a luxury for the rich; there was no state provision of education and charitable gifts were the main source of schooling for those unable to pay for tutors or send their children away to boarding schools. In 1730 a Charter enabled Elizabeth Hodges Charity money to be used for the provision of a “Poor School” in Malmesbury. In the nineteenth century it funded a school at 40 Gloucester Road, opposite the Abbey. Jeremiah Webb, a carpenter, and Henry Onesymus Moyse, a schoolmaster designed and refurbished the house so that it could become a school for “fifteen poor but respectable boys, the children of respectable parents”. The boys would have learned reading writing and arithmetic; they may also have learned carpentry from Jeremiah Webb in his workshop below the house. The charity lay dormant for many years until Malmesbury Town Council found some old records in a bank in Malmesbury leading to the charity’s revival in the early 1990’s. GRANTS Trustees would consider grant requests from anyone who lives in and around Malmesbury or who goes to a school in the Malmesbury catchment area and cannot from their own means make most use of educational opportunities needed. Generally any grant is distributed to further the applicant’s particular educational need. Contact Phil Rice – see below. COVENANTS/DONATIONS To make an outright contribution to the Elizabeth Hodges Charity please make your cheque payable to “The Elizabeth Hodges Charity” and send it to Phil Rice – see below. To covenant a payment for four years or more, please contact the Clerk, Phil Rice at The First, Milbourne Lane, Malmesbury, SN16 9JH, telephone 01666 824007/07979 694981, email philrice@lineone.net. If you wish to consider bequeathing a legacy to the Charity please discuss this with your solicitor who will advise you. TRUSTEES OF THE CHARITY The Mayor of Malmesbury Mrs A Cooke Mrs H Mobley Mrs K Power (Chair) Mr P Rice (Also Clerk) Mr W Sykes