About St Edmunds Trust
The trust has a Board of Governors whose remit is to distribute money at their discretion to fulfil the objectives of the Trust.
Objectives
The Objects for which the Trust is established are to relieve sickness for the public benefit by making Grants to organisations providing treatment, care or support to sick or disabled persons in West Suffolk.
Distribution of grants
The Governors meet quarterly (March, June, September and December (after the AGM)) to consider applications from charitable organisations. The Trust welcomes the opportunity to fund specific projects which require investment of capital (rather than an ongoing commitment to recurrent funding of salaries).
Annual Statements of Accounts
Our Statements of Accounts are kept by the Charity Commission here (tick the Accounts box)
Our Trustees
Simon Brown – Chair
Simon works within the Healthcase sector, currently for the NHS and prior to this supporting unpaid family carers, vulnerable adults, children and young people. He has also spent 8 yrs as a West Suffolk District Councillor, focussing on communities across the area. Away from this, Simon coaches youth Cricket and and Football locally.
Kirk Vaughan – Treasurer
Kirk is a chartered accountant and chartered tax advisor, working at Knights Lowe Chartered Accountants as a client services director. He also heads up the tax department working on a range of specialist tax assignments covering all taxes.
He has been a Trustee of St Edmunds Trust since 2019.
Graeme Kirk – Secretary (non-trustee)
Graeme has been the Senior Partner of Gross & Co. Solicitors in Bury St Edmunds since 1996.
His specialist area of practice is UK immigration and he was chairman of the Immigration and Nationality Law Committee of the International Bar Association from 2000 to 2004.
He is a past President of the Suffolk and North Essex Law Society, and also a past President of the Bury St Edmunds Rotary Club and Bury St Edmunds Round Table. He has been involved with St Edmunds Trust for over 25 years.
Dr Jamie Gilmour
Dr Gilmour is a GP partner in a large semi-rural Practice in Sudbury. He graduated from Cambridge then trained locally at the West Suffolk Hospital before settling with his family in Bury St Edmunds.
Neville Horn
Neville is a Senior Investment Manager with JM Finn and has over 20 years experience managing Private Client, Trust and Charity investment portfolios. Neville is also a Director of Bury St Edmunds’ business improvement district “Our Bury St Edmunds”. Neville was also a founder Director of the Thedwastre Education Trust.
Heather Sonnet
Heather is a Chartered and Certified Financial Planner with over 27 years’ experience assisting clients with their financial planning and wealth needs. Heather often works with people who are experiencing difficult life changes such as separation and divorce or recent bereavement and inheritance. Prior to working in finance, Heather had originally trained as a psychiatric nurse and still has a strong interest in the care of those with mental illnesses.
Outside of work, Heather is a Past President of the Cambridge Business and Professional Club. In addition, Heather enjoys playing Polo and is a member of the Cambridge County Polo Club.
Julia Wakelam
Julia is a retired Solicitor who practised in Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich. She is a West Suffolk District Councillor, a former Mayor of St Edmundsbury Borough Council. In addition to being a Trustee of St Edmunds Trust, she is a Trustee of the Bury St Edmunds Ecumenical Trust, which manages The St John’s Centre in Bury, and the Suffolk Academies Trust, a Governor of West Suffolk College, a member of the Abbey of St Edmunds Heritage Partnership, and Founding member of the Bury St Edmunds Literature Festival. In addition, she is the proud Honorary Life President of Gatehouse – Caring in East Anglia. She is the mother of two grown children and a joyful grandmother. She and her husband live in Bury St Edmunds.
Ian Shipp
Ian is a Director of local pest control company 999 Pest Control Ltd, he is also a district councillor for West Suffolk and Chairman of their Overview and Scrutiny Committee. He is currently the Mayor of Mildenhall High Town Council where he has been a councillor for 7 years. He moved to Bury St Edmunds in 1978 and has lived and worked locally ever since. He worked for 28 years in Local Government at St Edmundsbury Borough Council and also Forest Heath District Council where he was responsible for Culture and Community Services and he has a great deal of knowledge and experience in working with the voluntary sector.