Bourne United Charities
Bourne United Charities is registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales.[1] Its purpose is the joint administration of several legacies dedicated for the relief of poverty, the provision of housing and accommodation and environmental, conservation or heritage objectives in the Parish of Bourne. The nine principal endowments are:[2]
- John Brown
- William Fisher for Almshouses
- William Fisher for Bread
- Robert Harrington
- Jeremiah Ives
- North Fen Poor's Land
- South Fen Poor's Land
- Nicholas Rand
- William Trollope
Principal Assets
Bourne United Charities owns Abbey Lawn, a recreation ground in the centre of Bourne, along with the Wellhead Park, which is a public park. The Charities own and administer almshouses on West Street in the town. It also owns a number of investment properties in the town and elsewhere, principally in Leytonstone in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. In Bourne, their principal property is the Red Hall, where they have their office, and they also own Baldock's Mill, home of the Bourne Civic Society.
Activities
Bourne United Charities is administered by fifteen Trustees and a clerk, five of the trustees being nominated by the Town Council.
BUC manage the 12 almshouses they built in West Road, and a plot of 13 gardening allotments at the corner of Meadow Drove and Spalding Road. They own and manage the Wellhead park and the Abbey Lawn sports field in the centre of town.
Bourne United Charities own the Wellhead Cottage, which is occupied by the park manager, and several other restored buildings that are used by community organisations. These include the Shippon Barn on the edge of the Wellhead Gardens, used by the Scouts and the Guides, and the early 19th century Baldock's Mill in South Street that is now operated as a museum by the Civic Society.[2]