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!

30th June 2023

For the second year running, the Sir George Martin Trust has awarded six fantastic winners from the Leeds City College Adult Learners of Access to Health Science Professions course £500 for their dedication and hard work to securing their dream job in the medical and health science field.

Our founder, Sir George was extremely passionate about supporting the medical sector, and having left school at 16, the trustees felt it was important to recognise and celebrate hard working local people who have returned to education as adults so they can get onto a degree course and pursue their medical or health career.  Many of our 2023 winners have continued to work full time and look after their family whilst studying at Leeds City College, which makes them so deserving of the £500 award which can be spent on anything they like, which has or will help them to continue their studies.

Image – left, Analisa Fernandes Ogari and right, Janet Martin, Sir George Martin Trust trustee.

9th January 2023

Leeds City College & Sir George Martin Trust £500 Award Scheme for Access to Science Profession Students

Following the success of last’s year first Leeds City College and Sir George Martin Trust £500 Award Scheme for Access to Science Profession students, the Trust is pleased to confirm that it has committed to running the Award Scheme for two more years in 2023 and 2024. In 2022 the Leeds City College Access to Science tutors chose six winners who really stood out and have all gone onto study health science at university. To find out more about this year’s scheme, watch this brief video from our Trust Manager, Carla Marshall and to learn more about the 2022 winners read the Leeds City College article here.

27th June 2022

A great day on Friday as our Chairman, Roger Marshall, and I met the six fantastic winners of our new Sir George Martin Trust Award Scheme for Adult Learners of Access to Health Science Professions in partnership with Leeds City College.

Our founder, Sir George was extremely passionate about supporting the medical sector, and having left school at 16, we felt it was important to recognise and celebrate hard working local people who have returned to education so they can get onto a degree course and secure their dream job in the medical and health science field. Many of our 2022 winners have continued to work full time and look after their family whilst studying at Leeds City College, which makes them so deserving of the £500 award.

Our trustee, Janet Martin, a former university lecturer came up with the awards initiative idea and the rest of the board all agreed that supporting West Yorkshire people who have overcome adversity and gain a degree place in order to advance in a health science career would be an excellent, complementary initiative to run alongside the Trust’s main grant giving programme in West Yorkshire.

Image – left to right: Emma Dagless, Victoria Tillyard, Letisha Riley, Roger Marshall, Chantelle Emmanus, Jack Hutchinson, Joanne Hoult and Carla Marshall.

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