Why are we doing this? 

Because a CIO (introduced in the 2006 Charities Act) is a modern charitable structure offering a wide range of benefits. A CIO is a legal body in its own right, offering legal protections for trustees; a more legally-standardised and professional constitution stipulating such things as trustee term limits; the ability to enter into contracts for services, etc. Most charities set up since 2006 have been set up as CIOs and many existing charities like ours have already converted. Importantly, we believe this will help us with the recruitment of trustees in the years ahead.

What will change?

In one sense, nothing. It is important to know that our charitable goals will remain fundamentally the same, namely the support of our wonderful local community hospital in Keswick. However, the technical process of becoming a CIO involves setting up a new CIO charity, with a new name and new UK registration number. Once set up, we will then transfer across any existing assets (donated funds), before winding up the old charity. The first stage of this is now complete. Our new charity name is the Friends of Keswick Hospital, and our new UK Charity Commission registration number is 1215859. 

The process of converting to a CIO involves a lot of work, but hopefully will be complete by March 2026. Keep checking this website for updates!

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We have also had some business cards printed, with our new Friends of Keswick Hospital logo (courtesy of https://www.greystokewebdesign.co.uk/) and a QR code on the reverse which links to our website’s donation page. If you look closely, you can see them under the collection box in the picture.

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Welcome to our new website, launched to help us better fulfil our mission of supporting our wonderful local hospital in Keswick. Here you can find out how to make donations, either one-off or regular. You can be inspired by reading about what previous donations from our many supporters have been spent on, and the positive differences those purchases have made.

And if you have an idea for how to improve the hospital’s amenities for patients and/or staff, you can find how to make an application to us for funding. Last but not least, keep checking our news feed to keep informed about our ongoing work.

The cost of building this website was itself funded by generous donations in memory of Glenda Holme, a long-standing and popular trustee of our charity, who sadly passed away in January 2023.

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Mike, well known locally for his extensive voluntary work, played a key role in saving the hospital from closure when it was threatened in 2007. Under his spirited leadership, not only was Keswick hospital preserved (unlike others in Maryport, Wigton and Alston) but the number of beds was subsequently increased. He leaves behind a charity in good health and will be missed. Read more in the Keswick Reminder.

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In summary, general donations were down significantly, probably due to the UK’s ongoing cost of living crisis and/or a changing hospital admissions policy. However, and fortunately, this has been more than offset by the receipt of some very significant and generous legacies which have further strengthened our financial position.

Our highlight funding achievement for the year was a second payment of £100,000 to North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust (NCIC) that helped finance the costs of a significant hospital ward extension in 2019. The public benefits of this extension are four (4) modern ward beds, representing a 33% increase in the hospital’s inpatient capacity.

In terms of trustees, we said a fond farewell to Mike Bulman (see previous news article) who stood down after almost 30 years as a trustee; Dorothy Savage stood down as Chair with Shelagh Lambert taking over the role, and Sylvia Darigala took over from Gail Miller as our new Secretary. We welcome a new trustee to our ranks, Gillian Montgomery.

For the year ahead, and given our strong financial position thanks to the generosity of our donors and legatees, our primary goal is to identify and fund a major project for the benefit of Keswick Hospital. A trustee working party is being set up to liaise with the NCIC NHS Trust, our contacts at Keswick Hospital, and the local community.

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