For more than 100 years The David Williamson Trust has been supporting disadvantaged residents in the Borough of Guildford and immediate neighbourhood. In recent years our financial grants and bursaries have been used to support a number of local charities helping them to deliver education, training and respite activities to children and young people from 8-18 years as well as assisting adults who are in need due to poverty or ill health. The trustees meet each quarter to consider grant applications and maintain regular contact with our charities.
Our History
The David Williamson Trust was founded in 1902 to benefit the Guildford Congregational Church in its Christian Mission. David Williamson (1832-1910) was a Justice of the Peace for Guildford and Deacon of Guildford Congregational Church. In 1902 he gifted some properties in what was then NW Kent to establish the charity. The rental income was to be used to support the church in its work with children and young people, as well as other children in the Borough of Guildford.
In 1984, following the sale of the properties and the amalgamation of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches to form the United Reformed Church, a Declaration of Trust varied the terms of the original Deed. This gave the trustees the ability to make grants more widely in the community. More recently we have created a new Declaration of Trust to reflect the present circumstances and requirements. The Trust continues to support Guildford United Reformed Church in its work with children.
The endowment fund is now invested in a professionally managed Charity Collective Investment Fund, with the annual income distributed at the discretion of the trustees.