Our Testimonials

We thank the Trustees of Westham House Fund for the grant of £1000 to help finance music sessions for people with dementia and those who care for them. 

Rugby Dementia Support has continued to run these sessions twice monthly. Each session lasts about one and a half hours with people often staying afterwards to talk, building friendship and support. The sessions are lively, but carefully paced, with participants taking an active part in whatever way they can. Everyone joins in and it is good to see people who are not able to sing the words responding to the rhythms and using percussion instruments. There are lots of smiles. For some participants these sessions are one of the few times they go out. Taking part helps to maintain both cognitive and social functioning. We receive very positive feedback from participants; the sessions seem to be of real value to people with dementia and their carers locally. 

The Percival Guildhouse is a place where people meet to learn for pleasure.  Our charity provides fun, affordable, professionally taught, adult education classes in a wide variety of subjects throughout the week and on occasional Saturdays. Our students can choose from classes in languages, history, art, creative writing,  pilates, crafts and so much more!

Grants from WHF over the last few years have allowed us to  continue to offer reduced course fees to students on low incomes. We are proud of our inclusiveness and are delighted that, with the help of WHF, we can make sure that our programme is accessible to as many students as possible .

Many thanks for your support for this project which is proving to be an important lifeline for isolated older people. 

The grant of £1500 has allowed us to set up a discussion group for older people. The aim was to show how this form of adult education could help to combat loneliness in this age group. The grant helped with the costs of promotion, dissemination and outreach work and a small facilitation fee for the group organiser.  This group was run in conjunction with Age UK Manchester in a very large former pre-war council estate and quite a deprived area. Our first topic was “Childhood then and now” and the group now runs every week at 1pm to 2.15 pm on a Thursday and is working well. 

Thank you very much for supporting our Creative Writing projects in Coventry and Rugby. Your £750 grant is allowing us to bring older people together to put pen to paper to write about their memories - everyone has a story, even if some help is needed to write it down! Led by award winning author/novelist Amanda Smyth, the workshops use simple creative writing fun exercises to help participants make meaningful works. They share stories about their past with each other within the group initially – encouraging a social creative group. 

The first Warwick History Festival was held in 2016, featuring talks and events by prominent national authors and history experts. It was incredibly popular, attracting a wide audience. It now continues as an annual event with an emphasis on local, national and international history, culture and heritage. We are most grateful to the Westham House Fund Trustees for their generous support which has helped us to put the History Festival on a secure footing.