News & stories

Four dispatches a year, and a few longer pieces, all by trustees.

We do not have a press office. Everything here is written by one of the six trustees, edited by the chair, and approved by any resident or volunteer it mentions, before publication.

A green hardback notebook on a kitchen table, open to a page of pencil notes for the spring dispatch, a fountain pen across the page.
Slate roofers on scaffolding above the almshouse in March, cathedral spire of Chichester visible in the distance.

· Buildings

The roof above our heads, after eighteen winters

A short note on what it cost to re-slate the eastern slope, who paid for it, and why we waited as long as we did.

Read · eight minutes
A hand-painted sandwich board outside the almshouse gate on a summer afternoon, advertising the Wassail Fund.

· Welfare

The Wassail Fund — spring disbursement

Thirty-one quiet grants, totalling £4,180, paid out in the first quarter of the year.

Read · six minutes
Derek on the threshold of the smallest almshouse, hand on the doorframe, soft morning light.

· Residents

Welcoming Derek to Ognell’s Row

In October we welcomed our fourth resident, Derek, who has come up from Cocking.

Read · seven minutes
A wicker trug full of mid-summer runner beans on a wooden bench outside the walled garden door.

· Garden

A glut summer: what we did with the runner beans

Twenty-three pounds of runner beans, thirty-two heads of lettuce and an unwise number of courgettes. A note from Richard.

Read · five minutes
Mrs Judy Fowler shaking hands with a new trustee in the parish room at Easebourne, late afternoon, tea things on a side table.

· Trustees

Welcoming Doon to the trustee board

Doon Muir was co-opted at the May meeting to take over the volunteering co-ordinator role from Mary Comper, who retires after 28 years.

Read · four minutes
Long-table supper laid in Easebourne parish hall, hand-lettered place cards reading George Ognell's Charity above the cheese board.

· Events

The Spring Supper, 2025

Sixty-two places, served at two settings, a short reading from the founder’s will after the cheese.

Read · four minutes
A small green envelope tied with garden twine on a kitchen doormat, addressed to a neighbour in Cocking.

· Welfare

The winter Wassail appeal: what we raised, what we paid

£6,318 from 188 named donors; 41 grants paid out before Lady Day.

Read · five minutes
The Angel Inn quiz night, scoresheets and pencils on a corner table, low pub lamplight.

· Events

A note on the quiz at the Angel Inn

£412 raised for the Wassail Fund. The trustees’ team came last.

Read · three minutes
A green hardback ledger and a fountain pen on the trustee's desk, late autumn light through a small leaded window.

· Accounts

A short letter from the treasurer

John Travers writes on the year’s figures, the building reserve, and how to read a small charity’s accounts.

Read · six minutes
A quiet lane in Stedham at dusk, a single lit cottage window on the right, October haze in the trees.

· Visiting

A walk from Easebourne to Stedham

A note from Judy on one of the longer Sunday Doors visits, and why distance matters.

Read · six minutes