An almshouse charity in the great English tradition.
The Gracewell Foster Trust, formerly known as Gracewell Homes Foster Trust, was registered with the Charity Commission on 28 June 1963. Our work is governed by a scheme dated 11 April 1978, since amended in 2012 and again by trustee resolution in 2013.
From Victorian foundation to modern almshouse charity.
The almshouse movement is one of England’s oldest forms of organised charity. For centuries, local benefactors have left land and houses in trust to provide homes for neighbours who, through no fault of their own, would otherwise struggle in old age.
The Gracewell Foster Trust carries this tradition into the present day. Formally registered with the Charity Commission in 1963 under our previous name, Gracewell Homes Foster Trust, the charity was re–organised by the scheme of 11 April 1978 into the form it takes today: a dedicated almshouse trust providing self–contained accommodation for single ladies over the age of 55, of limited financial means and of good character.
We remain, deliberately, a small charity. Our focus on one setting in Moseley, Birmingham, and one straightforward charitable purpose, is what allows our trustees to know every building, every resident and every question that arises at the board.
Registered office
- Address
- 271 Wake Green Road, Moseley, Birmingham B13 9XL
- info@gracewell.org.uk
- Area of benefit
- Birmingham
Six volunteer trustees, unpaid and accountable.
Our board is responsible for the care of the trust’s buildings, its finances, and its residents. No trustee receives remuneration, benefits or expenses from the charity.
- Edward RodgersChair of TrusteesAppointed 2009
- Deidre Anne Helen MattisonTrusteeAppointed 2008
- Nina PozziTrusteeAppointed 2018
- Marianka BowlesTrusteeAppointed 2020
- Elizabeth FryerTrusteeAppointed 2021
- Alan George HollandTrusteeAppointed 2023
Key dates in our history.
- 1963
Formal registration with the Charity Commission on 28 June, under the previous name Gracewell Homes Foster Trust.
- 1978
The governing scheme of 11 April 1978 establishes the trust’s present form: almshouse accommodation for spinsters and widows of limited means.
- 2012
Scheme amended on 13 August 2012 to reflect modern practice.
- 2013
Further amendment by trustees’ resolution on 1 July 2013.
- Today
Annual returns filed on time for five consecutive years; the trust continues its work quietly from Wake Green Road.