Who we are:
Walsingham Care is a local charity, based in Walton on Thames, and was created from the proceeds of the sale of The Home of Compassion in Thames Ditton. We provide financial assistance to older people of limited means who live in the borough of Elmbridge.
Our Charity aims to enhance the lives of older people by providing grants that promote dignity, independence, and well-being. We support initiatives that tackle loneliness, improve health, and create opportunities for older individuals to live fulfilling and connected lives. We pride ourselves on being able to offer such help quickly and efficiently.
What we do:
We are a grant giving organisation and we can, on occasion, assist by providing grants for:
How to apply:
Please visit the relevant section of the website to find information on our application process.
Applications should be securely submitted via third party agents only (as listed under grant criteria) to info@walsinghamcare.org.uk.
Our grant criteria:
All applications must be submitted by a third party agency – we cannot accept referrals from individuals, their family or friends.
Examples of third party agents include local authorities, social services, housing associations, charities and community groups, health practitioners, citizens advice bureaux, ministers of religion, or other support agencies. Please contact us before completing the process if you are unsure if your organisation is eligible.
The Charity’s beneficiaries should have limited means and we have devised a fair system of calculating who is eligible for our assistance. When making a decision on a grant application, we take into account income, any capital assets and any family support available.
Our criteria are reviewed from time to time to ensure that they meet the needs of applicants and the resources of the Charity.
As a charity our funds are necessarily limited and unfortunately we are not always able to meet demand.
Our History
The Trustees of the Home of Compassion, which was a local charitable Church Foundation, ran a local nursing home by the river in Thames Ditton from 1981 until the building was sold to a private nursing home operator in September 2008.
The Home had served as a nursing home for more than 100 years after Anglican Nuns of the Order of the Sisters of Compassion of Jesus brought their work with the poor and elderly from the East End of London to Thames Ditton in Surrey. They took in elderly people who were ill and had nowhere else to go.
The Church took over the administration in 1980 following the demise of the nuns and appointed local trustees under the patronage of the Bishop of Guildford to run the charity.
The main house by the river is a Georgian style building which hides a much older house built in 1792 by Charlotte Boyle Walsingham, hence the name of the charity. The old house was used and adapted for over 100 years in a cottage hospital style with up to 50 beds for the frail elderly, but the Trustees, despite a long struggle, were unable to raise the capital to modernise the Home to the latest care standards required by Government.
With the agreement of the Charity Commission, the Trustees sold the Home to a private care company and used the proceeds to set up a new local charitable fund to give grants under the name Walsingham Care with the following objective: to make grants or provide other assistance to poor elderly people or to organisations providing assistance to such people.
For further information about the Charity, please see our entry on the Charity Commission website.