John Henry Cartwright Trust

‘Jackie’ Cartwright lived with his mother in the middle of the three redbrick cottages opposite the Ipswich Road junction.  In his latter years he spent a lot of time in his front garden talking to everyone who passed by on their way to the pub, the shop - which was then part of the pub building, or the post office which was in the next door cottage, then moved to the bungalow opposite and finally moved to Ipswich Road until its closure.  His mother died in the early 1970’s and he became owner of the cottage.  On his death in May 1973, he left the proceeds of the sale of his cottage for the benefit of older residents of the village by way of a gift of £2 on the 7th December each year, which had been his mother’s birthday.

The money was invested but with very few residents applying for the gift, the capital sum gradually accumulated to approx £36,000.  In 1986, mainly due to the efforts of Vic Last, who had lived in Harkstead and still had family living there, a new Charity was set up with the aim of distributing the December gift on a wider scale.  It was decided that the capital should be invested in a better, tax effective scheme and anyone over the age of 65 resident in the village on 7th December of each year should be entitled to a share of the annual income, with a preference being shown to those over the age of 75. 

Since 1986 50 – 60 gifts have been paid every year, with those over 75 getting approx. twice as much as the younger recipients.  Every November previous recipients receive an invitation to apply again and a notice goes up on the village noticeboard inviting new applications. A note also goes in the Parish Magazine in order to reach those who don’t come into the middle of the village.

A lovely gift to the people of Harkstead