Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust

Charity Details

Full Name: The Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust  
Founded: 1977
Type: Independent
Where Operates: North East England
Headquarters: Newcastle, NE16 4DN
Charity No: 272895 

History and Activities

Dame Catherine Cookson (née McMullen, 1906 - 1988) was a best-selling novelist who was born and raised in Jarrow by her grandmother and step-grandfather. Catherine was educated at St Peter and St Paul's Roman Catholic School, Jarrow, but left school aged 12 to work in domestic service before becoming a laundry girl two years later at the workhouse in South Shields. She left Jarrow in 1929 to run the laundry at the workhouse in Hastings, where in 1940 she married Thomas Henry Cookson (1912–1998), a mathematics teacher at Hastings grammar school. She became famous following the publication by Macmillan in 1950 of her first novel, Kate Hannigan, the tale of a spirited slum dweller who wins the heart of a married doctor. She went on to publish a long string of novels, including The Glass Virgin, The Black Velvet Gown, Katie Mulholland, and the Mallen trilogy. She published near 100 books, mostly set in Tyneside, sold 123 million copies, and had books adapted for radio, television and film.

In later life, following her husband’s retirement, she returned to live in the North East, at first in Jesmond, Newcastle, then in Corbridge, followed by Langley, and finally returning to Jesmond. As her wealth amassed she became increasingly philanthropic. Catherine died in June 1998 and Tom died just weeks later. Their joint estate was left to the Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust, established in 1977. The Trust’s income comes mainly from its investment portfolio, worth £32 million on 5 April 2017. It makes grants of about £1 million a year.

The Trust favours making capital or project grants and does not contribute to core operating costs. Most beneficiaries are North East charities working in the fields of education, health, children and young people, religion, arts and culture. In 2016/17, grants totalling £970,245 were made, of which 25.3% went to health, 23.1% to arts, culture and heritage, 16.1% to children and young people, 15.2% to education, 12.3% to disability, and 7.0% to other causes. The size distribution of grants reveals an interesting pattern. 234 grants were made in the year with an average value of £4,136, the overwhelming majority (218) being for under £10,000 and 176 being for under £1,000. This suggests that the trustees favour supporting a broad constituency while retaining discretion to make large strategic grants. Sixteen of these were made in 2016/17 with an average value of £51,563, representing 85.0% of the total value of grants awarded. Grants of £100,000 were made to the Auckland Castle Trust, the Royal National Institute for the Blind, and the Theatre Royal, Newcastle.

Vital Statistics (year to 05/04/2017)

Website
http://catherinecookson.com/trust/

References