DEDICATED TO SUPPORTING A WIDE RANGE OF GOOD CAUSES ACROSS SUFFOLK AND EAST ANGLIA
The Ridley Godfrey Foundation is an independent charity that was created in 2019 by Thomas Ridley Foodservice and the Godfrey family, which own Thomas Ridley. This year, the Ridley Godfrey Foundation has donated more than £60,000 to 25 different projects.
Helping to improve people’s lives is the charity’s core objective, and this is achieved through supporting a range of health, environmental, cultural, or community projects. The size of donations can vary from £100 to several thousands of pounds, depending on the specific needs of the project or initiative. The largest donation this year was for £13,000 to the Suffolk Accident Rescue Service (SARS), to purchase an advanced ZOLL pre-hospital emergency medicine monitoring device. This enables their volunteer medics to quickly assess and treat patients in life-threatening situations.
The foundation aims to donate in the region of £50,000 a year through a number of donations and grants to support various charity and community projects. The charity board is always keen to hear about new projects which could benefit from the Ridley Godfrey Foundation. The charity is run by Hugh, Jennifer, Justin and Nicola Godfrey, who are all members of the original Ridley family, which established Thomas Ridley back in 1808. The Ridley Godfrey Foundation also aims to match any fundraising carried out by employees at Thomas Ridley Foodservice.
Donations in 2022 have ranged from £10,000 to support the DEC Ukraine appeal, £8,000 to Hospitality Action, £5,000 in sponsorship of the Abbey 1000 anniversary celebrations in Bury St Edmunds, £3,000 to the Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra, to support taking music lessons into schools, and £2,000 to St Nicholas Hospice, to fund new nurses' uniforms.
Some of the smaller, community projects and clubs benefitting from the Foundation’s support this year also include £800 to Risby Green’s Football Club, £1,000 to the Bury Bach Choir during their 90th anniversary year, £300 to the Moreton Hall Youth Football Club to help them purchase new football tops and £2,000 to the Harleston Magpies, a local hockey group near the Suffolk town of Diss, to fund a new all-weather pitch. £1,000 was also granted to help fund a small, local church project which is committed to buying microwaves for low-income families, who don’t currently have access to this cost-effective cooking method.
The charity meets quarterly and welcomes a wide range of applications from anyone with a genuine need for support, be it a charitable, community or medical project which would benefit from independent funding.
If you have a project or an initiative that you think The Ridley Godfrey Foundation could help to support, please get in touch by emailing godfrey.foundation@thomasridley.co.uk
