103. Treloars Visit 27 March 2019

When asked of Past Masters in the Company and the wider Livery movement what was the most memorable event of their year, the response is invariably; “the visit to Treloars!”. And so it was that the Mistress and I joined the Lord Mayor and his party for the annual Livery visit to Treloars School and College. And we were absolutely bowled over…

Treloars is located outside Alton in rural Hampshire and was founded by Lord Mayor Alderman Sir Purdie Treloar during his Mayoral year in 1907 and remains the only Mayoral charity still in supported to this day. It is a truly inspirational place looking after as it does some 120 or so children and young people, all of whom are severely challenged in some way or other. Looking after them is a staff in excess of 800 plus countless volunteers and other supporters – an epic undertaking.

In total some 50 or so Livery Masters and Consorts were invited to witness at first hand the work done at Treloars. We joined for coffee before welcome speeches by the outgoing CEO Tony Reid and his successor Jessica Taplin. The Chair of Trustees Alistair Mackintosh, the Principle Martin Ingram and Director of Fundraising Jon Colville also spoke and set out some of the challenges – both financial and pastoral – that Treloars face. The sums of money needed just to keep Treloars afloat exceed £2m pa; any capital development work is of course on top of this.

We were then split into groups for our own private tours. Our group were shown Gauvain House, a two-story home providing accommodation for 18 young adults. Very well appointed and impeccably well run. The facilities to cater for their needs was impressive including a state-of-the-art drug prescription control process and social and living spaces.

We then went to the photographic studio and met several young students working on various projects. As we chatted to them, they proudly showed us their work, much of it being of a very high quality. There is no doubt that digital technology is the great enabler here and the opportunities they have to be creative is enormous.

We also visited the reprographic room, a commercially run facility which produces high quality stationery, pamphlets and flyers etc for a range of customers (including the WCWC). Again, the level of dedication by the staff and the input form the students was astonishing. And a visit to the Chapel courtesy of the Chaplain was much appreciated proving as it does a space for quite reflection for students and parents alike.

Lunch was held in the admin hall followed by words from the Lord Mayor, Alderman Peter Estlin. And then the highlight of the visit, a concert of music performed by students many utilising a remarkable piece of technology called Clarion. This software allows students of all abilities to play music live and together, many for the first time in their lives. Assisted (a bit!) by professional musicians the concert party performed Pachelbel's Canon in D Major which was very beautiful. Their version even contained drums and vocal harmonies. Clarion makes all this possible.  

Finally, I was honoured to present to Treloars a cheque from the Company made possible by the kind generosity of those attending the Myddelton Lunch back in January. And so came to an end an inspiring and uplifting visit to a very special place, meeting some very special people. One hopes that the close association between the Livery movement, the Lord Mayor and Treloars continues to develop and allows us to support these amazing people.

Photographs show the Master with the water feature donated by the Company in March 2017, the Chapel including stained glass windows designed by students and the Master presenting a cheque to Director of Fundraising, Jon Colville.