Seven trustees, one parish, and a small fund that has kept its promise since 1648.

A farm called Cae’r Llan, left in a will in 1648.

Edward ab Evan was a Llanwrthwl yeoman who died in 1648. By his will he bequeathed the farm Cae’r Llan to the use of the poor of the parish, with the rent to be distributed annually to widows, widowers and others in genuine need. The arrangement is recorded in the parish vestry minutes and survived three centuries of inheritance disputes, enclosures, the agricultural collapse of the 1880s, and the consolidation of small Welsh charities under the 1960 Charities Act.

By the 1840s the legacy was producing around £16 a year, distributed each January from the church porch. White’s Directory of 1845 records that sum, alongside a Sunday school of about thirty children and a parish population of 568. We have kept the January rhythm ever since. We still meet in the dark months and post the envelopes on the same week.

What changed, slowly, is the kind of household we help. Widows and widowers remain. Single parents were added formally in the 1990s. People living with long-term illness, and single people of state-pensionable age living alone, were named in the trust deed when it was last refreshed by the Charity Commission. The categories sound bureaucratic; in practice they describe most of the parish at one time or another.

We are a tiny charity. The 2024–25 statutory return reports total income of £2,880 and total expenditure of £2,028. There are no employees. There is no office. The seven trustees meet four times a year in the village hall and twice on an as-required basis. That is the whole of us.

How we are run, in plain English.

Our governing instrument is a Charity Commission scheme dated 1903, as varied by a subsequent scheme and the 1960 Charities Act registration. The full text is available on the Register of Charities under number 220004. In plain summary:

• All trustees must live within the former Parish of Llanwrthwl.
• We meet at least four times a year. At least three trustees, including the chair or a nominated deputy, must be present for any grant decision.
• No trustee may receive a grant from the charity, or vote on a grant to a relative or close neighbour.
• Grants are made for relief in need only. We do not fund religious instruction, political activity, or commercial enterprise.
• Our area of benefit is fixed by the founding bequest and may not be enlarged by a trustees’ decision; only the Charity Commission can vary it.

We file our annual return on time. Our latest accounts cover the year ending 15 March 2025 and report total income of £2,880, total expenditure of £2,028, no employees, and no fundraising costs. Audit is not required at our scale; the accounts are independently examined by a parishioner who is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.