Trustee · since 2015
The Hon. Emily Freeman-Attwood
Appointed 18 June 2015. Also a trustee of The Butrint Foundation. Leads on safeguarding and governance.
About the charity
A trust that exists to keep a small row of houses standing.
We were registered with the Charity Commission on 3 July 1963, although the almshouses themselves are older. Two trustees, a clerk, and a small circle of volunteers carry the work on. This page sets out our history, our governance, our trustees, and the headline numbers from our most recent set of accounts.
The story so far
A house built for kindness, kept for sixty-two years.
The Louisa Cottages stand on a quiet stretch of Akeman Street, set back from the high street of Tring by a low brick wall and a single magnolia. The almshouses themselves are older than the charity that now holds them. Local records suggest a small endowment of cottages was made in the nineteenth century, gifted to the parish for the relief of older neighbours in want of a quiet roof. In 1963 the trust was reconstituted as a registered charity, and has filed an unbroken series of returns to the Charity Commission ever since.
The work has not changed in shape across those sixty-two years. We collect a modest weekly maintenance contribution from each resident, set in line with the Almshouse Association’s national guidance and reviewed each April. We use that contribution, together with a small endowment income and the occasional donation, to keep the cottages weather-tight, the gardens kept, and the kettle warm.
Our charitable object is a single sentence in the governing document, almost unchanged since registration: to manage the almshouses at Tring and to apply income for repairs and for the benefit of the almspeople. That is the whole of it. We have resisted, gently but persistently, the temptation to expand the work into anything we cannot keep up with two trustees and a clerk.
The cottages are co-regulated by the Charity Commission and by Homes England. They are a member of the Almshouse Association, the national body for almshouses in England and Wales, which provides governance training and a small benchmarking community of similar charities up and down the country.
A vertical history
Six decades, in milestones.
Not every year has a milestone worth writing down; these are the ones our records still hold.
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3 July 1963
Registration with the Charity Commission
The reconstituted trust is entered on the register of charities as number 220078, with a single charitable object: to manage the almshouses at Tring.
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1971
Mains drainage and bathrooms
All six cottages are fitted with internal bathrooms and connected to mains drainage. The earth closets behind the south range are removed.
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1985
First written safeguarding policy
The trustees adopt a short safeguarding and complaints policy at the urging of the Almshouse Association.
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1997
Sunday Doors begins
A volunteer-led befriending rota is set up in partnership with the parish, pairing residents with a Sunday afternoon visitor.
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2008
Co-regulation by Homes England
As a registered provider of social housing, the trust becomes co-regulated by what is now Homes England.
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2014
S.J.P. Trust Corporation appointed
The trust appoints S.J.P. Trust Corporation Limited as a corporate trustee on 22 May, providing continuity of governance across future trustee changes.
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2015
A second trustee
The Honourable Emily Freeman-Attwood is appointed as trustee on 18 June, alongside the corporate trustee.
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2021
North range re-slated
The roof of the north range is fully re-slated in Welsh slate by Holden & Sons of Aldbury, the third generation of the family to work on the cottages.
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2023
New bathrooms in cottages two and three
Two bathrooms are refitted with level-access showers and stainless-steel grab rails, funded from reserves.
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2026
The Roof Fund appeal
The south range is the next to need re-slating. We launch a small public appeal for £18,000 to cover the work before the winter of 2026.
The people
Trustees, clerk, and a few good friends.
We are two registered trustees, a clerk who keeps the books and the post, and a small standing circle of advisors who help with the parts of running an almshouse no two people can manage alone.
Trustee · since 2015
Trustee · since 2014
S.J.P. Trust Corporation Limited
A corporate trustee appointed on 22 May 2014 to provide continuity. Also trustee of Waddesdon Hall.
Clerk to the trustees
Marian Whitcombe
Clerk since 2017. Keeps the post, the petty cash, and the residents’ weekly contributions in good order.
Honorary almoner
The Reverend Henry Linton
Rector of the parish of St Peter & St Paul, Tring, since 2011. Liaison for Sunday Doors and pastoral visits.
Governance
How we are held to account.
We meet four times a year as a board of trustees, in person where we can and by video call when we cannot. Decisions of any size — appointing a new resident, commissioning a repair over £2,000, varying the weekly contribution — are minuted and signed.
The clerk holds the petty cash and the day-to-day records. Annual accounts are prepared by an independent examiner from Tring and filed with the Charity Commission within nine months of our year-end.
A summary of the policies we hold is published on the public register: safeguarding, complaints, conflicts of interest, trustee expenses, financial reserves, risk management, internal financial controls, and serious incident reporting.
2024 accounts at a glance
- Total income £60,654
- Total expenditure £42,978
- Trustees in office 2
- Trustee remuneration £0
- Employees over £60,000 None
- Reporting status Up to date
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