Charitable Activities

The Trust gives annual awards and prizes to support and encourage excellence amongst qualified engineers and those training to be Chartered Engineers, Incorporated Engineers and engineering Technicians. There are 25 awards and prizes that are either applied for directly or nominated through institutions and the Armed Services . The awards and prizes are presented annually at the annual awards ceremony and Livery dinner of the Engineers Company, held in a prestigious London venue in July of each year. This dinner celebrates the achievements of rising engineers, and gives prize and award winners the opportunity to meet senior engineers from all engineering disciplines and to create professional and personal friendships beyond their normal sphere of activity.

TRUSTEES

The Trustees are Prof Gordon Masterton OBE DL FREng FRSE (chair); Audrey Canning (ex officio), Raymond Joyce (ex officio), Dr Dolores Byrne OBE (ex officio), Dr David Hughes FREng, Air Cdre Mark Hunt OBE, Helen Ramsay, Peter Egan, John Owen OBE, David Lane (the Independent Trustee).

The Trust supports education through organisations which have established schemes, rather than by adding to the wide array of options presented to potential young engineers and their teachers.  Accordingly, the Trust presently supports two Arkwright Scholarships each worth £2,000 over two years. The criteria for supporting Arkwright Scholarships used by the Trust are that students should be undertaking their Sixth Form studies as a direct lead in to higher engineering studies. You can find out more about the Arkwright Scholarships on the Smallpeice Trust’s website. Recent recipients are: 2020-22 – Jack  – The Marlborough CofE Comprehensive School, Woodstock, Oxfordshire 2020-22 – Jessica  – The Thomas Hardye School, Dorchester, Dorset 2021-23 – Bhavy  – Westcliffe High School for Boys Academy 2021-23 – Grace  – Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School.

Jessica gave this report to her Company mentor, Air Cdre Mark Hunt, OBE:

“I just wanted to write to thank you for all your support throughout these last two years of my Arkwright Scholarship. It has been one of the most rewarding things I have done and has given me so many enriching opportunities, and support throughout my A level studies. I have been able to use the Scholarship money to buy and use multiple electronic components, particularly body sensors which enabled me to understand what electronic sensors are used in biomedical engineering. This is the area of engineering I hope to have a career in. I have also been able to attend online Summer Courses for Biomedical Engineering with the University of Southampton, purchase textbooks, and a scientific calculator which has been imperative to my A level studies.

“I have been accepted to study a Masters Degree in Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College London, which begins in October. I am very excited for this new opportunity and what the future holds. I really appreciate all the time and effort you have put in, helping me achieve my goals.”

In 2021 the Trust offered the opportunity for organisations to bid for a £5,000 engineering focussed grant.  In doing so, the Trust looks to distribute funds where they have significant impact, rather than simply funding the overheads of larger charities where our contribution is proportionately very small. In late 2021, the Engineers Trust awarded the first of these Engineering Outreach Grants to Just A Drop for an engineering project that contributes to the relief of poverty in Kalomo District, Zambia. The project will pilot Interlocking Stabilized Soil Blocks (ISSB) technology which is new to the area. Bricks are made from compressed mixed soil using an ISSB mechanical hand press. These will be used to build a 4 stance girls latrine block with washroom and handwashing station, at Lusumpuko Primary school, where currently many children miss lessons due to the unsatisfactory hygiene conditions.

You can read more about this project here.

One-off grants are made by the Trust and depend on the annual level of funds available.  The types of charitable support, based on the objects of the Trust are in 3 categories of applicant and area of activity, as follows:

There is no standard application form for grants from the Trust – please contact us for more details.

The Trust distributes income from investment of the generous giving of members of the Worshipful Company of Engineers, and other individuals and organisations.  Since the formation of the Company in 1983, the Trust has accumulated over £1.5M of funds and is able to distribute, in a good year, up to £100,000 to engineering related activities.  However, it would like to do more.