About the trust
A small family trust that pays people to finish the thing they keep putting off.
Why the trust exists
Winifred Oakrell spent forty years as a bookbinder in Thornby Quay and never had a whole summer to herself. She often said so.
When she died she left money to her children with one request: use some of it to give other people the summer she never got.
The trust has run the fellowship every year since 2024, from a rented office above a chemist’s shop, with no paid staff apart from a part-time administrator.
Every fellowship is paid from the endowment Winifred left for this purpose, so the money never depends on a funding round of its own.
Trustees
Edmund Oakrell
Chair of trustees. Winifred’s eldest son, a retired secondary school teacher.
Philippa Oakrell‑Dunne
Trustee. Winifred’s granddaughter, who works in a library and looks after the mailbox.
Anselm Kovac
Trustee. A friend of the family and former bookkeeper, who checks every payment.