About The Philip Green Memorial Trust
PGMT not only responds to the needs of large projects but to the daily exasperation of individuals and smaller organisations for whom a little money can make dreams come true.
Since its inception is has distributed in excess of £3,000,000 to over 100 organisations and individuals.
For instance, PGMT funded a special custom-built wheelchair for five-year-old Jessica Donohoe, which has dramatically improved her quality of life. It also provided a holiday for some Mencap children whose hard-earned funds were stolen by thieves.
The major beneficiaries of the trust’s fundraising over the last few years have been:
The Paediatric wing of St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington
Every now and then those of us caught up in the busy working world encounter a situation which brings life crashing back into perspective. A brief tour of the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at St Mary’s Hospital does just that.
The PICU opened at St Mary’s with just one bed in 1992, since then it has flourished into a busy, eight-bedded unit, caring for children suffering from life threatening conditions such as meningitis, meningococcal septicemia and related diseases.
PGMT has donated over £500,000 since its connection with St Mary’s back in 1992. PGMT has bought four intensive care beds, a mobile response unit and numerous equipment to ensure St Mary’s stays at the forefront of paediatric care.
The supporters of PGMT can proudly say they have helped in saving the lives of over 2,000 children.
The PACE Centre in Buckinghamshire
The Pace Centre, situated in Aylesbury, is a complete purpose-built school for children with profound motor disorders and associated learning disorders. PACE stands for Positive Achievement through Conductive Education.
When PGMT was first introduced to PACE in 1994 it was operating out of a house and a portakabin in a farmyard, some half a mile away from each other.
Despite the obvious difficulties wonderful results were being achieved and PGMT realised then that so much more could be achieved if they could operate from a building which was designed specifically for their needs – thus began the PACE project and Philip Green House.
From a green field site the PACE centre emerged. The project took three years to complete at a cost of £500,000. Since then the school has developed into a centre of excellence and now caters for 50 children with profound and multiple physical disabilities and has at least 8-10 children on a waiting list.
The Philip Green Memorial School in Dorset
The Philip Green Memorial School is a residential School for children with moderate to severe learning disabilities.
It is a co-educational school and takes children with a wide variety of learning disabilities, including fragile-X, Prada-Willy Syndrome and Autism, between the ages of 11-19 from throughout the UK.
PGMT first got involved with this wonderful project in March 1998 donating £230,000 to save the school from closure and to ensure the school has a long and lasting place in our society. Since then it has developed to become one of the most sought after special schools in the whole country.
Churchtown in Cornwall
Churchtown is situated close to Bodmin in Cornwall. It offers accessible, exciting holidays for young disabled people and their families. A complete range of options is available including adventure based activities to the more leisurely pastimes of garden visits, arts and crafts and environmental activities.
Since its inception, Churchtown has provided holidays and care support to well over 20,000 disabled people, their families and carers.
Up until the PGMT’s involvement Churchtown were unable to offer a chance for a disabled youngster to enjoy the experience with their families. Now, two purpose-built bungalows have been built which allow families with a disabled member to holiday together, sometimes for the very first time.
PGMT made a donation of £55,000 towards the cost of these bungalows and they were opened in 2001 by HRH Prince Charles, the Duke of Cornwall. This was a very proud moment for PGMT.
Richard House – London’s First Children’s Hospice
Richard House is London’s first hospice built specifically for children. It offers care and support to children with life-limiting conditions and their families.
Children’s hospices provide respite and terminal care, both in the hospice and at home, for children who suffer from conditions which mean they will die before they reach adulthood.
PGMT donated £250,000 to build a Day Centre, which was completed in January, 2000. Unfortunately, funds to complete the rest of the hospice had run dry and so the trust pledged to help raise the £600,000 needed to finish this much-needed facility.
In the summer of 2001, the trust completed a further £220,000 grant and saw the completion of Richard House, the first children’s hospice in London.“Helping Children Who Simply Wish to be Healthy” is the focus for all who support PGMT.
Our history