Success! We are a charity

GIFT Aid and other associated benefits open to charities are now available to the Churchward County Trust (CCT) after the organisation was awarded charitable status by the Charity Commission on May 21.

As Registered Charity No. 1183514 the CCT will in future be able to claim Gift Aid on donations from HM Revenue & Customs. The Gift Aid scheme enables registered charities to reclaim tax on a donation made by a UK taxpayer, effectively increasing the amount of the donation. This equates to an extra 25p for every £1 donated towards the construction of County of Montgomery.

Charitable status will also make the CCT eligible to apply for certain grant aid awards, as well as providing exemption from corporation tax on profits from trading undertaken in the course of charitable provision.

CCT Chairman and Project Leader Gary Boyd-Hope said: “Having our goals recognised as being charitable in law is a fantastic achievement. It opens several doors previously closed to us, not least the ability to be able to claim Gift Aid on future donations to the project.

“Our agreement with the Great Western Society to have ownership of the various pledged parts for County of Montgomery, such as the boiler from No. 5227, eventually transferred to the CCT hinges on us (a) being a charity, and (b) completing the loco’s frames. We have now fulfilled the first part of that deal, and are well on the way to achieving the second.”