The Trust was originally called the Berkshire County Nursing Association and it was set up, in the early 1930s, by Lady Hilda Mount, of Wasing Place, in Aldermaston. She was a local philanthropist and do-er of good works. She provided all the original funding, but it wasn’t a charity at this stage.

The original Berkshire County Nursing Association actually employed District Nurses and Midwives and provided a domiciliary nursing service for the sick and infirm throughout the whole of Berkshire (as it was then). It was an umbrella organisation that administered a Nursing Service Association in each parish.  Additional income eventually came from fund-raising, and some funding was received from Berkshire County Council.

In 1950, after the advent of the NHS, this service was no longer required, but there were still funds in hand to the tune of £5,000 plus a further £13,000 being the assets of all the little parish nursing associations.  Some of the money came from the sale of the cottages previously lived in by the District Nurses. It was decided, then, that the Berkshire County Nursing Association should become a registered charity called the Berkshire County Nursing Association Trust. Sadly, Lady Mount, who had been the driving force behind the organisation, died before the new Charity came into being, but her son, Sir William, remained one of the Trustees for many years.

The new charity provided funding for Berkshire residents who were in need through sickness or disability. It also provided help for previous employees of the original Berkshire County Nursing Association (the nurses and midwives) who had fallen on hard times.

In 1978, the Berkshire County Nursing Association Trust was contacted by a firm of Solicitors. They had been directed to the Trust by the Charity Commission. The Trustees were advised that a lady, living in Maidenhead, had passed away. Her husband, a Mr William Adams, who had been several years her senior, had died in 1932 and had indicated in his will that on her death their property, a greengrocer’s shop in Maidenhead High Street, should be sold and the funds given to Maidenhead and District Nursing Association.  This was one of the small associations originally administered by the Berkshire County Nursing Association when it was first set up by Lady Mount. Of course, at the time of his death in 1932, there was still no NHS.

By the time his wife died, 46 years later, the Maidenhead and District Nursing Association was no more, and all their funds had been amalgamated, with those of all the other little parish nursing associations, into the Berkshire County Nursing Association Trust at its inception. After a lot of legal wrangling it was agreed that the funds raised from the sale of Mrs Adams’ property should go to the Berkshire County Nursing Association Trust and, finally, in 1980, the property was sold at auction, for £233,000.

At this point, the Berkshire County Nursing Association Trust’s name was changed to Berkshire Nurses and Relief in Sickness Trust, and the remit changed and extended to take account of the additional funds. The terms of the Trust have remained the same ever since, although some administrative changes had to be made on the demise of Berkshire County Council.

So, Berkshire Nurses and Relief in Sickness Trust now gives financial help to the sick and infirm in the whole of Berkshire, including the new areas like Slough, and parts of Oxfordshire, which prior to the boundary changes in 1974, used to be in Berkshire.

Up until only a few years ago we were still giving help to elderly ladies who had been District Nurses and Midwives in Berkshire prior to the advent of the NHS. Sadly, they’re all gone now. This, however, is the reason why the Trust still gives special consideration to current, or ex-members, of the nursing profession.

Well, there you have it.  A potted history of Berkshire Nurses and Relief in Sickness Trust…….and I think Lady Mount would be quite proud of the work the Trust is still doing, after all these years. 

Written by Ros Pottinger – long-time honorary secretary of the trust until 2017.