The Michael Varah Memorial Fund website is currently being redesigned – we apologise for any inconvenience.

Please direct any enquiries to: info@michaelvarahfund.org

Our MVMF Christmas Appeal!

We raised over £6,500 – and we want to THANK YOU all!

Our Carols by Candlelight concert with the Vasari Singers could not take place last December, because of Covid. Instead, we launched our MVMF Christmas Appeal 2020.

We couldn’t disappoint all those who usually join us amidst the twinkling tealights in St Stephen Walbrook, to hear wit and wisdom from our host, Sir Richard Stilgoe and the musical mastery of the Vasari Singers, conducted by Jeremy Backhouse. And so we worked with Vasari – and notably alto, producer Alison Benton – to create a short film that captures some of our partnership work with offenders and ex-offenders, in and out of lockdowns and through the challenges of 2020.

The film’s evocative background music is Vasari’s soaring performance of the carol ‘O Holy Night’ – after all, many of you tell us that this is where Christmas really begins for you, at our concert each year! The generosity extended by Vasari to the MVMF has been extraordinary – our ‘thank you’ is inadequate.

With the donations raised through this Appeal, in 2021 our grants will assist the vulnerable, including serving prisoners and those resettling after release. This may be through in-prison workshops, or with training and apprenticeships ‘through the gates’, to develop their potential and ultimately to help them to re-connect with the wider community. We will also award transition grants: often small levels of funding that can make a big difference.

Unprecedented levels of unemployment and deprivation in our communities as a result of this pandemic pose even more challenges for those determined to change and rebuild their lives after a prison sentence. We anticipate that the need for our grants will be greater than ever before.

If you want to see the film again or missed it before here it is – we hope you enjoy:

And as a festive extra, Richard Stilgoe recorded his ‘Lockdown Christmas Poem’ for us to share with you. We suggest you click here for that treat, once you have watched the film.

We are delighted that Carols by Candlelight with the Vasari Singers will be back on Wednesday 8th December 2021.

Some positive news for your diary at last!

With the Vasari Singers, hosted by Sir Richard Stilgoe

The Church of St Stephen Walbrook, City of London, 7.30pm, Wednesday 8th December 2021

£30 pew seats or £20 bench/restricted view

If you would like to discover more about how the MVMF plans a Christmas Appeal and how to link our supporters to elements usually associated with this magical event,
please email info@michaelvarahfund.org or call 01483 567688.

‘Our Time’ Notecards

Original art Notecards created by the ‘Our Time’ women artists within HMP Send (and alumnae) as part of their Social Enterprise, despite a Covid-19 Lockdown in their rooms for 23 out of every 24 hours. The programme is delivered by Watts Gallery Trust and funded by the Michael Varah Memorial Fund.

£4.00 for a pack of 5 cards (148 mm square or 148 x 105 mm) including envelopes

Purchase instructions

Buy Art Postcards by ‘Our Time’ artists

Original art postcards created by the ‘Our Time’ women artists (and alumnae) within HMP Send as part of their Social Enterprise, during a Covid-19 Lockdown in their rooms for 23 out of every 24 hours. The programme is delivered by Watts Gallery Trust and funded by the Michael Varah Memorial Fund.

50p each or buy 1 pack of 12 cards for £5.00

Please specify your choice of designs

Purchase instructions

The Michael Varah Memorial Fund privacy notice

This is the privacy notice for the Michael Varah Memorial Fund, a registered charity. In this statement, the words ‘we’, ‘our’ or ‘us’ refers to the Michael Varah Memorial Fund. This notice describes how we will collect, store and use your personal information along with the rights you have in relation to your personal data.

We may collect information about you because of: your telephone and/or email interest in our charity and the work we do, or we have met or been introduced and communicated either verbally or via email.

By communicating with us by telephone or email, you are consenting to us storing and using the personal information you have provided us with as set out in this notice. If you do not want your personal information to be used or stored, then please do not provide us with any, or if you believe we already have personal information about you that you wish us to delete please contact us and ask for it to be deleted.

If you wish to opt out of receiving communication from us please contact info@michaelvarahfund.org or call 01306 731284..

Confidentiality
We treat the information you provide us with as confidential. We do not sell any personal data to third parties, and we do not share any personal information about you to others.

Protection of your information
Your information is stored on a secured computer and any handwritten notes are stored in a locked cabinet.

Your rights
If you have already consented to the Michael Varah Memorial Fund using and holding your personal information you are within your rights to withdraw this consent at any time by contacting us. You also have the right to apply for a copy of the information we hold about you. This is called a data subject access request and can be made by contacting us on the details below. You also have a right to request that we delete any information held about you.

Contact Information
If you have any queries regarding this Privacy Notice or would like to exercise your rights as stated in this privacy notice, please contact info@michaelvarahfund.org.

‘Hope is the word’ book art by HMP Send 'Our Time' artist and co-ordinator