The President's Appeal 2025

The sudden rise in prices is a real crisis.
Many people will suffer.
As ever, the poor will suffer the most.
We can help them.

This is a wonderful place to live – for many – but not for everyone. Many of our neighbours live in dreadful poverty and some young people are highly vulnerable. An unexpected change in circumstances can tip them from ‘just coping’ to ‘crisis’.

The Gloucestershire Society is a charity. We have helped people in Gloucestershire and Bristol for 365 years. This year our work is even more important.

The aftermath of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine has caused the sharpest rise in the cost of living for over 30 years and it is hitting the poorest people the hardest. So far this year our volunteers have experienced a 30% increase in requests for help - and we are determined to rise to the challenge – with your help.

It is hard to believe that many people that live in our neighbourhood can have their lives changed with a sum of money that some of us might spend in a restaurant or filling our cars. Our costs are tiny as most of our work is done by volunteers – so 90% of what you give goes directly to someone who really needs it.

The Society was founded long ago by well-off people to help those in trouble in our county. I am appealing to people connected with Gloucestershire and Bristol today to do the same. Many of us are feeling poorer as a result of this crisis – but we are still in a position to help the people for whom this crisis is a disaster.

If charity really begins at home this is the charity everyone in Gloucestershire and Bristol should support.

Alick Campbell of Lochnell Signature
President 2022