The Trust has been running in its present form for nearly ten years and in that time, grants (large and small) totalling nearly £20,000 have been give to many local children and university students under the age of 21.
The Trust was revamped with money from the sale of the village school; the money received being invested and managed by eight local trustees. In 2004 funds were increased by £91,000 from a half share of the proceeds of the sale of St Mary’s church (which had been built on land belonging to the village school). Trustees were grateful to the Church in Wales (who received a similar sum) for enabling our share of the money from the church sale to be a direct benefit to the village. This extra money was invested, increasing the amount available each year in grants for the educational needs of the children in the village. Penallt may have lost another of its remaining churches, but the village has not suffered a total loss as children of the village continue to benefit “for ever” as intended by the original benefactor, one Rev. Zachariah Babington, when he made his will in 1689.
The Trust can offer grants to any children and students up to the age of 21 to be used for educational purposes. For example, young children with dyslexia have been helped with extra reading lessons; children with musical talent have benefited from private lessons; university students are helped with fees and travel expenses; and one teenager was helped with travel costs to Southern Africa, where she worked on well construction and school projects in a rural area. The aim of the Trustees is of course to carry out the wishes of Revd Babington who in the 17th century wanted to educate and benefit ‘poor children’ in ways in which he might see such educational needs in the 21st century.
Applicants must be normally resident in the Ancient Ecclesiastical Parish of Penallt. Trustees invite applications in the Monmouthshire Beacon just after Easter each year and notices are put in the Parish Magazine and on the village notice boards. Trustees meet in the summer, and funds are given for a year at a time, applicable from the September following the application. The Trustees’ message remains “if you think your child might qualify for a grant then apply; we might say ‘No’, but in considering each application carefully, may very well say ‘Yes’!
[from: Penallt Revisited]