Welcome to the Epée Club Charitable Fund. The Fund is here to support épée fencing in the UK by making grants and raises funds from both members of the Epée Club and others in the fencing community.
The Epée Club established The Epée Club Charitable Fund - Charity Registration Number 1159346 - in March 2015. Its charitable purpose is "the promotion of community participation in healthy recreation by the provision of financial assistance to enable members of the public to participate in the sport of épée fencing at all levels."
Our costs are exceptionally low so all the money received is spent wisely on Epée fencing.
Details of how to donate are available here
Latest News
May 11th 2024 Annual Report:
Our Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) was finalised in September 2014. Shortly afterwards, a new charity business account was opened with Lloyds Bank in accordance with the wishes of the membership at the 2015 AGM. Members pay voluntary Gift Aided donations into the Epée Club Charitable Fund, normally by Standing Order. Other interested parties outside of the Club also donate to the Fund. Members are reminded regularly of the Fund’s existence and a designated website was created with full details of where the funds are spent.
TRUSTEES
There are three Trustees overseeing the CIO. These are Mr Steven Bateman, Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Lawrence Burr OBE and Mr Rob Brooks. The latter deals primarily with contact with the Charity Commissioners and HMRC whilst Lawrence Burr acts as Treasurer. Accounts for the year were submitted to the Charity Commissioners who have raised no observations. Trustees serve for a period of 4 years with no one person serving more than two consecutive terms of office. All have access to the Lloyds Bank Business Account for the Charity.
DONATIONS
There are currently 22 regular Gift Aided donors to the CIO. A number of one off donations have also been made by other parties interested in promoting épée fencing. Gift Aid claimed for the year amounted to £557.13.
The current balance in the account as of 1 March 2024 was £77,788.29
BENEFIT TO GB EPEE DURING THE SEASON.
BF lists The Epée Club as an “Officially Credited” organisation and our logo is on the clothing of all our Senior and Junior épéeists. The April 2024 edition of The Sword carried a lead article on the work of our Charity and how it has benefitted British Fencing Epéeists over the past three years and is worth reading : https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=53704f4e-75d3-418b-a41c-cbdca3808bf3
A cheque for £25,600.00 is being presented to Ian Lichfield on behalf of the CEO of British Fencing at the AGM Dinner 2024.
In short, the funding has provided support to GB épéeists at 13 Senior World Cups at Team and Individual levels, 2 Grand Prix events, 3 European Team and Individual Championships and one EFC Championships, 3 Team Training and Coach development Camps together with attendance at our own Epée Club Cups and additional training aids. All of these were part of the Pathway to Paris Programme led by the ADP and its lead épée coach, Ian Lichfield.
At the same time, the Charity has provided sponsorship to Susan Seddon-Cowell, a strong and promising wheelchair épéeist on the Wheelchair Athlete Development Programme who was struggling to attend World Championships.
The Charity also continues to support the costs involved in the running of the annual Epée Club Cup.
Our discussions with British Fencing leave us in no doubt that the Epée Club Charitable Fund is a component part of BF’s strategy to place our épéeists on the podium of world class events and the Trustees remain in constant communication with the ADP épée coaches to identify where help is required.
We continue to thank all those who have continued to support the Charity throughout the previous year and would encourage more members to pledge their support by setting up a standing order to the charity.
THE EPEE CLUB CHARITABLE FUND WEBSITE
Members will have noticed that subsequent to last year’s report, the Epée Club Charitable Fund website has now been redesigned and is incorporated into the main Epée Club website. Our thanks to Rob Brooks for doing the work. This will enable the ECCF pages to become more available and thus encourage more members and outsiders to view the Charity’s aims and achievements.
The Epée Club Charitable Fund remains in a healthy state and is achieving the goals set out by our Club members.
Lawrence Burr OBE
Trustee/Treasurer
On behalf of the Epée Club Charitable Fund
Charity Number 1159346
May 1st 2024:
Since 2021 the Epee Club Charitable Fund (ECCF) has been supporting the “Paris 2024 - GB Epee Plan” as adopted by British Fencing.
Over the three years the fund has supported our male and female senior and under 23 athletes and provided for their team entry fees along with travel expenses for both medical and physio support.
This has provided our fencers with the additional funds needed to compete at 13 Senior World Cup events (teams and individuals) - Barcelona, Berne (2), Fujairah (2), H’Heim (2), Katowice, Paris, Tallinn (2), Vancouver and Istanbul. Two Grand Prix in Budapest and Cali. Three European Team and Individual Championships - Zagreb, Glivici and Budapest along with one EFC Championship in Bratislava.
Three Team Training and Coach Development Training Camps, three Epee Club Cups and a set of BlazePod Training aids for the athletes.
The Fund continues to support our athletes in their development and pathway to Paris and beyond.
Oct 2023:
The Trustees of the EC Charitable Fund are pleased to announce their support for wheelchair fencer Susanne Seddon-Cowell. The trustees have made a one-off grant of £1000.00 to Susie to support her in her run up to the Paris Olympics. As the number 4 member of the British Team, she is currently the only member not receiving funds from the World Class Programme.
Nat Lewis, Project Officer – Wheelchair Athlete Development Programme - “She’s developing into a strong and promising fencer, and I know she would put any funding she received to good use – she’s dedicated to her training, and very driven.”
