New Warwick trustees to carry on historic kindness

Founded in 1571, the charity owns 14 alms houses in Castle Hill and Bowling Green Street and makes grants of up to £50,000 for ‘relief in need’ in the town most years, including to Myton Hospice, Lord Leycester Hospital and Warwick Apprenticing.

Its new trustees are Lyn Bolton (town councillor for Emscote Ward), Jane Marshall (chair of governors for King’s High School), and Anita White (director of Avonvale Veterinary Centres).

The charity was formed in the reign of Elizabeth 1 by Thomas Oken, a wealthy cloth merchant who had already helped to establish the King Henry VIII charity - which makes grants to schools, churches and Warwick town.

His friend Nicholas Eyffler, another prominent and wealthy citizen, established a similar charity to Oken and the two were eventually amalgamated.

Each January the charity holds the annual Oken Feast, which begins with a procession from the Court House to St Mary’s Church for a service in memory of the founder, followed by a dinner in the Lord Leycester Hospital.