Our Charity

The Suffolk Punch Trust has always been dependent on the financial support of donors to balance its books and in the last six years there has been no more committed supporter than the Freemasons of Suffolk. Led locally by Barry Bloomfield and Berwyn Clarke they have given generous support at all levels of the Masonry, and Barry has been a very regular visitor to Hollesley where they have most generously funded a number of initiatives where the trustees of the SPT sought their support. First was the AI facilities beside the covering area that has extended our ability to cover visiting mares. Amongst other projects they have now funded and installed the full array of solar panels we see on the VC roof together with the batteries and these are going to provide a growing volume of our expensive electricity. These are but two examples which with others amount to over £100,000 worth over the last four years alone. The SPT wishes to thank the generous supporters from the Freemasons and to confirm the value of all they have done for our charity. Andrew Fane - Chair at The Suffolk Punch Trust. Suffolk Freemasons pass the Suffolk Punch Trust fundraising milestone! A team of Suffolk Freemasons led by WBro Barry Bloomfield are delighted to have passed £100,000 in their fundraising efforts for The Suffolk Punch Trust. This remarkable achievement has been secured in only 4 years and the funds have been generated through multiple contributions from Suffolk Freemason lodges, fundraising events and very kind donations from Suffolk companies and the general public. Barry has spent most of his life closely associated with the Suffolk Punch horse even from the time they were regularly used for ploughing and general work around Suffolk farms and other parts of the world. Nowadays the breed is a critically endangered species - fewer in number globally than Giant Pandas. The Suffolk Punch Trust (SPT) in Hollesley Bay is recognised as one of the key global centres for conservation of the breed and certainly a most important component of breed management in the UK. During the pandemic, which was obviously as difficult a time for SPT as everyone else, Barry recognised the need to help them raise new funds for a variety of different purposes. The first project he worked on was to help them modernise their capabilities and facilities for Artificial Insemination (AI) especially since SPT possesses some of the top breeding stallions in Europe. Obviously, moving these massive animals for breeding purposes is a major undertaking and the availability of state-of-the-art AI services means a huge reduction in transport requirements including costs and logistics. The AI project started in 2020/2021 and during that project Barry was joined by Bro Dr Berwyn Clarke and together they managed to raise the first £20,000 which paid for a new facility at the Trust including dummy mares and a small processing laboratory for storage and analysis of stallion “donations”. Recently the funds have been used to train several of the Stud Farm staff so they are now fully qualified in the AI processes thus opening more potential breeding opportunities. The AI project was followed up by smaller projects to install a Defibrillator at the Visitor Centre and to improve the visitor experience in the small animal viewing sections. During the course of these projects Barry and Berwyn were joined and supported by Stuart Bowers, Jimmy Jewell, Bro Ole Krebs and Ryan Downing . The team realised that a major burden on the Trust was the vast expenses incurred through the electricity costs required to sustain the site, especially during the winter season when there was no income. They therefore set up a Green Punch initiative to raise sufficient funds to install solar panels on the roof of the Visitor Centre and the real need to reduce the carbon footprint and to deliver a net zero policy. The first phase of this work is now complete, funds secured and solar panels and batteries installed and fully functional. Already the impact of the solar panels is being realised with significant reductions in running costs even during the winter months and will likely be more evident as the spring and summer progresses. This part of the project has been so successful that the team is now progressing plans to install more ground-based solar panels in parts of the SPT estate which are not used for the horses. Planning permission is now being discussed with the local council as is the possibility of securing local grant funding as part of the East Suffolk Net Zero strategy. The Green Punch project has been the major fundraising objective over the past 12 months supported by a JustGiving campaign and a variety of fundraising events. In addition, there have been many donations from East Anglian businesses and the general public (both financial and practical) which have been particularly welcome. All these contributions are recognised individually on a series of donor boards at the visitor centre. Although the Green Punch Trust project is still underway the team is also pursuing further specific fund-raising projects which will assist the Trust in their operations including barbecues, wine tasting and speaker-based lunches and dinners. Recently the team has worked with the Alice Noakes Memorial Trust who have provided funds for two new much-needed field-shelters which have just been installed and the horses are already using regularly. This contribution is hugely appreciated and we hope to continue to work with the Alice Noakes trustees for further shelters in the near future. Passing the £100,000 is a special milestone and we look forward to the next phase.

What a fantastic start to the 2024 season.