MARCH 2023: The Benevolent Society are pleased to be supporting the 2023 'Bright New Gems' scheme.
 Full press release

JANUARY 2023: The Birmingham Assay Office nominate Midland's Air Ambulance Charity and The Benevolent Society as their chosen charities for their 250th anniversary.

In 2023 the Birmingham Assay Office will be celebrating its 250th anniversary. Throughout the year, employees will participate in various fundraising activities for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity and the Benevolent Society. The two charities were nominated by employees at the Birmingham Assay Office.
The fundraising activities include the Great Birmingham Run, a sponsored bike ride from Sheffield to Birmingham, Jail or Bail, as well as an array of other fundraising initiatives.

​Birmingham Assay Office have given themselves a combined target of £50,000 to raise for the charities by the end of 2023.

MAY 2022: Benevolent Society awards Fuller Foundation bursary to Lewis Webb
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The Benevolent Society is pleased to announce that a Fuller Foundation award has been given to Lewis Webb. Lewis is Business Development Manager / Key Account Manager within the  Ardrox & Aerospace Technologies division of Chemetall Limited and has also been a member of the National Committee for the Surface Engineering Association (SEA) since 2020.

In January 2022 he started studying at Alliance Manchester Business School on their two year part-time Global MBA programme, in order to obtain a greater understanding of operations, strategy & finance and surface treatment advancements within multinational corporations. The Fuller Foundation will contribute to his fees for this course.

Chemetall are also supporting Lewis by contributing to his MBA fees.  Chemetall said

“ We feel that Lewis has the potential to develop within Chemetall, he has a strong technical background and excellent commercial acumen. The MBA should enable him to develop his overall understanding of finance/accounting, marketing, business strategy, human resources/management, supply chain and operations.  We expect that this course will enable him to build on his current experience and provide him with the additional proficiency in business management to enable him to progress into a senior role.”

Lewis said “ I am very grateful to the Benevolent Society and Chemetall for their support.  A great deal of my spare time will be taken up by this course but I  am committed to progressing my knowledge within the surface engineering sector which I’m incredibly passionate about.”

Gay Penfold Chair of the Benevolent Society commented “ We are delighted to award this  Fuller Foundation award to an SEA member, and wish him every success in his studies.  We welcome Fuller and bursary applications from all BATF associations.”

The Fuller Foundation is a legacy trust which supports individuals who are looking to advance their careers within the company in which they are currently employed. It provides financial support for applicants who wish to undertake continuing professional development, training and/or education, which will enable them to progress their managerial competences to director/executive competency level within the industries covered by the trades embraced by the British Allied Trades Federation.
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Its purpose is to support individuals looking to advance within a company to enable a managerial or directorate level change to both the individual and the company through the study and application of continuing professional development, training, and education at management/ director level.
The Foundation is administered and managed by The Benevolent Society as part of the existing bursary support they offer to the industry.

November 2021: gay penfold appointed as new chairman

​Gay Penfold has been appointed as the Chair of the Benevolent Society following Simon Dawe’s recent departure from Ben Soc due to increasing work commitments.
 
Gay joined Ben Soc as a trustee in June 2014 and is closely involved with the charity’s support of education and training by providing bursaries and other financial support to those working or intending to work in the trades. She also worked on the recent MasterPeace pilot project, which is based in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter.
 
Gay retired from her post of Manager of the Jewellery Industry Innovation Centre at the School of Jewellery in May 2016 after a career which included over 24 years in the jewellery/luxury goods/allied trades industry. She is a knowledge transfer professional with extensive experience of innovation, new product development and working in partnership with industry and businesses.  In January 2020 she was appointed to the British Hallmarking Council as a member.
 
Gay thanked her fellow trustees for their support and said “Ben Soc, like many charities, has faced huge challenges over the past two years, the charity has stepped up and gone above and beyond to provide financial support to those in need. As we move forward and plan for the future we are actively looking for new Benevolent Society Trustees.” 
 
David Doyle, Vice Chairman, said, “All of the Trustees were delighted with Gay’s appointment" and he endorsed the need for new trustees adding that "anyone who may be interested is encouraged to contact Laura Banner in the first instance on Laura.banner@batf.uk.com and she will provide more information about the volunteer roles."