Police Children’s Fund Trustee Garry Smith on how the Fund helps police families and the importance of the recent rebranding.
Q: How did you get involved with Police Children’s Fund (previously The Gurney Fund)?
A: I’m the branch secretary for Hampshire Police Federation, and I’ve been a Trustee with the Fund for a couple of years now. That involves meeting four times a year and helping to make decisions about expenditure and how we support our families across the 22 forces that we look after.
Q: Why is the Fund so important?
A: From my experience in Hampshire, we have a high number of people who are medically retired and sadly we’ve lost a few officers as well. So to be able to support their families with the help of Police Children’s Fund means a great deal, because they’re not serving, not having the income that they were expecting to have, and perhaps their career’s been cut short. It allows parents to be able to continue to support their children’s education with clubs, holidays and activities that perhaps they couldn’t afford otherwise.
Q: Why should members of the police family consider making regular donations to Police Children’s Fund?
A: Because it is a charity that supports many, many children of officers across the various forces that we cover. It’s a small donation and it helps the families of officers who have sadly lost their lives, as well as families where the parent is no longer able to serve.
Q: The Fund has gone through a rebranding; why was that so important? A: When we were called The Gurney Fund, many people didn’t know what we did. It was important to put ourselves back on the map, alongside other police-related charities, so that our title was more relatable. Police Children’s Fund does exactly what it says on the tin. We will never forget our old name, though – it’ll always be there, forever memorialised, so that we can remember the great work of Catherine Gurney