The last year, as the previous one, was dominated by the continuation of the Covid-19 pandemic but thankfully during this period the London Emergencies Trust (LET) was able to remain a largely dormant organisation. The charity’s only headline activity during the year was to respond to the tragic murder of Sir David Amess MP whilst he was undertaking his regular constituency business in Southend. As a victim of terror, as with others the charity has supported in the past, the LET Trustees exercised their discretion under the LET constitution and agreed to make a payment to Sir David’s family in line with awards made for earlier incidents.
Otherwise, the Trust had little operational activity during 2021 although resolved some outstanding administrative matters to sort out some residual amounts of money drawn down for past events but no longer required. These sums were returned to the UK Solidarity Fund of the British Red Cross (BRC). We retain our close working relationship and value the support we receive from BRC.
We also kept in regular touch with the relevant London local authorities, funders and community organisations central to the successful delivery of the charity’s work in the past. This included a successful application for continuing support from the City Bridge Trust to help LET meet its operational costs in 2022 and 2023. The LET Trustees remain very grateful to City Bridge Trust for its continuing steadfast support for LET as part of London’s wider resilience arrangements in the face of future emergencies.
Also, in that context LET developed its relationship with the National Emergencies Trust (NET). This will culminate in 2022 in a formal Memorandum of Understanding between the two organisations to manage relationships and future activities where the two will need to work in partnership. Because I am also a Trustee of NET with fellow LET Trustee Thelma Stober, she and I stood aside from the discussions which were concluded by the other Trustees and the London Funders as our Company Secretary.
As this report was being written, we were part way through the fifth anniversaries of the many tragic incidents that took place in London in 2017: the attack on Westminster Bridge and at the Palace of Westminster on 22 March, the attack on London Bridge and at Borough Market on 3 June, the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower on 14 June, the attacks at Finsbury Park mosque on 19 June and on a tube train at Parsons Green on 15 September. We also remember those who were killed and injured at Manchester Arena on 22 May.
LET was honoured to be represented at the service held at St Margaret’s Church Westminster to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Westminster Bridge attack on 22 March and at Southwark Cathedral for the 5th anniversary of the attack on London Bridge and at Borough Market on 3 June. We hope that all those affected by all the tragic events of 2017 can take some comfort from knowing they continue to be in our thoughts and our continuing work.
We remain vigilant and stand ready to assist if there are further terror attacks or major civil incidents in London where we would be directly involved or elsewhere in the UK where we would be pleased to offer our knowledge and experience to support other charities and local organisations.
Gerald Oppenheim,
Chair of the LET Trustees
Read LET's full annual report and accounts here