Dorothy Lepkowska meets people who have been supported by the ASCL Benevolent Fund (ABF) after their lives were overtaken by illness or personal tragedy.

A friend in need...

The day Fiona Carruthers’ life changed forever began much like any other working day. She left home at 7am for the drive to the school where she worked as an assistant head. It was winter, and it was dark and rainy.

As she negotiated a corner along a country lane she had driven on hundreds of times before, she couldn’t see that the road was flooded. Before she realised the danger ahead, her car aqua-planed and careered into trees.

“The accident happened nearly 18 months ago, but I am still suffering the effect of the injuries,” Fiona, who is married with two children, says. “I had multiple fractures and open wounds and both of the heels of my feet were pulverised. It was several months before the doctors knew for sure that they could save one of my feet.

“I have had months of physiotherapy and need another operation.”

Fiona’s career at a successful comprehensive school in Lincolnshire was effectively over. She decided that the extent of her injuries and subsequent limited mobility were not conducive to working in a school.

Care and protection

Like many other ASCL members, Fiona has been supported and helped financially by the ASCL Benevolent Fund (ABF). The fund is considered a vital part of the organisation’s policy of providing care and protection for its members, both past and present, and their immediate families.

John Sutton, Chairman of the fund trustees, and a former general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association (SHA), ASCL’s predecessor, says: “Most serving members are unlikely to need our help, but people’s lives can change in a moment with job loss, accidents which cause disability, bereavement and other tragedies.

“The ABF is the heir to separate funds set up by the Headmasters’ Association and the Association of Headmistresses in the last century. The former was much concerned with supporting widows of heads who died in post but the ABF has needed to broaden its scope to cover the changing needs of members, their partners and their families in the 21st century.”

Usually, ASCL regional officers or colleagues alert the fund’s trustees that a member or their family is in need. Each case is dealt with in confidence and the trustees decide what level of support would be most appropriate, having met with and spoken with the family. The fund is made up of contributions and donations by members and currently stands at about £1 million. Typically, the fund will pay out in the region of £40,000 a year, depending on need.

“Sometimes this help can be as little as a home visit and a gift at Christmas, if that is what is appropriate, but we also approve financial help, for example for medical treatment which is not available on the NHS for people who find themselves in this sort of difficulty,” John adds.

For Fiona, 56, it meant help with the cost of the physiotherapy needed to further improve her mobility once her NHS sessions had been completed. She says: “The appointments were a bit of a distance away and I had to rely on my father to take me, so the financial assistance was a huge help to us.

“I felt the additional physiotherapy would go some way to helping me with my mobility. When you go through such injuries, it affects your gait and when you start to solve one problem another develops. This will be an ongoing problem that I will have to manage as I go along but, at the moment, I cannot foresee a time when I will go back to teaching.

“As well as the grants from the Benevolent Fund, I also received a lovely gift for Christmas and cards. It was so unexpected but hugely appreciated and I felt very cared for and supported, which is exactly what I needed at such a difficult time.”

Practical help

For Sue Campion, the help and support of the ABF has meant that she has been able to see her son, who lives in the US. Sue, who is 70, is in the advanced stages of multiple sclerosis (MS) and is bedbound, having lost the use of her lower limbs.

The former headteacher, who began her career in 1967, has endured years of ill health after being diagnosed with the disease 18 years ago and relies on her husband, John, and carers who visit every day, for practical help.

The ABF has supported her with the purchase of a smart TV and a laptop to enable her to have contact with her family and the outside world. But, crucially, it also paid for her son, Alex, and daughter-in-law, Maddie, to visit.

Sue, who lives in Woodford Green in Essex, says: “I cried when I saw them walk through the door. I just couldn’t believe it. They could not have afforded to come here otherwise and it was such a huge boost for me to see them.”

Linda Morrell’s world fell apart in 1986 when her husband, Bill, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at the age of just 59. Linda, who was 21 years his junior, had just had a son, Christopher.

“Bill had been a headteacher but had taken early retirement a couple of years earlier,” she says. “We met when we were members of the same choir and had looked forward to having a family of our own. So this news was devastating and came at a time we should have been looking forward to the future.”

Linda, from Addlestone near Weybridge in Surrey, is one of the few remaining widows who was first helped by the former Headmasters’ Association Benevolent Fund. Now 68, she has had long-term health problems of her own, which limit her mobility, as well as looking after and fighting for the appropriate provision for Christopher, who has Asperger syndrome (AS).

‘Comforting visit’

“My husband had been a very active member of SHA, until he took early retirement in 1984,” she says. “His diagnosis came as a huge shock because he had been so well and was so active.

“I am not sure how the Benevolent Fund came to help us but I believe they were alerted when Bill attended a conference and it was clear his illness was taking a hold. Receiving a visit from the regional officer was hugely comforting because we felt we were not alone.

“Sadly, Bill died in 1993 and I had to build a future for Christopher and for myself. The Benevolent Fund has been so helpful and supportive and has given us grants to keep us going. I was only able to work part-time as an assistant librarian because of needing to care for my son, who had moderate learning difficulties, and I did not receive much of a widow’s pension.

“John Sutton has also been personally very helpful in helping me to write letters to get the appropriate provision for my son. The fund helped to pay for piano lessons for Christopher and we have been able to have a much-needed holiday.

“I am not sure what I would have done without this help and support. The fund has made some of the worst times of my life a lot easier and more bearable.”

ASCL Benevolent fund

If you know someone you think may benefit, please tell them about ABF. If you think you may benefit yourself, contact the ASCL Hotline 0116 299 1122 or email lisa.oldham@ascl.org.uk for more information.

ABF support is available to all ASCL members, past and present, and their dependants. Every case is considered on its merits and in complete confidence. The three cases quoted in this article gave their consent for their names and cases to be used.

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