On the road for the Licensed Trade Charity

How hard can it be, spending a day riding a motorbike around the countryside learning about what the Licensed Trade Charity (LTC) does and how it raises the money to do its work?

The answer is it's not hard at all. After all, doing anything on two wheels is great fun. Well, almost anything.

I recently joined a small - some might say 'motley' - group of bike enthusiasts from the pub industry on such an endeavour, visiting two of the LTC's operations to learn about what they do and how they help raise much needed cash for the charity. And, as an aside, we aimed to raise a bit of money from industry friends and colleagues in the process.

Seven of us met up at the Licensed Victuallers School Hassocks, in Sayers Common, a few miles north of Brighton in Sussex, to see for ourselves the work being done to help a group of young people with varying degrees of autism.

A dedicated team of teachers, carers and educational therapy staff led by headmistress Sarah Sherwood look after more than 20 youngsters who attend the school full-time during the week, before returning to their families at the weekend.

Key role

Located in what was an old priory acquired by the LTC 18 months ago, the school prepares its residents, whose ages range from 12 to 16, for the outside world.

Fees for the children, all of whom have a Statement of Special Educational Needs, are paid by their local authority, and profits are channelled back to fund grants given by the LTC to down-on-their-luck licensees.

"We're helping the children develop social and communication skills," says Sherwood, who reveals that her charges have a variety of issues when it comes to interacting with people in day-to-day situations.

"Some are quite confident, some are almost too confident, while others cannot cope with the stress of having to speak to people they aren't familiar with. They are all vulnerable," she says.

As well as education, the school - which hopes to house up to 100 children in the next few years - encourages them to learn simple but potentially vocational tasks such as cleaning and kitchen work, skills that it is hoped could be transferred to the outside world when they are old enough to leave. "Work that demands repetition, such as cleaning, is ideal for people with autism," Sherwood says. Far from being demeaning, such tasks almost complement their condition.

"They like organised routines and can gain a lot of satisfaction from doing this sort of thing," she adds.

One of the youngsters, a bright and confident girl by the name of Toni, told us she loves being at the school. "They 'get' me here. They understand me better than anywhere I've been before. They don't see me as just a disruptive person," she says.

Getting these children established as young adults will be a key goal for the school, but it was what awaited them after being in a place like Hassocks which prompted a fairly sombre discussion among those of us on two wheels.

There is no escaping the fact that society has a long way to go in accepting people with autism, just as those with the condition have their own battle to overcome.

But at least Sherwood and her colleagues are working to create the circumstances that will enable these kids to function within - and be accepted by - society. One can't fail to be moved by such efforts. Our visit concluded with a photo-call with some of the school's children sitting on our motorcycles and then we were off, joined by Punch Taverns' Roger Whiteside, making our way 'cross country' towards Ascot in Surrey, the home of the LTC's independent school.

As we rode up the long drive to the school we were greeted by the sight of a series of large, modern buildings, housing hundreds of bright, healthy youngsters, all being taught in some of the best surroundings one could wish for.

Different world

This was a world away from that of Hassocks, but James Brewster, the LTC's chief executive, said it fitted with the LTC's goal of providing education for young people.

The school provides subsidised places for the children of licensees - they also get preferential treatment when it comes to allocating places - and as with Hassocks, surplus income from the fees funds the charity's work.

As we listened to Brewster outline his time in the LTC hotseat and the work undertaken to make the organisation more accountable and business-like, the contrast between the two institutions we had visited became all the more stark. Brewster says he understands how people can be bemused by the notion of the charity running a private school for, in a lot of cases, a group of privileged children on the one hand, and a school for youngsters with autism on the other.

"The Ascot school generates much of the income that funds our charitable work," he says. "I can appreciate that some people might find it odd, but you need a healthy balance sheet - otherwise you don't have a charity."

The Ascot school funds the charity and its head office and effectively pays the salary of the 275 staff who work across the LTC's educational institutions.

"And you've got to remember there's a high staff-to-pupil ratio at a place like Hassocks," Brewster adds.

Our meeting concluded, we pose for another photograph outside the Ascot school before adjourning to a pub in a nearby village.

Turns out we managed to raise more than £2,500 from our little ride, money which will go towards funding a bespoke kitchen at the Hassocks school to help pupils hone the skills needed for a possible career in the hospitality industry.

Fun on two wheels, and in aid of a worthy cause. Raising money doesn't get much better…

• For more on the LTC go to www.licensedtradecharity.org.uk

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How the Licensed Trade Charity works

Many people in the pub game know the LTC helps hundreds of down-on-their-luck licensees every year, some 1,500 in fact. But how many people know the LTC funds much of its charitable activities by running an independent fee-paying school and a school for children with autism?

"Sweating assets" is how James Brewster (pictured below) describes what he has strived to do from day one when he joined the charity as chief executive three years ago. "Fund-raising was on the decline, as it is with many charities. We have moved into business activities, such as letting out rooms at the Ascot school for company meetings and so on," he says.

Brewster wanted to bring about a more business-like approach to the LTC and since his arrival from education services company Sodexho, where he was managing director, he has reduced layers of management, driven through psychometric testing to assess the skill sets of all of the charity's staff, and taken out £1m in the LTC's cost base.

Income generated through assets such as its schools and a portfolio of stocks and shares amounts to around £15m annually, much of that is cost, with some £1.3m going to its charitable work.

Of this around £750,000 goes to fund places at the Ascot school for children of licensees, with the balance going to help licensees who are in bad health or have fallen on hard times, either in retirement or those still working in the industry. In fact many of those helped are of working age, he says, while all grants are means-tested.

So how much does the LTC raise from traditional fund-raising exercises? "About £200,000," says Brewster. "It used to be £1m."

So while fund-raising efforts - like the BII bike ride - are appreciated, what Brewster wants is for large companies to dig deep, whether that means offering up cash or something more specific, like providing kitchen or other equipment or sponsorship.

"Some companies already do the latter, like Punch Taverns, which sponsors our volunteer programme to the tune of £18,000 a year. But I'