Alex Timpson Trust

Helping children to shine

The Alex Timpson Trust is the official company charity of the Timpson Group. Launched in tribute to the late Alex Timpson in 2017, we were established to support children who have had a difficult start to life.

About Alex Timpson

Launched in tribute to the late Alex Timpson, we support vulnerable young people.

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Free Books

Sir John Timpson’s books on attachment are available for free in Timpson shops.

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Free Holiday Homes

Family time is important, so we offer FREE holiday homes to foster carers.

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Charity Donations

Generous donations are made to charities focused on looking after children.

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Free Jobs Scheme

Timpson shops offer some services for free, and instead ask for a small charity donation.

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Mockingbird Grants

We support the Mockingbird Family Model with generous grants to constellations.

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Supporting Schools

Our main aim is to make schools more aware of attachment problems.

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Make A Donation

Donate to the Alex Timpson Trust online to help children to shine!

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John Timpson introduces the Alex Timpson Trust

About Alex Timpson

Alex always wanted to give something back in life. The Alex Timpson Trust is her legacy to all children in need of support, care and encouragement. This is her story.

Alex’s early life

Alex Timpson MBE (née Dodd; 25 April 1946 – 5 January 2016) was a fierce and passionate campaigner for the rights of fostered and adopted children for much of her adult life.  

Alex grew up in Lymm, Cheshire. She met John Timpson at Hale Tennis Club in 1965 and the pair married two years later. 

Together, the couple had three children, Victoria, James and Edward and adopted two sons, Oliver and Henry.

Alex the foster carer

John and Alex became foster carers in 1983, and over a period of 30 years fostered 90 children and young people, continuing to provide love and sanctuary to many in their Cheshire home long after they had left the care system. 

In the 2006 New Year Honours List, Alex was awarded the MBE for Services to Children and Families.

Alex’s other projects

Between caring for looked after children Alex also ran a very successful country house nursery, was a Governor to several schools, and revelled in becoming the licensee of the White Eagle pub in Anglesey – pioneering the transformation of not only the pub itself but the island too, from culinary backwater to a true gastro destination.

After retiring as a foster carer, Alex continued to support families with young children by becoming a volunteer with Home Start, offering support and guidance to parents in East Cheshire in their own homes.

Alex the mentor

A particularly joyful experience for Alex was the creation of the Oystercatcher Chef’s Academy. This groundbreaking project on Anglesey, where Alex had loved holidaying since childhood, was launched in association with Coleg Menai in 2012.

Offering disadvantaged young people the opportunity to learn catering and hospitality skills under the expert tutelage of leading UK chef Roger Gorman, Alex became a mentor to the pioneering first cohort of young chefs. She took enormous pride in them all as they graduated into employment at the stunning Oyster Catcher restaurant in

Rhosneigr – an eye-catching Huf Haus built on the footprint of the old Maelog Lake hotel.

Alex’s legacy

Alex was a big personality. Unpretentious with a great sense of humour, she had a huge warmth and endless capacity for nurturing children and young people through some of the most difficult periods of their young lives. Her impact on the Timpson business and her vast extended family is best summed up by son James’s tribute to his mother at her Memorial Service held at their Cheshire home shortly after Alex’s untimely death aged 66 in January 2016.

“She left a substantial legacy of love and friendship.  I know she would want to be remembered for what she gave, the countless people she inspired, and her devotion to John and her family. Her support to John and I as we have grown the business is for me the defining factor in its success.”

Free books on attachment, written by Sir John Timpson

Based on 30 years’ experience as a foster carer, Sir John Timpson has written three useful, jargon-free guides on attachment. These books are available for FREE at any Timpson, Max Spielmann and Johnsons Cleaners shop – or can be bought separately online!

A Guide To Attachment

Written for foster families and anyone who wants to learn more about the disorder, John explains how attachment difficulties can impact a child’s behaviour and their ability to socialise and learn successfully. 

The book highlights some key signs to look out for that may signal a child has an attachment disorder.

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How to Create a Positive Future

Aimed at young people with Attachment, this little book offers some simple hints and tips that young people themselves can put in place to help them thrive and create a positive future as they grow.

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Looking After Looked After Children

Educating the educators is one of the primary aims of the Alex Timpson Trust. This handy little guide for teachers is just the first step in raising greater awareness of Attachment in schools. Feel free to pop into one of our stores and share with a teacher you know.

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Free holidays for foster families

A relaxing holiday is an invaluable bonding experience, so the Alex Timpson Trust offers free holidays to foster families across the country. Here’s how it all works:

Free Holiday Homes

Based in Devon, Wales and North Yorkshire, foster families can stay in one of our beautiful UK holiday homes free of charge.

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Apply Online

Nominate a foster family (even if it’s your own) holiday directly through our website. Click the button below to apply!

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Panel Decision

Once applications close, our panel then awards the free holiday to the most deserving foster family. 

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Take a look at our holiday homes!

Just some of the charity donations we’ve made

We donate to like-minded organisations to enrich the lives of vulnerable young people and raise awareness of attachment.

£2000 grant for Mockingbird families

In support of The Fostering Network’s terrific Mockingbird programme, the Alex Timpson Trust offers £2000 grants to Mockingbird families. 

Each constellation can spend their grant in any way they feel is best to strengthen bonds or provide happy memories. For example, our first Mockingbird grant was spent on a fun family trip to London, somewhere the children hadn’t visited before.

Every quarter, one Mockingbird family will be chosen to receive this grant. Simply click the link below to submit your application!

APPLY HERE

What is the Mockingbird programme?

Mockingbird is an award-winning pioneering programme delivered by The Foster Network, designed to replicate the support and relationships a typical extended family would provide. 

Each Mockingbird family is placed in a “constellation” group of 6 to 10 other “satellite” families, which is led by a “hub home” carer that builds strong relationships between all the families in their constellation. 

The hub home carer organises meetings, events and get-togethers for the families every month, and can also provide emergency sleepovers and daycare.

The impact of Mockingbird’s family model

The Mockingbird Family Model is all about offering foster families a caring, supportive and resilient community. Here’s how it’s benefited families so far: 

  • Children have a reduced number of foster family moves
  • Helping foster carers to stay carers for longer
  • Children and carers have a network of strong and genuine relationships that replicate support offered by an extended family
  • Children spend time with their brothers and sisters
  • Children no longer have to stay with unknown families for respite
  • Foster carers build new skills and relationships, increasing foster carer satisfaction
  • Helping to recruit new foster families
  • There is a community of support for times of difficulty, transition and crises
  • Improved relationships between carers and birth family

Free jobs scheme

It was through Alex’s inspiration that we developed our free jobs scheme. 

The Timpson Group has raised over £4 million for children’s charities by simply offering our smaller services for free, and then asking customers if they’d like to leave a donation in our charity box. 

Over the years, several children’s charities have benefited from our free jobs scheme including the NSPCC, Childline and most recently, After Adoption.

This simple approach is now being used in support of the Alex Timpson Trust. Every shop will have a collecting box and as always, our great colleagues are free to use their initiative to raise money for the Alex Timpson Trust in whatever way they wish.

Meet the trustees

The Board of Trustees is responsible for the strategic direction of the charity and ensuring its focus remains on raising awareness of attachment disorder in schools and wider society, and supporting other projects that help children to shine.

John Timpson CBE

John Timpson CBE

Trustee

Sir John Timpson founded the Alex Timpson Trust to honour the contribution his late wife, Alex, made in championing the rights of fostered and adopted children. 

From 1983 onwards, John and Alex fostered a total of 90 children together and adopted 2 sons. Sir John is a very prominent speaker on the subject of Attachment and has published 3 easy-to-read guides on the issue. 

John is also the Chairman of the Timpson Group, and has overseen the company’s growth through a series of major retail acquisitions.

Across all brands, the Timpson Group has over 2000 shops across the UK and Ireland, but remains a family-run business that’s run on a culture of kindness.

Paresh Majithia

Paresh Majithia

Trustee

Paresh has been Finance Director for Timpson for 20 years. He previously worked as Group and UK Finance Director for UCI Cinemas and prior to that with Asda and Woolworths having qualified as a chartered accountant with PWC. As Finance Director and Main Board Member, Paresh has worked closely with John Timpson to help the business grow into the UK’s leading retail service provider with over 2,000 stores and turnover of £400m. Paresh is married to Lisa and they have two boys, Marco and Milan. He enjoys family life, going to gigs, watching and playing football and eating out.

Paresh has such a pivotal role in the business John Timpson has called Paresh “an honorary member of the Timpson family”.

Louise Appleby

Louise Appleby

Trustee

Louise is a chartered accountant who joined the Timpson Group in 2004 and became a trustee in 2021 taking on the responsibility of managing the cashflow and finances of the trust, preparing the year end report and ensuring all compliance requirements are met.  Louise is married with two sons and has an appreciation for fancy food, fancy shoes and fancy cars!

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