Our Success Stories
At The Pye Trust, every grant is an opportunity to ease hardship and strengthen educational opportunities across Oxfordshire. We are committed to supporting a wide range of charitable activities that make a practical difference in people’s lives. Below is a selection of projects we have supported over the years, each reflecting our dedication to alleviating hardship and enhancing education within Oxfordshire communities.
Home-Start Oxford – Supporting Core Costs
With support from the Pye Trust, Home-Start Oxford is able to maintain the core costs that underpin its work with families of children under five across Central and West Oxfordshire.
Through trained volunteers offering weekly home visits, community sessions, and tailored support, Home-Start Oxford works with families facing challenges such as poverty, isolation, mental health difficulties, and domestic abuse. This early intervention plays a vital role in strengthening family relationships, building resilience, and preventing crisis.
The Pye Trust is pleased to contribute to the core funding that allows this important early-years support to continue reaching families when they need it most.
Thames Valley Air Ambulance – Supporting Core Costs
For the past four years, the Pye Trust has been proud to support Thames Valley Air Ambulance and the vital lifesaving service they provide across Oxfordshire and the wider Thames Valley. Their highly skilled teams bring advanced emergency care directly to patients when they need it most, often in the most critical and life-changing circumstances. Our continued support helps contribute towards the essential operational costs that keep this service running safely and effectively, ensuring their frontline teams are ready to respond whenever they are needed. We are delighted to continue our support for this exceptional charity and the difference they make to patients, families and communities every day.
Oxford Hospitals Charity — Revitalising the Jane Ashley Garden, Churchill Hospital
In 2025, a grant from the Pye Charitable Settlement supported the revitalisation of the Jane Ashley Garden at the Churchill Hospital. This reflective garden provides a peaceful sanctuary for cancer patients, their families, and NHS staff during treatment and recovery.
With more than 3,100 new cancer diagnoses in Oxford each year, the need for calm and restorative spaces is significant. By enhancing this valued garden, the Pye Charitable Settlement has helped reduce hardship and support emotional wellbeing for those facing serious illness.
Homeless Oxfordshire — Her Way Home
With support from the Pye Trust, Homeless Oxfordshire delivered the Her Way Home project, transforming a new women-only house in Oxford to provide safe, supportive accommodation for women experiencing homelessness. Women’s homelessness is often hidden, with many forced into unsafe situations to avoid rough sleeping or mixed-gender hostels, making dedicated spaces for women especially important.
The new eight-bedroom property created a secure, homely, and trauma-informed environment, doubling the charity’s capacity to support vulnerable women across Oxfordshire. Funding from the Pye Trust contributed to essential renovations, including improvements to communal areas, furnished bedrooms, and enhanced security, ensuring a safe and welcoming space supported by specialist staff.
By supporting the Her Way Home project, the Pye Trust helped alleviate hardship by providing stability, safety, and the opportunity for women to rebuild their lives with dignity, confidence, and hope.
SOFEA – Core Cost Funding
SOFEA supports young people who have struggled in mainstream education by providing tailored learning, employability training, and wellbeing support, alongside tackling food insecurity through large-scale food redistribution to families and community organisations across Oxfordshire.
The Pye Trust has supported SOFEA over many years through grants towards core costs and a range of projects. Most recently, funding has contributed to the Business Innovation Directorate team, helping to secure vital income from donors and partners to sustain and grow the organisation’s services.
This funding helps SOFEA meet rising demand, support more vulnerable learners, and continue delivering programmes such as Employment Pathways while expanding its impact in disadvantaged communities.
Following a recent visit to SOFEA, we were invited to join staff and young people for lunch at the Nourish and Flourish kitchen. This professional-standard facility provides students with high-quality education and enhanced employability opportunities, while also supporting the development of essential lifelong cooking skills in a supportive, hands-on learning environment.
