Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Industry charity the Rainy Day Trust (RDT) celebrates its 173rd anniversary today (Thursday March 24).
Founded in 1843 for the purpose of granting permanent pensions, the charity was then known as the Iron, Hardware & Metals Trades’ Pension Society.
The charity was honoured in 1893 by the presence of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) at London’s Guildhall, where it was announced that Queen Victoria had commanded the charity be designated a Royal Society’. The name was subsequently changed to The Royal Metal Trades’ Benevolent Society.
Over the years, the Charity’s values have not changed – even though its name has. Now known as the Rainy Day Trust, the charity exists to provide financial and other assistance to individuals from the housewares & tabletop, builders merchants, DIY & hardware sectors.
It is the only charity which exists solely to help people who have worked in these industries, including cookshops, DIY shops, hardware stores, builders merchants, garden centres, and all the manufacturers, distributors and retailers in the UK who supply them.
Rainy Day Trust ceo Bryan Clover said: “We are pleased to be able to offer modern support built on a foundation of traditional values.
“We now help people from the home improvement and home enhancement trades and have embarked on a programme of growth and the delivery of new services, including legal advice and telephone-based counselling. If readers know of anyone who may need our support, please ask them to contact us.”
His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, presides at the Jubilee Festival at the Guildhall in 1893 of the Iron, Hardware and Metal Trades Pension Society. He announced that by command of Her Majesty Queen Victoria the society would henceforth be known as a ‘Royal Society’
