Margaret McEwen: A Life Worth Remembering
A few days ago, one of Pipal Tree’s longest-standing Trust supporters reached the end of an extraordinary journey. The Margaret McEwen Trust, based in Sevenoaks, Kent, has now closed after many years of supporting children’s charities, making its final grants to organisations including Pipal Tree.
For many charities, there comes a natural point when the work of a charitable trust has fulfilled its purpose. As time passes and memories of a founder inevitably fade, trustees may decide that the greatest tribute they can pay is to conclude their work with dignity, having distributed every available resource to good causes. That was the decision taken by the Trustees of The Margaret McEwen Trust.
In its final act of generosity, the Trust awarded Pipal Tree two grants totalling £40,000. By strategically using those funds through The Big Give matched funding platform, we were able to increase their value by almost £34,000, creating nearly £74,000 of support for vulnerable communities in Nepal.
Margaret’s remarkable legacy deserves to endure. Later this month we will install a permanent memorial plaque in Margaret’s honour at one of our new rapid-growth urban forests in Kathmandu. Long after the Trust itself has ceased to exist, Margaret’s name will continue to be associated with the growth of new life, cleaner air and opportunities for some of Nepal’s most disadvantaged children.
But who was Margaret McEwen?
A Lifetime Dedicated to Children
Margaret McEwen MBE devoted her life to improving the lives of vulnerable children affected by poverty, conflict, displacement and hardship.
Her humanitarian journey began in the aftermath of the Second World War, when Europe was still recovering from devastation and countless children had been left orphaned, homeless or living in desperate conditions.
In 1947, together with her colleague John Barclay, Margaret founded International Help for Children (IHC). Originally established to support disadvantaged children in Britain and across war-torn Europe, the charity organised holidays and respite opportunities for young people whose childhoods had been overshadowed by conflict and poverty. Over the next five decades, the organisation evolved to meet changing needs while remaining steadfast in its commitment to children facing adversity.
Margaret’s approach was deeply personal. She believed in building trusted relationships with local partners and supporting practical solutions rather than distant bureaucracy. Through IHC she developed partnerships with remarkable individuals and grassroots organisations across Europe and beyond, helping provide medical care, educational opportunities and humanitarian assistance where it was needed most.
The charity became particularly well known for its longstanding relationship with the renowned Boys’ Town of Modena in Italy, as well as its support for refugees and children requiring specialist medical treatment.
Continuing the Vision
To ensure that this work would continue well into the future, Margaret established The Margaret McEwen Trust in 1990.
The Trust was founded to carry forward the values that had guided IHC for more than forty years. Its mission was both simple and ambitious: to relieve the suffering of children experiencing poverty, hardship or distress, wherever they lived.
Working through trusted partners, the Trust often supported individual children and small grassroots projects that might otherwise have struggled to attract funding. Over the years it helped finance medical treatment, education, accommodation, food, clothing and a wide range of welfare initiatives.
Its grants reached projects supporting street children in Kolkata, medical programmes in Kenya and numerous organisations serving vulnerable children throughout Africa, Asia and the United Kingdom.
Margaret’s lifelong dedication to children’s welfare was recognised nationally when she was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to children overseas.
A Lasting Memorial
As a lasting expression of our gratitude, later this month we will install a memorial plaque at one of the Lily’s Leaves urban Miyawaki forests established earlier this year in Kathmandu. We are honoured and delighted to link these forests to grant-makers and in acknowledgement of gifts made in memoriam and in Wills.
The plaque will acknowledge the Trust’s significant contribution to our work with vulnerable children in Nepal, including our support for the refuge for child rape survivors in Janakpur. It will also feature a QR code linking to this article and to The Margaret McEwen Trust website, which will remain online solely as a permanent tribute to Margaret’s life and work.
www.margaretmcewentrust.org.uk
Please note that The Trustees have asked us to note that The Margaret McEwen Trust has now completed its grant-making programme and is no longer accepting applications, having distributed all of its remaining charitable funds.
A Final Word from Pipal Tree
We would like to express our sincere thanks to the Trust’s administrators Dr Anthony Daniel and Mrs Mary Daniel, together with their fellow Trustees, for their faithful stewardship of the Trust over so many years.
Administering a charity is rarely glamorous. It involves countless hours of careful decision-making, responsibility and dedication, often behind the scenes and without recognition. Yet people like Anthony, Mary and their colleagues quietly devoted themselves to improving the lives of others simply because they believe it is the right thing to do and in memory of a dear friend.
Over the years I have been continually inspired by meeting individuals like these – people who willingly shoulder the challenges of charitable work, not for reward or recognition, but for the satisfaction of making a lasting difference in an often troubled world. As they say in Nepal: “Shabash!”—well done. Thank you for everything you have achieved, and we wish you a long, happy and well-earned retirement.
