GAVE AWAY £30,000

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 458, 16 June 1937, Page 2

GAVE AWAY £30,000

Benefactor Concealed His Identity London. May 22. Down in Launceston, Cornwall, a man who had played “Fa) her Christmas” to poor families for many years without disclosing his identity, decided to commemorate the centenary of his father’s arrival in the village by erecting eigh|t cottages and twenityfour flats for the poor to be let Hut a rent not exceeding 2s a week. Legal formalities, forced his name to 'be made public. He is seventy-nine-years-old Mr. Charles Henry Gillbard, for many years a prominent banker and member of the Launceston Town Council. Reluctantly ne has stepped out of his self-appointed ob&curi'ty Ito become a public hero. “I have always had a soft spot for the poor,” he said. “The Town Coun. cil has offered me the freedom of the borough in recognition of my work, bupt I refuse to accept it. The happiness I feel illirough. helping these poor people in <a< small way is. ample reward.”

Mr. Gillbard’s latest benefaction is a gift of £7OOO to provide a Coronation Bark. Extending over four acres it will conclude a swimming pool, tennis courts, cricket pitches, and a pavilion. A further £5OOO to endow the park in perpetuity brings the total of his gifts, -to over £30,000.