From Peter and Mary Seers

This is a long overdue update about charitable causes that we have been able to support and are continuing to support in Toby’s memory. 

We have made a substantial donation to Tomorrow’s Warriors, a jazz education charity. It has set up a three year school outreach programme in SE London called LDN Calling. Our contributions are also funding a ticket scheme which subsidises the cost of tickets for professional jazz performances for young up and coming Tomorrow’s Warriors jazz musicians. As a family, we attend Tomorrow’s Warriors youth showcase performances when we can at both the South Bank Centre and festivals. There is more information about LDN Calling here.

Toby Hayward-Seers Memorial Fund

Tomorrow's Warriors July News

TUC Aid was one of the charities we supported through funeral donations in Toby’s memory. Funds were earmarked for a project in Cameroon which is helping to develop and broaden union membership as well as training to help union members and  workers have greater influence in the rolling out of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. A report is attached (see pages 14 and 15) and there’s more information via the link below. The TUC have taken the difficult decision to close TUC Aid to future activities but ongoing projects will continue whilst funds remain in place and where support can be provided from other sources.

TUC Aid Cameroon Project

We were very proud to be at the Bectu Conference in May when the Toby Hayward Seers Young Member Award was presented for the first time. The award went to Eleanor Adler. See the link below for a brief report, and some photographs are attached. Eleanor has done a great deal of work to build up membership in her London branch and she has also designed training materials for fellow assistant editors. Coincidentally, we were gobsmacked to discover after we had presented the award, that Eleanor is Rory Adler’s cousin – Rory is one of Toby’s closest friends and he was his flat mate in Dalston! There was a standing ovation following our speech about Toby and the presentation to Eleanor.  It was a very emotional occasion as we’re sure you can imagine. 

Bectu Conference Newsletter

Many of you have been involved in a variety of fund-raising events. These and your generous donations have raised over £24,000 for Cardiac Risk in The Young (CRY). These donations form the Toby Hayward-Seers Memorial Fund. We are hugely grateful to you all. Although the fund supports CRY’s work across the board, we are now working to set up a screening event next year for young people with some ring-fenced funding, perhaps to take place in Norwich where we live. We’ll keep you informed about this in due course. The link to Toby’s page includes some news of recent fund-raising and donations can be made directly to his fund from this page. 

CRY Toby Hayward-Seers Memorial Fund

The University of East London have attached a plaque in Toby’s memory to one of their benches by the dockside path. It’s the first bench on the left as you approach the dock from the main University building. We are very honoured by this tribute and very grateful to Toby’s colleagues at UEL. If you would like to see the plaque let us know and we can give you more precise directions.

We are also awaiting news from Thomas Tallis School about how they will be remembering Toby, possibly through an annual award in his name and a room to be named after him.

Toby’s name and his values and principles live on in so many ways. We are very proud to support these various causes and we will continue to do so. We know Toby would thoroughly approve of these projects too. Thank you for the support you have provided both emotionally and financially over these last two and half devastating years.