Ronald Ernest Summerfield (1916-1989) began collecting antiques as a boy in Derby where he later opened an antique shop. In 1952 he moved with his parents to Cheltenham where they bought a house in Bayshill Road, and Ron opened an antiques shop in Montpellier Avenue. Collecting, and especially the excitement of the auction room, remained Ron’s lifelong passion. His collection grew rapidly as he rarely sold anything except to finance further purchases. Eventually antiques, pictures and books filled every room in his house and shop and by the time of his death his collection numbered almost a million items.

Following his death in 1989, museum staff were allowed to choose items from his collection and these were donated to the Art Gallery & Museum through the Friends of Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museums, a registered charity. The remainder of his collection was sold at auction, the sales taking 25 days and comprising over 14,000 lots. It was the longest auction sale of a single collection held in Britain in the 20th century and attracted considerable media attention. The sale realised almost £7,000,000.

This Trust in Quenington, a small village near Cirencester, has run a biannual outdoor sculpture exhibition since 1999 in the garden of the Old Rectory.  Exhibits include high quality sculpture, textiles, and ceramics. 

In 2003, in collaboration with Brewery Arts, the Trust launched their education programme, which offers workshops for groups of children and students, and guided tours around the exhibition by trained tutors.  The Summerfield Trust gave a donation to fund the costs of four specialised workshops for special needs children.  Schools include Alderman Knight school in Tewkesbury; Heart of the Forest Community Special school; Cotswold Chine school and the Roses School in Stroud. 

LINK: Quenington Sculpture Trust

Since 1985, the Nelson Trust, based in Stroud, has been providing an integrative care programme for people with addiction problems. It offers a resettlement programme, education, training and employment, family therapy, aftercare and a specialist women's service. 

In 2009 the charity was awarded a contract by the Ministry of Justice to establish a new service for women resident in Gloucestershire who are considered to be at risk of offending.  The ISIS centre was opened in Gloucester in March 2010.  

The Summerfield Trust awarded a three year grant to support the Centre’s work with vulnerable women in their own homes.

LINK: The Nelson Trust website

The Summerfield Trust has been a supporter of Cheltenham Festivals for many years and was instrumental in funding the development of their far-reaching education programme, and also the establishment of what is now regarded as one of the world's leading Science Festivals.

We have supported an annual lecture on important spiritual, moral or ethical issues at the Cheltenham Literature Festival since 1994.  Providing audiences with rich topics for discussion and debate, the lectures are given by thought-provoking speakers who are leaders in their field.  Setting the standard in 1994 for all future Summerfield Lectures was Will Hutton talking on his seminal work, "The State We're In". Other Summerfield lecturers include Julia Neuberger, Simon Jenkins, David Jenkins, Stanley Wells, Onora O'Neill, Jeremy Bowen, Andrew Roberts, Chris Patten, Henry Porter, A.C. Grayling, Susan Greenfield and Nicholas Stern.  In 2009 we sponsored an event in which Oleg Gordievsky, the highest ranking KGB officer ever known to defect to the West, discussed his life and career.

The Trustees request that a proportion of our grant to the Literature Festival be used to provide sixth form students in the county with free tickets to the Summerfield events.