Richard & Jane Fannon

"We arrived at Stower Grange in late 2000 and  took over running Stower Grange Hotel as our predecessors had done for many years. After a few months of running the business I was getting to know some of the regular customers. During my conversations with three gentlemen, who came for a regular breakfast meeting, I asked what brought them to Stower Grange. I was surprised to learn that they didn’t have an office to meet in. They then told me that they were trustees of the Matthew Project. Further conversations led me to asking about the Matthew Project, how they worked, how they helped people, particularly young people, and how this wonderful organisation was funded. Peter Farley, the founder, was one of these people.

We understood that charitable donations were an important part of the funding and we offered to help and thanks to the generosity of our customers and suppliers we had two fundraising dinners at Stower Grange and we raised in the region of ten thousand pounds on each occasion. Some years later we became clients of the Matthew Project and we were very grateful for the skills, understanding and support which we were offered.

We have maintained our relationship over the years and for many years have put on a traditional Christmas Lunch for the teams working under the umbrella of the Matthew Project. Due to our determination to retire we closed Stower Grange in June 2024 so will sadly not be able to look after this year’s lunch.

We would like to wish the Matthew Project our sincere congratulations on reaching forty years and hope there will be many more years to come to offer such a great service to the young people of Norfolk."