Background to the Charity

The Charity was set up under the terms of the will of Antony John Stretton the son of John Weston, grandson of Lionel and great grandson of Samuel.

Antony suffered a severe stroke at age 9 that left him with a withered right arm and severe disability of his right leg. He was treated by his father and his father in law, James Smellie, who was consultant pediatrician at Birmingham Childrens’ Hospital. Apart from having access to the most up to date medical treatment available in 1938, both doctors believed that the best treatment for strokes was a rigorous therapy programme. Modern in their practice of medicine for their time, their determination gave Antony the chance of a useful life.

Antony took that chance with great determination. When he was 21 he was given £1,000 by his father and invested the money in buying a plant nursery. For the rest of his life he was devoted to growing plants for the gardens of Worcestershire. His disability was well known and accepted by his customers and clients. His withered right arm ensured that everything had to be done using one arm only.

He added to his skill as a horticulturist a realisation that his produce could be marketed in  a Garden Centre. His “Stretton’s Garden Centre” in Blakebrook Kidderminster was at the forefront of retail sales theory and practice in the 1960s.

However the wealth that allowed him to provide for this charity was created by the acumen with which he identified land for development in the 1960s and 1970s.

He retired to a small nursery that he created and personally tended some 10 miles from Kidderminster in 1973 until his death in 2010.

Charity Trustees