The Bledisloe New Zealand and Memorial Trust
The Trust was founded in 1935 by Charles Bathurst (1st Viscount Bledisloe) and our aim is to provide assistance to anyone residing in the Forest of Dean that wishes to seek employment, education or emigration to New Zealand.
Operating from Lydney Park Estate, the Trust is managed by a committee of well known and well respected members of the local community who uphold the ethics and the core principles of the charity that were set out by its founder.
Lord Bledisloe, Governor-General of New Zealand
Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe was Appointed the fourth Governor-General of New Zealand in 1930, an office he held until 1935, proving to be extremely well liked and respected.
His social conscience was much appreciated during the Depression era, as was his insistence that his salary should be cut as were the salaries of public servants at the time.
Lord Bledisloe also contributed to improved Pākehā – Māori relations, purchasing the site where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed and presenting it to the nation as a memorial.
In 1934, the site was dedicated as a national reserve and the dedication ceremony attracted thousands of people, both Māori and Pākehā.
He also promoted various causes and events by the presentation of trophies, the most famous of these being the Bledisloe Cup, the trophy for an ongoing rugby union competition between New Zealand and Australia.
Upon returning to England in 1935, he was made Viscount Bledisloe, of Lydney in the County of Gloucestershire.