Since 1749, the Dolphin Society has held an annual fundraising appeal, continuing Bristol's rich tradition of philanthropy.

About the Society

The Dolphin Society is a membership organisation that is headed up by a President who is appointed on a yearly basis and whose responsibility it is to make an annual appeal to raise funds for the Society.

The Presidential Appeal has been held continuously every year since 1749 when the Society was originally formed to emulate the exceptional generosity of Edward Colston. The Society’s name and logo references the dolphin in his coat of arms. 

Anyone willing to make a commitment to offer their time as President, within three years of joining, may be nominated to join the Society, with the approval of its members.

Current and Past Presidents

Current President

Edward Corrigan

The Dolphin Society retains records of its Past Presidents and their appeal collections back to its founding year in 1749. All those since the start of this century are listed here.

2000 R M McKinlay, CBE £51,354
2001 R C L Feneley £80,035
2002 S R Parsons, MBE, DL £80,288
2003 T E Pyper £70,004
2004 T Smallwood, OBE, DL £64,095
2005 Mrs F Densham £104,241
2006 C G Clarke, CBE,DL £92,000
2007 Mrs M Prior, CVO, MBE, LL, JP £102,248
2008 A C Morris, CBE, DL £90,118
2009 R N Baird £82,923
2010 J H Moule £73,276
2011 Ms H Moss, OBE £82,884
2012 T S Ross £128,387
2013 Mrs S Foxall-Smith £76,000
2014 M Lea £73,907
2015 R Bourns £98,180
2016 Mrs L P Marshall £84,095
2017 J Hollingdale £87,700
2018 Vanessa Moon £82,600
2019 Frank C T Smith £93,000
2020 Mimi Avery £150,000
2021 D J Pople £153,923
2022 Joyshri Sarangi £111,000

Current and Past Presidents

The Dolphin Society retains records of its Past Presidents and their appeal collections back to its founding year in 1749. All those since the start of this century are listed here.

2000 R M McKinlay, CBE £51,354
2001 R C L Feneley £80,035
2002 S R Parsons, MBE, DL £80,288
2003 T E Pyper £70,004
2004 T Smallwood, OBE, DL £64,095
2005 Mrs F Densham £104,241
2006 C G Clarke, CBE,DL £92,000
2007 Mrs M Prior, CVO, MBE, LL, JP £102,248
2008 A C Morris, CBE, DL £90,118
2009 R N Baird £82,923
2010 J H Moule £73,276
2011 Ms H Moss, OBE £82,884
2012 T S Ross £128,387
2013 Mrs S Foxall-Smith £76,000
2014 M Lea £73,907
2015 R Bourns £98,180
2016 Mrs L P Marshall £84,095
2017 J Hollingdale £87,700
2018 Vanessa Moon £82,600
2019 Frank C T Smith £93,000
2020 Mimi Avery £150,000
2021 D J Pople £153,923
2022 Joyshri Sarangi £111,000

The Membership

Management Committee

President: Edward Corrigan

President Elect: Paul Brown

Honorary Treasurer: John Hollingdale

Honorary Secretary: John Davies

Immediate Past President: Joyshri Sarangi

President Elect in Waiting: Jane Palmer

Additional Trustees:
Helen Moss OBE
David Pople

Administrator: Sean Hollinswaite

Members

  • Mimi Avery
  • Roger Baird
  • Keith Bonham MBE
  • Hon. Vere Boscawen
  • Robert Bourns DL
  • Denis Burn
  • Chris Curling DL
  • Andrew Densham CBE
  • Fiona Densham
  • Martin Davies Jones
  • Martin Flook
  • Sandie Foxall-Smith
  • Michael Hill MBE
  • Mike Lea
  • Laura Marshall
  • Dayrell McArthur
  • Bob McKinlay
  • Vanessa Moon
  • Alfred Morris CBE
  • Jos Moule
  • Stephen Parsons MBE, DL
  • Mary Prior CVO, MBE, DStJ
  • Tim Pyper
  • Tim Ross
  • Trevor Smallwood OBE
  • Roger Smedley MBE
  • Frank Smith
  • Sir Jay Tidmarsh KCVO, MBE

FAQs

The Society’s founding members chose the dolphin which features on the Colston family shield. In heraldry, dolphins denote ‘charity’.

Like other historic Societies in the City of Bristol, we were founded by people who wished to emulate Bristol-born Edward Colston’s unusually generous philanthropy to the poor and needy of Bristol. Edward Colston died 28 years before the founding of the Dolphin Society and the Society never received any of his money.
The Appeal total is declared at the end of the Appeal period (end of October to mid November). Any donations received afterwards are added to the following year’s appeal total.

No, we fund organisations who are better placed than us to help individuals in need.

News

Each year a newsletter is published to coincide with the Presidential Appeal and describe the work undertaken by the Society during the previous 12 months. You can read the current newsletter here