Telford's Georgia Williams charity back online after hack takes down website

Telford-based charity the Georgia Williams Trust provides young people, schools and organisations with scholarships and grant funding to allow them to take part in "life-building" adventure activities. 

The organisation was set up by the parents of Wellington teenager Georgia Williams, who was killed in 2013.

Following a hack which left the trust locked out of their original website, Newport-based web agency Ascendency stepped in to provide a replacement website free of charge - which will allow young people to apply for grant funding and enable the charity to continue promoting its activities.

"The website is such an important asset for the charity as it is where people apply for the grants and where supporters find out about our fundraising events, and when the website was hacked, we suddenly no longer had that communication," said Lynette Williams, from the charity.

"We were kindly introduced to Ascendancy by one of our supporters, and the team there offered to create a website as part of their CSR programme, which was brilliant. This meant we didn't have to use any of our precious funds, and we now have an all singing, all dancing website.

"We would like to thank Chris and the team at Ascendancy for creating our amazing website for us. We look forward to our fundraisers and supporters using it and also our young people and families who can apply for grants through it too."

The company says it has created a more secure website aimed at preventing further hacks and made the site more user-friendly and easier to navigate, including the key area of grant and scholarship applications.

Jon Harrison, Ascendancy web designer, said: “We were honoured to support The Georgia Williams Trust by providing them with a fresh new website completely free of charge. The Trust does incredible work supporting young people, and given the significance of their mission, we couldn’t, and wouldn’t, say no to helping them.

“Working with Lynnette, Scarlett and Mary was an absolute pleasure, and we wanted to ensure they had a website tailored to their needs. The custom site we built is designed with their audience in mind, featuring a clean, user-friendly layout and easy navigation to key areas, one of the most important being their grant and scholarship applications.

“To streamline this process, we developed a multi-step application form that allows users to submit all necessary details efficiently, making it easier for the Trust to review and respond. We’re proud to have played a part in supporting such an important cause and look forward to seeing the impact this website will have for years to come."

The new website is now online at thegeorgiawilliamstrust.com