A short history of FEST
The charity has its beginnings in the will of Anthony Swann who, in 1662, provided an annual sum of £4 for the education of ten poor children of the Chapelry of Fairfield. By the Fairfield Enclosure Act of 1771 an area of land known as Greenmoor in Fairfield was added to the endowment. This land was exchanged in 1853 for land owned by the Duke of Devonshire, closer to the centre of the village. The old schoolhouse was maintained by the parish vestry which also appointed the headteacher.
In 1861 a new school building was erected in North Road using proceeds obtained from the old schools, and the scheme for the management of the ‘Fairfield School Charity’ was sealed on 27th August 1862. This dealt with the appointment of Trustees and set out a scheme for the regulation and management of the charity. Further changes were made in 1889, and in 1894 the Charity Commissioners stated that the title to the land on which the schools were built was vested in the official Trustee of Charities.
In 1905 a new scheme allowed the Trustees to use the income of the Trust to provide financial assistance to Fairfield pupils to move on to secondary schools and colleges. A further new scheme was sealed in 1982, after six years of preparation and consultation. This allowed Trust income to fund special grants, beyond the scope of the Local Education Authority, to benefit the education of young people from Fairfield up to the age of 25, as well as providing extra facilities in the school itself.
An Order by the Secretary of State for Education and Science in 1970 allowed the sale of the old school building on North Road and the transfer of the Junior School to a new site on Boarstones Lane. A separate Infant School on Queens Road had been built in 1904.
The 1982 scheme allowed for part of the income from investments to be granted to the Endowed Junior School and the remainder for personal educational grants.
In 1983 there were 26 successful applicants for grants. This number has climbed steadily and most years the Trust receives 80 to 100 applications for grants, the vast majority of which are successful, with grants ranging from £40 to £450. In 1987 personal grants totalling £9830 were given out, plus a grant of £1807 to Fairfield Endowed (C of E) Junior School. In 2023 the Trust gave out nearly £19,000 in personal grants, with a grant of £7000 to the school.
FEST is administered by eleven trustees who include the Vicar and Church Wardens, representatives from High Peak and Derbyshire Councils and co-opted trustees. The current chairman is Martin Bisknell and the clerk Caitlin Bisknell.
Application forms, which set out the eligibility criteria, are distributed in April each year to local schools and colleges, the Resident’s of Fairfield Association and Buxton Library.
Trustees decide on the grants to be offered in August. Each year these grants support the young people of Fairfield in working towards further education and training courses in a wide area – from Art and Design to Travel and Tourism, degrees and higher degrees from Architecture to Zoology, and for music training and sporting pursuits.
You can contact FEST by emailing: [email protected]
