Charlbury Exhibition Foundation

Thu 18 Aug 2022, 10:39

The Charlbury Exhibition Foundation (CEF) is a charity to promote the education of young residents of Charlbury. We trace our origins back to bequests made by local people, Ann Walker in 1667 and Richard Eyans in 1666. Most of our income comes from renting out our property, the Old Grammar School, as well as a small grazing field, Poor Boys Close.

The Old Grammar School was built in 1837 and is a Grade II listed building. Since 1975 we have rented the Old Grammar School building to another local charity, the Charlbury Pre-School. The objectives of CEF and Pre-School are complementary, the promotion of education for young people living in Charlbury, which allows the building to be used for the purpose originally intended by the donor, Ann Walker, whose name is inscribed on the front of the building.  

Traditionally, the rent CEF receives from the Pre-School has been used to fund grants given each autumn to local young people who are in further education at college or higher education at university or who are on apprenticeships.

CEF now urgently needs to improve the energy efficiency of the Old Grammar School, which has been little altered since it was built. We have identified as immediate priorities insulating the loft to modern standards and installing secondary glazing on the windows. Those measures will make a contribution to the climate-change challenge and will be of lasting benefit to the Pre-School children in improving the conditions in which they are taught and to Pre-School in reducing the environmental impact and energy costs each year.

We have provisionally estimated the initial budget for those first measures to be in the region of £20,000. Following a review of our financial position, and bearing in mind our overall responsibilities, we shall be looking for outside funding to assist in this work.

In those circumstances, CEF has decided with great regret that it will not be able to make grants to students and apprentices this year. We shall review the position again carefully next year.

Janet Burroughs

Chair of the Trustees, Charlbury Exhibition Foundation

Email: charlburygrants@hotmail.com