Parish of Farndon · Cheshire · since 1722
Farndon Charities is the quiet umbrella of several historic parish bequests, administered today by three trustees on behalf of households living within the parish of Farndon. We do not run programmes or hold staff; we make small single grants, one neighbour at a time.
What guides our hand
One · Parish first
We give only to households living within the civil parish of Farndon. That sometimes disappoints; it is also the discipline that has kept us honest since the eighteenth century. Our remit is a square mile or two of Cheshire, and we know it well.
Two · Quietly
Our work is not advertised in the lives of those we help. A bursary, a fuel voucher, a small bill quietly cleared — these things stay between the trustees, the family, and our paper ledger. We do not publish names of recipients.
Three · Slowly
The three trustees meet quarterly, around a kitchen table in Plover Close. For urgent need we move sooner, but our default cadence is the older one: a letter, a conversation, a decision when the next quarter comes round.
Four · Plainly
Most of our grants are between £40 and £300. They are not life-changing in scale; they are timely. A school coat in October; a freezer replaced in May; a quarter of oil in February. Small relief, decided plainly.
Quiet figures, honestly stated
Last reported year (to 31 March 2025) was unusually quiet — see our annual reports.
The four constituent funds
Fund 01 · 1722
The oldest of the four. The annual rent from a small strip of land near the river still funds our general parish-relief grants. About a third of our distributions each year.
More on this fund
Fund 02 · 1840
Bequeathed by Hannah Yarwood of Sutton Green in 1840. Now used for winter fuel vouchers and a small Advent food allowance for elderly householders.
More on this fund
Fund 03 · 1891
Modest grants towards tools, kit, fees, or first-job clothing for young people from the parish entering an apprenticeship or training scheme. Usually £100–£250.
More on this fund
Fund 04 · 1962
The newest of the four, established when the older trusts were amalgamated under a 1962 Scheme. Small one-off grants for healthcare items, mobility aids, fuel arrears.
More on this fundOpen appeal · Winter 2026
Our Coal & Bread Fund covers about half of the winter need each year. We are raising £1,800 to top it up — a £100 fuel voucher and a small food allowance for sixteen older households on the parish list this December.
Give to the Quiet Hearth Appeal62% of the way. Sixteen households on the list; nine already covered by gifts from neighbours, three by a single bequest from a long-time donor, four still to find.
Three stories · anonymised at their request
Margaret, 78, has lived in the same lane behind St Chad's for forty-one years. When her chest freezer failed last May, a neighbour wrote to the trustees on a Wednesday morning. A £210 grant towards a replacement was approved by Thursday teatime.
Tom, 19, started his electrician's apprenticeship in Chester last September. The kit list — tester, meter, conduit bender — was the year's steepest cost. A grant from the Apprentice Bequest covered the difference between starting and not starting.
Leila moved into a rented house off the High Street last August with her two children. The October cold came early. A note to the trustees from the church warden led to a £140 grant towards winter coats — and an introduction to the village toddler group.
From the parish
How we responded to one of this spring's urgent applications, and what we learned about turnaround times.
A note on the spring round of Apprentice Bequest awards, and how to apply if you live within the parish boundary.
On a financial year where distributions fell to nil, what the ledger really said, and how we plan to spend the dormant balance.
In the parish diary
In conversation with
Voices from the parish
The trustees wrote to me on the same day. There was no form to fill, no portal to fight with. A neighbour came round with a cheque and a tin of biscuits.
Margaret, 78, Farndon — recipient, Sick & Aged Fund
Tools, work boots, the cost of getting to Chester for college. I didn't want to ask. The Apprentice Bequest made it possible to ask without it being a big thing.
Tom, 19, Farndon — recipient, Apprentice Bequest
I have referred families to the Coal & Bread Fund for eight winters now. The trustees know their parish; that is the rare and valuable thing.
Helen, 54, Farndon — duty manager, West Cheshire Foodbank
We see the Poor's Allotment in our ledger every quarter. It is a small, reliable instrument of grace in a parish that needs more of those.
John, 67, Farndon — Treasurer, Farndon Parish Council
The grant arrived the week before the school did. My daughter started Year 3 in a coat that fit. That mattered more than I can say.
Leila, 33, Farndon — recipient, the Poor's Allotment