THE search has started for worthy projects to spend an £18,000 cash pot on in Davenham.

The money has been saved by a body called the Davenham Educational Foundation and has to be used for the benefit of village children.

The foundation was set up in 1925 as a trust for the education of children up to the age of 16.

Cllr Keith Carter, from Davenham Parish Council, told the council about it at its latest meeting.

“Over the years they were given £10 a year as income – in 1925 that was a lot of money, although now it’s not,” he said.

“They were the owners of the field which we now know as Laburnum Road, which was the school’s playing field.”

He said that the foundation sold the field to the parish council when the primary school moved from Hartford Road to Charles Avenue and the foundation struggled to pay for its upkeep.

The £18,000 is left from the sale of the field and the group is looking for a suitable project to spend it on.

Over the years it has helped buy items for the school and the Scouts, including storage huts for equipment.

The former rector of St Wilfrid’s Church, the Rev Martyn Cripps, found out about the foundation as he was preparing for his retirement.

He started to set it in order and a new group of trustees have now met.

Cllr Carter said: “The original agreement is there and what they’re looking to do is spend the money – it’s nearly 100 years.

“They want to spend it on whatever would be useful which fits in with the purpose of the original trust.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be for the school, it has to be ‘used for the education of children’ – this could be education in out of bounds skills like Scouts.

“Anything as long as it’s to do with children.

“The next meeting isn’t likely to be for six months, we’re looking to have two a year.

“By the time the next one comes all the problems will have been sorted out and we will be able to see what we can do with this money.”