A CENTURIES-OLD upper dale education trust is to change the way it allocates cash.
Until now, each child who lives in Middleton-in-Teesdale receives £40 when they leave the village’s primary school to head for secondary school, with no guarantee the cash will actually be spent on their education.
Now Middleton-in-Teesdale Educational Foundation’s new trustees want to change the way they dish out the money so that it is more in line with the ethos that formed the scheme almost 300 years ago.
Foundation chairman John Millar said: “The history dates back to March 19, 1729, when four sisters gave the rents and profits from their land and tenements to support a free school.
“In 1729 schools were few and far between in England, indeed the world.”
The free school was housed in Chapel Row and provided lessons for 16 poor children between the ages of six and 12.
Over time the way the cash was spent by the foundation changed and in 1977 it was decided “every child at the age of 11 who left Middleton-in-Teesdale Primary School to go to Barnard Castle's comprehensive schools should receive £5 each”.
At that time the foundation also considered apprentice applications for grants of £10.
Village vicar Revd Alison Wallbank, who is also a trustee, said: “Up until last year they were giving £40 to the year six leavers, but only the ones from Middleton. It was always terribly sad because there would be one or two who didn't get it because they were from Eggleston or outside the parish boundary.”
She added that there was also a concern that there was no way to ensure the cash was actually spent on the children's education.
She added: “It wasn’t in the spirit of what the original people intended.”
The foundation owns four parcels of land much of which is rented out for farming, while one piece is rented for the village playground. A BMX track was also located on one of the pieces of land.
Ms Wallbank said: “That parcel of land has always been used for the benefit of the children.”
Mr Miller said the aim now is to award cash grants of up to £250 for people between the ages of 16 and 21 who are moving on to further education, such as college, or into apprenticeships.
He said the cash could be used for anything from equipment needed for college to tools
required for an apprenticeship.
Anyone looking for help from the foundation trust can request an application form by emailing Mr Miller at john@mooredge.co.uk, or Mrs Wallbank at alisonwallbank59@gmail.com.
