Duxford Advent Trust

grant form

What we do
The Duxford Advent Trust was established in 2011 to provide a "home" for the Advent Market, and to make funds, and fundraising assistance available, for Duxford community projects that will enhance the quality of life for residents of the Village.

Since 2012 we are delighted to have been able to help the establishment of Duxford Village Drama, assist the Playgroup, Duxplay and the Scout Group with small grants and to have assisted the Churches Conservation Trust to install improved circuitry and portable electrical cabling in St John's Church so that it can more easily be used for community events. In 2018 we helped to raise over £15,000 to restore the parish tower clock at St Peter's to commemorate the Armistice centenary. This was through both community fund-raiding and helping to apply for a substantial grant from the National Lottery. The restored clock struck 11am for the first time on 11 November 2018.

We have also purchased two commercial-grade gazebos that are available for Duxford community organisations to use free of charge.

Holding events
The Advent Market is our main fund-raising event. This is organised by Duxford Projects CIC, a community interest company established in 2020 to support the advent market and other events that are inclusive, and benefit the community spirit of our village. The Trust raises funds at the event via our stalls.

St John's Church
From the outset, we have made a priority of helping to maintain and use the redundant St John's Church, and we have established a good working relationship with The Churches Conservation Trust (TCCT), which owns the building. Although St John's is still a consecrated building, it hasn't been a parish church since the 19th century. It accordingly has very few modern conveniences, but is a wonderfully atmospheric community space, which we are keen to see preserved. But it isn't a museum piece; St John's is there to be used. From weddings to markets it's there for our village and it's our aim to help TCCT keep it that way.

Duxford Advent Market

The Trustees

We have four trustees:

Mr A Powter	Mrs E Earle
Ms H Hancock

If you would like to get involved as a trustee and help improve our village resources and quality of life, we'll be very pleased to hear from you.

Making grants

"For the last two years we have been working very hard to improve our outdoor learning environment and with this substantial donation we will now be able to complete our garden area" (Duxford Playgroup)

The Advent Trust has an annual small grants cycle beginning in December each year to help with projects or special items that will assist Duxford community organisations. Since 2012 we are delighted to have been able to help the establishment of Duxford Village Drama, assist the Playgroup, Duxplay and the Scout Group with small grants and to have assisted the Churches Conservation Trust to install improved circuitry and portable electrical cabling in St John's Church so that it can more easily be used for community events. We have also purchased two commercial-grade gazebos that are available for Duxford community organisations to use free of charge.

If you think we could help your organisation, please click for the application form and guidance notes

In other contexts the Trustees also have expertise in making grant applications. Between us we have successfully made large bids to organisations such as the National Lottery and the Leonardo da Vinci foundation. We are happy to lend our collective expertise to help Duxford organisations with fundraising in this way.