About Us: Our History

The Early Years - Eton Manor Boys' Clubs
 

Villiers Park Educational Trust was founded in 1924 as The Manor Charitable Trust by four old Etonians (Arthur Villiers, Gerald Wellesley, Alfred Wagg and Sir Edward Cadogan) to provide a charitable trust to run and support the Eton Manor Boys' Club in east London.

The history of the Eton Manor Boys' Club and the lifelong impact it had on its members is a fascinating story and the importance of this social history was recognised in 2007 when the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded the Trust a grant of £50,000 to create a permanent oral history of the Club. We have created many more web pages about the history of the Club and the inter-generational oral history project which you can see by following this link:  Eton Manor Boys' Club.

Thanks to generous donations by its founding trustees and to careful investments, the Trust was able to make grants to many other charities over the next sixty years.


Education - Middleton Stoney

The educational work at Villiers Park has stemmed from this earlier interest in the youth of Hackney.  In 1951 Sir Edward Cadogan started some educational courses during school holidays at his home in Oxfordshire for members of the Boys' Club. When he died in 1962, the Hon. Arthur Villiers expanded the number of courses as a tribute to him, these being held at Hertford College, Oxford (for A-level students) and at Eton College and Timsbury Manor, Hampshire (for O-level students).

Arthur Villiers' family estate had once encompassed the village of Middleton Stoney in Oxfordshire and The Manor Charitable Trust purchased land and buildings there, establishing an educational centre. The first course was held in December, 1965 and, after the closure of the Boys' Club in 1967, these courses were made available free of charge to state and independent school students throughout the country, thus bringing together students from different backgrounds to the benefit of all. Following the death of Arthur Villiers in 1969, they were also held more frequently and during school term time.

The last 20 years

The success of these courses led the Trustees to expand the number of places available by building a second study centre in 1989 at Foxton, near Cambridge. From 1991 onwards courses for teachers were also held at the two centres. We are very grateful to The Baring Foundation for their financial support since 1989.

Following a strategic review in the late 1990s it was decided to close the study centre at Middleton Stoney and to expand the centre at Foxton. The number of courses for teachers was increased and regional networks were established linking schools, colleges and universities in four English regions. In 2000 the charity changed its name to Villiers Park Educational Trust, giving full recognition to the part played by Arthur Villiers in the development of the Trust and to its focus on educational activities.

The Trust is now the leading national provider of courses and other activities for post-16 gifted and talented students and their teachers, organising events at its Cambridge Centre and providing advice  via online resources and at schools, colleges and universities throughout the UK.