Our history

Our Educational Trust and its Founder

The present-day Trust manages the funds handed down from an endowment of land and houses made to Clifford village in 1875. It carries the name of the philanthropist who instructed that any income from rents was to be placed in a trust, bearing his name – Diggle’s First Fruits. It is now a regulated CIO, No. 1183035.

The original purpose of the Trust was to set up an ‘exhibition’ grant to help children attend a Grammar School. Since then, the state system for education has changed a great deal. The purpose of the trust has had to be revised to take the changes into account. The COG – Clifford Opportunities Grant – is a new approach supporting young people in their wide range of educational interest and activities.

Who was our benefactor?

Joseph Diggle never lived in Clifford though his parents did; his father is buried in St. Luke’s graveyard. He lived in Tadcaster for a short time around 1846 during which his first daughter was born in the town. He was involved, along with his father, in the construction of the railway line which passed between the town and Church Fenton, long since dismantled. In 1848 he purchased land and a terrace of four houses in Clifford, later forming the endowment mentioned above.

After leaving Tadcaster he moved to the south of England where he was involved in a wide range of building and engineering projects in and around Dover and along the coast.

There are records of his making donations to various Methodist churches during his lifetime. Many were in the south but he also provided land and funds for the building of the Methodist church here in Clifford. He died in  1888, leaving in his Will £7,801 – a substantial sum in those days. He is buried in Torquay and his grave shows something about his position in society at the end of his life.