The Charity and its Purpose

Most of the land in question is owned by a charity. In 1971, the local Mobbs family gifted the land into a Charitable Trust. This Charity is today known as the FARNHAM PARK SPORTS FIELDS, and registered with the Charity Commission under number 308164. Since then, the Council has acted as trustee. The purpose of the Charity is crystal clear:

The land must be used for the health and well-being of local residents.
It must provide facilities for physical training, recreation, and sport.
It must remain open for all forms of community recreation — never for private or commercial takeover.

This duty is written into law. Schedule 4 of the Eton Rural District Council Act (1971) sets out in black and white that the Council may only manage the Trust land for public sporting and recreational use.

Why This Matters

The land cannot be diverted for private purposes — not for housing, not for commercial development, not even for access roads to unrelated projects like the Blue Parcel. Any such move would break the charitable trust and expose the Council to challenge by the Charity Commission.

Who is Legal Beneficiary?

The deeds do not leave any doubt. The land has been given "...for the maintenance and improvement of the physical well-being of persons resident in the Rural District of Eton and adjoining areas...".

To be clear: “adjoining” means districts sharing a border with the Rural District of Eton. The Wycombe Wanderers are based in High Wycombe Urban District, which was not adjoining Eton RD in 1971. They therefore cannot derive any rights from the deeds.

Individuals from outside districts — whether from Bristol or elsewhere — may be tolerated as users when they pay fees, even repeatedly (such as season tickets or points systems). But that access is always conditional and revocable. What is not permitted under the deeds is for any outside organisation to claim continuous or exclusive rights of use, because that would conflict with the rights of those for whom the Charity was created.

Boundaries Frozen in Law
The definition of beneficiaries is locked to the boundaries of the Eton Rural District as they stood in 1971. Later administrative reorganisations (such as the 1974 creation of South Bucks, which does border Wycombe) cannot be used to expand or reinterpret the Charity’s legal purpose. The gift was made for the people of Eton RD and its adjoining areas as defined at that time — no more, no less.

Our Message

The Charity land belongs to the local community. It was given for sport, recreation, and health. That promise from 1971 must be honoured — today and in the future.