The Fan Makers actively contributes to various causes through its Charitable Funds. Members of the Livery generously contribute to the Fund throughout their membership of the Livery. Grants are made to selected charities, once a year, in November.

Our charitable activities are concentrated on:

• Regular gifts in response to City specific appeals including the Lord Mayor’s Appeal and the Sheriffs’ and Recorders Fund or appeals for allied trades
• Supporting education by awarding prizes to students studying trades allied to Fan Making
• Supporting charities which are associated with the Livery’s allied trades or are seeking to fulfil a charitable need in a close proximity to the City of London.

Compared with many Liveries, The Worshipful Company of Fan Makers has modest funds for charitable disbursement so our grants tend to be few yet aimed to be meaningful to the recipients.

The Mechanical Fan

As well as championing the lady’s fan and quality English fan making which the Company was first established to do, in 1939 the Fan Makers invited the modern fan to take a place in the Company. This can take the form of fan engines, and hence the link with the RAF and the aerospace industries, domestic and commercial air ventilation, plus areas such as power, mining and tunnelling (for example, Liveryman Don Love was the Operations Manager for the Channel Tunnel contractors Transmanche-Link during the construction period).

The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE): The Institution of Heating and Ventilation Engineers was founded in 1897. As technology grew, so too did the Institution until, in 1976 it was amalgamated with the Illuminating Engineering Society (established in 1909) and received its Royal Charter to become CIBSE The Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers. The objectives of CIBSE are to ‘promote the art, science and practice, as well as the education and research, of building services engineering for the benefit of all’.

• It has a membership of over 15,000 and is the professional body for the building services industry, providing technical guidance through a number of publications and training courses. Their President is an Honorary Freeman of the Company ex officio.
• The Fan Manufacturers’ Association: A group within the Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning Association (HEVAC) formed in 1962, the FMA is a professional body, and committed to producing quality products and offering clients expert advice on the application and installation of fan systems. Its aims are to promote the use and development of fans through research, training and lobbying. They produce a number of publications and seminars.