June 2001 saw a public meeting held at St. Mary's church rooms with over 100 people attending. There was outrage that an element within Northampton Borough Council were trying to sell the abbey to a property developer or hotel chain and was viewed by many as a short term book balancing exercise.

The Friends of Delapre Abbey was set up to provide an opposition to this and to compile views on appropriate uses for Delapre Abbey. It is felt that Delapre Abbey is an important marker of the heritage and development of Northampton as it, its owners, and the events surrounding them chart our history from 1145 to the present day. There is a feeling within Northampton that much of our heritage has been lost through lack of planning and foresight and we have been left in the shadow of other towns as a result.

The Campaign to Save Our Abbey proved very successful, striking a cord with many people near and far, generating over 1600 members from Far Cotton to Australia! This delivered a powerful voice that Councillors began listening to and moved things to a new phase. Both ourselves and NBC began looking for suitable ways to utilise Delapre Abbey. We engaged with Hancock Associate and the LifeSpace Project looking to establish an Eden Project style space in the fields behind Delapre Abbey that would have financially supported the Abbey. NBC engaged with The JamYang Buddhist Centre looking to establish a religious community renovating the Abbey. In the end neither proved a viable proposition with LifeSpace failing to attract the funding it needed and The JamYang being underwritten by a notable property developer.

A change in administration of the Borough Council and a cross party realisation that there are huge benefits for Northampton in developing Delapre Abbey with the community has allowed us to work towards an independent Delapre Abbey Trust. With our initial goal to save Delapre Abbey from commercial sale achieved we have moved from the role of protest group to development group. Read all about this in The Futurepages and find out how you can help direct the future of Delapre Abbey by joining FoDA

In May 2006 our work became recognised by the charity commission and FoDA were granted the status 'Registered Charity' with the number 1113979

Committee (2006/2007)

Chairman - Graham Walker

Vice Chairman - Ron Fitzhugh

Secretary - Open

Treasurer - Tim Farrell

Media & Communications Officer - Jill Scally

Committee Members; Jill Fitzhugh, Keith & Sally Smith, Mick & Michele Ford