LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Charity name The Claremont Trust
Charity registration number SC002721
Charity Trustees
Sylvia Marchant – Secretary
Norman Kerr OBE– Treasurer
Iona Finlayson
Reverend Kevin Franz
Reverend Ian Gilmour
Allan Ramsey
Independent Examiner Carol Millar
Clydebank
Bankers Clydesdale Bank Plc, 326 Byers Road, Glasgow, G12 8AN
Investment Managers John David Chartered FCSI,
Rathbone Greenbank Investments
10 Queen Street
Bristol
BS1 4NT
Independent Financial Advisors Julian Parrot Ethical Futures LLP
9 Mansfield Place
Edinburgh
EH3 6NB
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED
5 April 2023
The Trustees are pleased to present their report together with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 5 April 2023. The legal and administrative information on pages 1 and 2 forms part of this report.
Trustees
The Trustees who served during the year were as follows:
Dr Marlene Finlayson –Chair
Sylvia Marchant – Secretary
Norman Kerr OBE – Treasurer
Iona Finlayson
Reverend Kevin Franz
Reverend Ian Gilmour
Allan Ramsey
Nature and Purposes of the Claremont Trust
The Claremont Trust (hereafter referred to as the Trust) was established on the 31st of July 1948 in the aftermath of World War II by three brothers, Alastair Paton Forrester-Paton, The Reverend Colin Forrester-Paton B.D. and Douglas Shaw Forrester-Paton B.A., with an awareness of the suffering and moral turmoil of that time and the challenge facing the Church.
The Deed which established the Trust lays down that the Trust Fund shall be applied to such purposes in any part of the world as are embraced by the word “charitable” according to Scots Law and which in the Trustees judgement “are best fitted for assisting towards the proclamation of the Christian Gospel and the fulfillment of its demands in the life of society”.
Rather than putting its comparatively slender resources into relief and remedial work, the Trust has seen its role as being to give support to more radical and constructive enterprises, both within and outside the Church. In its choice of such enterprises, the Trustees have sought those which seemed to them to give practical expression to the Christian Gospel in the life of society, and those which aimed to encourage and support Christian lay people trying to live out their faith in the moral and practical complexities of the secular world. Within the Church, they try to give support to movements or initiatives which are a renewing influence on the Church’s life as a living community existing for the sake of the world around it in all its need.
In its grant giving, the Trust has tried to direct support particularly to new and promising initiatives which would find it difficult to attract funds from other sources, but need help to get on their feet and, in due course, to generate sufficient local financial support to sustain their growth and development.
Trustees
The Trust Deed states that there should be no more than eight trustees but is silent as to the qualifications which the founders thought desirable for new trustees. However, it is expected that trustees will “naturally attempt to find trustees who are not only full members of some denomination of the Church, but who are also generally sympathetic to the purposes of the Trust” It is therefore open to the remaining trustees to find a suitable replacement when one of their number retires or moves on. All current trustees are full members of some branch of the Church and include serving and retired members of the clergy, elders and other Church activists.
New trustees are found by recommendation and are only invited to become trustees after successful interview by no less than two of the existing trustees.
The 2022 AGM was again held remotely by Zoom. The meeting allowed us once more to consider a range of applications and unsurprisingly due to the impact of the Covid Pandemic attracted a number of applications from organisations who were working hard to support the communities in which they were based. Something that as Trustees we could all appreciate and support.
My thanks to all our Trustees who have embraced the use of new technology to ensure that the good work of the Trust could continue.
Activities
In preparation for meetings, it continues to be that the Trustees use a formal matrix to assist them in assessing applications. This allows trustees to focus more clearly on those applications which meet the Trust’s criteria.
The Trust’s income, derived from a small return on investments, only justifies one meeting a year at present although applications can be received out with the grant making cycle. Under these circumstances, the Secretary will screen applications against Trust criteria and if the application is found to be suitable, will then consult other trustees on their willingness to fund the application, always assuming funds are available.
The Trust’s website gave us some issues when our small private provider ceased to trade leaving us without an online presence for a number of months. However, with his help we are now back up and running using a professional provider and now have a website that allows those interested in making application to contact us by email via the website. We also have increased web-space which we intend to use to publish our annual report and accounts online.
Investment portfolio
The Trust is able to fund suitable applications due to the legacy of the founders who placed shares of their own into a trust fund and the income from these shares provides the working capital for the trustees to disburse each year. The Trust’s portfolio continues to be managed by Rathbone Greenbank Investments, according to ethical criteria of which the Trustees approve.
Trustees were grateful to our independent financial advisor, Julian Parrot of Ethical Futures, who attended the beginning of our Zoom meeting and gave a very detailed overview of the performance of our investments which he noted were still being well and expertly managed by our fund manager Rathbone Greenbank Investments.
Looking forward
Trustees continue to be mindful of the HMRC rules on sending money to support charitable activities overseas where the charity itself is based overseas. Trustees therefore continued to make funds available to Signpost International to fund such works overseas as it sees appropriate.
This allows the Trust to continue to support groups which give practical expression to their faith in the life of society in Scotland and to UK based groups who work overseas for the same objectives.
Trustees were very mindful that we are reduced in our number but delighted that we were able to recruit a new Trustee, Iona Finlayson who was able join us for the 2022 AGM. The recruitment of one more new Trustee continues to be a priority for us, one we hope to be able to complete for the 2023 AGM.
Grants provided during 2022 – 2023
Trustees have approved a total of 11 grants during the year which were approved at their annual meeting in May 2022. The total amount of funding awarded was £ 10,532
The recipients of these grants are outlined below:
Bek & Call, Disability Africa, Edinburgh City Mission, Feed the Minds, Freedom Kit Bags, Hope Community Village, Junction 12, Mission International SCIO, Restored Hope Zambia UK, Signpost International, The Seedsowing Network.
On Behalf of the Claremont Trust
Dr Marlene Finlayson
Chair and Trustee
May 2023