Annual Report
of the
Claremont Trust
2024 – 2025

The Claremont Trust

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Charity name The Claremont Trust

Charity registration number SC002721

Charity Trustees

Reverend Ian Gilmour – Chair

Sylvia Marchant – Secretary

Norman Kerr OBE– Treasurer

Iona Finlayson

Dr Marlene Finlayson

Reverend Kevin Franz

Lucy Gall

Allan Ramsey

Independent Examiner Carol Millar
12 Regent Place
Clydebank
Glasgow
G81 3SG

Bankers Virgin Bank, 326 Byers Road, Glasgow, G12 8AN

Investment Managers Christopher Noblin Chartered MCSI
Greenbank
George House, 50 George Square
Glasgow G2 1EH

Independent Financial Advisors Shane Presley APFS CFPTM MSCI
Ethical Futures LLP, 9 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh, ERH3 6NB

The Claremont Trust

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED
5 April 2025

The Trustees are pleased to present their report together with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 5 April 2025. 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:

Reverend Ian Gilmour – Chair

Sylvia Marchant – Secretary

Norman Kerr OBE – Treasurer

Iona Finlayson

Dr Marlene Finlayson

Reverend Kevin Franz

Lucy Gall

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 fulfilment 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.

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 continues to prove an invaluable resource and has given many organisations a closer look at our work.

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 Greenbank Investments, according to ethical criteria of which the Trustees approve. Trustees were grateful for the long-term services of our main investment manager at Rathbone Greenbank Mr John David who has carefully managed our portfolio in line with our ethical requirements over many years, John has now retired and is relaced by Christopher Noblin in the companies Glasgow offices. While at our independent ethical investment managers, ethicalfutures, the senior partner Mr Julian Parrot has brought in a new manager to oversee our investments. We welcomed Mr Shane Presley to our AGM in 2023 with Julian and again as our new investment advisor at our 2024 AGM. We look forward to working closely with both Christopher and Shane over the coming years.

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.

The Claremont Trust continues to work according to the original purpose of the Trust offering limited financial support for new innovative projects often with an educational aspect to them. We have an excellent and committed group of trustees, who take the process of discernment seriously. Projects are diverse and cover the globe. Many of the recipients offer updates on their work and really appreciate the help we have offered. We usually only support any project for two consecutive years. It has been my privilege to act as chair for two years. Our secretary, Sylvia Marchant, has been thoughtful and well prepared. Norrie Kerr, our treasurer, has taken on various extra tasks and has been skilful and most generous with his assistance. Sylvia is stepping down and we wish to express our thanks to her. We will try to recruit a new equally talented trustee in the near future.

Grants provided during 2024 – 2025
Trustees have approved a total of 13 grants at their annual meeting in May 2024. The total amount of funding awarded was £ 8,190

The recipients of these grants are outlined below:

Assemblies of God Church, Bright Sparks School India, Burntisland and Kinghorn Foodbank, East Mains Baptist Church, Empowering Kids in Kenya, Jairah Funds, Kinross-shire Youth Enterprise SCIO, Let the Children Hear, Prospects Across Scotland, Roots Globalscope Edinburgh, Serendip Children’s Home, St Stephens Comely Bank Church and Village Church

On Behalf of the Claremont Trust

Reverend Ian Gilmour
Chair and Trustee
May 2025