Private Eye has been digging in the business track records of key directors at the troubled National Trust for Scotland. Its latest issue alleges that Finance Director, Lesley Watt and Director of Commercial Services and Marketing, Henk Berits were, repectively, Finance and Marketing Directors of globalfarmers.com

This was an online farming supplies business and went into receivership in 2001, taking with it £3.6 million of investments from Bank of Scotland and Caledonian Heritable Investments.

This information hits the public eye as the Hamilton Advertiser reports that Tom McCabe, MSP for Hamilton South and with the David Livingstone Centre in his constituency, has asked NTE Chief Executive Kate Mavor, to ‘clarify the position regarding endowments and legacies left to the Livingstone Centre’. She has agreed to do so.

In respect of this issue, the paper reports that: ‘Central Scotland SNP MSP Christina McKelvie last week wrote to the trust asking for details of a £100,000 legacy which she says was bequeathed to the centre for its “sole use.” A spokesman for the trust said a legacy from a donor had been received. It was being “held” pending the outcome of the consultation process over the proposal to axe jobs and close properties’.

Like Argyll’s Arduaine Garden, the David Livingstone Centre in Blantyre is one of the properties NTS has threatened to close. In the case of Arduaine – which contributed over 90% of the protest mail the Trust received after making its sudden closure decisions known -  the Trust has stayed its hand for a year.

The Trust has given assurances that, over the next 12 months, its team will work with Arduaine’s supporters in the effort to raise the significant funds required to endow the garden.

For Argyll has offered to publish a sereis of features following the progress of this campaign and has begun by asking the Trust for the specific details of what its team and the local supporters’ team will each deliver to the campaign partnership.

We are very aware of how important a resource bank the Trust is for its properties and their in-house management staff. It is undeniable that serious reputational damage has been sustained by the Trust in the nature, the manner and the foundation of the closure decisions taken.

For Argyll’s position is that the Trust’s voluntary proposal for the engagement of its staff team with the Arduaine campaign is potentially redemptive, particuarly if it is seen to be energetic and successful. We would wish to make that journey of recovery a document of record.

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