Another trustee quits Dartington – amidst signs of a parcelling out of blame

The charity running the financially troubled Dartington estate has announced the eighth resignation from its trustee ranks since Lord David Triesman took over as chair just over two years ago.

The impending resignation of Rachel Watson will reduce the board membership at Dartington Hall Trust by two-thirds compared to the number in October 2023.

A statement issued by the trust on Triesman’s behalf last Friday (23rd May) refers to what he says was the financial mess he inherited when he arrived at Dartington in March 2023, and contains  a strong indication that he places some element of blame for this on the trustees including Watson who were in already in place.

Assuming no new appointments are made before Watson leaves,  her departure will bring the number of Dartington trustees to just three, or two below that required by the organisation’s legal structure. Watson is the marketing director of the Riverford organic food company based near Totnes, and has been a trustee since 2020.

“We understand the need to recruit  and look forward to announcing further trustee appointments in the very near future,” according to Triesman.

“A number of strong candidates have been interviewed. The Charity Commission [the government regulator] is aware of this process and is being updated by the trust.”

The further reduction in the board membership is likely to trigger new questions from the commission, which last December opened  a “regulatory compliance case” against the trust that has yet to conclude.

Since Triesman’s appointment the trust has endured a rough period, but says it is now on the way to recovery after a series of crisis measures to cut costs and find new ways to generate income including through a new “landlord” strategy to lease out buildings to commercial groups.

Triesman’s statement about Watson is unusual since it comes ahead of any formal note of her resignation in official communication channels. Since Triesman’s arrival, Dartington has until now refrained from telling outsiders about trustee withdrawals before they happen, relying on people finding out via government websites after the person has left.

In its advance mention of the new trustee departure, Triesman’s statement conveys only the terse message that “Rachel Watson, who joined the Board in June 2020, has decided to resign after almost five years of service”, adding that “as a matter of priority, we are actively engaged in finding additional, appropriately qualified trustees”.

The  statement fails to say why Watson is leaving nor when this would happen. Watson did not respond to a request to comment.

Due to her length of tenure, Watson was involved in decisions made by Dartington’s pre-Triesman board headed by the previous chair Greg Parston, who stood down in early 2023. The Parston-led board had stuck to the view that – while Dartington’s financial state was poor – it had in place a recovery plan that avoided the need for drastic action.

In his new comments, Triesman returns to his previous view that the pre-2023 stance on Dartington’s finances was hopelessly misguided. “It is is self-evident that many wholly owned and operated activities [at Dartington] were poorly managed for many years, with little sector expertise, nor a grasp of the need to recover costs”, the politician-turned-investment banker says.

The action plan Triesman plus a team of consultants devised in 2023 introduced big cuts in jobs and existing programmes, which were he says, vital to averting potential bankruptcy.

The latest declaration from the Dartington chair makes a point of referring to the two groups on the current board of four people, who are evenly split between those appointed pre-Triesman and the individuals including the chair who came in after 2023.

While first camp includes Watson and the former management consultant Peter Goldsbrough (who like her joined the board in 2020), the second encompasses Triesman and David Lovett, a finance and “business restructuring” expert who was appointed only in April.

Alluding to the difference in views about the severity of Dartington’s financial difficulties prior to 2023,  Triesman says “it has not been possible for the Board to speak with one voice regarding [Dartington’s previous financial management] since post-2023 trustees and executive management have little or no insight into the situation, beyond the hard facts presented by the numbers [including big financial losses]”.

The statement adds: “Change is never easy, particularly when it needs to be radical, and invariably meets resistance, including from former trustees.” And on the question  of whether trustees feel action could have been taken sooner to improve the charity’s underlying financial performance Triesman says  “the answer from this Board is unequivocally yes”. Goldsbrough did not respond to a request to comment.

While the statement avoids any sign of thanks to Watson for her contributions, Triesman is keen to play up the potentially solid role he has in mind for Lovett.

Triesman says of the new recruit that he “knows Dartington Hall well and lives in a neighbouring town. In addition, his extensive corporate experience and professional background as a chartered accountant is highly relevant to our plans for recovery and sustainability. He will chair our audit and risk committee”.

Since Triesman’s arrival, the eight trustees including Watson to announce their withdrawal have been offset by just two newcomers, one being Lovett and the other, Baroness Amanda Sater, lasting just 12 months before stepping down a few weeks  ago.

The job of Dartington trustees is to decide on long-term strategy and broad management issues.  They have been talking to the commission since December when the regulator announced it had opened a compliance case against Dartington to check it was sticking to  guidelines over governance and general administration. The commission said last week its case was continuing.

Under the trust’s articles of association, its minimum stipulated number of trustees is five. On this issue the commission’s rules state that “we expect all charities to adhere to their governing document on the minimum number of trustees. If this number falls below the minimum, we expect trustees to carry out recruitment to resume compliance”.

According to Triesman’s latest numbers, Dartington suffered  cumulative losses from 2008 to 2023 of “close to £50m” while between 2020 and 2023 the organisation sold property and land “totalling more than £14m in value, including a £2.7m transaction that commenced in 2022/23 but did not complete until 2024”. By contrast the “present chair and management team have, to date, initiated property and land sales totalling only £100,000”.

The figures, he says, support his case that the trust should have acted before his arrival to address its financial challenges “rather than relying on the sale of properties and investments, or on unpredictable benefaction”.