Lord Triesman, Behind the locked door…

The man at the helm of Dartington Hall Trust has revealed exclusively to the Totnes Pulse how he discovered how bad the charity’s financial state was last year.

Lord David Triesman took over as the Trust’s Chair in March 2023.

A former chairman of the Football Association and a fan of the local football team, Lord Triesman has recently been seriously ill and gave an email interview to the Pulse.

What he says may not entirely accord with recollections of other trustees. The Pulse has approached four former trustees and one current trustee but none wished to comment. Neither did a representative of Schumacher College.

Lord Triesman, with his links to the Labour party, said it was “inconceivable” to him that he could not build on the traditions of Dartington if it was saved.

This is what we asked him.

[(Annotations added by Totnes Pulse for clarity)]

What sort of shape do you hope to leave Dartington Trust in when you eventually step down?

When I arrived at Dartington, the most up to date audited figures were for the year ended 31 August 2022. I did what I learned to do in my earlier career in my 20s. Banking predated politics. I asked for all financial documents including management accounts and asked to be left in a locked room with them, and a cup of coffee left outside the door every hour. Just as with other financial experiences, indeed, just like the FA, the Labour Party and other bodies, I spent about two days in the company of the paperwork.

It was a sobering experience. The financial position was precarious and it was evident that, almost without exception, none of Dartington’s activities was making any net income at all.
Activities were loss-making and the documents hardly disguised the fact or led to a potential solution. To be frank, I knew essentially the same conclusion had been reached by the Chair of the Audit and Risk Management Committee. [(Chris Maw )] In the event, and before I could go through matters with them, both CEO [(Alan Boldon)] and CFO [(Ian Trisk-Grove)] left of their own accord within days of my arrival.

I formed the view, with the Chair of the Audit and Risk Management Committee, that we urgently needed advice on insolvency. He took the sensible view that we needed a turnaround specialist and a credible exec team, and advice from a well-respected insolvency lawyer. He did not have those contacts himself but asked if I did. Fortunately, I did through Buchler Phillips, [( a London-based consultancy firm headed by David Buchler )] but told the whole Board (twice) that if they were retained, although I would have no commercial interest, I would not negotiate fees or definitions of success.

The Chair of the Audit and Risk Management Committee and two other Trustees met with Buchler Philips and the fees, including a “success” element, were discussed in full at a meeting of the Trustees without my direct participation in that discussion.
When the team was on board, they also went through “the books”. It was early July 2023 and I wasn’t really surprised when the team reported we might very well not make the August payroll.

The legal advice was similarly chilling. The new Exec team took over the main functions, not least because the former exec team made plain they intended to carry on as before. And that wasn’t tenable.

You will know we drove down costs and fought hard to save jobs. Let me add that by far the biggest loser of cash was Schumacher which had been excused rent and another contribution for years; and had never come close to recruitment targets.This was all very painful but the result was that we gained a little time, month by month. We try to use the extra time wisely.

Has the role of chair been more or less challenging than you thought when you agreed to it?

Dartington has an incredible history. Its medieval history was truly noteworthy; the Elmhurst phase was hugely innovative; the facility for those escaping the Nazis was critical; the Michael Young years a big influence on me personally and they produced the draft Beverage Report, the NHS foundation documents, the outline of what became the OU and the draft 1945 Clem Attlee manifesto.

It was inconceivable to me that we could not build on these traditions if we could save the place. I was, as is Robert [Fedder , interim CEO] and his team, a complete enthusiast for the sustainable agriculture work, the arts including music, and the groundbreaking social initiatives. I was equally keen that so far as possible I wouldn’t be constrained to sell the family silver so long as I could help stabilise the finances. The previous sale of so many assets, rather than making a commercial success of our activities, was a poor strategic choice. The change to a commercial culture where we didn’t rush toward insolvency by doing things that simply lost money was both a better culture and the only viable one.

In some instances this would be complex because there are excellent and mission critical partners – the local community, the University of Plymouth –  etc but we would all need to embrace the same path for Dartington to come through this period as more of a contributor, more widely loved by its community, and loved for more than its beautiful gardens and walks. I know not everyone will share these ambitions. But they are my ambitions.

The legal advice was similarly chilling

What elements of your background could be useful in your role as chair – for instance in relation to Aller Park & Foxhole , your knowledge of property development might be useful in thinking of ways in which these structures could be salvaged?

In past jobs some things have been a preparation. Alongside academic life I had a good deal of exec experience in investment banking and especially real estate. That helps with understanding the character of counterparties, local government, planning and how to understand risk, the differences between builders, developers, the operators of assets and landlord. Dartington has arguably mixed up these roles and increased but not quantified its risk profile.

I may be wrong, but don’t feel there is much pleasure taken in residential new build near the estate. Hard to say for certain what a new govt might want. But I do know that our amazing old buildings left to rot please nobody. We don’t at present have the cash to bring them back to viable use so we must look at options with partners.
Nobody will fund an option unless they see a credible commercial plan and can calculate risk. So part of my experience must be, with Robert, to bring back together the kinds of partners I have assembled in the past. And have done, illness permitting, more recently.

I think some partners may/will come from education where I hope my experience as a Minister in both the Blair and Brown governments will help.
The final element from the past is that I really enjoy working in groups which are diverse and with very different motivations. Not everyone in a govt or parliament is a Cabinet or Shadow Cabinet member. Not everyone in football is in the Premier League. Parties and the football pyramid are made up of the people who keep the whole show on the road. Not just the stars. I love the challenges this creates and the basic integrity it demands and I try to keep this aspect of experience front and centre. It’s another reason I’m passionate about our own football club, Totnes and Dartington FC.

How easy,  or otherwise, it has been to work with local bodies in Totnes/S Devon eg the local councils?

I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting local councillors and people in Dartington and Totnes. Partly because of illness much of this and the town hall meetings have been taken by Robert. The goal has been to do our best to describe our circumstances and major on our aspirations. We want this to be a shared set of objectives but I understand a diminishing number of people don’t welcome change. They are not keen on commercial initiatives and some simply cannot believe we face a financial mountain. Maybe some will never be convinced; one person told me my main job was to find another billionaire Elmhirst. Not easy, and in any event, not a bankable solution . I’m very clear I want us to work with the community, and find ways to engage many more younger people whilst being solvent.

The Trust has 6 trustees now which is quite low relative to previous numbers so do you plan to recruit more ?

The Board is smaller and I am actively working to do a bit of rebuilding. All the sensible advice I have from various charities is to do so as we would with a modest sized company. The old model of philanthropic boards is widely known to be dysfunctional with ill-defined lines of accountability. We have identified areas where we can/should strengthen our skills and will recruit on this basis. Many charities now take this course and by early Spring I think we can succeed, I know this is another change but when you have faced the prospect of the Administrators taking control you do try to improve everything you can. And some people won’t like it. The worst legacy I could leave would be to have arrived, found nobody at the wheel, the rocks just metres away, and not tried to do something about it.

Dartington is far too precious, its history too aligned with a progressive Britain, ever to neglect it or shrug my shoulders and say the damage was done well before Robert (or David Buchler or
the lawyers or the new Exec team) or I arrived.

Read our profile of Lord Triesman here