“Prudent and effective stewardship” of Dartington assets is continuing, charity says
Dartington Hall Trust has issued an assurance that its board of trustees has enough members to exert “prudent and effective stewardship” of its assets and to take “important, financially material decisions” despite a slew of resignations that has brought the number down to just two.
Referring to the Totnes Pulse article earlier this week on the run of departures, a spokesperson for Dartington said the statement in the story mentioning the “strong implication
that many of those leaving have been unhappy with [Dartington chair Lord David] Triesman’s way of running the organisation …” was “baseless and incorrect”.
Specifically discussing the recent withdrawals from the trustee board of Peter Goldsbrough and Rachel Watson, the charity said: “Peter joined in June 2020 and, like Chris Maw [another ex-trustee who stepped down in March this year], was happy to continue to assist with the turnaround [put in place by Triesman and a new management team]. They were both very supportive. Both departures and resignations were very gradual.
“Rachel, who joined June 2020, had also completed a full term but wanted to continue with the turnaround after her three years. She was also supportive of key decisions in the past 12 months – the Aug 2024 closure of Schumacher College and the early 2025 refinancing.
“Her decision to resign was less gradual and, given her profile locally [as a director of the Riverford organic food company] it seemed sensible [to announce this].”
Dartington said the Charity Commission, the government regulator, had been made “fully aware” of the resignations and of “our plans for imminent appointments”.
A large number of the other trustee resignations in the past two years had been for uncontroversial reasons unrelated to how the trust was being run, the charity said.
In further comments on the commission, Dartington said this was “ultimately concerned about prudent and effective stewardship of the Trust’s resources and assets. This is happening under the present [trust] leadership”.
The trust said “quoracy [an acceptable number of trustees in Dartington board meetings] is being observed for important, financially material decisions”.
Referring to its own public statements on trustee departures the charity said: “The Trust is only formally accountable to the Charity Commission. While it is pleased to engage proactively with all major stakeholder groups, including its membership, the media and local community, it is not obliged to provide a blow-by-blow account of its management and board affairs to all external parties.”
The commission said on Tuesday (3rd June) its regulatory compliance case opened in December against the trust was continuing.
It could give no update on the case which involves the commission quizzing trustees on governance issues.