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Annual
Report - 2005/06
Trustees Report For the year ended 31 March 2006 The Trustees present their Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2006 which complies with the SORP 2005 and with the constitution of the Trust. OBJECTS AND POLICIES OF THE CHARITY The Objects of the Charity are very broad and in consequence the Trustees have over the years adopted policies in order to indicate the nature of applications which will be considered for support and thus enable the Trust Funds to be available to achieve the Objects. Objects The Constitution provides that the purpose of the Trust is to provide opportunities for young people of Scottish birth or parentage to extend the boundaries of their knowledge of human life and to employ their leisure in such pursuits as will foster their love of nature and improve their physical health and well-being and whereby the British and especially the Scottish Public may participate in the enjoyment of drama and opera from which Sir Alexander Cross himself derived lasting pleasure. In terms of the Constitution the Trustees have an absolute discretion as to whether or not to make an Award to any applicant. Grantmaking Policies. Awards may be made to individuals and to organisations. The Trustees have the benefit of the knowledge of Sir Alexander’s known wishes and in particular the knowledge and experience of Robin Buchanan-Smith who died on 2nd April 2005. He had served as a Trustee for forty five years and in particular during the final sixteen years when he was Chairman of the Trust he encouraged his Co-Trustees with his enthusiasm for what he knew to be the applications which best reflected the raison d’?tre of the Trust. Individuals. Most awards are provided for short term educational studies or projects. Applicants require to have a record of distinction and ability and to put forward proposals for study or projects which are of demonstrable merit. Such proposals may be in any recognised discipline including the visual and performing arts and music. Awards are made, having regard to the extent of financial hardship which might otherwise be expected to occur if no award should be made. In particular awards are made to enable participation in a project or course of study which otherwise would not be practical because of insufficient financial resources. Organisations. With regard to organisations, the Trustees support certain aspects of drama, opera, music and the visual and performing arts. Occasionally Awards are also made to charities which seek to provide support to disadvantaged young people who are involved with environmental and recreational projects. All of these awards are on a very restricted basis and only a small number of Awards are made in any year.
The Cross Trust was established by Sir Alexander Cross, Baronet, LLD of Battleby, Redgorton, Perthshire in terms of the Constitution completed in 1943 and is a Scottish Charity Number SC 008620. The Trustees who served during the year are: Rev the Hon.
R.D. Buchanan Smith (Chairman) (died 2 April 2005) Appointment of Trustees. The Constitution provides that the Trustees have power to co-opt additional Trustees and the present Trustees of the Trust were co-opted in this way. There is no maximum to the number of Trustees who may be appointed and there is no minimum or maximum period for which Trustees may be appointed. The Constitution provides that the election of the Chairman is for the period of his life. In terms of the Constitution, the Trustees are entitled to receive a small honorarium for their services. Recruitment of Trustees. The present Trustees were selected to maintain a range of skills and experience covering the main interests and projects of potential beneficiaries. The Trustees have determined in principle to review on a periodic basis the suitablility of the continuation of each of them as Trustees and also the issue of considering the appointment of new Trustees. They have decided that when new Trustees are sought the aim will be to review the then current range of interests and projects of the beneficiaries with a view to finding someone who would bridge any identified shortcomings within the skills and experience of the continuing Trustees. The Trustees plan that when a vacancy occurs that recruitment will be made by advertisement and/or by consultation of chosen representatives from Universities and other organisations who are likely to have knowledge of suitable potential Trustees. There will then follow a meeting of the Trustees with each prospective candidate and the decision for any appointment will then rest with the full body of the Trustees. Induction of Trustees. The induction procedure for a new Trustee includes the provision of Minutes of the Trustees and of Annual Reports and Accounts for the years prior to appointment, a copy of the Trusts Constitution and information relating to the responsibilities of Trustees and in general the Law relating to Charities in terms of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the relevant details of SORP 2005. New Trustees will also receive a book “The Cross Trust” which provides the history of the first fifty years of the Trust.
Administration. The Trust is administered on a day to day basis by the firm of McCash & Hunter, Solicitors, in accordance with directions given by the Trustees at their meetings which are held normally four times per year. Arrangements are made in certain circumstances for applications to be considered outwith these formal meetings. Within the firm of McCash & Hunter, Mr M Webster, one of the Trustees and who is a consultant of the firm, has had responsibility for the administration of the Trust. Following the retiral by Mr Webster from his consultancy position, this responsibility has now passed to Mrs Alison McKean, a partner of the firm. Activities, Achievements and Performance During the year under review the Trustees have responded to a wide range of applications in terms of courses and projects proposed by individuals and organisations. In all there were 352 applications from individuals (307 in 2005) and 98 from organisations (70 in 2005). Awards were made to 136 individuals (104 in 2005) and 12 to organisations (10 in 2005). The Trustees have continued their initiatives in giving support to students who undertake medical elective studies abroad and also in the promotion of awards for vacation studies in the arts. The Trustees have determined that up to 20 Awards for each of these initiatives may be made in any accounting year. There was an encouraging number of application for Medical Elective Studies, 36 in all and 20 Awards were made. The response to the publicity for the Vacation Studies in the Arts Awards was disappointing this year in that only 14 applications were received and only 8 Awards were made. The Trustees were also pleased to grant the first Award under the John Fife Travel Award, a scheme established by the Trust following the transfer to the Trust of the funds of the John Fife Memorial Trust. Under this scheme the Trustees plan to make at least one Award per annum to applicants who fulfil the Trust’s criteria and who seek to pursue a project or studies in the spirit of the former objects of the John Fife Memorial Trust, namely to assist individuals who are working in, or studying Horticulture to gain further experience by attending courses, study tours or conferences in the United Kingdom or abroad. The range of Awards made to individuals varied from £100 to £2,500. Three Awards of £2,000 or more were made. One of these was granted to a Medical student, (the Award in fact covering two academic years), another to a student who has undertaken a course in film and tv studies and the third to a student who was studying a course in Musicology. Awards to organisations of £2,000 or more was made as follows:- Abernethy Trust, £3,000 towards the cost of a new building to support the increased usage of their Nethybridge Centre. Canongate Youth Project, £2,000 towards the cost of their programme of residential holidays. Perth Theatre, £4,000 towards their Youth Theatre Project which was being run in conjunction with the opening the new Perth Concert Hall. In addition it is recorded in that the previous accounting year two Awards were made to Perth Festival of the Arts, each of £2,500, one for the 2004 Festival and the other for the 2005 Festival. Financial Review. All material movements in the Trust’s funds are shown on page . The financial position of the Trust as at 31st March 2006 is shown on page . The Trust has adequate funds to meet its administrative costs and to continue to make grants at the Trustees’ discretion for the foreseeable future. The Trust has wide powers of investment and all investments have been acquired in accordance with the powers available to the Trustees. The Trustees appoint an Investment Adviser to manage the Trust’s investments, receive reports from such Adviser regularly and formally consider and review performance at Trustees’ meetings. The Trust’s income for the year exceeded expenditure by £9,769 (2005: £95,455); the revenue reserve at 31st March 2006 amounted to a balance of £87,289 (2005: £56,055). Investment Policy. The Investment Policy is to adopt a medium risk investment strategy based on maximising income in addition to growing the capital of the Trust. Reserves Policy. The Reserves Policy is to generally to attempt to distribute in full each year’s surplus so that the capital is available to provide income for future grants. Risk Statement. The Trustees have assessed the major risks to which the Charity is exposed and are satisfied that systems and procedures are in place to manage those risks. Strategy and Plans for the Future The Trustees are concerned that information regarding the objects and policies of the Trust should be widely known so that the most suitable applicants are considered for Awards. They have recognised that many young people will probably seek information from web sites and although information regarding the Trust is available on a number of web sites the Trust has not so far established its own site. The decision has now been taken to establish a web site for the Trust and it is planned that it should be operational in the near future. The Trustees recognise that as part of this process they should adopt further policies to clarify the nature of applications which may be considered for support. The Trustees also consider that the scheme for promoting Awards for Vacation Studies in the Arts is important and are seeking to find out how Universities make use of the information which is provided to them on an annual basis. The Trustees decided that it was appropriate to review the Trust’s Investment performance and in the light of this the decision was taken to invite a number of Investment Advisers to make submissions to be appointed as Financial Advisers to the Trust for the future. Consideration has been given to the initial submissions and arrangements have been made for meetings with representatives of four of the firms. A decision regarding an appointment will be made thereafter.
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