New Company

The original Trust had, as you would expect, Trustees, but what may not have been so obvious is that these people actually carried a tremendous amount of responsibility and personal financial risk.

In the event of some sort of catastrophe, in the final analysis, and if all else has failed (including winding up the Trust), there is still not enough money to pay all the creditors/claimants in full, it is possible that the Trustees could be called upon to make good the shortfall from their own funds. This could mean bankruptcy and total destruction of their lives.

In the past this has not been seen as anything more than a vague possibility, but in these days of heavy litigation for relatively minor matters and of the courts awarding settlements that make most people gasp, it is now seen as totally unfair that the Trustees should be asked to shoulder this potential burden.  We therefore converted the Trust into a Company Limited by Guarantee.

This is a type of company normally used as a vehicle for a charity and is guaranteed by the members of the company to the extent that they will contribute, in our case one pound, to any deficit in the event that the company is wound up. Every member of the Trust will have to be a member of the company.

Instead of Trustees the company has Directors - Governing Council members - and these are the people who will not only run the company but also ensure that it complies with the law of the land and its own objectives and rules.

If the Governing Council members fail to carry out their duties diligently they will be subject to the law as embodied in the Companies Acts and may carry personal responsibility.

The following documents may be useful in helping you to understand what it is intended to do. Please click on the document icons below to view them.