Trust Synopis
Arkleton Trust Synopsis read by Caroline Higgs (mp3)
The Arkleton Trust was set up in 1977 to study new approaches to rural education and to improve understanding between rural policy makers, academics, practitioners and rural people. The main aim was to do this by means of seminars and workshops on matters of rural interest and concern.
The Trust was set up by John Higgs and David Moore, together with sundry others. The seminars were held, in the early years, at Arkleton, the Higgs’s home in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. David sadly died at the early age of 41 and John died in 1986. The Trust is now run by Trustees, of whom Caroline Higgs is Chairman (succeeding her mother Elizabeth who retired in 2004) and Nicola Swan is the Executive Officer.
John Higgs had a varied career in the academic world, FAO in Rome, and finally as Secretary of the Duchy of Cornwall for whom he was working when he died at the age of 62. David Moore had a most successful career with Oxfam latterly in FAO. John Bryden, who retired in 2008 after 28 years as Programme Director, was also joint Director of The Arkleton Centre for Rural Development Research at Aberdeen University, and has just retired as Director of the University of the Highlands and Islands Policy Web; he is currently Chairman of the International Rural Network.
The main aim of The Trust is still to bring together people with rural concerns, to discuss and exchange views. Sometimes the findings of these meetings are published, together with lectures given at these seminars. Recently the Trust has developed a programme for the next five years and is currently working in the field of climatic change at the community level.
The Trust also handles three small, memorial funds which give awards within the remit of the current programme: The David Moore is for a young person engaged in the study of rural development. This biennial award is to encourage practical investigation or research.
The John Higgs fund and the Bernard Conyers funds have recently been incorporated into the current theme of the Trust’s work. The Bernard Conyers fund gives fellowships which are clearly outlined and focussed on the current work and the John Higgs fund is used in an advisory capacity.