John MacLean Scholarship Trust

 

Background and objectives of the Trust

The John MacLean Scholarship was established following the death of Sir Ewen John MacLean who, under his testamentary provisions dated 6 March 1953, bequeathed the sum of £3,000 to the Tiree Association of Glasgow to be invested by the said association, in the names of the trustees to be appointed by the Association for the purpose of endowing the income thereof of annual scholarship in the medical faculty of the University of Edinburgh to be named “the John MacLean Scholarship” in memory of his late father, John MacLean of the town of Kilmoluaig, Isle of Tiree, Argyllshire. The scholarship was to be awarded to a medical student, male or female, born on the Island of Tiree to undertake for the period of not less than three years a course of study in the classes of the said University, qualifying for a medical degree.

Given changing circumstances and the fact that in the years from the time of bequest no suitable request for a scholarship had in fact been made, the trustees in 1995 re-considered the terms of the original bequest. After obtaining appropriate legal advice, posting the relevant public notices and receiving the requisite approvals from the Scottish Charities Office, effective as from 30 November 1995, the objectives of the Trust were widened to include as potential beneficiaries any male or female from the Island of Tiree wishing to undertake a course of study in medicine or divinity, in the event of no suitable medical student, in any of the Universities of Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Dundee or St Andrews.

 

Legal Status of the Scholarship Trust

The Scottish Charities Office and Inland Revenue have recognised that the Trust qualifies as a charity under the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990. Charity No.: – SCO14657.

 

Trustees & Connected Body

The trustees are appointed by members of the Tiree Association of Glasgow. The Trustees can be contacted at Elderslie Cottage, Boghead Road, Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire G66 4SP.

The current trustees are (As from October 2016):

Mrs Catriona Morse

Mr Donald MacKechnie Campbell 

Mr Kenneth I A MacLeod

Mrs Rhona Gilbert

Mr Iain Campbell

Mr Lachie Brown

Mrs Jeanette MacLeod

 

Rules and Constitution

The Rules and Constitution under which the Trust is managed can be read in the attached pages. These highlight the criteria by which applications are measured and the procedures adopted by the Trustees to manage the Trust.

 

Annual Applications

On an annual basis, the Trustees invite Applications from students with Tiree connections studying, or about to study, Medicine at a Scottish University in the following academic year. Applications require to be made each year for the following year and are considered by the Trustees around September/October.
The amount of Scholarship is variable each year depending on trust income and number of applicants.

Applicants should write with relevant details to : Mr K MacLeod, Elderslie Cottage, Boghead Road, Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire G66 4SP. 
(Valid as at June 2009).

 

Rules

1. The John MacLean Scholarship shall be awarded by discretion of the trustees to

• candidates who were born on Tiree or

Ÿ• are the sons or daughters of people born on Tiree or

• were brought up on Tiree or

• otherwise have a real and personal connection with Tiree

 

2. Scholarship funds shall be used to provide financial support to eligible students of any of the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee or St. Andrews studying undergraduate courses leading to a medical degree, including any intercalary degree approved by those universities.

 

3. If after five years, there are no eligible applicants studying or proposing to study medicine, Scholarship funds can be used to provide financial support to students of the above universities studying or proposing to study undergraduate courses in Divinity.

 

4. Invitations to apply shall be published annually and prospective candidates shall be required to make initial, and subsequent to the ‘initial period’ of award (see 8 below), an annual application for support to the Treasurer of the trustees before 1st October for commencement the following academic year. Applicants should have regard to the Trust Purposes and Rules of the Trust, both of which are available from the Treasurer of the trustees on application, or downloaded from the Tiree Association website.

 

5. All awards shall be at the discretion of the trustees and all applications received shall be determined before 1st November.

 

6. Initial applicants shall be required to submit a copy of an offer of a place to study the relevant course.

 

7. Those in receipt of a Scholarship shall be required to submit annually a statement of satisfactory progress from their university to the Treasurer of the trustees before 1st October of the new academic year.

 

8. The Scholarship shall be awarded for an ‘initial period’ of three years, subject to appropriate annual reports of satisfactory progress and be eligible for renewal annually thereafter, up to a maximum of six years.

 

9. All financial support awarded shall be for one academic year and shall be awarded in a single payment before 15th November of that year or on receipt of progress statement if later.

 

10. When successive awards are made to a candidate, the amount of the awards may vary from year to year.

 

11. There shall be no special form of application but in making application candidates should provi

a) details of their connection with Tiree in accordance with paragraph 1 above

b) evidence of acceptance/progress from their university, as in paragraphs 6,7 and 8 above.

c) any special circumstances which the trustees may take into account when determining their application, particularly details of the applicant’s financial position.

d) a correspondence address.

 

12. The trustees and/or the Tiree Association may from time to time publicise the award of Scholarships to individual, identified students, though amounts of awards to individuals shall not be made public.

 

13. When determining applications, the trustees shall take the following into account

• applicants’ eligibility in terms of paragraph 1 above

• applicants’ progress in previous years (if applicable)

• any special circumstances detailed in application letters, particularly if they affect the applicant’s financial    position

• the overall sustainability of the Scholarship funds.

 

14. By accepting Scholarship funds, applicants agree to be bound by the Rules of the Trust.

 

Constitution

1.0 Trustees

1.1  The John MacLean Scholarship shall be administered by trustees appointed by the Tiree Association from among their own members. The Trust is a Scottish Charity, No. SCO14657.

1.2  Each trustee shall be appointed at a formal Meeting of the Tiree Association for a three year term. Trustees shall be eligible for reappointment, providing they remain members of the Tiree Association.

1.3  The maximum number of trustees shall be seven.

 

 

2.0 Constitution and Rules

2.1   The Trustees shall draw up regulations for the governance of the Scholarship in accordance with the Trust Deed and Trust Purposes. These shall be the Constitution of the John MacLean Scholarship Trust and the John MacLean Scholarship Trust Rules.

 

 

3.0 Election of Chair and Treasurer

3.1  The Trustees shall elect a Chair from amongst those Trustees present at each meeting.

3.2 The trustees shall elect from amongst their number a Treasurer to serve for a term of three years. The Treasurer shall be eligible for re-election, provided this appointee remains a member of the Tiree Association.

 

 

4.0 Duties of Chair

4.1 The Chair shall be responsible for chairing meetings of trustees and ensuring appropriate minutes are taken and formally approved at the next meeting.

4.2 The Chair shall have a casting vote in the event of a tie if matters require to be decided by vote

 

 

5.0 Duties of Treasurer

5.1 The Treasurer shall be responsible for the calling and administration of meetings and for communication and correspondence on behalf of the Trust with assistance from fellow trustees from time to time , in accordance with established good practice.

5.2 The Treasurer shall make arrangements for reports to be available to trustees on – the engagement of professional advisers; the performance of investments; a scheme for overseeing investments; the requirements the Trust must fulfil as a charity; any financial or legal issues which may from time to time arise and the Annual Accounts to be submitted to the Association and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).

5.3  The Treasurer shall submit and present an Annual Report and Accounts of the Trust to the Trustees at the Governance Meeting. The Accounts of the Trust shall be prepared on a Receipts and Payments Basis as defined by the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006.

5.4 The Treasurer shall manage the Trust’s investments in the best interests of the Trust. The Treasurer shall have the power to authorise the selling of investments, if so advised  by the Trust’s professional advisers. When buying investments the Treasurer shall have the power to do so after formal consultation with all trustees and four or more trustees actively agree to the proposed purchase. Such consultation shall not require a meeting of trustees.

5.5  The Treasurer shall arrange for an Independent Examination of the Accounts to be carried out annually.

 

 

6.0 Duties of the Trustees

6.1  The trustees shall ensure that the Constitution, Trust Rules and Trust Purposes are adhered to and regularly reviewed as appropriate and that the trust complies with the provisions of the Charities and Trust Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (“The Act“) and other relevant legislation.

6.2  The trustees shall submit and present the Annual Report and Accounts of the Trust to the Tiree Association.

6.3  The trustees shall at all times act in the interests of the Trust, with the care and diligence that it is reasonable to expect of a person managing the affairs of another person. (For guidance on these responsbilities the OSCR has issued a Guidance for Charity Trustees booklet, details available also at www.oscr.org.uk.)

6.4  The trustees shall appoint such professional advisers as they consider necessary to discharge their legal and financial responsibilities.

 

 

7.0 Meetings

7.1 There shall be a minimum of one meeting of the trustees a year. At the discretion of the trustees, a meeting may be held in person, by audio-conference, by video-conference or any combination of all three. A trustee’s presence by any of these means will signify attendance.”

7.2  There shall be a Governance Meeting held before the end of May each year to review the performance of investments, the general administration of the Trust, to approve the Annual Report and Accounts to be submitted to the Tiree Association AGM and the OSCR.

7.3  If either a new application for a Scholarship award or a report of satisfactory progress for an existing recipient falls to be considered at the close of the annual application period, a Disbursement Meeting shall be held to determine any Scholarship award and to carry out any other necessary Trust business.

7.4  Additional meetings of the trustees may be held if and when necessary.

7.5  The quorum for all meetings of the trustees shall be four, all in attendance in person.

7.6  If matters require to be decided by vote, this shall be by a simple show of hands.

7.7  The current President of the Tiree Association shall be eligible to attend meetings in an ex-officio and non-voting capacity.

 

 

8.0 Expenses and Donations

8.1 All expenses arising from the administration of the Trust shall be borne by the income of the Trust fund.

8.2 The trustees shall be able to receive any donations to the Trust fund from individuals or organisations through the Tiree Association and its Honorary Treasurer.

 

Trust Purposes

(as set out in the Trust Deed and amended by Resolution of the trustees pursuant to sub-section 10(3) of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990 and effective from 30th November 1995)

To pay over to the Tiree Association of Glasgow the sum of three thousand pounds, which sum shall be invested by the said Association in names of trustees to be appointed by the said Association for the purpose of endowing from the income thereof an Annual Scholarship in the Medical Faculty of Edinburgh University or (if in any year the Scholarship cannot be awarded to an applicant satisfactory to the trustees who undertakes to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh) in the Medical Faculty of any of the Universities of Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee or St Andrews, said Scholarship to be named the ‘John Maclean’ Scholarship in memory of my late father John Maclean of the township of Kilmaluag, Isle of Tiree, Argyllshire and I direct

(a) that the said scholarship shall be awarded to a medical student either male or female born in, or being the son or daughter of a person or persons born in Tiree or whom the trustees shall in their sole discretion consider to have been brought up on or to otherwise have a real and personal connection with the Island of Tiree, Argyllshire who shall undertake to pursue, unless prevented by illness or other unavoidable causes, for a period of not less than three years, a course of study in the classes of the University of Edinburgh or in the event that in any year there shall be no such student, any medical student as defined in paragraph (b) hereto who shall undertake to pursue unless so prevented, a course of study in any of the said Universities of Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee or St Andrews qualifying for a medical degree. In the event that there is not a suitable medical candidate for the said scholarship for a period of five years it shall be in the option of said trustees to award the scholarship to a person or persons qualifying as aforesaid studying divinity in any of the foresaid Scottish Universities.

(b) That the said Scholarship shall be tenable for three years but with power to the trustees administering the same to renew the Scholarship to the same student by annual extensions to the maximum of six years.

(c) That the said Association shall appoint from their own Members three or more trustees to administer the said Scholarship with power to the said trustees to take any expert advice they may consider necessary for the discharge of their duty.

(d) That the said trustees shall fix the amount to be paid out from year to year and shall draw up regulations for the award and administration of the said Scholarship but it is my desire that the committee shall have regard to the financial position of Applicants to ensure that the Scholarship shall preferably be awarded to Students who are in need of financial assistance.

(e) That the committee shall satisfy themselves each year that the holder of the Scholarship is pursuing his or her studies with all diligence and they shall have power notwithstanding the award of the Scholarship to withdraw same at any time if they are dissatisfied with the conduct of the student.

(f) That the committee shall have power to withdraw the Scholarship any year if there are no Applicants satisfactory to them and the income thereby saved may be accumulated with Principal or expended in later years.

(g) That all the necessary expenses of administering the Scholarship shall be borne by the income of the fund and

(h) in the event at any time of the Scholarship becoming unnecessary through Government action then I DIRECT the said Association to pay over the funds to the University of Edinburgh to be used by them in connection with the Medical Faculty as the Senatus may think best AND I PROVIDE and DECLARE that the receipt and discharge to be granted by the Secretary and Treasurer for the time being of the said Tiree Association for the said sum of Three Thousand Pounds shall be a sufficient discharge and exoneration to my Trustees and my Trustees shall not be required to see or to inquire into the application thereof.