Old Alleynian Endowment Fund
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DO WE PAY TAX? James Kendall reflects on four decades as Treasurer of the Alleyn Club
What is the OAEF? Originally established in 1932, the purpose of the fund is to provide interest-free loans to Old Alleynians embarking on a postgraduate course of study or other career-focused qualification. The trustees usually consider a loan of up to £5,000 which assists with studying costs. Repayment of the loan is expected when the recipient has completed their chosen course of study and is in gainful employment. Once the loan is repaid, these funds can then be loaned out again to benefit another Old Alleynian. The OAEF is a registered charity and is separate to the College and the Alleyn Club. However, a strong bond exists between all three. The fund receives regular grants from the Alleyn Club and vital support from the College. The Master of the College attends trustee meetings and this year the Secretary of the fund, Nick Rundle, is also the Alleyn Club President. Trustees Each recipient is allocated a trustee who keeps in regular contact with them while they are studying and as they begin work. Timing of the loan repayment is at the trustee's discretion and takes into account each individual’s circumstances and financial position. This often means that the repayment of loans may take several years, and imposes a limit on the amount of support the fund can provide. Regular communication between recipient and trustee is critical to the smooth operation of the fund and with contact being maintained over many years, this will often lead to a more mentoring and supporting role for the trustee as well. Vital Support In the current climate, with rising educational costs and a greater need than ever for advanced qualifications, the need for the fund and the impact that this assistance can provide has never been greater. Any Old Alleynians wishing to apply for a loan are warmly invited to do so. Equally, any Old Alleynians who would like to contribute to the fund’s resources, or who wish to become actively involved, should contact the Chairman or the Secretary. Support can be provided via a gift or legacy or by becoming a trustee. Vacancies for trustees occur every couple of years and we are currently interested in locating a qualified accountant who can assist with auditing and submitting our annual return to The Charity Commission. Process The loan application process is informal and straightforward, and usually involves an interview to discuss the course to be followed, likely costs, and general fact finding. This will then be followed by a meeting of trustees where the application is considered. Once a decision is reached on whether to approve the application and the sum to be advanced, the applicant is informed, and funds made available. Applications to the fund are not means-tested and each application is assessed on its own merit. Current Recipients Loans have been made available to a wide range of Old Alleynians continuing their studies in many different areas. Trustees have discretion to consider applications from a broad range of disciplines and may be able to help where other avenues of funding have proved fruitless. Current recipients include architects, pharmacists, philosophers, IT consultants, actors, directors, doctors and cinematographers. May I ask you all to spread the word of the good work that the OAEF carries out and encourage any younger Old Alleynians who may benefit from our help to contact us. Chairman: Syd Martin (83-90) Hon Secretary: Nick Rundle (69-76) Treasurer: Shamik Dhar (74-81) OAEF@dulwich.org.uk
James (59 – 67) was appointed to be the future Treasurer of the Alleyn Club at its AGM in December 1978, which in those days was held in the OAFC pavilion on the South Circular. Initially shadowing Thomas Owen Haselwood Jones (1920-27) for a year as assistant Treasurer, James took over the role full time at the start of January 1980. When he handed over the baton to Michael Wade (67-72) at the 2021 AGM, he had been in post for a remarkable 42 years. In those 42 years, OAs came to expect that the Club’s finances would be carefully managed, the annual accounts would be presented in a straightforward manner and that James would be more than able to cope with any awkward questions raised at the AGM. In all that time, James never failed to come up to the mark. That said, behind the scenes James was active in significant ways known only to those most closely involved with the Club’s activities. ‘One of the stranger features of being Treasurer of the Alleyn Club, and indeed accountancy in general, is that it has one very important thing in common with IT, which is that when you do your job properly, absolutely nothing happens. After 42 largely uneventful years in the post, I think I must have done something right, because I have nothing particularly dramatic over which to reminisce – which, come to think of it, is probably the holy grail of finance people everywhere. Not that the last four decades went without many changes. In days of yore, when I began my career as an accountant at BP, drafting spreadsheets involved careful calligraphy on A3 paper with a whopping twelve columns. Two decades later, by the time I had moved to the public sector (British Rail for a spell, and then finally to the NHS at the Royal Marsden Hospital), the Excel version allowed us to do the same thing far more creatively on an A3 monitor with more columns than we knew how to count. The Club has seen similar changes over that time, from grants in the low hundreds to a handful of sporting clubs, to the thousand pound-plus grants the Club makes today; and from investments with a value of forty thousand pounds to well over a million today. I claim absolutely no credit for this last result, as it is due entirely to the outstanding skill and advice of the three OA trustees, whose investment decisions have proved crucial. Over the years, the two most commonly asked questions concerning the Club's finances are a) is the Alleyn Club a charity, and b) does it pay tax? The answer is No and Yes. In that order. I have enjoyed my time as Treasurer enormously, having supported four Masters, four Secretaries and 42 Presidents. Not a bad record, all things considered. I would also like to wish my successor, Michael Wade, all the best of luck as the new Treasurer. I am sure he will excel (sorry) in the role, but mercifully there is no minimum term of 40 years this time’.
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