Message from the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (PaCET) for Sunday Meeting 5th January 2025

Dear Friends,

On 29 December 1904, Joseph Rowntree explained why he was creating three trusts in his name: the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust; the Joseph Rowntree Social Service Trust Limited; and the Joseph Rowntree Village Trust. He wrote:

‘I feel that much of the current philanthropic effort is directed to remedying the more superficial manifestations of weakness or evil, while little thought or effort is directed to search out their underlying causes. … For example, it is much easier to obtain funds for the famine-stricken people in India than to originate and carry through a searching enquiry into the causes and recurrence of these famines.’

The three Rowntree trusts have evolved over the years, and two of them have changed their names: the Joseph Rowntree Social Service Trust has become the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (JRRT) and the Joseph Rowntree Village Trust is now the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF).

However, all three trusts have retained their focus on addressing the underlying causes of harm in our society. They have also, in different ways, tried to give life to the Quaker testimonies that inspired Joseph Rowntree and his family. JRF focuses on poverty. JRRT works for democratic and political reform. And JRCT seeks to address the root causes of conflict and injustice. 

Between them, the Rowntree trusts have an extraordinary legacy.

JRF built a model village at New Earswick which inspired the garden city movement; supported the creation of the University of York; and guided the development of progressive social policies such as tax credits.

JRRT funded edgier causes, from political activism in the UK to liberation movements in Africa and Eastern Europe.

JRCT helped form the Runnymede Trust to challenge structural racism in Britain, supported anti-apartheid groups in South Africa and was deeply involved in the peace process in Northern Ireland. JRCT also drove forward the Freedom of Information Act, the Human Rights Act and the UK’s first whistleblowing legislation.

Last September, I was appointed to the board of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) and in January I take up the post of Chair. It’s a daunting role, to say the least, and I’m very glad to have the support of Lewes Friends. When I visited my parents in York at Christmas, I attended Friargate Meeting and met a former Chair and Secretary of JRCT, both of whom offered valuable guidance. (I sent greetings from Lewes, of course; and York Friends sent their greetings in return.)

It is exactly 120 years since Joseph Rowntree set his trusts in motion. He was an extraordinary man, who – according to this great nephew – had ‘a rare blend of a deep, undefined sense of the reality of ultimate mystery and a full, practical commitment to the use of his talents and resources for the benefit of his fellow human beings.’

I hope that I and my colleagues at JRCT – trustees, staff and co-opted committee members – can honour this distinctive Quaker identity in our work over the coming years.

Jonathan Heawood

on behalf of the Pastoral Care and Eldership Team (David Hitchin, Chris Lawson, Tim Pitt-Payne, Caroline Pybus, Theresa Samms and Nancy Wall)