Charity Commission number 326502
Origins
The Sheiling Trust (TST) was set up in October 1983 as a charitable educational trust. The name ‘sheiling’ is a hut in a lonely place and was taken from one such location in the Nilgiri Hills of southern India. The reason for this choice is that TST has a close connection with Hebron School, situated in these Hills, and one of the original Trustees was Rupert Darling, then the School’s Principal.
Trust objective
The original deed reads as follows: The object of the Trust shall be the advancement of Christian Education and in particular the education of children or charges of Christians overseas.
The Charity Commission (CC) website (in the UK) has this further explanation:
The Sheiling Trust has been set up to aid Christian education overseas and acts as a channel for gifts to the schools and those connected with them. The Trust also helps to meet expenses in the UK which schools finds difficult to do.
The link to the CC is here:
https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/326502
Hebron School, Ootacamund, India
Hebron was founded in 1899 with the aim of educating the children of Christian workers within India. This objective remains the same today but the geographical reach of the school has grown to include the Gulf Region, Africa and Asia more broadly. TST helps with school resources not always easily attainable within India (Hebron follows the English National Curriculum and offers international GCSEs and A Levels, based within England). TST is also sometimes able to support some staff needs, at the request of the Hebron Principal and Council (the Governors), when they are outside India. The Hebron School website is www.hebronooty.org
It is important to stress, however, that TST remains open to approaches from any school (or educational need) from within the UK and Overseas and has supported other causes and schools over the years. This has included, for example, Grace International School in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and links with TISCA, The Independent Schools Christian Alliance www.tisca.org.uk
rekonnect camps
In fulfilling its wider objective to help advance Christian education, TST happily agreed to take on the invaluable work of these camps for the children of Christian workers overseas, in 2021.
Trustees
There are currently (2021) seven Trustees, all of whom have a connection with Hebron School, Ootacamund, India. Each also has an interest in promoting Christian education at school level within the UK and Overseas. The Trustees are:
- Tim Archer (UK Hebron Link)
- Sue Brown
- Jeremy Niblett (treasurer)
- Alix Stockwell (rekonnect strategic lead)
- Alastair Reid (chair)
- Stuart Riley
Chairman’s reports
These are produced annually to go with the audited Treasurer’s Report. The most recent can be found here.
Gifts
TST welcomes gifts, regular donations and legacies to further its charitable work. There are no paid workers – all Trustees are volunteers – and so everything donated can be used directly for the charitable aims of TST.
Alastair Reid (Chair of TST), February 2021