News / Three new trustees
SHETLAND Charitable Trust has successfully appointed three new independent trustees to its board.
Broadcaster Tom Morton, former Liberal Democrat councillor and social work director Peter Malcolmson and retired Walls GP Andrew Cooper will join five independent and seven council trustees in April.
The appointments, approved on Thursday, follow a lengthy recruitment campaign during which the trust had to re-advertise the vacant positions.
All three new trustees cited their wish to serve the community as the main motivation behind their move.
Speaking from his home in Hillswick, Morton, who has just been appointed the new Unst tourism development officer, said he had more time on his hands since he stopped editing the Shetland Life magazine.
“I applied because my working patterns have changed and I have time available during the week. I am no longer working as a journalist, and I felt that it would be a good opportunity to be of some service to the community,” he said.
“Having had long experience of Shetland and having been an observer of the trust and the council, I am probably in a more informed position than some other people might have been.
“I am aware – obviously – of some of the controversies, but I really feel very positive that the trust can make and must make an enormous contribution to the future of Shetland’s economy, culture and communities.”
Malcolmson’s dealings with the charitable trust reach further back than ten years, which was when he headed the campaign that brought a CT scanner to the Gilbert Bain Hospital.
At the time, the trust contributed £600,000 to the hugely successful fundraising initiative.
He said: “I was aware that they had to re-advertise this year, so it looked as though they were not getting many folk applying.
“I thought I have a fair bit of experience in working with the trust both as a chief official at the council and as a trustee when I was a councillor.”
Now retired, Dr Cooper has been working as a GP in Shetland since 1982. He said he wanted to give something back to the community after enjoying more than 30 years of professional life in the isles.
“The main reason for getting involved in the trust is to try and give something to the community by working for the trust, which has such an important role in Shetland life,” he said.
Trust chairman Bobby Hunter said the existing trustees and staff were looking forward to work with the new trustees.
“We know they will make a positive contribution to the business of the trust in working for the benefit of the people of Shetland,” he said.
Vice chairman Jonathan Wills said the three had been chosen from a very strong field of 11 candidates.
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