Entrepreneur Ian Watson looks back on 10 years and £1m of grants through family trust

Luxury care home operator and property entrepreneur Ian Watson has appeared in our business pages many times over the years, often after striking multimillion-pound deals with his business ventures.

Yet some of his proudest moments have involved deals of a very different kind - grants made from his family’s charitable trust. Having been fortunate in many aspects of his life, Ian strongly believes that if you have the privilege of wealth and opportunity, you also have greater responsibility to help others.

To that end, the Newcastle owner of Hadrian Healthcare and MCM Investments officially registered the Watson Family Charitable Trust in 2015, with his wife and two sons, and friend and lawyer Hugh Welch, senior partner at Muckle LLP, also coming on board as trustees. Now, 10 years on, Muckle LLP has hosted an event to draw together many of the organisations – from across the North East and as far away as Africa – who have received help through the trust.

The event, held at the law firm’s Newcastle city centre offices last week, was also double cause for celebration as Ian announced new grants, while also committing more funds into the pot for future donations. Ian initially wasn’t keen on holding a 10-year celebration, worried it would appear too self-indulgent, but other trustees pointed out the benefits such an event could bring.

“I said it’s a bit ‘blowing our own trumpets’” he said, “but Hugh said it’s not, it will pull together all the people and all the organisations we’ve been able to help. I gave out further grants on the night too, which takes our giving over the last 10 years to over £1m - and I’ve also committed a further £1m into the Trust, to support more good causes.”

The trust’s key drivers have been to help young people to overcome social disadvantage and disability, both within the region and internationally, and to give support to local community projects, with a focus on health, education and deprivation. And over the years there have been many.

Since its inception organisations to have received donations include Success4All, St Cuthbert’s Care, World Vision, Parkinson’s UK, The Recruitment Junction, Hadrian School and his own school Whickham School and Sports College. The Watson Family Charitable Trust has had a close relationship with the Percy Hedley Foundation, supporting the school to take part in the annual Christmas carol service and Christmas tree lighting ceremony at St George’s Church in Jesmond, and also making substantial grants to fund a sensory room in 2018, the installation of a roundabout and play area in 2019, and paying for a holiday for children from the school in 2020.

At last week’s anniversary event, further grants were made to schools in Kenya and Uganda which were among the first trust recipients, as well as further grants to Success4All and Whickham School. Other recipients included Clean Slate, which helps ex-offenders into employment, and Jessica’s Sarcoma Awareness, which has built a respite holiday home in Northumberland for children undergoing cancer treatment.

Among the guests at Muckle LLP last week was Sister Angelina, the “incredible and amazing” nun who Ian and Hugh met almost 10 years ago, after taking on one of the trust’s first and biggest projects to date, which involved work on a school in Uganda. Ian had been introduced to a Northumberland woman whos