UPDATE ON THE DRCCT AND DATCHET PARISH COUNCIL @ 8/10/2025
The Datchet Recreation Centre Charity Trust (DRCCT – Charity No. 252303) owns land and buildings in Datchet.
I can now report that the DRCCT page on the Charity Commission website has been corrected and is secure.
Changes that were voted for by nine Datchet Parish Councillors (see DPC website statement naming nine DPC Councillors) and then improperly made to the Charity Commission website in April 2025 have been reversed. The previous administrator has been replaced and the DRCCT pages on the Charity Commission website are now secure.
The Trustees of the DRCCT have continued to manage the Datchet Hall without interruption – including the employee, payroll, bookings, access, income/expenditure and the bank accounts – as they have done since 2019.
The correct DRCCT Trustees names are recorded on the Charity Commission website here.
As Trustees – we are legally obliged and have an overriding and personal duty to protect and serve the best interests of the charity. Furthermore it is important for us to resist attempts to assert control over charity assets or operations in ways that may not align with the charity’s original purposes or best interests.
The DRCCT and the DPC are two separate bodies. DRCCT income is derived from property rentals and Hall bookings – in contrast to DPC income from the Parish precept and property rentals.
THE 2024/25 ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS
The 2024/25 Annual Report and Accounts have been delayed due to circumstances beyond our control. The documents are now being prepared and will be revealed to DPC when complete, as they were in previous years.
The Annual Report and Accounts will then be submitted to the Charity Commission for publication. I expect the 2024/25 report notes on the 2024/25 post-year end events to make interesting reading.
The Trustees of the Datchet Recreation Centre Charity Trust (DRCCT) No 252303 are happy to report that the Trustee names and contact details on the Charity Commission website have now been corrected.
The correct DRCCT Trustees names are recorded on the Charity Commission website here.
The correct DRCCT address and contact details are recorded on the Charity Commission website here.
The 2024/25 Annual Report and Accounts are being prepared and will be presented to Datchet Parish Council prior to filing with the Charity Commission.
Previous Annual Reports can be downloaded from here (The 2020 report was late due to Covid)
THE 2024/25 ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS
The 2024/25 Annual Report and Accounts have been delayed due to circumstances beyond our control. The documents are now being prepared and will be revealed to DPC when complete, as they were in previous years.
The Annual Report and Accounts will then be submitted to the Charity Commission for publication. I expect the 2024/25 report notes on the 2024/25 post-year end events to make interesting reading.
BACKGROUND AND FURTHER EXPLANATION.
The Datchet Recreation Centre Charity Trust (DRCCT) No. 252303 manages land and buildings in Datchet that were placed in Trust over 50 years ago for the benefit of the community. Over those years, the Trustees have changed and the responsibilities have been passed on. Trustees can serve indefinitely but changes happen and are normally accomplished by mutual agreement followed by transfer of the documentation.
For many years until April 2025 the arrangements between the DRCCT and the DPC were based on a detailed and mutually agreed document called the the Division of Responsibilities.
The situation changed 14th April 2025 when nine members of Datchet Parish Council (DPC) voted (at a meeting in Windsor) to take control of the of the DRCCT and the significant assets i.e. the land and buildings. There was no debate with the Trustees. DPC simply asserted that the DPC is the Custodian Trustee of the DRCCT.
On 15th April 2025, Datchet Parish Council released a Public Statement Dated 15.04.05 listing the nine DPC Members that voted for the action.
This DPC claim is demonstrably both groundless and unsubstantiated. The current DRCCT trustees were duly appointed by mutual agreement and consent in April 2019. It should be noted that this was some time before the majority of the current DPC members were elected or co-opted to DPC.
[The supporting documents dated April 2019 have been supplied to DPC vis their Solicitors]
After the Clerk made changes to the Charity Commission website, it has taken five months (until September 2025) for the DRCCT trustees to regain control of their own details on the Charity Commission web pages.
THE PRINCIPLE
I am sure that you will agree that a charity should not have to use charity funds to defend itself from an uninvited, indeed hostile takeover bid by their own local Parish Council using parish money.
SOME DETAILS OF THE DPC AND DRCCT ACTIONS:
In April 2025 it appears that a number of Datchet Parish Councillors (as identified below) attempted to seize control of the DRCCT.
A meeting in Windsor was apparently called by the Chairman of Datchet Parish Council (Cllr David Buckley).
Cllr David Buckley – Chairman of Datchet Parish Council – published a ‘Notice of Meeting‘ in Windsor for Monday 14th April 2025 (Please note that although the Dropbox link works – the report from the Clerk has been removed for reasons unknown).
[The missing Dropbox document(s) (i.e. the Report from the Clerk) will be inserted here if they become available. The Clerk has been requested to supply the document(s)]
The attendees of that meeting agreed a number of actions as follows:
On 15th April 2025, Datchet Parish Council released a Public Statement Dated 15.04.05 listing the nine DPC Members that voted for the action as follows:
Chairman David Buckley,
Lead for Properties – Darren Sanders,
Lead for Cemetery – Caroline Wise,
Lead for Events – Andrew Clemins, [sic]
Cllr Glover,
Cllr Young,
Cllr Bacon,
Cllr Loveridge
and Cllr Whelan
The Public Statement then resulted in the Slough Observer article dated 24 April 2025.
There is also a statement on the Datchet Parish Council website as copied below:
Datchet Parish Council Takes Action to Ensure Proper Governance of the Datchet Recreation Centre Charitable Trust (DRCCT) and Safeguard Staff Welfare.
Datchet Parish Council (DPC), in its legal capacity as the sole managing trustee of the Datchet Recreation Centre Charitable Trust (DRCCT), has taken the necessary and considered decision to
dissolve the current DRCCT Committee. This action has been taken with the paramount objective of ensuring the proper governance of the charity and, crucially, to safeguard the welfare of Datchet Parish Council staff.
This difficult decision to dissolve the current DRCCT Committee has been necessitated by serious concerns regarding the behaviour of certain individuals within the former committee,
which has had a detrimental impact on Datchet Parish Council staff. The DPC has a fundamental duty of care to its employees and is committed to ensuring a safe and respectful working
environment. An investigation by the DPC’s staffing committee upheld a complaint of bullying and harassment against a member of the DRCCT Committee (Monica Davies) arising from their
communications with a DPC staff member. Furthermore, there have been other instances of concerning behaviour towards DPC staff by two members of the DRCCT Committee (Monica Davies and Ewan Larcombe), creating an unacceptable and intimidating environment.
“We have a fundamental duty of care to ensure a safe and respectful working environment for everyone, and we will take firm action to protect them from any form of bullying or abusive behaviour, regardless of its origin” – David Buckley DPC Chairman.
Given its legal responsibility as the sole managing trustee, Datchet Parish Council must take all necessary steps to protect its staff and ensure the effective governance of the DRCCT in accordance with its objectives. Consequently, the Council has had to dissolve the current DRCCT Committee.
The DPC will now move swiftly to establish a new DRCCT Committee comprised of individuals committed to the charity’s aims and able to work collaboratively and respectfully. This new
committee will operate under the understanding that the Datchet Parish Council is the sole trustee and will maintain the independence and status of the DRCCT as a charity serving the
community of Datchet.
We expect that the outgoing members of the DRCCT Committee will act in the best interests of the charity, the community, and the village by ensuring a smooth and efficient handover of all
relevant information, documentation and administration processes to the newly formed committee. This cooperation is vital to ensure a seamless transition and no disruption to the running of the Village Hall and other buildings within the complex, which provide important services and facilities for the residents of Datchet.
Background
The Datchet Recreation Centre Charitable Trust was established in 1967 and it purchased the land known as the Sabatini Land with the aim of promoting the social, moral, and physical wellbeing of the people resident in the village of Datchet and the surrounding district. The Sabatini Land is legally owned by the DRCCT, and whatever is on the land belongs to the charity, including the Village Hall complex.
Comments
Ian Bacon who is the new interim Chairman of the DRCCT Management Committee said – “It is a privilege to step in as Interim Chairman during this transition, and my immediate focus will be
on ensuring the smooth running of the Village Hall and its facilities for the benefit of the entire Datchet community.”
DPC Chairman David Buckley said – “Datchet Parish Council remains committed to the objectives of the Datchet Recreation Centre Charitable Trust and to ensuring that the Sabatini
Land and its facilities continue to benefit the community for which they were intended.”
These are the DPC members that voted for this action – Chairman David Buckley, Lead for Properties – Darren Sanders, Lead for Cemetery – Caroline Wise, Lead for Events – Andrew
Clemins, Cllr Glover, Cllr Young, Cllr Bacon, Cllr Loveridge and Cllr Whelan.
The statement can be found here
The Clerk accessed and made (possibly improper) changes to the Charity Commission website. The Charity Commission informed me of the Clerks actions by email as follows:
Dear Ewan Larcombe,
Charity name : DATCHET RECREATION CENTRE CHARITABLE TRUST Charity number : 252303
We are writing to you as one of the charity’s trustees to let you know that Sonia Masikito has been given user administrator permission for your charity.
You can contact Sonia at sonia.masikito@datchetparishcouncil.gov.uk for any user access needs on My Charity Commission Account.
The DRCCT Trustees (now apparently both removed from their positions and locked out of the Charity Commission website by Sonia Masikito) received an email sent by the Clerk and dated 15-4-2025. (Please note that the Clerk cannot even get the name of the Charity correct!)
The email states: the current interim Management Committee has been elected as follows, and their contact email addresses are:
· Chairman of Management Committee: Ian Bacon – ian.drcct@gmail.com ·
Vice Chair: Steevan Glover Steevanglover@gmail.com ·
Treasurer: Susan Young – susiewoosy1962@btinternet.com ·
Booking Coordinator: Andrew Clemens – andrewdrcct@gmail.com
The last sentence in this email refers to Charity Commission changes. These changes were made by Sonia Masikito – Clerk to Datchet Parish Council.
The DRCCT trustees then received a 2nd letter (dated 12th May 2025) from Sonia Masikito. This letter accused the Trustees [appointed in 2019] of ‘obstructing the lawful management of the charity’.
The DRCCT sent a legal letter to DPC identifying the issues and dated 12 May 2025.
[document to be inserted here]
The DPC [on DPC headed paper] responded by means of a legal letter to the DRCCT dated 20 May 2025 stating that they acknowledged receipt of the letter dated 12 May 2025 and were in the process of obtaining legal advice in relation to the matters raised.
[document to be inserted here]
[documents to be inserted here]
To Clerk 30/9/2025 – Please confirm firstly that you have received the DRCCT Trustee transfer documents dated 2019 from the Solicitors and secondly that you have now circulated those documents to all Datchet Parish Councillors.
DOCUMENT – Division of responsibilities between the DRCCT and the Datchet Parish Council
LINKS TO PREVIOUS POSTS:
Datchet Parish Councillors continue in their attempt to hijack a local charity (posted on June 1, 2025) here
DPC and DRCCT – progress report (posted on May 30, 2025) here
Nine Datchet Parish Councillors named in failed attempt to hijack local Charity assets (re-posted on May 15, 2025) here
The web site ‘Understanding Charitable Trusts’ – helping residents to understand the legal framework governing charitable trusts and how this applies to our community assets.
The Datchet Village Hall web site.
THE UNANSWERED QUESTIONS:
Some questions have now been answered but there are a few outstanding.
- Who was the ‘controlling mind’ for this failed mission?
- Who wrote the ‘Public Statement’ dated 15/4/2025
- Who approved the ‘Public Statement’ dated 15/4/2025
- Who passed the ‘Public Statement’ to the Press?
- Who is going to apologise for the Press article ?
- Who organised the 15/4/2025 raid on the Village Hall?
- Who told the Hall Manager that they were now in charge?
- Who demanded access to the Village Hall?
- Who demanded that the Hall booking takings be handed over to the ‘new management’?
- Who organised the locksmith to change the locks?
- Who paid the locksmith?
- Who is paying the legal costs of this fiasco?
- Have the legal costs been approved?
- Who will accept responsibility?
- Can the DRCCT Trustees expect an apology?
END
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