Background & history of the trust
John Neil Bairdwatson was, until his death, the managing director of Caldervale Engineering Services, based in Airdrie, a business which had been established by his late father and which Mr Bairdwatson had been involved with most of his adult life. He had many long serving employees and he wished to protect their employment in the event of his death.
From this initial motive, and Mr Bairdwatson’s long standing commitment to manufacturing employment, he developed the idea of establishing a Charitable Trust, to which he would leave his shares in the business and which would place particular emphasis on encouraging education and employment.
Mr Bairdwatson had links with both Airdrie and Ayr in Scotland and with West Bengal in India and he wished the Trustees to have particular regard to the needs of the communities in those areas.
Unfortunately, Mr Bairdwatson died before the Trust could be established, but his widow, Mrs Philomena Bairdwatson, established the Trust after his death, in the terms envisaged by her late husband. The first grants were made in 2011.
