Chaps,

Here is a summary of the responses I have had to the "Liobians Robbery" message. These are not my views, they are yours.

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1. The funds should be set aside to support a proper historical/heritage project about the school, and to maintain the papers held by various teachers and boys.

2. The funds should be transferred to a properly constituted Liobians Society as reserves for the sponsorship of Scholarships for talented but disadvantaged boys in the City schools … the Liobians Foundation Scholarship

3. The funds should be added to the Margaret Bryce - (does it still exist   ?   ).

4. The funds should be used to preserve records held by Stuart Christie and the Education Department.

5. A fairer way would be to share the money amongst the poorer schools.

6. We should get a lawyer Liobian to examine the Trust Deed, and tell us what the options are. Maybe we Internet Liobians should put in a few bob to support a friendly lawyer.

7. Raise awareness via the Echo (cc: the broadsheets) and Radio Merseyside and the Mersey WWW site. This would be in the form of a letter signed by all agreeing parties registered with you (me).

8. Peter Bounds must defer any decision until independent council can be appointed. Then we need to get our mits on the fund's terms of reference and make reasonable counter-proposals.

9. One thing's for sure Shorefields should NOT get the funds simply by changing their name - this is devious; the Liverpool Institute lives on in LIPA.

10. Unless Shorefields has changed dramatically since I was last in the pool I would liken it to cutting up 50 quid notes and shoving it down the plug-hole.

11. The fund is doing nothing lying idle and if someone can use it, then fingers crossed, they put it to good use.

12. Thieving T**Ts, they couldn't support the school (education Committee) but now it's gone they can steal the money accrued as a result of selling off it's heritage.

13. Surely this money should be used to preserve the school for what it was, not for the name to be stolen by a second rate comprehensive. It wouldn't be so bad if they were rescuing the name so it could "live" on, not as a marriage of convenience to grab hold of the Innys dowry.

14. The institute is a part of the Education history of Liverpool, it should be remembered as such, use this cash to commemorate the school in some way, museum display or such like, buy back some of the artefacts that were sold of and display, possibly in the LIPA so they can be back home.

15. Bluecoat has just had a massive windfall from a combination of lottery cash and European slush fund handout, to restore the school how things have changed, the education committee tried to close it down with the Institute !!!

16. Maybe we should consider a complete restart … a new PRIVATE school with similar ideals and traditions, and associate it with the Anglican Cathedral … a new Liverpool Institute Cathedral School.

17. I too read it in the Echo. Have some sympathy - I lived in St Silas St off High Park St. If I'd not gone to the Institute I'd have gone to Dingle Vale - which became Shorefields!

18. If it doesn't get used what will happen to the money  ?   (A liobians booze up would be out of the question I suppose  ?   )

19. Rather than pour these funds into another school, might it not be a good idea to suggest some scholarships to needy and worthy students to complete their 6th form education at a Lpool school or college  ?   Just a thought. It would ensure survival of the name and a Margaret Bryce Smith type annual competition.

20. This is a bit steep, isn't it - is the Headmaster of the Shorefields School a Liobian to have such a devious mind  ?   How did it come to light  ?   Why can't the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts use the trust to support worthy students - even overseas students, like Australians  ?   - it is, after all, the lineal descendant of the Inny. What are the terms of the trust  ?   And what is LIPA doing about it  ?  

21. I wonder if we've stumbled onto a means of accumulating wealth - how about we constitute ourselves as a catch-all charity and set about claiming the residues of all the apparently defunct trusts  ?   If you decide to go ahead I demand a percentage! (No, this was not MY idea, but it has some attraction.)

22. Let's declare a dividend ! After initial shock and amazement, my post-reaction re-action is to muse that (further to your initial Liobians home-page estimate of there being perhaps 7000 old boys in circulation) the trust amounts to about 100 pounds sterling per old boy! (100lb/ob) : )

23. Never before having heard of the existence of the Liverpool Institute Educational Foundation, and finding that it is, to quote Anne Benson, "forgotten", one has to ponder exactly for what charitable intent the foundation was created. Its name seems to imply that its initial purpose, perhaps, was for the income from the trust to be disbursed, by the trustee, in the form of scholarships, bursaries or grants, etc. to deserving little wretches. With only Peter Bounds of the Liverpool City Council as "unavailable" contact, it begs such questions as: who is the trustee today  ?   Are the intentions for the trust still valid and are they being carried out  ?   If not, why not  ?   to whom does/did the trustee answer  ?   who is looking after the investments in the trust  ?   etc, etc. Notably, how and why did it become "forgotten"  ?  

24. It is difficult to argue that the trust should be condemned to sit there dormantly, eternally gathering both income and moss, it should therefore be allowed to be put to some honourable use, as Clein says, "as close to the original purpose as possible".

25. If, John, you discern that there is a (Liobian's) concensus opinion, one way or the other, we could perhaps voice our opinion to the Charity Commission and/or to Peter Bounds at L.C.C., either individually or as one voice. (They probably will not listen, anyway!)

26. I am curious as to who was the original owner/buyer/donor of the works of art (at the Institute and Blackburne House) which were sold in 1991 with proceeds to the trust, and what financial assets were used to create the trust in 1985  ?   Love to get my hands on the documentation, wouldn't you  ?  

27. Surely there are sufficient interested Liobians in the world to see that money of this nature is put to good use  ?   Have you been able to get a copy to Sir Paul McCartney  ?   I've an idea he might be able to put some pressure in the right places.

28. Is there anyone to whom we can write to try to head off this naked and unscrupulous cashgrab, and to see if anything better can be done with the funds.

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Okay … there are some fairly consistent messages I can see here …

• · The money should be put to good use, not left idle
• · The identity of the school should not be lost
• · We should get a lawyer/accountant to look at the balance sheet and trust deed and advise on the options
• · We should do something about it in terms of making some representation as Liobians.
• · We should get the decision process put on hold while we muster our resources and get organised.

That is my assessment of what you have been saying.

If we are going to do something here, I am too far away from the action in Australia. I can help with using this Liobians Site as a publicity driver.

John Snelson
Turramurra, 2005