Spring has sprung and we are looking forward to exciting times for the charity.
Throughout a rather wet Devon winter, I took time to contemplate what success into the future would look like for The Trust that has grown from a small UK charity with limited resources and a small board comprising solely of Brooke family members to a charity now supporting a range of activities including the sponsorship and sharing of artefacts for exhibition at two museums in Sarawak and operating the historic Burrator Estate, former home of the first Rajah of Sarawak, with four independent Trustees now forming the board. We could never have imagined the hardship that the pandemic years of 2020 to 2022 brought to so many communities around the world, and even now, many of us are still recovering from the impact of those 'lost' years.
In spite of this, the charity continues to have a clear focus and direction to furthering its aims to inform, enrich and inspire the public about the Raj history including continuing its work to provide public access to the Burrator Estate in the UK, once home to Rajah James Brooke, near the Grade-II listed tombs where all the Rajahs are buried.
To ensure the right level of focus on projects that advance the charity's aims, including access to and public exhibition of Brooke-era papers and artefacts across the globe, I am pleased to announce that May Trimmer, long term volunteer of the charity, will now chair the charity's board, as I move on to focus on the strategic oversight of the activities for Brooke Museums, a Sarawakian not-for-profit in Kuching, Sarawak.
