Archive of the Community Projects Charitable Trust

Deeds, correspondence and reports

The Community Projects Charitable Trust was set up in 1974 by former civil servant Sir Arthur Drew (1912-1993). The original trustees were General Sir John Hackett and sociologist Richard Hauser. Hackett acted as Chairman and Drew and Hauser as Directors. The Trust aimed to raise funds to benefit the people of Northern Ireland by providing charitable social services, advancing education in welfare matters and encouraging voluntary work and research, as outlined in Hauser's 1975 report A Social Option . A later statement of purpose (Aide-memoire March 1976) read, "to provide the training and technical skills to help people in both communities in Northern Ireland build a constructive peace". The Trust was based in London (Nansen House, 64 Millbank); much of the day to day running seems to have been carried out by Father Raymond Helmick, a Jesuit priest from the USA. The Trust was supported financially by the Wates Foundation and by Catholic and Protestant churches in Germany. The project employed several community workers in Northern Ireland. From 1976 it appears that funding for the project was discontinued and it was gradually wound up. Following Sir Arthur's death in 1993, Community Projects was closed down and the funds transferred to Women Caring Trust, a cross-community women's project in Northern Ireland.

The original order has been retained where this could be ascertained.

Access to archive material is subject to preservation requirements and must also conform to the restrictions of the Data Protection Act and any other appropriate legislation. Most sections of this archive contain personal data on individuals and access is therefore restricted under the Act. More detailed cataloguing may make it possible to refine this restriction. Researchers should contact the Special Collections Librarian for information about the status of the material they wish to view. This collection has been catalogued at a very basic level in order to publicise it. Further cataloguing may be required to enable detailed access. Prospective users should therefore contact the service well in advance of their visit.

Donated by Mrs Harriet Bretherton, daughter of Sir Arthur Drew, to Commonweal Library in 1996.

A basic box list has been produced. This will be further refined and elaborated in response to user demand.

Described by Alison Cullingford, February 2013, using ISAD(G)2 rules.

Copies may be supplied or produced at the discretion of Special Collections staff, subject to copyright law and the condition of the originals. Applications for permission to make published use of any material should be directed to the Special Collections Librarian in the first instance. The Library will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

Much of the deposit consisted of transient financial records, which have been weeded in the initial sorting. More detailed cataloguing is likely to reveal further scope for weeding.