About Us

• A Brief History
• Aims & Objectives
• Trustee Information
• Organisational Structure
• Chief Executive - David Warner
• Vision, Mission and Values

National Animal Welfare Trust - A brief history

National Animal Welfare Trust (NAWT) was founded in 1971 as an independent charity, and was originally known as Animal Welfare Trust (the word national was added in 1996 as part of our 25th Anniversary celebrations).

The roots of the organisation can be traced back to 1958, when the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) established BUVA Dog Rescue. The initiative to establish BUAV Dog Rescue was to stop dogs and puppies being bought at markets as a way of preventing them going to laboratories for vivisection. In 1965 the name was changed to BUAV Animal Aid, in recognition that all sorts of animals were being saved from vivisection.

In 1971 BUAV members felt that the work of BUAV Animal Aid was departing from its aims, and it was agreed to establish a separate charity to be known as Animal Welfare Trust (AWT). AWT remained under the auspices of BUAV, along with the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research, until 1979, when both organisations started to work from the Hendon & Aldenham Boarding Kennels - run by our then Chairman Mr Sidney Hicks - sharing facilities and staff. The Dr Hadwen Trust is now completely separate from NAWT, although both organisations remain close, share members and work together as appropriate.

NAWT finally purchased the Hendon & Aldenham Boarding Kennels in 1981, and the first NAWT Rescue and Re-homing centre was established. Prior to this most of our rescue and re-homing work had been undertaken using volunteers and through renting space in commercial boarding kennels and catteries.

In 1986 AWT purchased an adjoining field to our Watford Centre, which enabled us to improve the facilities for our large animals, and establish more exercise paddocks for the 120+ dogs housed on site.

NAWT acquired its second centre, Heaven's Gate Farm in Somerset in the early 1990s, and purchased our third centre - Trindledown Farm in Berkshire - in the late 1990s. Trindledown was purchased to enable us to develop the first purpose built animal retirement home in the country, and was finally opened and fully operational in 2002.

Our centre in Cornwall came about as a result of the inspiring work of Molly Wyatt. Molly worked hard over many years to provide a rescue and re-homing service in Cornwall, and shortly before her death in 1996 she asked if NAWT would be willing to carry on her work. The trust readily agreed, and in 1997, we took over financial and organisational responsibility for the work in Cornwall.

Our re-homing work in Thurrock is carried out by our local Essex branch, and operates out of rented boarding kennels.

Over the years NAWT has had active supporters groups across the country. Whilst the numbers have waxed and waned, the focus of these groups has been on undertaking local animal rescue and welfare work, and on fundraising to support the work of the Trust, either by being associated with a particular centre, or by making a more general contribution to our work.

Currently we have supporters groups in Cornwall, Somerset, Surrey, Berkshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Tameside.

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Aims & Objectives

The Aims and Objectives of the charity are:

• the provision of care and shelter for stray, neglected and unwanted animals of all kinds,
  
• the protection of animals of all kinds from ill-usage, cruelty and suffering,
  
• and in particular, to rescue and provide care and shelter for stray, neglected and unwanted animals of all kinds and find suitable homes for any such animals.

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Trustee Information

As a charity the work of the Trust is governed by a Board of Trustees, who volunteer their time and expertise to guide the development of the charity, and to support the work of the Chief Executive and staff.

Our current trustees are:

Nicholas Walters MA (Chairman) - Nick is a retired charity executive and has been a trustee since 2001 and was appointed Chairman in 2004.

Jan Barlow BA, MA, MSc. (Deputy Chairperson) - Jan has been a trustee since 2005 and is the Chief Executive of Battersea Cats & Dogs Home. Jan is a member of the Trust's Human Resources and Animal Welfare sub-committees.

Heather Lamont MA (Hons), MBA, ACA (Honorary Treasurer) - Heather has been a trustee since 2005 and recently joined the Investment Management team at CCLA, having previously been Charities Director at HSBC Investments. Heather is a member of the Finance, Fundraising & Investment and Development & Estates sub-committees.

Di Brown - Di has been a trustee since 2001 and is a longer-term supporter of our work. Di is retired but works part-time in a local veterinary practice. Di is Chairman of the Trust's Animal Welfare sub-committee, and is also a member of the Human Resources sub-committee.

Nigel Holland BA (Hons), ACMA - Nigel joined the trustees in 2005, although he and his wife Andrea have been long term supporters of the Trust and are very actively involved in our Surrey branch. Nigel is an Accountant and sits on the Finance, Fundraising & Investments and Development & Estates sub-committees.

Laura Magee BEng (Hons) - Laura is a Project Manager working in the construction industry. Laura joined the trustees in 2005 and is Chairman of the Development & Estates sub-committee.

Joe Thomas - Joe is a qualified Chartered Accountant, currently working in a commercial (non-finance) role in industry.  He has recently joined the board (Jan 2008) and is a member of our Finance, Fundraising and Investments committee.  He has been a trustee and treasurer of a music disability charity Drake Music Project for 3 years.

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Organisational Structure

The Trustee body meets quarterly, and is responsible for agreeing and reviewing the overall strategy of the Trust, reviewing and approving policies, agreeing the budget and approving the annual accounts, ensuring that there are effective governance arrangements, establishing delegated authorities and management frameworks, and monitoring overall operational performance. Detailed scrutiny is delegated to sub-committees of the Trust, and these comprise: Finance, Fundraising & Investment; Human Resources; Animal Welfare; and Development & Estates.

Day-to-day management of the Trust is delegated to the Chief Executive who leads a management team consisting of: Veterinary Director, Operations Director, Financial Controller, Human Resources Manager, Administration Manager and Centre Managers.

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Chief Executive - David Warner

David started as the Chief Executive in January 2004. David has over 20 years experience of working in charities and, amongst his previous roles, were 5 years as Chief Executive of a major London homelessness charity and 5 years working as a consultant and advisor to a range of charities. David's first involvement with the Trust came when he and his partner re-homed a 13 week old cross-breed puppy called Truffle!, about a year later they were joined by Misti, a cross-breed stray from Wales.

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Vision, Mission and Values

Our Vision

We are working towards a future where no animal is refused help.  Where every animal entering our care is found a suitable and loving home and whilst in our care all animals are looked after in line with our values.

Our Mission

Our Mission is to be one of the leading animal welfare and re-homing charities for the care and rehabilitation of animals.

Our Values

The fundamental principle of our approach to animal welfare is that no healthy animal will be destroyed.

Our non-destruction principle is underpinned by our wish to ensure that the needs of the animals we care for (as required by the Animal Welfare Act 2006) are fully met.  These needs are:

• its need for a suitable environment,
• its need for a suitable diet,
• its need to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns,
• any needs it has to be housed with, or apart from, other animals, and
• its need to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease.

Going beyond our statutory responsibilities, the Trust has developed a further set of Values that we aspire to. The challenge is in ensuring these are a consistent feature of the work that we do, in both caring for animals and in our relationships with the public who benefit from our work, and provide the resources needed to fulfil our Mission.

The National Animal Welfare Trust will be:

• Transparent and accountable - the Trust will strive to work in a way that is transparent and accountable to supporters, donors, beneficiaries and other stakeholders;
• Respectful - the Trust will treat all animals and humans with respect and dignity;
• Responsible – the Trust will promote responsible pet ownership and animal welfare, and has an expectation that the public who support our work by re-homing an animal will take proper responsibility for caring for that animal for the rest of its life.

• Provides Value for Money - the Trust will ensure that every penny donated to us will be spent wisely and effectively;
• Is aspirational – the Trust will aspire to achieving best practice in all areas of its work;
• Attracts and retains high quality and committed staff and volunteers;
• Is compliant with the wide range of statutory responsibilities that control our work.

Postscript

In developing our Vision, Mission and Values the trust choose not to define the word animal. The prime focus of our work is small domestic animals, but that there may be occasions when it is appropriate for us to take in another type of animal. This would then be decided on a case-by-case basis.

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