Dr Isabel Bruce, (centre), Chairperson of DLT on Tues 4th July 2017
David Livingstone Trust – (DLT) is the charitable organisation that runs David Livingstone Centre. On Saturday 1st November 1930, a newspaper report mentioned that a joint stock company registered at Edinburgh on Friday 31st October 1930 was to be entrusted promote a national memorial to David Livingstone, tbe explorer.
The company was designated as the ‘Scottish National Memorial to David Livingstone Trust, Ltd.’ It had limited guarantee, not having a share capital, and was to acquire the Shuttle Row tenements in Blantyre, Lanarkshire, containing the house in which David Livingstone, the missionary and explorer, was born or had his home in childhood. Also to be acquired was the adjacent heritable property, comprising a house and grounds known Blantyre Lodge, and to hold, manage, and administer these properties Scottish National Memorial to David Livingstone. There initially were 25 elected governors. The building has undergone several renovations during the 20th Century including becoming listed. In June 1978, Mr. George Green retired as Chairperson after 7 years in the position, but he had held an office there for 25 years. During his chairmanship, the David Livingstone Centre had seen extensive modernisations and renovations.
The trust is now in charge of around 3,000 items in the David Livingstone collection. DLT is charged through its constitutional documents with keeping alive the name and memory of David Livingstone at the site of his birth by making it available to the public, and providing an interesting, educational and enjoyable cultural experience.
The founding purpose of David Livingstone’s Birthplace was ‘to keep forever fresh in the generous heart of youth the name and the story of David Livingstone and to make his humble birthplace a place of inspiration’ – a purpose that still holds strong today as the Centre continue sto be the foremost place in the world where people can learn about and be inspired by Livingstone’s extraordinary life and legacy.
On Tuesday 4th July 2017, at 10am, an announcement was made to the general public, where £6m of funding had been secured for renovating the David Livingstone Centre. The vision was clear. David Livingstone’s Birthplace will be a space for encounters between people, places, epochs and ideas. It will be a dynamic visitor experience where people can learn about and be inspired by Livingstone’s story, his childhood home and our collection. Today DLT continues Livingstone’s mission by enabling people from Scotland, Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond to engage in intercultural dialogue and participate in the world as active global citizens. Following the departure of National Trust in March 2017, after managing the centre for 17 years, the David Livingstone Trust, having taken over the management of the centre again, launched a new website in July 2017. https://www.david-livingstone-trust.org. The Executive Committee of David Livingstone Centre Trust is currently Dr Isabel Bruce (chairperson), David Brown (Treasurer), Andrew Smith (Company Secretary), Alistair Firth (Accountant), Ian Livingstone, Douglas Hay, Stuart Frame and Prof Sir Kenneth Calman. Around 24 Governors also attend to governance.
From “Blantyre Explained” by Paul Veverka (c) 2017
Featuring Blantyre Project Social Media with permission. Strictly not for use by others on or offline, our visitors said,
Elspeth Mcgregor Thanks for that. I spent my childhood at the Memorial. With packed lunch and drink we made off for the day to play in the playground and when it rained we went into David Livingstone’s house to keep dry.