Jeremy Burrows

Inverclyde Now

A Trust set up by a businessman from Greenock is donating £100,000 so that people in Inverclyde can go on life-changing courses with pioneering organization Columba 1400.

The donation was announced at an event this week promoting the work of Columba 1400. The money comes from the Badenoch Trust which was established by London businessman Malcolm Offord, who was born and educated in Greenock and works with Charterhouse in the City of London, and his wife Libet.

It will allow people from schools and community groups in Inverclyde to benefit from the unique Columba 1400 experience on the Isle of Skye.

Malcolm also invited all interested parties in Inverclyde including private individuals, businesses and the local authority to match fund his donation in order to make available more opportunities for the people of Inverclyde.

Columba 1400 was founded by Greenockian Norman Drummond and describes its core mission as being to realise the leadership potential of young people who have been through tough times. It is a highly-regarded community and international leadership centre which has a strong track record of enabling young people to find their way into work and College.

Former drug addicts from Inverclyde who have been on Columba courses through Inverclyde Community Drug Team spoke at the event at Notre Dame High School, Greenock, earlier this week, about how they had been helped to cope with life after drugs.

Paul Kelly spent several years getting help from the local drug team and has been drug-free for five years. He told guests that he when he was offered a place on a course, he assumed Columba 1400 must be some kind of “American self-improvement brainwashing exercise” but added: “it was a chance to go to Skye ; who’s going to pass on that?”  

He continued: “I was greeted with open love, respect and admiration, genuinely from their heart. Now every morning I am grateful that I am alive and able to appreciate and enjoy all this.” He hopes to mentor young people so that they can avoid the problems he had.

Martin Graham from Greenock said people at the course treated him like he was “starting with a clean slate.” He added: “Now I have the tools to deal with things.”  He added that it has given hope to those in the drug community who see how people can change.

Community drug team development worker Joe Donnelly said: “Columba takes people on a really good journey and helps them identify the skills they have.”

Norman Drummond, founder and chairman of Columba 1400, described how 32 years ago he started work at Neill Clerk and Murray solicitors in West Blackhall Street, Greenock, having read law at Cambridge. It was after dealing with a two-hour divorce precognition that he realized he was not going to be the “smart Edinburgh lawyer” his mother was hoping for. He explained: “I wanted to be at the point of need rather than repair.”

He decided to become a minister, initially worked with young people from city estates taking them on expeditions to the countryside. Norman said: “The doors of opportunity had been slammed shut on them by the system. There was lack of self esteem -- no one had ever believed in them.”

He became an army chaplain and again saw young people being changed by their experiences too. He was later head master of Loretto School, Musselburgh for 12 years.

While parish minister on Skye he started fund-raising in1997 for Columba 1400 with a target of £1m. The appeal raised £1.8m and the first centre was built at Staffin, with a £1.2m extension since opened and another centre planned for Loch Lomond in 2009