Who we are
The Uphill Trust is a small Scottish charity founded in January 2015 to support the development of Uphill Junior School. The Chairman of The Uphill Trust, Niall “Max” Macdonald, got to know the founders of the school whilst rediscovering his roots in the west of Uganda (his father had served with the Ugandan Police before Independence).
Where is Uphill Junior School?
Max visited the nascent school in October 2013 and was inspired by the children he met there and by the vision of the School Director and the struggle that he faced developing an educational facility on a small unimproved plot of rented land with very little funding. He resolved to do “something”, thinking initially that he might be able to find enough money to provide corrugated iron sheets for the roofless classrooms. Personal donations were made by members of the Macdonald family following this visit and a roof duly appeared.
Read about Max’s fortuitous encounter with Ugandan law enforcement
By the time Max took his wife Belinda to visit the school in October 2014, both regular and lump sum contributions were being made by family members, well-wishers and community groups in the UK to provide a water collection tank and equipment for the school. At this point the decision was made to set up The Uphill Trust which allowed us to formalise and extend the fundraising needed to help this excellent little school deliver reliable, high quality education to the children in this remote rural location.
Mission Statements for the Trust and the School
Uphill Trustees: N R L Macdonald, B L Macdonald, H E S Laird, S A Macdonald, C J Macdonald; co-opted Committee Member, A I Smith