Furore over flower funds

A long-time visitor is demanding to know why donations sent through the Barbados National Trust (BNT) for the upkeep of one of the island’s natural wonders were never handed over to those managing it.

British national Andrew Glover tells Barbados TODAY that in March 2019, he donated around BDS $1,200 to assist the upkeep of Andromeda Botanical Gardens at Bathsheba in St Joseph.

More than a year later, the frustrated donor is still being denied an explanation about why the funds were not transferred to Passiflora Limited – the company which manages the gardens.

While President of the BNT Peter Stevens confirmed that the money was not handed over, he denies this is due to a raging dispute with Passiflora.

But Glover, a British businessman fears his donation attempt has been caught in the middle.

The 53-year-old who has made 15 trips to Barbados since 2001, is particularly fond of the “charm, serenity and beauty” of Andromeda despite its “ups and downs” over the years.

Impressed with a noticeable improvement in its maintenance under the stewardship of Sharon Cooke, Glover decided to make a donation through the International National Trust Organisation (INTO), which transferred it to their member organisation – the BNT. It was then to be disbursed to Andromeda Gardens.

“I now regret this decision,” said Glover, after revealing that his donation had never arrived.

“I chased INTO and the BNT in November and promises were made – but up to now, nothing. INTO phoned me to explain some of the issues and I explained that the BNT should either pay the money over or return the funds to me. Again, total silence. No email. No call,” he added.

When asked to elaborate on the “issues” identified by INTO, Glover was informed of a legal battle between the management of Andromeda and the BNT.

“The two seem to have fallen out. I don’t know the details. I don’t really care. But there is obviously a problem between those two parties and therefore I think there is a reluctance from the national trust to just hand over some money to them. I can accept that, but I want this donation to support the gardens based on specific purchases which  we agreed on,” Glover complained.

When asked to account for the missing funds, BNT president Peter Stevens gave the assurance that the money had not been spent. He however noted that the sum could not be disbursed to Andromeda because the terms specified by Glover “did not comply” with how such donations are to be administered.

“Just because people donate money to the trust, they cannot expect us to do things that are not appropriate,” said the president, who declined to say what about Glover’s request was inappropriate.

Since then, Stevens said the national trust offered to refund the donation and claims that Glover refused. Glover however denies this and said he would be quite happy to have his money returned.

Stevens also declined to comment on the ongoing legal matter for fear of affecting the ongoing proceedings.

He however stressed that the donation saga involving Glover is not related to the legal battle between Andromeda and the BNT.

Late last year, Sharon Cooke, the manager at Andromeda complained that the six-acre property was suffering from a massive fall off in visitors which she believed to be part of a conspiracy to drive people away.

In her latest discussion with Barbados TODAY, Cooke confirmed the donation challenges but declined to comment further on the ongoing battle.

Her attorney, Lalu Hanuman however explained that alleged “contract breaches” by BNT surround a disagreement over the level of rent.

“There is a clause in the contract which stipulates that at the time of contract renewal, the economic viability of the garden is to be taken into consideration in determining a new rent. But right now the parties are at two different ends of the spectrum. The trust wants an increase in rent and my client wants a decrease in rent,” Hanuman explained.

“My client is also saying that there were numerous disrepair issues that weren’t dealt with including leaking pipes which caused my client to incur tremendous costs in water bills. There is a house on the premises that had numerous disrepair issues that weren’t dealt with by the trust and they had to deal with them themselves,” the attorney charged.

In the meantime, it appears the British national may be fighting this battle for a while longer.

“If there is a problem and you cannot hand over this money, at least give the money back to me so that I can pay it out in a different way. They have not even offered to do that and return the money. If they’ve got a problem handing it over, they could just return it,” Glover pleaded.