W. Findlay Turner,
born 7 March 1944, died 7 March 2010
Findlay Turner was a very successful Ayrshire accountant who became a central figure in the life of the Church of Scotland, both in his native Saltcoats and in the corridors of power of the Kirk’s General Assembly. He was chairman of the General Trustees of the Church of Scotland, which owns almost all the Kirk’s churches and manses and administers a fund of almost £18 million. He was totally convinced that unless the Kirk disposed of a huge number of its buildings, it would not be able, with a diminishing membership, to withstand the financial pressure it faces today.
After education at Saltcoats Primary School and then Ardrossan Academy, Turner undertook an accountancy apprenticeship with the firm which eventually became Wyllie Guild and McIntyre. Almost as soon as he qualified in 1968 he was offered a partnership in what he helped become one of the largest accounting firms, latterly BDO Stoy Hayward, by then among the world’s top ten accounting firms. His career involved advising and auditing all sorts of firms and organizations in the private and non-profit making sectors, and specializing in charity accounting, business valuation and wealth management advice.
In addition to his work with his accountancy firm he held a number of public appointments. He was a non executive director of the Post Office in Scotland for several years and Convener of the Audit practices Committee of the Local Government Auditors Association in Scotland
In 1969 Turner became an elder and subsequently treasurer of the congregation of Saltcoats St Cuthberts and shortly afterwards an elder in the Presbytery of Ardrossan. For two years during the illness of the then Presbytery Clerk he was Acting Clerk of the Presbytery and in 2004 he became the first elder to be Moderator of the Presbytery. He chaired the Presbytery meetings with considerable graciousness but typical strength, and also took a huge delight in conducting services of worship in some of the Presbytery’s congregations.
In 1994 he became a member of the Kirk’s General Trustees, and having been Vice-Chairman from 2003 to 2007, he took over the chair in 2008. He was indefatigable in visiting congregations whose buildings required money spent on them, particularly sensitive to the needs of those congregations which were in areas of deprivation, and always supportive of those who saw the need to be not just gatherings of like-minded worshippers but committed to involvement with their local communities. When the General Assembly set up a Parish Development Fund, initially under the leadership of Very revd Andrew McLllan, to provide funding for congregations which produced imaginative projects of community involvement Findlay Turner was one of its most enthusiastic members.
When the Church found itself expected to submit to charity regulation and governance there were some who sought to use arguments about the Church’s supposed independence to resist compliance, but Turner from the outset argued that if regulation required best practice and that kirk sessions as trustees had to carry liability for their actions, then the Church should accept that.
Findlay Turner was someone whose sense of personal and professional integrity was so high that he could be extremely critical of anyone who, he felt, had fallen below his own exacting standards. He was so concerned for the Church of Scotland that he sometimes appeared intolerant of anyone who did not share his particular vision of what was best for the Kirk he loved. Occasionally his sense of integrity and religious commitment conveyed to those who did not understand him an intolerance of views which differed from his. However those who got to know him recognized that his sense of integrity was the debt he owed to the profession he loved, and his religious passion stemmed from a burning faith which could not understand those who said they shared that faith but did not share his passionate commitment to it.
Throughout his life Findlay Turner was supported by his wife Ann, who is also a qualified accountant. In the past two years, despite developing cancer and increasing chemotherapy treatment, Findlay Turner continued to chair meetings of the General Trustees, visit congregations which required support and take part in countless much less important church meetings. He was incapable of not giving all that he could to everything that was asked of him, and it was no surprise that when he could no longer give all he wanted, he very quietly but firmly decided that, as he put it “enough was enough”. He was sustained through his illness by a faith which was as strong as it was simple, and as impressive as it was undemonstrative. He is survived by his wife Ann, to whom he owed so much and his sons Robin, Gordon and David of whom he was so proud.Published in The Scotsman.
Findlay Turner, who was one of the most important and influential laymen in the Church of Scotland, lived all his life in the Ayrshire town of Saltcoats within a mile of St Cuthbert’s Church of which he became an elder and the congregational treasurer. He carved out for himself a career in accountancy, joining the much respected Glasgow firm of Chrystal McIntyre and that career was to see him become one of a new generation of partners who led the firm through merger and innovation to become one of the top ten accounting firms in the world. He retired as senior partner of what was by then BDO Stoy Hayward in 2001
Findlay Turner was educated at Caledonia Primary School in Saltcoats and then at Ardrossan Academy, and was recognized as someone of such ability that he was offered a partnership in the firm immediately his accountancy apprenticeship was completed. His professional qualities were recognized not only in the firm which he saw expand, and where he specialized in charity accounting, business valuation and giving advice on wealth management, but also in appointments as a non-executive director of the Post Office in Scotland and convener of the Audit Practices Committee of the local Government Auditors (Scotland) Association.
The year 1969 was important for Findlay Turner for two reasons. He married Ann, whom he had admired from afar at school but first spoke to on the platform of Saltcoats South Beach Station, discovering she had just started a CA apprenticeship. Their partnership was as strong personally as it was professionally, Findlay always said that Ann was much better academically than he was. They were married by Revd George Balls in Saltcoats St Cuthbert’s Church and in the same year Findlay became an elder and treasurer of the congregation. That marked the beginning of his professional involvement with the life of the Church of Scotland.
He represented Saltcoats St Cuthbert’s on the Presbytery of Ardrossan which he served for forty years, and was to be its Acting Clerk between 2002 and 2004, and its treasurer since 2007. When the Presbytery decided to appoint its first layman as Moderator there was no question but that it should turn to Findlay Turner, who not only chaired Presbytery meetings with firmness and graciousness, but took very seriously conducting worship in several congregations. In 1994 he was appointed to the Church of Scotland General Trustees, who hold the title deeds of most of the Kirk’s church buildings and manses and manage a fabric fund valued at over £64 million, and having been Vice-Chairman from2003-2007 he then became chairman.
Findlay Turner believed firmly that the Church had to unite congregations so that the funds released from the sale of buildings could be used for the Church’s mission and outreach, especially in those areas where he believed the Kirk’s resources should be spent on its involvement with the life of the community rather than on the upkeep of buildings used hardly at all during the week. When the Church established a Parish Development fund to provide resources for that sort of work, chaired initially by the Very Revd Andrew McLellan, Turner was one of the most enthusiastic members of the committee which managed it. He rejected the view, expressed when it was suggested that the Church should be subject like other charities to regulation and governance supervision, that the Kirk’s supposed independence provided it with exemption, and argued strongly both that the Church should be seen to commit itself to best practice and that members of Kirk Session, as trustees, had personal liability for the decisions they took.
Findlay Turner held such strong views that he was bound to find himself often and sometimes fiercely in disagreement with people, but he saw no reason why even strong disagreements should affect personal relationships and he was always saddened when he discovered that others often confused disagreement with dislike.
For the past year and a half Findlay Turner lived with cancer and, typically he refused to allow either the disease or its treatment to interfere with his commitment to General Trustees and Presbytery. Neither complaint nor self-pity but rather courage and faith marked the journey he made. He once said that he took no pride in any of the important roles he took on. “Each job was simply another piece of service for the Master who had given so much for him”. He is survived by his wife Ann, and his sons Robin, Gordon and David and is a great loss to the Church he served so faithfully.
Published in The Herald.