When Matthew Rampton approached Middleton to find a country house in the UK, he made it clear that enabling his children to pursue their ambition as downhill ski racers was key.

“Exercise is changing,” says Athlete Lab founder and Middleton client, Neil Franks who, having retired from the oil industry, is now focused on building another kind of ‘energy’ business – one that is very close to his heart-rate monitor.

“I’d happily encourage other organisations to get involved in this type of activity. It may appear primarily philanthropic, but there are genuine commercial benefits as well,” says Middleton client John Keevill of his company’s support of the King’s Head Theatre Company.

While the term ‘big society’ did not exist when entrepreneur Paul Barry-Walsh, established Fredericks Foundation in 2001, he is convinced that the ethos did.