[1] The 1958 Act recognised the place of "recreational facilities" within English law on charitable trusts.

[2] Charitable trusts are invalid if they include "purely recreational pastimes", as in IRC v City of Glasgow Police Athletic Association;[3] even though the purpose of the charity was to improve the efficiency of the police force, the fact that this included a recreational element invalidated the trust.

In response to this case and IRC v Baddeley,[4] the Recreational Charities Act was passed.

This preserves the requirement of public benefit, with acceptable "social welfare" interests being where the facilities are dedicated to "improving the conditions of life" of the young, old, physically handicapped, poor or people with extenuating "social or economic circumstances".

[9] The Act was subject to judicial interpretation in Guild v IRC, where it was decided that recreational charities could be for public benefit if they impacted on the public in general, not just the categories of people listed in Section 1; Lord Keith stated "the fact is that persons from all walks of life and all kinds of social circumstances may have their conditions of life improved by the provision of recreational facilities of a suitable nature".