Salisbury Cathedral Close Preservation Society

Supporting Excellence in Heritage Estate Management

AGM 2014/15

The 2014 AGM, 23 March 2015
Sarum College – Starting Time: 18:30

Minutes of the 2014 Annual General Meeting

1. Apologies

Apologies were received from: Mr & Mrs John Axford; Mrs Jean Crighton; Ms Dorothy Carricle; Mr & Mrs Brian Cole; Ms Hilary Corfield; Capt. & Mrs Duncan Glass; Miss Margaret Lovett; Mr & Mrs Phillip Miller Tate; Mr & Mrs Francis Moynihan; Mrs Pam Perry; Mrs M. Reese and Mr & Mrs Geoff. Squire.

2. Minutes of the AGM held on 11th March 2014

Minutes of the AGM held on 11th March 2014 had been circulated to members together with an Agenda for today’s meeting. These were approved by a show of hands nem con.

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Sarum College & North Walk

3. Chairman’s Report

Firstly, I am sorry to report that Anne Moynihan, who has given us great support as Secretary, has had to resign due to the illness of her husband, Francis. I wish to record our sympathies to them at this difficult time. My thanks to Richard Owen, Deputy Chairman, for taking the record of this AGM.

We have made only one donation recently – towards the memorial bench for Michael Conio, whose tireless efforts to keep The Close tidy are sorely missed.

This is Magna Carta celebratory year and the Cathedral staff have been concentrating on the practical problems of dealing with the increase in visitors. The effect has been to accelerate some works. This is evidenced in the modifications to No 32 to convert it to use as a café, managed by the Refectory caterers. The spin-off is an improvement to the toilets on that site which we have advocated for some time. The Society decided not to oppose the planning application but asked that a suitable hedge should be planted to screen the tables and chairs outside when viewed to the North from the Cathedral. We offered to make a contribution to the cost of this.

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The last planning application for “Arundells” granted on 7th November 2013 was carefully worded with very clear terms of consent. We have lodged an objection to the new planning application ( 15/02009/VAR ) to vary the conditions which propose to allow use of the garden for up to 150 people per occasion at up to 24 events per year, and finishing at 10.15 pm. This would be a massive increase in usage and cause a loss of amenity to Close residents. If you have not already done so, I would encourage you to make personal, individual objections, as the number received has the most impact.

The Sarum partnership, under the chairmanship of Dr Lydia Brown, which we were invited to join last year has concentrated on finding ways to improve the traffic flow in The Close. The pilot traffic scheme devised by The Chapter Clerk and the Canon Treasurer, in consultation with the authorities, produced no solutions. However, the schools put a considerable effort into changing the impact of their traffic, and this has been of benefit. Ron Johnston has been our main representative and is prepared to answer any questions you may have.

The Annual lecture will be on Thursday 19th November at Sarum College. The subject is “Elias of Dereham” whose principal achievement was the project management of the construction of the Cathedral; but he had much wider skills. Our speaker will be Richard Owen.

Finally, may I express my thanks to all the members of the Committee for their interest and excellent support in representing the Society.

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Robert Key talking about Magna Carta celebrations

4. The Hon. Treasurer’s Report

The new Treasurer, Eleanor Turner, circulated copies of the Accounts for 2014 to those present and reported as follows:

The income of the Society was £1,553 compared with £1,595 in 2013. Expenses totalled £742 ( 2013 – £723 ). Within these figures the lecture generated an income of £376 which after costs gave a surplus of £297. ( 2013 – £399.) The surplus for 2014 was £811 to which an increase in the value of investments of £453 may be added providing a surplus of £1,264 for the year.

Special thanks are extended to Michael Farebrother for examining the accounts.

5. The Membership Secretary’s report

Chris Dragonetti reported that the membership was stable with just one resignation and one new member. The member resigning had made a generous parting gift to the Society.

6. Election of Trustees and Officers

Other than the resignation of Anne Moynihan mentioned above, all Trustees were willing to continue in office. Mr Peter Smith proposed that this continuation be approved; it was seconded by Mr Eric Gould and approved nem con by a show of hands.

7. Any other business

Some discussion took place about the variation in planning permission for events at ‘Arundells’. Inter alia it was mentioned that Stuart Craven was leaving at the end of the year. Members were again encouraged to write protests and attend the planning meeting when the application is referred to Councillors.

The formal meeting concluded at 6.52 pm

Magna Carta Celebrations

Following the formal meeting, Mr Robert Key, who chairs the Cathedral’s Group organising the programme for the celebration of 800 years since the granting of Magna Carta, gave a most interesting and amusing talk about the upcoming programme of events and his emerging view of the importance of Magna Carta from his involvement with historians and lawyers.