Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust Annual Report 2014
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RDS FO HIR X E O • • H Oxfordshire Historic T I S S T U O Churches Trust R R T IC S CH HE Supporting Oxfordshire's URC Churches since 1964 Annual Report 2014 www.ohct.org.uk Reg. Charity No. 235644 OXFORD HISTORIC CHURCHES TRUST The Forty-Eighth Annual General Meeting COUNCIL of the Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust Office holders as at 5 April 2014 will be held at St Helen’s Church, Abingdon at 2pm President: Richard H Lethbridge, DL* on Saturday 26 July 2014 Vice-President: The Rt Revd Colin Fletcher, OBE, Bishop of Dorchester AGENDA Chairman: Basil Eastwood, CMG* The President’s opening remarks Vice-Chairman: John Yaxley, CBE* 1. Apologies The Ven. John Morrison County Organiser Ride and Stride* 2. Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting Mrs Caroline Jones 3. Chairman’s Report Communications Officer The Ven. Martin Gorick, 4. Treasurer’s Report Archdeacon of Oxford 5. To receive the Accounts for the year ended 5 April 2014 The Revd Canon Judy French, Assistant Archdeacon of Oxford 6. Election of officers and members of Council Ms Natalie Merry 7. Any other business Secretary, Diocesan Advisory Committee After the meeting there will be an opportunity to look round St Helen’s, before going and all Area Representatives – see back cover to visit St James’s, Radley with its famous collection of stained glass. The church is Secretary: Jonathan Scheele* kindly providing tea in the church room and this will be followed by a short service of 20 Portland Road, Oxford, OX2 7EY Evensong. Those staying for tea are asked to send a cheque for £5 per head (payable to 01865 435076, ‘OHCT’) to the Secretary, Jonathan Scheele, at the address on the facing page. Tickets [email protected] will not be issued. Treasurer: William Andrewes* Apple House, Combe, Oxford, OX29 8NU NB: There is a pay and display car park in West St Helen’s Street, near to the church. 01993 891376, [email protected] Membership: Mrs Holly Kilpatrick 23 Lucerne Road, Oxford, OX2 7QB 01865 512358, [email protected] THE TRUST AND HOW YOU CAN JOIN IT Grants Officer: Martin Trowell* The Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust, which is celebrating its 50th Anniversary The Old Vicarage, West Hanney this year, was formed to provide financial help for repairs to churches of all Wantage, OX12 0LW. denominations in Oxfordshire, to encourage wider interest in them and to raise 01235 868131, [email protected] funds for this purpose. Since the Trust was formed a total of over £3.5 million has * Trustee been given in grants to help churches with essential repairs and new facilities. Members are entitled to attend meetings, lectures and tours and to receive a copy of the Annual Report. The minimum annual subscription is £20 for individuals, Cover photograph: Stoke Row, St. John the Evangelist (awarded a grant of £30 for families (at the same address) and £25 for parish membership. A £7,500). This church was built in 1846 and is by R C Hussey. It is in the style membership application form is enclosed with this report. PCCs should apply to of C13 with lancet windows, and chancel and nave in one. The upper part of the Membership Secretary, Mrs Holly Kilpatrick, at the address on the facing page, the tower is octagonal with a pyramid roof. It is possible that it was originally or visit the Trust’s website at www.ohct.org.uk intended to have a spire. THE CHAIRMAN’S REPORT Oxfordshire’s Churches for Wider Use, describing the tribulations and the triumphs of twenty-five churches and chapels which have undertaken major adaptations while This was a busy and productive year. maintaining their sense of sacred space. The book has been well received, and we We made grants totalling £160,000, a near record. We had interesting believe that any church council considering a major project would do well to read it. I and well attended lectures in Wolfson College by Lord Harries and at pay tribute to Bishop Colin Fletcher, who had the idea for the book and who has done Blenheim by William Whyte. Our church visits were again fully booked, so much to drive the project forward to a successful conclusion. despite the experiment of repeating some of the visits to double the From the beginning of this year we have rationalised our membership fee structure number of places. slightly while keeping the minimum fees as low as possible. The minimum fee for So our normal pattern of activity continued, but this was no ordinary an individual is still £20; for two or more members of a family at the same address it year. In May 2013 we finalised a planning paper to define our role is now £30. We ask churches which receive grants from us to take out what we now for several years ahead. This started from the sad but surely sensible call parish membership at a minimum of £25. This enables us to tell them and their assumption that many, and in rural areas perhaps most, congregations congregations about our events. We want to be an open and welcoming organisation will find it increasingly difficult to muster unaided the human and but we also want you – our members – to feel that OHCT is your organisation. If financial resources to keep their buildings fit for purpose. We therefore events are oversubscribed, we will give preference to those who are individual or needed both to make a wider public more aware of the importance of family members; we did not feel able, for example, to invite parish members to the these buildings and readier to help maintain them, and also we ourselves Broughton Jubilee event. needed to provide more financial support for repairs and practical We welcomed to our Council Martin Gorick, the new Archdeacon for Oxford enhancements. Specifically we needed to raise our average level of grant (responsible for the Oxford and Cowley deaneries), and look forward to welcoming from 7.7% to 10% of the costs of projects. Judy French as the first Archdeacon of Dorchester (responsible for all the remaining The paper also set specific objectives for the year, and I am glad to deaneries in Oxfordshire). report that we have met nearly all of them. They included, of course, Hugo Brunner stood down after nearly 30 years on the Council and as Trustee having preparations for our Jubilee events, and by the time you read this you made a enormous contribution to the success of the Trust over the years. Charles will be able to judge the success of the events in Dorchester Abbey in Powell and Ben Simpson retired from our Council after many years of stalwart service April 2014 and at Broughton in May. as the Area Representatives for Chipping Norton and Cowley respectively. Ben was Of longer-term significance was our decision on the basis of a separately also our webmaster but nobly continued to maintain our old website until the new one funded feasibility study to launch a £3 million Jubilee Campaign to ‘kick- could replace it. George Russell stood down as Area Representative for Abingdon and start’ our Heritage Fund, which we hope will then continue to attract eminence grise of the Ride and Stride. Norman Dawson succeeds him in the former future legacies from our members. I look forward to telling members capacity. Francis Hazeel has joined us to help look after the Chipping Norton area . I more about this at our Annual General Meeting. also welcome the emerging pattern of Alternate Area Representatives who help, and if necessary stand in for, Area Representatives. We also decided that we needed a new website. We were able to attract financing for this from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The new site went 2013/14 was indeed a busy year. 2014/15 seems likely to be even busier! ‘live’ in March 2014. It is beautiful to look at and contains a mass of Basil Eastwood information. I encourage you to visit it (www.ohct.org.uk). It is not only our shop window for the wider public; it will also be an increasingly important means of communication with our members and Riders and Striders. I am most grateful to all who have contributed to it. The Churches featured in the photo slices are Photographs in this report are ©2014 John Albury, St. Helen; Checkendon, St Peter and Ward, Aston Rowant, Oxfordshire. gazetteer in particular is still very much work in progress, and we need St Paul; Cottisford, St. Mary; Standlake, St The Trust is most grateful for his permission your contributions and comments. Giles; Stoke Row, St John the Evangelist; all of to use them. which received grants in 2014 Another feature of the year has been our publication (also separately Design and layout by Orange & Blue Design funded) of Becky Payne’s book Churches for Communities: Adapting www.orangeandbluedesign.co.uk TREASURER’S REPORT STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES Towards the end of the year the Trust launched its Jubilee Campaign FOR THE YEAR ENDED 5 APRIL 2014 with the aim of generating a Heritage Fund of £3m. If we are successful This is a brief extract from the audited accounts. A full set of the statutory accounts will be available at the this endowment will greatly enhance our grant giving capacity. The AGM. Copies can also be obtained from the Treasurer, whose address can be found on page 2 of this report. Trustees resolved to credit all legacies, including those of the past five years, to this fund and, in furtherance of this decision, have transferred 2013/14 2012/13 £99,954.