Friends Annual Report 2020
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THE FRIENDS OF WILTSHIRE CHURCHES St Thomas's Church, Sailsbury Annual Report 2020 www.wiltshirehistoricchurchestrust.org.uk The Friends Of Wiltshire Churches President Secretary Mrs Sarah Rose Troughton, Mr David Evans HM Lord-Lieutenant of Wiltshire Committee Vice-Presidents Mrs Diana Beattie Lieutenant-Colonel James Arkell The Hon Edward Buchan Madeleine, Countess of Bessborough His Honour Judge Mark Everall QC The Bishop of Bristol (Chairman of the WHCT) Mr John Bush Mr Michael Hodges The Bishop of Clifton Mr Luke Hughes Mr Robert Floyd Brigadier Nigel Jackson (Secretary of Mr Henry Hoare the WHCT) The Countess of Inchcape The Ven Alan Jeans The Rt Rev William Ind Mrs Caroline Keevil Sir Maurice Johnston Mrs Diana Matthews-Duncan Lord King of Bridgwater Mrs Clare Miles Mr Danny Kruger MP Mr John Osborne The Marquis of Lansdowne Mr Mark Robinson Lord Margadale Mr Christopher Rogers Lord Marland of Odstock Mr Neil Skelton Lady Nutting Mr Geoffrey Till Mrs Claire Perry O’Neill The Earl of Radnor Major-General Sir Sebastian Roberts New Members Sir Henry Rumbold, Bt We are pleased to welcome the The Bishop of Salisbury following new members who joined The Dean of Salisbury during 2020: Viscount Sidmouth The Duchess of Somerset Mr & Mrs Piers Barclay (Fyfield) Lord Talbot of Malahide Sir Christopher and Lady Butcher (Broad Chalke) Mr & Mrs Jonny Buxton (Shalbourne) Chairman Miss Mary Dainty (Devizes) Mr Martin Knight Mr & Mrs Kevin Feeny (Rowde) Mr & Mrs Peter Goodchild (Pewsey) Mr Danny Kruger MP (Crofton) Treasurer Mrs Angela Mathieson (London) Mr Peter Smith Mr & Mrs Christopher Moule Treasurer of the WHCT (Marlborough) Mrs AnneMarie Newbigin Membership Secretary (West Overton) Mr Jeremy Groom Mrs Jill White (Bishops Cannings) Front cover - Photograph courtesy of St Ann’s Gate Architects, photographer Andy Marshall 2020 1 THE FRIENDS OF WILTSHIRE CHURCHES ANNUAL REPORT 2020 Future Events The future remains uncertain but it is hoped the following church tours will take place: April 2021 Proposed tour of churches in Warminster area to be led by Brian Woodruffe. May 2021 Proposed tour to Bath to be led by Christopher Rogers. July 2021 Proposed tour of churches in the Pewsey area to be led by John Osborne. September 2021 Proposed tour of churches in North Dorset to be led by Michael Hodges. Sunday 13 June 2021 Summer party at Chisenbury Priory, preceded by choral evensong. Saturday 11 September 2021 Ride + Stride Annual General Meeting: TBA Further details of all these events will be announced in due course. Editorial Thank you to those who responded to our call for material for this year’s Annual Report in the absence of our usual church tours reports. We have included five articles detailing how WHCT Grants have been spent and of continuing works. Some of the images sent came to us from many sources, sometimes via many e-mail accounts thus reducing the quality. Where it has been possible we have gone back to the original photograph to improve the resolution. We therefore apologise that some images are not of the quality you might expect. Where we have needed to we have sought permission to print professional photographs and they are credited. Our thanks to all those who supplied images – Michael Hodges, Nigel Orchard, John Cox, Luke Hughes, Rhiannon Oakley at Matthew Burt Ltd, Sally & Michael Constable, Brig.John Smedley, Barry Hammond, Christopher Fielden, Charles Hutchins and others, Rachel Thomson, Pen & Dominic Milburn, Georgia McVeigh, with permission from the child’s mother, Charles Graham and others with permission from parents. THE FRIENDS OF WILTSHIRE CHURCHES ANNUAL REPORT 2020 2 Wiltshire Historic Churches Trust Grants Wiltshire Historic Church Trust Trustees made 17 WHCT grants in 2020, with 2 churches benefitting from an additional HCCT grant. The number of church applications was lower than usual as church fabric repairs and key projects were curtailed by Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. The Trustees have planned ahead and made financial provision for the resumption of critical work and applications for grants in 2021. Church Project £ Grant St Mary & St Melor, Amesbury Roof restoration £4000 St Sampson, Cricklade Roof restoration £3000 All Saints, All Cannings Roof restoration £2000 Cricklade United Church Roof £400 St Michael the Archangel, Tower pinnacles £3000 Mere St James the Great, Bratton Bell Tower £2000 St John the Evangelist, Studley Chancel stonework and £2000 + windows £1000 HCCT* Ebenezer Baptist Church, West Baptistry pipe £1000 Lavington St Denys, Warminster Walls £1000 All Saints, Whiteparish Font relocation £1000 St Mary, Broughton Gifford Toilet and Kitchenette £1000 Zion Baptist Church, Bradford Roof £2500 + on Avon £1000 HCCT* St John the Baptist, Latton Bell Tower £3000 St Nicholas, Tytherton Lucas Roof, stonework £1340 St Mary Magdalene, Roof, tilt fillets £1000 Winterbourne Monkton Holy Cross, Ashton Keynes Electrical, lighting £2500 All Saints and St Mary, Chitterne Historic Organ £750 TOTAL: £31,490 2020 TOTAL: £31,490.00 plus £2000 3 THE FRIENDS OF WILTSHIRE CHURCHES ANNUAL REPORT 2020 Hartham Church Charitable Trust Fund The grants made by the Wiltshire Historic Churches Trust are not large but have provided important encouragement to local congregations working hard to maintain and enhance their churches and chapels. Any applicant churches or chapels that stand out for their contribution to advancing the Christian religion may also be considered by Trustees for an additional grant from the Hartham Church Charitable Trust Fund (HCCT Fund). Trustee decisions on WHCT and HCCT grants in 2020 have made a substantive contribution to the Church in Wiltshire. National Churches Trust We are also particularly pleased to note that St Mary & St Melor, Amesbury received an additional grant of £30,000 from the National Churches Trust for their roof restoration. Wiltshire Historic Churches Trust Treasurer’s report For the year ended 31st March 2020 by Peter Smith, Hon. Treasurer The net assets of the Trust decreased The Trust’s other significant income to £421k as at 31st March 2020 (£441k, was raised by the annual Ride & Stride 2019). This figure includes the Hartham sponsored event - £55,500; Church Charitable Trust restricted fund Investments - £13,900; and Parish investment standing at £104k. Donations - £3970. The gross income of the Trust for the The WHCT awarded 39 grants year was just over £107k (£118k, 2019). totalling £81,050 for the year to 31st March 2020. The Friends made a profit of £24,700 for the year (£32k, 2019). This Full details of the Audited Accounts comprised £12,900 from Membership for the year ended 31st March 2020 Fees and Gift Aid; over £6800 (after are available for viewing online at the expenses) from fund raising activities; Charity Commission website (www. over £3140 from donations; £750 from charitycommission.gov.uk) by ongoing book sales; and £1110 from entering the WHCT’s Registered the sale of Christmas Cards. Charity Number 1075598. Legacies Please remember the Wiltshire Historic Churches Trust in your Will. The Registered Charity number of the WHCT is 1075598. THE FRIENDS OF WILTSHIRE CHURCHES ANNUAL REPORT 2020 4 5 THE FRIENDS OF WILTSHIRE CHURCHES ANNUAL REPORT 2020 THE FRIENDS OF WILTSHIRE CHURCHES ANNUAL REPORT 2020 6 Winter Lecture Series The Knights Hospitaller Given by Michael Hodges Saturday 15th February 2020 by Jeremy Groom On 15th February, we met in the Hospitallers had no specific military Community Hall in Market Lavington remit. As the 12th century progressed, to hear Michael Hodges talk about the Order grew in wealth and the Knights Hospitaller, a subject close influence, being granted their own to his heart as Chancellor of the British priests and churches, and castles, Association of the Sovereign Military including Krak des Chevaliers in of Malta, and author of “The Knights modern Syria. Hospitaller in Great Britain in 1540” (published September 2018). In 1187 Saladin’s army defeated the forces of Christendom at the battle of Hattin, seizing Jerusalem causing the Hospitallers to move the headquarters to Tyre and thence to Acre after the success of the Third Crusade. Meanwhile in Spain, France and England, and later in Italy and Germany, the Order was setting up commanderies, small units of knights Krak des Chevaliers administering sets of properties Michael began with a history of the grouped into priories, exempt from Order from its beginnings in the Holy episcopal control. They were required Land. In 1048 a group of merchants to send a third of their revenues to from Amalfi set up a Hospital of St Outremer (the Holy Land) for the John the Almoner in Jerusalem, to military use of the Order, but after the cater for the needs of poor male fall of Acre in 1291, marking the end pilgrims who were sick. Jerusalem was of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, then under Muslim control, but was the Order’s headquarters moved to captured by the crusader army in Cyprus, and in 1309 to Rhodes. 1099. In around 1100, Fra’ Gerard was elected Master of the Hospital, and he Rhodes thrived in the 14th century, but abandoned the Benedictine for the was increasingly under attack in the Augustinian rule, adopted St John the 15th, and after a successful assault by Baptist as patron, and the twin aims of Suleiman the Magnificent in 1522, the protection of the Catholic faith and Order departed and in 1531 help for the poor. Unlike the Templar accepted the offer of Malta from the Order, founded around 1120, the Emperor Charles V. 7 THE FRIENDS OF WILTSHIRE CHURCHES ANNUAL REPORT 2020 and in 1312 the papal bull Vox in Excelso granted all their lands to the Hospitallers, though it took until 1329 for the bulk of them in England to be handed over. Subsequently, the Knights Hospitaller became the largest individual ecclesiastical landowner in England and Wales, with 45 commanderies across 26 counties, and also the advowson of over 200 churches.