THE FRIENDS OF DORCHESTER

SPRING NEWSLETTER 2019

from: Ingrid Lunt c/o The Rectory Current Trustees 10 Manor Farm Road Richard Dick (Chairman) Dorchester-on-Thames OX10 7HZ John Taylor (Vice Chairman) Hugo Brunner Registered Charity No. 275819 Christine Dawson Stephanie Forman President: The Bishop of Dorchester Tanya Hawley Christian Hoyer Millar Nick Jenkins (Treasurer) Abbey Website: www.dorchester-abbey.org.uk Honor Juniper (Membership secretary) Ingrid Lunt (Newsletter) Email for list of concerts and events: David Parker [email protected] Mary Saunders Hilary Warburton (Secretary) Membership enquiries: Honor Juniper 01865 343228 Ex officio [email protected] The Revd Canon Sue Booys (Rector) Hans Paul (Church Warden)

Meetings of the Trustees of the Friends of The following items have been discussed over the Dorchester Abbey two meetings:

There have been two meetings of the Trustees • The additional lighting over the choir and altar since the last Newsletter, Tuesday September 25 steps which has been funded by the Friends, is and Wednesday February 27. due to be commissioned on February 28, with work carried out during March At the September 25th meeting • the Guesthouse project is progressing slowly Trustees observed a minute’s silence in honour of and the Friends are working with the PCC on the Anne Kelaart, former Chairman, and Christopher most appropriate design and on the fundraising. Gibbs, Vice President. The PCC has undertaken some improvements in Herb Garden the facilities. This is now looked after by a professional • The West End Gallery project. The Friends have gardener paid for by the Friends. A clear-up and agreed to allocate £110,000 towards the build weeding session is planned for April 15, 2.00 p.m. costs. There will be a need to set up a fundraising All welcome. initiative, both to get to the Planning Permission stage and for the substantive project. The The Friends 2019 AGM, June 3, 6.30 p.m. Trustees confirmed that the West End Gallery is a priority for the Friends. This year’s AGM takes place on Monday, June 3, 6.30 p.m. in the Abbey, followed by supper in the • the finances continue to be in good order. The Abbey for those who would like. Further details in Trustees agreed to a small increase in Friends’ the next Newsletter. subscription with effect from January 2019.

• as membership secretary, Honor Juniper has Friends of Dorchester Abbey Outing to been carrying out sterling work to clean up the Worcester , Monday May 13, database and to ensure that we comply with the 2019 GDPR. There is now an accurate system for tracking membership details. Record was made of This year’s visit will be to Worcester Cathedral. the outstanding contribution made to the Friends which is one of England’s loveliest and by members who had died over the past 6 is a magnificent sight as it rises majestically above months, and in particular Bessie Kelaart, past the River Severn. Chairman who founded the Beauforest Society, Roger Mitchell who played an active role with the The Cathedral contains the royal tombs of King Dorchester Lecture and Christopher Gibbs as John and Prince Arthur, medieval cloisters, Honorary Vice President of the Friends. ancient crypt and chapter house and magnificent Victorian stained glass. It also houses the second At the February 27th meeting largest collection of medieval manuscripts in any cathedral in the UK. The present cathedral was Professor Roger Ainsworth built between 1084 and 1504 and represents The Chairman reported the sad news of the every style of English architecture or, as Simon recent death of Professor Roger Ainsworth who Jenkins puts it, a ‘royal flush of styles – Norman gave the fascinating and very well-received 2015 crypt, transitional west nave, Early Gothic Dorchester Lecture, entitled: Brunel – Father and presbytery, Decorated nave and Perpendicular Son. Professor Ainsworth was Master of St tower.’ It was massively restored in the C19th, Catherine’s College from 2002 to the present mostly by , with the result time and the longest serving Head of House in the that the east end is essentially Victorian. university. Alongside his many university roles, he was Chair of the Preservation Trust, Chair of the Governing Body, Chair of Abingdon School Governing Body, Chair of the Board for the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Collaborating Centre for Values-Based Practice in Health and Social Care. Above all, Roger Ainsworth was a great teacher, scholar, organiser, leader, and a very fine man. He is much missed and we send our condolences to his family.

The medieval cloisters elitism in the modern world, illustrated by the Simon Jenkins again: ‘Wulfstan’s crypt is one of election of President Trump and the Brexit the loveliest in England. Some of its pillars are referendum and the impact this might have on thought to have survived from the Saxon church, the university, in comparison with some of the with single-scallop capitals…The crypt contains a major perils it had survived in the past. What was lovely Pieta by Glynn Williams (1984), in which her biggest surprise on taking up the post? The the figure of Christ is supported only by the unrelenting focus of the media on the university. disembodied hands of love’. For her, the turbulent times were linked to Brexit, and to the political competition for the youth vote. A quick romp through history suggested that things were much more turbulent in the past, with Henry VIII and Cromwell, Ridley, Cranmer and Latimer, the Civil War, and in other countries such as Turkey, Hungary. Nevertheless, the rise of populism, the popular movement that opposes the established government and draws on anti-intellectualism, fosters the polarisation of ‘the people’ against what is seen as a ‘corrupt elite’, and the view that only one group of people is legitimate. Across Europe there has been a The nave growth in populist movements; indeed, according to the OUP ‘post truth’ was the word of the year Timetable for the day This populism and anti-intellectualism feeds a Coach leaves from the Bridge End car park in distrust in experts (for example Gove’s statement Dorchester at 9.00 a.m. with arrival in Worcester that “we have had enough of experts”). Professor about 11.00 a.m. Free time to explore Worcester Richardson suggested that universities have a and have lunch. duty to bridge the gap between experts and the people. Crucially, given that level of education Guided tour of Worcester Cathedral at 3.00 p.m. was the single biggest predictor both in the US Presidential election and in the 2016 The coach will leave Worcester at 5.00 p.m. and Referendum, universities have an important role arrive back in Dorchester by about 7.00 p.m. in helping to bridge the ‘education gap’.

The cost, which includes coach travel and guided So, what can universities do? tour will be £30.00 for Friends and £32 for non- Universities have a responsibility both to push Friends. Please return the booking form at the end forward the frontiers of knowledge and to of the Newsletter to Yvonne Lawden. educate the next generation. They are both global and local institutions, and have global and local responsibilities, serving as drivers of social mobility, as engineers of our economy and as Report on the Annual Dorchester Lecture guardians of our culture. Concluding her lecture, Professor Richardson suggested that universities This was given by Professor Louise Richardson, remain more trusted than other parts of the Vice Chancellor of the who establishment and must continue to be fierce addressed the title: Universities in Turbulent guardians of and advocates for knowledge and Times on September 18. truth, for the independence and autonomy of government, and for uncompromising standards The Vice Chancellor paid her audience the of scholarship. Universities may be ‘the last compliment of giving a serious analytical lecture bastion of the optimist’ or an ‘anchor in the on the rise of populism and the problems for populist storms’. shared interests, cooperation, and her personal The lecture stimulated a wide range of questions and frequent links with Cambridge V-C. relating to current issues: • Brexit. General concern about the potential loss • Quality. The quality of universities varies across of EU students, staff (24% of Oxford staff come the sector. Although she has no quarrel with the from the EU), and loss of access to collaborators existence of elite universities, there is something and research funding. very wrong with the system, and there is a major Ingrid Lunt problem with vocational education Dorchester Festival

• Numbers. The number of post-graduates The Dorchester Festival takes place 3-19 May, exceeds the number of undergraduates for the 2019. As usual there is a wide range of first time this year. The only plans to expand entertainment and activity to suit every taste. undergraduate numbers are in the under- Buying tickets: on-line from represented technological subjects, notably www.dorchesterfestival.com OR call 0333 666 computer sciences and engineering, with around 3366 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9 a.m.-5 450 increase eventually overall (from 11,000 to p.m. Saturday. Please email the Festival Office 11,500). [email protected] with general enquiries. • Funding. She saw little harm in a modest student loan scheme, particularly considering the Oxford Historic Churches Trust / Dorchester enhanced earning power of a good degree Abbey Conference for Representatives of qualification, and the fact that given that Churches and Chapels across the County and education is both a private and a public good, Diocese costs should be shared between the individual

and the state. She had however lobbied hard that Churches for Mission & the Community (a) student maintenance support for poorer A forum for friends of churches: making your students should be by grant not loan and (b) that church building a resource for the future interest rates on student loans should be reduced

to more reasonable levels. Dorchester Abbey: 10:00 – 3:30 Sept. 28th 2019

• Inclusivity. The university puts a major effort OHCT and Dorchester Abbey, with support from into encouraging applications from as diverse a the Diocese, are offering their resources and field of applicants as possible – but they need to experience to help churches of any denomination do even more. Many maintained schools still in and the Oxford Diocese to build advised their students against applying to Oxford. Friends and to work with them to maintain, However, this year for the first time 60% of develop and use their buildings as resources for admissions were state educated. She was mission and the community. insisting on an even more thorough publication

and analysis of admission statistics but stressed The forum will consist of a mixture of plenary that the governance and structure of the talks, small group workshops and a concluding university made any central policy or oversight panel discussion. The workshops will aim both to impossible, particularly since admission choices be informative and to encourage the sharing of were in the hands of individual college admission experience and ideas. Participants will be invited tutors. Even Heads of House, many of whom to choose two workshops covering topics such as: were in sympathy with more diverse admissions, did not have the power to achieve this in their • Starting Friends groups and making the most of own colleges. your Friends

• Major projects to improve the facilities and • Oxford v Cambridge. She saw little difference usefulness of your church: now between the two, and spoke warmly of their • Planning • Engaging the support of your community • Routine maintenance: responding effectively to additional support to initiatives to preserve the quinquennial inspections fabric of this wonderful building. • Fundraising • Organising events in churches The subscription for membership of the • Welcoming people into your church: helping Beauforest Society is £100 a year for four years. visitors, including schoolchildren, to appreciate Beauforest members receive the Friends of and enjoy your church Dorchester Abbey Newsletter. • Using your building to engage people with the Christian mission This year’s annual Beauforest tea and evensong Participants will be welcome to stay for Evening is planned for Sunday November 17, 4.00 p.m. Prayer at the close of the Forum. tea, followed by Evensong at 5.00 p.m. The aim is to ensure that members have the opportunity Full details will be publicised and online booking to be fully involved in activities in the Abbey. will open during June. Many thanks to all those who signed up for Beauforest membership, and who have enabled Beauforest Society the Friends to support the PCC in important projects. This is a great way to support We are all aware that Dorchester Abbey is an Dorchester Abbey. Additional Beauforest ageing building, built for the most part in the 14th members are always welcome: please contact the century and is therefore continually in need of Chairman Richard Dick or the Membership maintenance and repair. A central role for the Secretary Honor Juniper for further details. Or Friends is to support the PCC with funds (and on download an application form from the occasion expertise and effort) for restoration and Dorchester Abbey website (search Beauforest). maintenance projects. The Beauforest Society was originally established under the chairmanship of Bessie Kelaart to provide

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Booking form for the trip to Worcester on Monday 14th May 2017 leaving at 9.00am

I would like to book ……… places for the visit to Worcester

£30.00 for Friends and £32 for non-Friends for coach travel and Cathedral guided tour.

I enclose a cheque made out to ‘The Friends of Dorchester Abbey’ for £......

Your name …………………………………………………………..

Your phone number ………………………………. Email address: …………………………………………………..

Please return this booking form with your cheque to: Mrs Yvonne Lawden, 9 Queens Close, Dorchester-on-Thames, Wallingford, OX10 7LR by Friday 14th April. [Please note: you will not be sent tickets or a receipt, if you have any queries please phone Yvonne Lawden on 01865 340465 or email: [email protected]]