Help Us to Safeguard Our Future
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Help us to Safeguard our Future Leaving a gift in your Will to Chiltern Open Air Museum On 11th June 1973, it was suggested that the Chiltern Society should consider starting an open air museum of historic buildings in order to preserve them e’ve been rescuing threatened historical workplaces and houses for future generations. The aims of the Museum would be educational as Wof ordinary people, which would have otherwise be demolished and well as recreational: it would, the Society hoped, foster public interest in the disappear from the landscape entirely, since 1976. Our mission is to architectural heritage of the Chiltern Hills so that people would come to tell the story of the unique history of the Chilterns through buildings, recognise the importance of the buildings and become aware of the need to landscapes and culture for the enjoyment, inspiration and learning of protect others like them in the future. present and future communities. The Museum now has 33 rescued schools to make the best use of and reconstructed historic buildings their visit. Our general visitor that need to be maintained, which numbers are also increasing and can be expensive. For example, we need to expand our catering replacing a thatched roof using and other visitor facilities to cope traditional long straw methods with the demand. can cost up to £50,000. We have a further 15 historic buildings in store The Museum is a charity and waiting for the funds to be raised receives no regular funding, so the so that they can be reconstructed income that we receive in the form on the Museum site. Our schools’ of legacies, donations and grants programme has become is vital for helping us to maintain increasingly popular and we need to the buildings that we have and create an inspiring and appropriate continue our work so that it can be indoor learning space to enable enjoyed by future generations. Above: Rossway Granary after it was reconstructed at the Museum. Right: Rossway Granary being explored by school children. Wing Granary being transported to the Museum in 1978. Your legacy Your Will is the only way to ensure that your wishes are carried out and that your family and friends are provided for in the way that you intend. Friends and loved ones should always come first, but after you have taken care of them you may wish to consider leaving a gift to the places that have meant a great deal and given you pleasure, or to a In 2015 over 20,000 school cause that you feel is important. children visited the Museum. By leaving a gift to Chiltern Open Air Museum you can help to ensure that this special place is protected for future generations. Why we need legacies Gifts enable the Museum to purchase materials necessary to complete essential building and repair work. They help contribute to the purchase Our livestock are rare-breeds of tools and machinery as well as the provision of found historically in the Chilterns. adequate shelter and food for the farm animals. They assist with the feasibility and research costs of any proposed building projects and fund additional staffing costs, allowing the Museum to continue providing an excellent history and education programme to thousands of school children, trainees and visiting families. Tax savings Replacing a straw thatch can cost Chiltern Open Air Museum is a registered charity up to £50,000. and is therefore exempt from inheritance tax and capital gains tax. A gift in your Will can reduce the amount of tax payable out of your estate. Under new rules, which took effect on 6 April 2012, the rate of inheritance tax is reduced from 40% to 36% if you leave at least 10% of your estate to charity. To ensure your intentions are fully carried out, we strongly recommend that you seek the advice from a solicitor or other qualified advisor when making a Will. Sourcing and conserving artefacts can be costly. In memory of a loved one When a loved one dies, a gift in their memory can mean a great deal. A gift to Chiltern Open Air Museum can be a way of remembering someone who was particularly fond of the Museum. A gift may take the form of a dedicated donation, or you may decide to ask for donations instead of flowers at a funeral. The Bacon family legacy Toll House from High Wycombe, Such gifts are acknowledged within our book of remembrance here at the By daughters Catharine and Susanna originally built in 1826. I noticed a small handmade lead nozzle had been Museum. Our father, Stephen Bacon, joined the added to the tap in the Toll House and Chiltern Open Air Museum volunteers it was identical to something I had You can be confident that your legacy Visitor Experience Manager Siân on his retirement. Having grown seen at home. In true fashion, Stephen will contribute greatly to securing Hammerton-Fraser wearing the RAF up in rural Gloucestershire and as a had fashioned it himself! Chiltern Open Air Museum’s enriching cap donated to the Museum as part former boy Scout, he relished honing and rewarding architectural and cultural of the Bacon family legacy. his skills at the Museum, particularly Our mother, Pamela Bacon’s, role as a heritage for generations to come. hedging, ditching and lime plastering parish and local Councillor gave her one of the cottages. opportunities to advise and help with Museum projects. Having lived in the When the grandchildren were small they village since the early 1940s, with a were regularly taken to the Museum. passionate interest in teaching History The heavy horses and special events and having trained at Newland Park were a special treat. The youngsters College, it was only natural that were always encouraged to do she would become involved in the something practical. Museum too. She kindly donated Stephen’s RAF memorabilia and uniforms to the Museum. The Museum was an interest they could both share in their busy retirements, and the tree Pamela ordered when Stephen died was The Museum’s Victorian Toll house, originally appropriately dedicated to them both from High Wycombe. and planted in the special Chiltern The Museum has over 200 volunteers who in 2015 contributed 27,000 hours to the Museum. In later years Stephen took particular Open Air Museum memorial Cherry Our site is a community hub where our volunteers make friends, pass on skills or learn new pleasure and pride in caring for the Orchard after her death in 2011. ones and make a valuable contribution. Without their passion, dedication and personalities the Museum would not be able to run. Repairs to the Iron Age house being carried out in 2008. Types of gift Michael’s living legacy A legacy or bequest is a type of gift in your Will “I was one of the first people to volunteer at the and mean the same thing. There are a number Museum in 1979. I’ve always been fascinated by of ways to leave a gift in your Will to Chiltern artefacts and enjoyed trying to work out what Open Air Museum (COAM). Unrestricted they might be used for. Over the years, as well as legacies enable the Museum to use your gift working on various building and farm projects, where the need is greatest at the time. There I was delighted to donate a 1940s cot, that my are four main types of unrestricted legacy: own children slept in, for display in the Prefab. Lasting gift A few years after I joined Chiltern Open Air A residuary legacy is a share (or all) Museum, I travelled all round the Chilterns and of the remainder of your estate, that consulted experts who gave me advice on how can be given to COAM once all other to catalogue items. Starting with a card index commitments have been settled. system and progressing to auto indexing on an old donated computer, I set up the Museum’s first Gift of a sum of money artefact cataloguing system to help keep track of This allows you to leave COAM a fixed a collection which now numbers 5000 items! Michael with the cot he donated for cash sum e.g. £1,000. You can also opt for display in the Museum’s Prefab. it to be index-linked to maintain its value In 2015 I donated a capital gift to the Museum in the form of a ‘living legacy’: in line with inflation. I wanted to see my gift being put to good use and because I made my legacy gift during my lifetime, the Museum was able to benefit from an additional 25% Specific gift through the Gift Aid scheme.” This covers a broad range of legacies from royalties, stocks and shares to objects for Michael’s generosity has allowed the Museum to continue to develop its COAM’s collection. You can also nominate collection of unique artefacts and to preserve these objects for the future. COAM as a beneficiary under certain insurance policies e.g. life insurance or Changing your Will death-in-service. If the changes are straightforward and simple, it is possible to do this using what is known as a Codicil. This is a legally binding document, supplementary to a Will, Important information which would be signed and witnessed with the same formalities as before, although We strongly recommend you consult a you do not have to use the same witnesses. As the addition of a Codicil will affect qualified legal advisor when preparing the contents of your Will, we always recommend that you seek professional advice.