The Friends of Tewkesbury Abbey

News from the Friends' Council

The Friends of The full Council has met twice since the AGM in July. We have continued to do what we can Tewkesbury to support the PCC in the maintenance and preservation of our magnificent Abbey, but we have also given some thought to the best way Abbey in which to carry forward the work of the Friends. To that end we have established a Newsletter - December 2015 number of committees to explore ways in which to extend the range of what we do. Dear Friends, Each of the committees has already had one meeting and fixed the next for early in the Welcome to the first in what we hope will be a New Year. series of periodic updates on the activities of the Friends. In due course we hope to publish The Friends/PCC Standing Committee was a regular, perhaps biannual, Newsletter to established some years ago, initially to keep you abreast of developments. In this undertake the revision of the constitution. brief publication you will find some news of the Since then it has evolved into an invaluable Council and its committees, an account of our forum in which the Friends and the PCC can visit to Dean Close School, Cheltenham, and share plans, concerns and developments in a a report from the conference of Friends of way that ensures a strong working partnership Cathedrals and Greater Churches which I between the two bodies and makes for much attended in Southwark at the beginning of more positive planning on behalf of both. October. Also included is a list of the major services at the Abbey during the Christmas The Finance and Investments Committee is period. We would be delighted to see you the successor to the previous Finance there. Committee and is charged with supporting the Treasurer in the financial management of the Our thanks to those who have ordered Friends and ensuring that our resources are Friends' Christmas cards this year; they have appropriately husbanded and accounted for in been hugely popular. We have already compliance with the regulations of the Charity thought about next year's card and are holding Commission. It makes recommendations a competition in local schools to design one about investment decisions and advises for us. We hope that it will produce a Council on the response to requests from the substantial entry of high-quality illustrations. PCC for financial support. All being well we propose to hold an exhibition of the best entries at about this time in 2016. More details will follow. Thanks too to those who have sent extra donations to help us in our financial support for the Abbey; all have been greatly appreciated.

With Advent once more upon us as I write this, we begin to turn our thoughts towards this year's celebration of our Lord's birth. May I wish you all, wherever you may be, a blessed and peaceful Christmas and a very happy New Year.

Graham Finch, Chairman The Activities and Events Committee is a new partnership with the Abbey PCC in the plans venture for the Friends. Its remit is to arrange for celebrating the 900th anniversary of the a programme of events and activities for consecration of the Abbey (and also the 550th members (and others) with the hope of anniversary of the Battle of Tewkesbury). An creating a greater sense of fellowship across ambitious programme of projects leading up to the organisation and also, perhaps, helping to the year itself and eventually of events to raise further funds. Some activities will have a purely social focus; others will be more explicitly directed to fundraising. Already suggestions are crowding in for possible visits and talks. We have decided to start on a fairly modest scale and to build gradually to a more extensive programme. We'd be delighted to hear from any members who would like to make suggestions or, better still, offer to organise activities.

The Fundraising and Communications Committee is another new committee and has responsibility for promoting the fundraising dimension of the Friends and also for ensuring that all levels of communication are operating to the benefit of the organisation. This Newsletter is the first product of its work. Subscriptions are the means by which the Friends' governance is assured and clearly the extension of the membership base and the celebrate it has already been set out in a possibility of recruiting corporate members is Strategic Plan, devised by the Vicar, key to that continuing to be the case. Churchwardens and PCC and launched on Additionally the committee has set itself a October 26th 2015. Copies are available for target of raising each year a sum equivalent to download from the Abbey website. We would the annual grant to the PCC Fabric Fund recommend that you take a look and prepare (currently £30,000). In due course we shall to support us as we prepare for this very need to undertake some major fundraising for special celebration in the life of the Abbey. projects connected with 20:21 (see below). In terms of communication we are looking to Recent Legacies extend our use of electronic and social media. The Friends are extremely grateful to the We already have a page on the Abbey website estates of the following for bequests either and are also contributing to the Abbey's received or notified: Facebook presence. It has been very helpful to have e-mail addresses for members as this Mrs Sheila Butterworth; Mr George Chandler; helps significantly (and inexpensively) in Mr Peter Dunnill; Mr Graham Freeman; Mr keeping more closely in touch. The committee Ron Hawkridge. would be delighted to hear from any members with fundraising expertise or experience in any In the past we have been extremely fortunate aspect of communications. to have benefited from such bequests, which have helped to keep the Friends' financial A major focus for the Council in the coming position very strong. If you have not already years will be preparations for 2021. The done so please consider remembering the Friends are already closely involved in Friends of Tewkesbury Abbey in your will. FRIENDS' VISIT TO DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL theatre and horse-racing must have made him a somewhat controversial figure in nineteenth The Friends' first visit for many years took century Cheltenham. The School was place on Thursday 15th October. By kind originally named Dean Close Memorial School invitation of the Headmaster, we spent the in his honour and was opened in 1886. afternoon at Dean Close School, where we received an exceptionally warm welcome and enjoyed a tour led by the Abbey's own Fr Charles Whitney, who is the School's Archivist and had been instrumental in setting up the visit in the first place. We began at the Prep School, with its fine new entrance, where we admired the splendid theatre and spent time with the Music Department, taking a special interest in the facilities used by the Abbey's Schola Cantorum.

After our thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining tour, we were treated to tea and cakes in the School Dining Room, under the watchful eyes of the portraits of all the school's Headmasters. Finally we were able to enjoy Choral Evensong sung in the Chapel Choir by the men and boys of Schola Cantorum under the guidance of Simon Bell their Director of Music. Being accustomed to hearing them sing in the Abbey it was a real We walked across to the Senior School, treat to hear them in their own School Chapel. admiring the extensive and well-kept grounds, It was a fitting end to the afternoon. and spent some time in the School Chapel, where Fr Charles told us something of its history and also spoke movingly of the work that he and his team have been doing on the lives of Old Decanians who died in the wars of the twentieth century. From here we walked to the Music Department whose facilities were enormously impressive. Then to the Bacon Theatre, which has one of the two biggest stages in the whole of the county. Fr Charles took the opportunity here to tell us something Our thanks must go to all at Dean Close for of the extraordinary life and career of the their generous hospitality and for the care and Reverend Francis Close, who served as friendliness which we were shown wherever Perpetual Curate in Cheltenham for thirty we went. In particular we were grateful to Fr years before being preferred as Dean of Charles for the thoughtful and thorough way in Carlisle in 1856. He was firmly committed to which he had prepared for our visit and the the cause of education in the town, being erudite and amusing conducted tour which he involved in the development of infant and gave us. We very much hope that the visit will secondary schools and supporting the help to cement the relationship between Dean establishment of teacher training colleges. His Close and the Friends of Tewkesbury Abbey. staunch opposition to such activities as CONFERENCE OF FRIENDS OF of course, Shakespeare's Globe, now rebuilt CATHEDRALS AND GREATER CHURCHES and reinvigorated. Choral Evensong was a wonderful occasion, especially as we were Southwark Cathedral 2nd - 4th October seated in the Choir. Unfortunately it was 2015 interrupted by a fire alarm and we were all It was a huge pleasure and a great privilege to obliged to evacuate the building just before be able to represent the Friends at this the Anthem. Although it was not possible to biennial conference in Southwark at the resume the service, the Friends' group was beginning of October. It afforded a eventually able to return into the building for a tremendous opportunity to meet and exchange experiences with Friends from Cathedrals and Greater Churches from all parts of the country. The weekend offered a fascinating mix of professional presentations, interesting visits, uplifting worship and, most important, time to "network" and to make new "Friends"!

Registration was on Friday afternoon followed Southwark Cathedral (with The Shard) by a very comprehensive tour of Southwark guided tour, which took us not just into the Cathedral, once the Parish Church of St Mary main parts of the church, but also to the Overie. Amongst its many points of interest galleries above, where we were shown "the are the gothic Retrochoir, the fine reredos Great Model", which Wren prepared to win screen, the Harvard Chapel (the founder of approval for his rebuilding project, and the the famous American university was baptised Cathedral Library, where the Librarian gave us in the church) and memorials to Geoffrey a fascinating talk about its history and Chaucer, John Gower, William Shakespeare contents. Among other intriguing exhibits high and Bishop Lancelot Andrews. Merbecke above the cathedral aisles were a font cover, (composer of the famous setting of the a huge eagle lectern and two mighty pulpits. Communion Service) was put on trial for No-one was quite able to explain to us how heresy in the Consistory Court then held in the these treasures had found their way to such a Retrochoir. He was found guilty, but escaped lofty position. execution because as a musician "he knew Returning to Southwark we had dinner no better"! together in the new library (part of a Our next engagement was at St Paul's magnificent millennium development adjacent Cathedral for Choral Evensong. The Dean of to the Cathedral), which was followed by Southwark took us on a guided walk across Compline, sung by the Merbecke Choir. This the Milennium Bridge, pointing out en route provided a quiet and reflective conclusion to many interesting details: the replica Golden the first part of the conference. Hind; the ruins The following morning we met in the of the Cathedral at 9.00 am for Morning Prayer and medieval the Eucharist, simple but prayerful services Palace of the which helped to set the tone for the day which Bishops of followed. Winchester; the Clink; the A series of three presentations occupied the Anchor Inn main part of the day. First we heard from Neil The Library at St Paul's (from where Constable, Chief Executive of Shakespeare's Pepys viewed the Great Fire of London) and, Globe, and his colleague Colin Mackenzie- Blackman, Head of Revenue Fundraising. It the extent to which such matters may or may was fascinating to hear how such a major not be dealt with. theatrical enterprise and educational charity approaches its work and, in particular, to learn The final presentation was from Sarah King, about the key role played by the Friends of who is Chair of the Friends of Southwark Shakespeare's Globe. With an annual Cathedral and also Co-ordinator of the turnover of £21.5million (2013) it is clearly an Association of English Cathedrals. We were enormously larger enterprise than any told about the various types of structures for Cathedral or Greater Church. Its Friends' charitable organisations: unincorporated group was set up in 1991, initially as a association; trust; company limited by fundraising body for the building of the guarantee; charitable incorporated theatre. In 2005 it was incorporated into the organisation. The latter is a recent innovation. Shakespeare Globe Trust but there remains a We should know to which of these models our dedicated Friends' team. There are currently organisation belongs. Southwark and one or 7,317 members across a range of categories two other Friends' organisations - Chichester, (e.g. Best friends, Courtiers, Nobles, Ely, Wimborne - took the opportunity when Directors). Membership costs vary depending their constitutions were in need of revision to on category with a small number of "high level become charitable incorporated organisations donors". This brings in £1 million per annum and Sarah was an enthusiast for this model, and the Globe looks to its Friends to raise which has some of the advantages of a approximately 40% of its overall fundraising company, but without some of its burdens. target. Many helpful points were made during this presentation, but two in particular remain in the memory:

* Say thank you to your Friends.

* Above all: regard your role as "helping people to fall in love".

The second presentation was a joint offering about investments and insurance. First Bruce 'Looking Up' in Ely Cathedral Following the presentations we joined Crawford of CCLA spoke to us about together for Choral Evensong in the investments and provided a number of Cathedral, sung by the Alleyn Singers, based illustrative examples of the benefits of in Southwark but travelling to Cathedrals and investing any funds which are likely to be held Greater Churches across the country (they over a reasonably long period of time. He was sang in Tewkesbury Abbey earlier this not able to give advice about specific fund summer). The final event was a dinner held in options but demonstrated that over even a few the Retrochoir after which the Dean, the Very years investing money yields a better return Rev Andrew Nunn, gave an extremely than keeping it in cash. engaging after-dinner speech. Claire Attenborough of Ecclesiastical All were hugely grateful to the staff and Insurance urged us to ensure that all volunteers at Southwark Cathedral for their necessary insurances were in place, hospitality and welcome. Especial thanks to particularly where a programme of visits, Kate Dean who organised everything so activities and events outside the church was efficiently and with such good humour. The offered. It is not necessarily the case that next conference in 2017 will be held in Ely and Friends' organisations will be covered by the the following one (2019) in Peterborough. insurance policy of the mother church and we were advised to check with our own church Graham Finch October 2015