CHAIRMAN’S REPORT At the outset of this report I must put on record how sad members of the Peak District Centre were to learn of the death of Dr Geoffrey Willis, who was our President for so many years and an absolutely pivotal figure in the story of the Peak District Centre. He will be greatly missed. Our condolences go to Freda and to all members of his family; our thoughts are with them, as they are with Keith Robinson and John Morten and all members of the PDC who are currently unwell, and we send them our best wishes. Since my first Chairman’s Report appeared in the July 2017 newsletter, it seems that the modest increase in membership has continued, which is clearly good news, but there are absolutely no grounds for complacency. The fliers containing details of our 2017 Social Programme, left at various locations throughout the Peak District, have no doubt helped to advertise our existence to the general public (and it is my hope that we can continue this initiative into 2018 and beyond). I think we must also do everything we can to make newcomers to Derbyshire aware of what we do, perhaps by leaflet drops around the new estates, or by some other means. We have to be realistic that we do have an ageing membership, and so to attract some younger members, with new ideas, would be hugely beneficial to the PDC. Most of our committee members and helpers have been volunteering for a very long time, and if some of the burden they currently carry could be taken on by active younger members that would be a very good thing (but, at the same time, no existing member should be under any pressure to stand down if they do not wish to do so). We owe our volunteers a debt of gratitude and that is why it is such good news that the National Trust has moved to recognise the invaluable role of volunteers by deciding to award them certificates and long-service brooches. I have already had the pleasure of presenting some of these awards and will present the remainder of them when the opportunity arises. Thanks are due to Ian Laing for doing the research and then providing all the necessary data to the East Midlands Area of the NT; and, of course, congratulation is due to all the recipients. But Ian is not the only member of the PDC who should be thanked. Every officer and member of the main committee and of the Social and Projects Groups deserve a mention as do the members who provide us with tea and coffee at meetings and who run or assist with the running of the second-hand book stall. There is one other person I must specifically mention and that is 1 Kathleen Wharton who is stepping down as Newsletter Coordinator in January 2018. Thanks to Kathleen we now have a superb newsletter of which we can be justly proud. Fortunately for the PDC Richard Weedon, our Membership Secretary, has agreed to step into Kathleen’s shoes and with his extensive knowledge of computers he will be able to sustain the high standard that Kathleen has set. Richard is also well on the way to sorting out the problems we have had with our Register of Members for several years. Richard has discovered that a number of members (almost certainly through no fault of their own) paid less by way of subscription in 2017 than should have been the case and he is currently contacting those members for whom he has details to try to remedy the situation. There are also a small number of overpayments. For the sake of clarity, the membership fees for 2017 were £10 per person or £15 per household. If any member has paid more than this, if he or she contacts Richard giving details of the overpayment, refunds can be made. If no claims for overpayment are made before the AGM, then it is the view of the committee that these overpayments (which involve only small sums of money) should be treated as donations. Since July 2017 we have had a very well-supported visit to World of Glass in St Helens then on to Rufford Old Hall, an inspirational talk at Chinley about the work of the RNLI, an excellent holiday in Shropshire organised by Carolyn Turner, which was superb value for money, and a really brilliant talk at Ashford in the Water by Ian Morgan. I am confident that the rest of the 2017 Social Programme will have been a success and I am sure the Social Programme for 2018, organised by Judith Aizlewood and her Social Group (details of which appear later in this newsletter) will have great appeal to you all. The report of the Project Group for 2017 makes interesting reading and I feel that the PDC should feel very proud of the contributions it has made to National Trust projects, not just in 2017 but also for many years before then. Finally, I am very pleased to be able to announce that our patron, the Duke of Devonshire will be our guest for lunch at our AGM on the 3rd March 2018. After the business of the AGM the Duke will give an illustrated talk about Chatsworth Estate, its historic foundation and evolution, how the estate works today, and the Cavendish family’s vision and values for the future management of the Devonshire Business Group. The Duke is also willing to take questions at the end of his talk. 2 Tony Read – Chairman - National Trust Peak District Centre SOCIAL GROUP LEADER’S LETTER All events planned for 2017 went ahead apart from the holiday to Italy which didn’t quite reach the required numbers. Many thanks to the team: Tony Read, Sandy Weedon, Betty Moll, Carolyn Turner and John Boyle for planning and delivering a varied and interesting programme which ranged from the stone age to the present day. Many thanks to Annette for her many years organising the book stall – this is now being managed by Shirley Read and produces a small but steady income – your book donations are much appreciated. John Morten has quietly and efficiently looked after our audio- visual needs for many years but is not well at the moment. I am sure he is in our thoughts and we thank him for his longstanding contribution. Many thanks also to our refreshment team lead by Carolyn and all the willing hands who help to put out chairs and tidy up. We also appreciate those who volunteer to write up an event for the programme or propose a vote of thanks – we try to share these tasks around and it may be paranoia on my part but there does seem to be an avoidance of eye contact when I’m looking for ‘volunteers’. At the moment there is a particular need for pictures of events to illustrate the programme, so if you have any skills in this area your contributions would be welcome. Any help you can give to enhance our group for our members is welcomed and we would welcome new additions to the social group. It is pleasing to see some new members attending events and any ideas and suggestions for future activities would be appreciated. Particular thanks are due to Carolyn who organised an excellent holiday to Shropshire. A great deal of time and research with the Andrews team ensured all went smoothly with an excellent hotel, good food, a helpful driver and a range of excellent visits. At the time of writing this in late October the programme for 2018 has been finalised with the Christmas lunch to look forward to in 2017. I hope to see you there and, if not, may I take this opportunity to wish you many happy adventures in 2018. Judith Aizlewood 3 4 PROJECT GROUP REPORT We reported in the last newsletter that we were sponsoring some hedge laying with a National Trust tenant farmer in Castleton. Our offer of funding of £500 was subject to matched funding being obtained: this was forthcoming from the National Trust Sheffield Centre so the work will be undertaken during the autumn/winter. A new project has recently been considered and concerns the building of a new bridge at Ilam. Hinkley Wood is on steeply sloping land on the opposite side of the River Manifold to the Hall and main visitor area. The wood is a fantastic place for wildlife and in the 1980s the National Trust built a footpath through the wood from the ancient St Bertram’s Bridge to a new bridge some 800 metres west. This route allowed visitors to safely access and enjoy the wood for the first time and proved to be an important part of the Ilam experience. Unfortunately, the wooden beams holding the bridge were recently declared unsafe and the bridge was closed for safety reasons, and subsequently removed. Due to the difficult site it was decided that a ‘like for like’ replacement was too expensive and instead it will be replaced with a lightweight rope bridge. The project cost is £12,315, and the property is putting in £3,695 towards this. A bid by Ilam to the Derbyshire Environmental Trust, alongside Tarmac, for the balance has been successfully submitted. Landfill operators such as Tarmac may allocate part of their annual tax liability to the Landfill Communities Fund, but they can only reclaim 90% of the value of awards made. Hence the need for a third part contributor (TPC) to reimburse the 10% of the funding award which cannot be reclaimed.