North Staffordshire National Trust Association Newsletter No. 110 Summer 2018 www.northstaffsnt.org.uk Christmas lunch at Aston Marina © Bruce Beard s Arrangements for Trips Coaches now depart promptly from Brunswick Street at the front of the Jubilee Baths. The car park on School Street is now short stay. The nearest long stay car park is the public car park next to the Borough Arms Hotel. We do not pick up members en route. Please send a separate cheque, with the event name on the reverse, and a stamped addressed envelope for each event applied for, even if it is with the same organiser. People wishing to sit together should complete one form. Non-members travelling as members’ guests pay an extra £2 for Coach Outings and £1 for car trips. If circumstances dictate they have lower priority booking. Please make cheques payable to “North Staffs National Trust Association”. Cheques are normally not cleared until after an event. We will give notice if we need to do otherwise. Refunds on cancellation are possible only if there is a waiting list. Please do not find your own substitute travellers: people on the waiting list have priority. The Committee reserves the right to cancel any event that is not viable. The personal accident insurance arranged by the Association through the Trust does NOT cover members over 80 years of age. However, our public liability insurance covers members at any age. Whilst participating in an event please make sure that you carry the organiser’s mobile phone number from the booking acceptance form in case you get lost. Please DO NOT MAKE alternative arrangements to get home without first telling the trip organiser. This Newsletter is published by North Staffordshire National Trust Association to provide members with information on the forthcoming programme, reports on recent events, and other membership issues. The text and images are copyright and may not be reproduced without the owner’s permission. Any views expressed by individual contributors are their own and not necessarily of the NSNTA or the NT. We are always delighted to welcome new members – see further details on the inserts in the centre of this Newsletter. The editor welcomes items of direct relevance to Association activities, and thanks all contributors, with apologises for failure to acknowledge any, particularly if sent by post. Copy and correspondence for the next issue, due for publication in August, should be addressed to [email protected] (01782 791360) by the 15th July at the absolute latest (but earlier if possible!) Printed by Colourimage Printers, High Wycombe (01494 52999) [email protected] 2 North Staffordshire National Trust Association Newsletter No. 110 Summer 2018 Programme A Note From The Chair I am writing this at Easter in an optimistic frame of mind. The clocks have sprung forward and the daffodils and crocus, like us, found their way through the ice and snow. Soon the voice of the coach courier will be heard in the land. By the time you read this there will be masses of tulips and trips to which to look forward and the demands of Council Tax, Severn Trent, plus balance of London Holiday, forgotten. I hope you will remember to come to the AGM. It will be an opportunity to give details of the donations we have given the Trust, and for Andy Beer, Regional Director, to thank you personally. In case you can't come, I will summarise where the surplus made on events has gone: We have given £5,000 towards the quarter of a million cost of rewiring Little Moreton Hall later this year. We have given £2,500 to Biddulph Grange to expand and update equipment in the propagation area and to acquire more stumps to replace the originals in The Stumpery and "China". Lastly, members visited the Birmingham Back to Backs fairly recently and The Committee was greatly taken with the benefits of a scheme to mentor and sponsor the training of a group of young people to be property guides. We sent £500 for this project. Wishing you a wonderful summer and looking forward to seeing you out and about. Ralph. 3 Forthcoming Events All talks commence at 7:30 p.m. at the North Staffordshire Conference Centre (the Medical Institute), Hartshill Road, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 7NY unless otherwise stated. Thursday 10th May: Car Trip to Adlington Hall, Macclesfield, SK10 4LF This is now fully booked. See previous Newsletter for details. 17th – 21st May: London Holiday David and Cynthia will once again be running a holiday to London, but as of the date of publication of this Newsletter this is now fully booked. Should you wish to know further details or enquire after the unlikely event of a cancellation contact David or Cynthia, 01782 641765, [email protected] Tuesday 22nd May 7:00 pm: AGM & Talk: Andy Beer, NT Regional Director THIRTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING NORTH STAFFS CONFERENCE CENTRE HARTSHILL TUESDAY MAY 22nd 2018 at 7.00PM AGENDA 1. Apologies for absence 2. Chairman's Opening Remarks 3. Approval of Minutes of the 37th AGM 4. Secretary's Report - Matters Arising 5. Treasurer's Report - Matters Arising 6. Setting of Subscription Level for 2018 – 2019 7. Approvals for re-election to committee * 8. Nominations for Officers and Committee ** 9. Election of Officers and Committee for 2018 – 2019 10. Any Other Business 7.30pm approx: We will invite our guest, Andy Beer, Regional Director for the NT, to entertain and inform us with his talk on the work of the National Trust. The evening will finish as usual with tea/coffee and biscuits, or wine from the bar - all available to purchase on the night. 4 * Under our constitution, committee members should normally stand down after 5 years. Richard Adams, Roger Cartlidge, Cynthia Dumbelton, Madeleine Hopley and Rose Wheat have served 5 years or more, and wish to continue in post. They therefore require the approval of the AGM to stand for re-election this year ** Members will be invited to submit nominations for the Committee and Officers (Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer). Each nomination should be signed by the proposer, a seconder and the nominee, all of whom must be paid-up members of the Association. If possible, please send nominations in advance of the meeting to Richard Adams, Secretary, Gables End, Holly Bank, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 8FT. * * * * * Minutes of the last AGM may be found in Newsletter 108 pp.14 (in the on-line archive pp.22 of the pdf). Thursday 7th June: Car Trip: Hope House Costume Museum, Alstonefield The museum collection, which is housed in a large stable block, comprises hundreds of fashion items some of which go back to the early 19th century. Items include clothing relating to women, men and children. There are also shoes, bags and even bridal wear. Notty Hornblower (her husband told me that Notty is of course a nickname by which she likes to be called) has amassed her collection over the last thirty years and she has been featured in magazines such as Country Life and Homes and Antiques. Some of her costumes have been hired out for films and photo-shoots. She has done many talks and fashion shows for various groups and she also carries out textile valuations for Hansons Auctioneers. A full tour viewing the collection followed by a talk from Notty relating to the exhibits will last approximately two hours followed by refreshments comprising cake, home-made scones with jam and pots of tea served in the drawing-room of the 17th century house. If the weather is fine, people can be served in the garden if they so wish. I think that Notty is an unconventional lady who will doubtless deliver an entertaining afternoon for us. The cost is £14 (£16 non-members) to include admission to the collection, the talk and afternoon tea. Maximum Number 38. Location: near Ashbourne at DE6 2GE. Meeting at 1.45.pm. 5 There is ample on-site parking and directions will be sent with your acknowledgement. Please apply to Shirley Timmis, c/o 3 The Mount, Scholar Green, Stoke on Trent, ST7 3HY enclosing cheque and S.A.E. Telephone No. 01782 851436 or 01782 777513. Tuesday 19th June: Coach Outing: Pickford House, Derby, and Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire Joseph Pickford, an architect, built this house in 1769 as his family home and workplace. Behind the house was a builder’s yard and stonemason’s workshop. The family’s association with the house ended in 1844. It changed hands several times until Derby City Council bought it and then opened it as a museum in 1988. The museum has rooms furnished much as when the Pickford family lived there, and also has collections of costumes and toy theatres. Outside is a garden laid out in a style similar to a Georgian garden. There are temporary exhibitions on the top floor. We will arrive at about 10.00 and be divided into 3 groups. The first two groups will start a guided tour of the house at 10.15. This will last one hour. The third group will go to the Derby Museum and Art Gallery, about seven minutes walk away, with me, for refreshments, at one’s own expense, and a look at what is on display in the building. This group will return to Pickford House for its guided tour at 11.15. The first two groups will then go to the Museum and Art Gallery. We will leave Pickford House at about 12.30 to go to Kedleston Hall. Kedleston Hall was finished in 1765 having been built for Sir Nathaniel Curzon.