York Association Newsletter An Association of National Trust Members and Supporters March 2015 Number 172 Contents Page Chairman’s Letter 3 Annual General Meeting 4 Talks and talks reviews 5 Day Trips 7 Notice of AGM, Accounts and Annual Report blue pages Social Events 11 Country Walks 12 Review: Christmas visit and lunch 15 Holidays 16 Membership 17 Review: London short break 17 Review: Rutland Open Air Theatre 19 Dates for your Diary Back cover With this Newsletter are enclosed the Minutes of the 2014 AGM and booking forms for the following: • AGM lunch • day trips • wine and cheese evening • full-day walks Please contact the Newsletter editor if any of these are missing. Acting Chairman: Roger King [email protected] 01904 761274 Secretary: Jean Haywood [email protected] 01904 702402 Treasurer: Martin Lander [email protected] 01780 754567 Membership: Elinor Bailey [email protected] 01347 821262 Day Trips: Colin Sherwood [email protected] 01904 640915 Walks: Alison Rutter [email protected] 01904 703430 Holidays: Peter Drew [email protected] 01904 702285 Talks: Roger Armistead [email protected] 01904 622989 Events: Christine Truman [email protected] 01937 541163 Website: Brian Joscelyne [email protected] 01904 414683 Newsletter: Della Brotherston [email protected] 01904 629242 Cover: The Drum Fall and Rustic Bridge, Studley Royal Water Gardens ©National Trust Images/Andrew Butler 2 Chairman's Letter I am able to begin with some very good news. We have a new secretary, Jean Haywood, who took over from Brenda Batty on 1st January, and a new treasurer, Roger Mortimer, who will take over from Martin Lander at the AGM on 21st March. Thank you, Brenda and Martin, for the many hours freely given for the Association in those posts over 10 years and three years respectively. What we still need is a Vice-Chairman, so whether you are a relatively new or a long-time member, please think about offering to fill this position, which is not an onerous one. The AGM notice, accounts and Chairman’s annual report for the AGM can be found on the blue pages at the centre of this Newsletter for easy extraction if wished; those taking the online Newsletter can download them from the YANT members' website (Documents page), where there is link to AGM Papers. I look forward to seeing many of you at the AGM, which is your opportunity to put forward your views about the Association, approve the accounts and of course elect your Committee. The speaker at the AGM will be Peter Brown MBE, Director and Company Secretary of York Civic Trust. I am pleased to report that attendance at our Saturday afternoon talks has improved slightly, and I hope that support will increase further. Soon the day trip season will be commencing, and I have no doubt that the destinations chosen by the Programme Committee will be very popular and well supported. The Projects Committee has also planned a variety of events for the coming months. All the dates can be found on the back cover of the Newsletter. Please make a note of them in your diary and support them whenever possible. Those with access to the website www.yant.org.uk will find regular updates there on all our activities. Also, don't forget the monthly opportunity for informal socialising at the last Wednesday lunches at the Walmgate Ale House and Bistro, formerly Melton’s Too. In 1992 the Association (or York Centre as it was then) was the beneficiary of a very large bequest. Most of it was disbursed as contributions to improvements and enhancements to Trust properties in Yorkshire, but there remains a residue from accrued interest of just under £6,000. The Committee has agreed in principle to use it to contribute to funding a joint National Trust/Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition entitled “Vivien Leigh: Public Faces, Private Lives”, which is to be premiered at Treasurer’s House in the autumn – hopefully with a special viewing for our members – before going on a worldwide tour. Roger King (Acting Chairman) 3 Annual General Meeting, Saturday 21st March Dante Suite, 2nd Floor, Ebor Stand, York Racecourse The AGM will begin at 11 am. Coffee will be available from 10.30 am. Guests are welcome, but may not vote. A cash bar will be open before lunch, which will be served at 12.45 pm. MENU Starter Herb-poached salmon, shellfish pannacotta, baby potato and samphire salad with caper cream or Provençale pine nut and tomato cheesecake, marinated vegetable salad and crispy noodles ******* Main course Twice-baked shoulder of lamb, roast potato and rosemary purée, redcurrant jus, seasonal vegetables or Gateau of aubergine and truffled risotto, wild mushroom tatin, roast tomato ravioli and tomato cream ******** Dessert Citrus tart with Cointreau-filled choux buns and raspberry fool Freshly ground coffee and mints The three-course lunch costs £26 per person. Please make your choice of starter and main course on the enclosed booking form. Bookings close on Friday 13th March and no cancellations can be accepted after that date. There are several free car parks at the racecourse. 4 TALKS Saturday 21st March, Peter Brown: “The History of York Civic Trust” One of the highlights of our programme this year will be this illustrated talk by Peter Brown, which will follow the formal business of the AGM. Since its formation in 1948, York Civic Trust, for many years under the enthusiastic chairmanship of John Shannon, has had a major influence on the character and appearance of this city. It was through John that the Trust bought and restored Fairfax House. Peter, who came to York to be its first director, said that he had intended staying for only two years, but that York and Fairfax House were both very seductive. Over the past 30 years Peter has helped to place Fairfax House at the centre of studies of 18th century life and culture and has written several books, published by the Trust, on the House and its collections, as well as on the City of York. Peter was promoted to Director of York Civic Trust in 2010 with a broader city- wide remit and was awarded an MBE in 2011 for helping to preserve York’s heritage. Many of our members who are also members of York Civic Trust will know Peter. We are very pleased that he has agreed to speak at our AGM to give us an overview of what is perhaps the most successful civic trust in the UK. Saturday 18th April, Mike Bevington: “Studley Royal Water Gardens” Our final talk this spring will take place at our usual venue of the Friends’ Meeting House in Friargate. The talk will begin at 2.30 pm and a charge of £4 will be collected at the door. In anticipation of summer, Mike Bevington, a guide at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, will tell us about the 18th century water gardens created by John Aislabie and continued by his son William. Mike’s talk will include a tour of the gardens, revealing why they were created and why they are a World Heritage Site of outstanding natural history and beauty. Roger Armistead (Talks Co-ordinator) Talks Reviews Philip Thake: “The Work of the York Conservation Trust”, 15th November 2014 The Trust, described by Dalesman as “guardians of York’s heritage”, is not as well known as it deserves to be, given its role in the preservation of the fabric of the city. Philip Thake, the trust’s chief executive officer, told a packed Penn room how in 1945 John and Cuthbert Bowes Morrell formed Ings Property Company Ltd to buy and restore empty properties of historical significance in 5 the city, thus giving them a new lease of life. In 1976 Ings became the York Conservation Trust, a charity, to which the Morrells gave the 24 properties they owned at the time. By 1995 the Trust owned 56 properties; the 94th was added in 2014. In his talk Philip focused on three of the Trust’s most prestigious properties – the Assembly Room, the De Grey Rooms and St Anthony’s Hall, one of four medieval guildhalls that have survived in the city of York, which now houses the Quilt Museum. A beautifully illustrated Walking Guide covering virtually all the Trust’s properties in York is available for £9.99 from the Trust’s offices at 92 Micklegate; or visit their website www.yorkconservationtrust.org.uk, which has some 360 degree photographs. Catherine Brophy Alan Woodward, “Brunswick Organic Nursery and Archbishop’s Palace Walled Garden”, 17th January Eight years a staff member at Brunswick Organic Nursery, Alan Woodward came out of retirement to talk to us when Adam Myers found himself unable to make the date. Supported by an excellent slide-show, he explained how in 1992 Adam Myers and Pam Mason took over the derelict Brunswick Nursery site in Bishopthorpe and have since built up a thriving sheltered workplace for people with learning difficulties and special needs. Supported by a team of 60 volunteers, eight workers maintain beds, greenhouses and polytunnels on the two-acre site, grow crops in the Archbishop’s Palace walled garden nearby and undertake off-site commissions such as wildlife planting for York City Council to help conserve the tansy beetle, an endangered species known as the Jewel of York, which only survives along 45 kilometres of the River Ouse. We saw samples of the workers’ craftwork that is available in the Brunswick nursery shop – handmade cards and wrapping paper, dried flowers, a bird nesting box.