Chairman's Remarks - Trust Annual Report 1987
To our great regret Mr. D. H. Weait has decided to stand down from the Council due to other commitments. David Weait has a distinguished record of service to the Trust, having acted as Hon. Treasurer continuously since April 1983 and as Chairman in 1984/85. We are indeed grateful to him for all that he has done for us, and he will be much missed.
We are fortunate that Mr. E. J. Witts, who is already the Hon. Treasurer of the Heritage Centre, has kindly agreed to act also as Hon. Treasurer of the Trust, and he will be proposed for election to the Council at the Annual General Meeting.
Mrs. E. Meredith, who has been extremely helpful to us as Assistant Hon. Treasurer, is also standing down, and we are very grateful both to her and to Barclays Bank. Although Barclays will no longer be represented on our Council, the close links which we have had with the Bank since the inception of the Trust will be maintained.
This, perhaps, is an appropriate moment to say that, as will be seen from the Hon. Treasurer's Report, the finances of the Trust remain in a healthy state, though rightly, he calls attention to the need to increase membership.
This is a matter to which we are devoting increasing attention, but the best ambassadors for the Trust are existing members and if you wish the Trust to flourish and its voice to be heard, please do all you can to persuade your friends and, in particular, newcomers to Winchester, to join.
Thanks to our Membership Secretary, it is now possible to pay subscriptions by Deed of Covenant, and I would urge members to adopt this very painless method which provides valuable additional income for the Trust.
We are sad that Major Keith Egleston has decided to resign from the Council. His wide experience (he is Vice-Chairman of the Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust, a former Director of the Heritage Education Group of the Civic Trust and he is currently working on a number of projects for the National Trust) has been invaluable and we shall miss his energy and enthusiasm.
Mark Savidge, our Hon. Publicity Officer, had to relinquish this post for personal reasons before he was fully in the saddle, but we are grateful for all he did. We hope that Ron Graham will be able to take over in the near future.
Mrs. Brit Croft, our very efficient Hon. Programme Co-ordinator, will be giving up this job in November, but will continue to organise our Newsletter deliveries. She would like to hear from any member who is able to take on a small delivery area or is willing to act as a holiday stand-in.
In last year's Report I said that the most important concerns of the Trust in 1986/87 were likely to be the redevelopment of the Brooks site, the M3 Motorway and Peninsula Barracks.
Although there has been no concrete news of the redevelopment of the Barracks, this has proved an accurate forecast as regards the Brooks site and the M3 Motorway. These matters are reviewed later in the Report, but they have taken up and continue to take up a great deal of time, and the year has been a strenuous one for the Trust. There is a limit to what can be undertaken by any voluntary organisation.
There are various areas in which we would like to have devoted more time and effort (e.g. publicity and a drive for increased membership). There are a number of projects and studies which we would like to have undertaken (e.g. we contemplated setting up a Historical Section). However, whilst we have had to concentrate on the immediate and important issues to the detriment, perhaps, of some of the less pressing ones, we are by no means complacent about the achievements of the Trust and we are turning our attention to these and other matters.
The limiting factor, always, is time and people, and we shall be very glad to hear from anyone who would like to be more actively involved in the affairs of the Trust or the Heritage Centre.
No Annual Report would be complete without a tribute to all our Officers and Council Members, to those who serve on our Committees and Panels and help in the Heritage Centre and, in particular, to our Hon. Secretary, Gill Graham.