Annual General Meeting - TrustNews Dec 2003
In November the Trust's Annual General Meeting took place in the Guildhall. The meeting was opened by Sir Peter Ramsbotham, President of the Trust. He welcomed members and guests and, expressed the Trust's regret that illness had forced Roger Backhouse to resign from the Council. After thanking him for the enthusiasm he had brought to the work of the Trust he introduced Patricia Edwards who had recently been elected to the Chair by the Council.
Sir Peter also introduced and welcomed new Vice President The Lord Ashburton, and the Trust's other Vice President Donald Insall who was the guest speaker for the event.
Pat Edwards then took the chair and the meeting's business was conducted, including the re-election of Council members Shione Carden, Rosemary Kinnaird-Smith, Keith Leaman, Iain Patton, Antony Proudman and Huw Thomas, and the election of Peter Radcliffe who had previously been co-opted as the Trust's new Hon Treasurer. Following the presentation of the accounts the retiring Hon Treasurer, Ian Grant, was thanked for his five years of hard work for the Trust.
re-siting of the Library ...
an issue on which many strong views are held
Other business raised included some discussion about the proposed re-siting of the Libraries by the County Council, an issue on which many strong views are held. Clir Pam Peskett related her understanding of the situation and member Grant Dawson put forward a proposal that the Lending Library stay where it is, and only the Reference Library and storage facilities be moved to the new site by Hampshire Records Office. The meeting voted unanimously that no decision should be made on this project until the County Council identifies the alternative use intended for the Lending Library building in Jewry Street - an important listed building which the Trust feels should be retained for civic use.
Other issues raised covered the setting up of an Oram's Arbour community group, and the continued efforts to get listing for the Hockley Viaduct.
Donald lnsall: informative but magical talk
Introducing the speaker, Donald Insall, the Chairman referred to his long professional association with Winchester and his reputation as a distinguished preservation architect. His talk on the restoration of Windsor Castle after the fire was not only informative but magical and delivered with a relaxed professionalism, for his firm were the co-ordinating architects and he personally served as the Architect Member of the enquiry into fire safety in the royal palaces.
'order out of chaos'
We are all familiar with the dramatic images of flames engulfing St. George's hall and the great kitchen, but his slides of the restoration work were a surprise. So thick was the forest of tubular scaffolding holding the remaining structure together that one wondered how work could ever start. But order came out of seeming chaos. The skills of structural engineers, stonemasons, plasterers, woodcutters (beams), gilders and the artists of the wooden floor inlay, were all shown in fine detail. Eventually all was once more perfect. The green drawing room, which had been awash with a continuous waterfall created by the fire brigade as a fire barrier, was eventually dried out. The new green wall covering and restored mirror seemed to make the previous devastation a bad dream. Donald Insall, struggling against a virus, brought great vitality and charm to this presentation, whilst making the serious point that people should be more acutely aware of fire risk and of the speed at which the first small flames can travel. He urged everyone to be more vigilant.
Vote of thanks
Michael Carden proposed a vote of thanks, expressing especially the Trust's gratitude for Mr lnsall's fulfilment of his promise to speak despite not being well.