r cial support. The task facing a Wales Chapels Conservation Trust is onerous and seed corn funding is needed to establish the organisation. Once set up, the WCCT could then seek partnership funding from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and other sources but it is not clear whether Cadw will be able to help with this vital initial funding. One good piece of news is that the recommendation for a census has been taken up. The Royal Commission and CAPEL with the Presbyterian Church of Wales have combined to form a survey group. Their work started in October 1996 with the promise that at least the questions of where and how many chapels there are should be answered within a year. It is proposed that advertisements will be placed shortly for expressions of interest for trustees for the new charitable body (WCCT) and that people experienced in finance and property will be attracted as well as in heritage fields. Wales and its Nonconformist heritage are inexplicably linked but, unless decisive action is taken and funding established, that link will be broken. The potential loss of historic buildings is seen by the working party and many other people to be a disaster for Wales' built cultural heritage. There is still time to prevent that loss and to help communities discover new roles for what are often their most splendid and useful public buildings. Roger Wools was chairman of the voluntary working party into Redundant Historic Chapels in Wales. He is principal of Roger Wools & Associates, Heritage Consultants of York. Copies of the bi-lingual report may be obtained from the publishers, the Wales Council for Voluntary Action, Llys lfor, 1 Crescent Road, Caerphilly, Glamorgan CF83 IXL. Tel: (01222) 869111. The report was sponsored by Cadw (Welsh Historic Monuments). Two redundant rural Norfolk churches facing redundancy are to be saved by local trusteeship. Anthony Barnes explains what is being done SAVINGOLDCHURCHES: ANOTHERWAY Some pastorally redundant listed churches are not considered meritorious enough to be vested in the Churches Conservation Trust, yet have qualities or enjoy a degree of local affection which makes demolition or domestic conversion very unwelcome. The writer is currently involved in two such cases. In describing the procedure he is following, he hopes it may be of use in other parts of the country and, with adaptations, to other buildings, religious or secular. The two churches are at opposite ends of Norfolk, a county where lay people and the county and district councils oppose the domestic conversion of listed churches (the clergy do not always agree!). As well as the spiritual reasons which carry weight with some, the churches are seen as public buildings which ought not to become private; and as symbols of what may be a small but is still a discrete community. In the two cases concerned there is virtually no community left, but there are neighbours, who oppose domestic conversion and need allies. So do the dioceses, with two slowly crumbling buildings on their hands. Santon, in Thetford Forest, may need as much as £20,000 (inclusive of fees and VAT) spent on it but does have a modest income from walkers and others. Tunstall, near the Halvergate Marshes, will need the same level of expenditure over the next decade but much less immediately. Maintenance CONTEXT 52 is likely to be carried out by wellwishers. The funds required, while large enough, are not astronomical, which is significant when considering this way of proceeding. In both cases a specific trust is being set up. The trustees will be one or two local people and at least two bodies which should outlive these individuals. At Tunstall they are the Broadland District Council, the Broads Authority and the Norfolk Churches Trust. The Norfolk Trust already has ten redundant churches leased to it. It does not want to add more which might limit its ability to give grants to churches fending off redundancy. It is prepared to let Tunstall and Santon apply for grants in parallel with churches in regular use, a rather-lower level of commitment. The Broads Authority should be able to encourage visitors (and income) through its publicity for the Weavers' Way, a Long Distance Path which passes the church. The Norwich Diocese had a proforma trust deed (and also a standard form of lease) which, with slight modification by the trustees' solicitors, was sent for approval to the Charity Commissioners. They replied quickly and positively, with a significant and helpful amendment. The trustees then had their first meeting, signed the trust deed, appointed officers and subsequently approved some amendments to the standard lease. The trust deed was then stamped and a waiver from income tax obtained from the Inland Revenue. Once a bank account was set up the way was clear for registration with the Charity Commissioners. Meanwhile the diocese had obtained an Amending Redundancy Scheme from the Church Commissioners. Grant aid has been promised for most of Tunstall's immediate repairs. Santon's, while more urgent, will take longer, partly because an appeal to the Lottery is likely to be necessary. The one other hurdle -the Becher's Brook of all church maintenance costs - is insurance. If severely damaged, neither building would be repaired, but what remained would need to be made safe and the rubbish removed. The premiums can be made less formidable by shopping around, but are still substantial, particularly at Tunstall where income is negligible. This overall process contains a number of steps, few of them difficult in themselves, and it takes time. For church authorities, who sometimes find a declaration of redundancy easier than facing the question of what will then happen to the building, there is an alternative here, as it can be also for people in the neighbourhood or visitors, whether formally religious or not, who will feel themselves impoverished by the loss of their personal landscapes of buildings like the churches of Santon and Tunstall. Anthony Barnes 31
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=