History

OUR FIRST 50 YEARS

by David Griffiths

Although the Lincolnshire Old Churches Trust has now flourished in excess of fifty years , that length of time is still short enough for many of our trustees and supporters to have lived through its lifespan . Our founders are still remembered with affection and gratitude , and we as their suddessors want to ensure that both their memory and their practical examples will continue to be our inspiration for many years to come .

Our trust was set up in the wake of the Archbishops` Commission on Historic Churches . This had recommended that a central trust should be set up to collect and distribute funds for the repair of historic churches , and that a series of county trusts should be founded with the same object . Meanwhile legislation would be needed to ensure that every Anglican church was inspected by an experienced architect once in every five years . the then Subdean of Lincoln Cathedral ( Canon Malcolm Cook ) , had been a member of the commission , and took care to ensure that Lincolnshire was among the first few counties to set up a trust of its own .

Preliminary meetings began in 1952 and The Lincolnshire Old Churches Trust was formally inaugurated on 10 October 1953 , under the active presidency of the Earl of Ancaster , Lord Lieutenant of the County . He took the chair at all but one of the trustees` meetings from then until his retirement thirty years later . The other founding trustees were drawn from leaders in the church and community, and from the very start they worked hard to arouse local interest by public meetings and publications .

Between them , the president and the secretary(Canon Binnall) addressed about two hundred meetings in all parts of our very extended county . Not only is historic Lincolnshire more than a hundred miles in length , but it contains over 700 churches ( the exact numbers tend to vary! ) , directly comparable with the numbers in Kent and Suffolk , and exceeded only by Norfolk . Thus the trust`s area remains as it was before the local government changes of 1973 and we remain responsible for assisting churches in North and North-east Lincolnshire ( formerly South Humberside ).

Even before the trust deed had been executed , our promotors were discussing the summer opening of country house gardens as a means of raising money for grants . By the kindness of landowners and plantspeople , this became (and has remained) a popular addition to summer Sundays , now widely copied by other local charities . It was also suggested that the magistrates might be approached for a share in the proceeds of the Sunday opening of cinemas , but no more was heard of this ingenious proposal .

By the April meeting of trustees-designate , our first six grants had been authorised to churches in need of repair , with a total expenditure of £500 . In July 1953 , the Trust Deed was executed from a draft provided by the Historic Churches Preservation Trust and drawn up for us by the Diocesan Registrar , Mr Harold Griffith . It was signed by the nine men and two women who had accepted nomination as trustees .

Reference was made to a display which had taken place at the County Show , to be followed early in 1954 by an exhibition at the Usher Art gallery , to which all the county`s churchwardens had been invited by means of New Year cards . these plans were publicised in the Daily Telegraph and the Lincoln Diocesan Magazine .

At our first formal trustees` meeting at the Subdeanery on 27 October 1953 , it was reported that 750 copies of an appeal booklet were being circulated , and that an (unexplained) system of `vanishing tea parties` would spread the appeal still further . The principal business of the meeting concerned twelve repair grants for churches in the county (total £800) , with a further agreed series of requests; this time that the Historic Churches Preservation Trust would itself make larger grants to another dozen churches from earmarked funds at its disposal (total £7,000) .

We have never aspired to a permanent office of our own , although the diocesan office was sometimes used as an accommodation address . Convenient though that may have been , it gave the impression that we were Anglican rather than ecumenical, and a diocesan committee rather than a voluntary charity, so we eventually resorted to a box number supplied by the Post Office .

Ar first , most meetings of trustees took place in private houses close to Lincoln Cathedral . After 1980 there were occasional meetings at the Diocesan Office in the Old Palace , then for a long spell at Agriculture House , Woodhall Spa , reckoned to be the approximate centre of the county and at that time the county headquarters of the National Farmers Union . Since about 1983 there has been a change towards enjoying the private hospitality of trustees or committee members , usually including an annual visit to Grimsthorpe Castle for a joint meeting of trustees and members of the special committee .

The Walesby Connection . In june 1954, our first official stand was on display at the County Show, on  a site measuring 30 feet square and kindly made available by the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society. Its central feature was a model church made by the arts and crafts development of the Appleby-Frodingham Steel Co. at Scunthorpe.

That model was based on the famous Wold church of All Saints, Walesby, near Market Rasen. It stands in the chancel there, now rather fragile after having been displayed at so many early meetings throughout the county.  15/12/2007

 

To be continued ....