Minutes of a Meeting of the Executive Committee held 3pm on Wednesday 14^th October 2020 at Watson’s Yard

Present: Ian Marshman (IM) Chairman, Mary Silverton (MS), Ian French (IF), Bob Wayne (BW), Michael Hieatt (MH) and Julie Bates (JB) Minutes Secretary.

Apologies: Nick Fox (NF), Ashleigh Bird (AB) and Trevor Butterworth (TB)

Item 1. Apologies for Absence

IM accepted apologies from those members detailed above.

Item 2. Approval of Executive Minutes 01/09/20 and Matters Arising (MA):

Minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as an accurate reflection of what took place.

27/07/20 Item 10 – Members suggestions to help town recover from Coronavirus: IM advised the group that he had passed on our list of suggestions to the Town Council and they had been discussed at the latest Horncastle Together meeting. He provided updates on some of the items as follows:-

Pedestrianisation of St Lawrence Street: The County Council did not agree to the pedestrianisation of St Lawrence Street but have allowed for part of the north side of the Market Place to be closed to allow cafes to put tables outside. In its present state this only appears to be of benefit to the Pop-Inn Cafe. It was understood that other outlets had been invited to put tables in this area through a speeded up pavement licencing scheme. This wasn’t ideal when compared with them being able to put tables outside their doors if St Lawrence Street had been closed, which also would have benefited the safety of pedestrians walking from Tesco and the car parks into town.

Free parking for up to 2 hours in line with Woodhall Spa and Coningsby: The Council have agreed to free parking for 1 hour in the St Lawrence Street car park, and have reduced the cost of parking there to £1 for 4 hours. There continues to be free parking for 30 minutes in the Market Place, and all day at The Wong.

Canopies for people queueing for shops: It was agreed this was a sensible idea and the Town Council will write to ELDC to ask if they could recommend somebody to repair existing canopies and to give examples of the types they would be favourable to approving in the Conservation Area. It was hoped this would make it easier for businesses to make an application.

Parking for cycles and new cycle paths: We were warned to be careful what we wished for in that the County Council have recently installed a modern style of cycle parking in the shape of a life-size neon green cartoon car (intended to show how many bikes can fit in the space of a single car), which proved to be so unpopular it was removed from several towns within days. New cycle parking was going to be provided by the County Council in Horncastle, and as these were now ‘available’ it is quite possible they might try to deposit them on us! On the plus side, it was understood that talks between the Town Council and West Ashby Parish Council have been taking place about how they might create a cycleway from West Ashby to Horncastle.

Hot Chocolate Competition: MS asked if this had been raised as she felt this would be a good novelty scheme to get people out around town. It would need to run over a number of weeks as there is only so much hot chocolate people could sample in one day. IM said it had been very well-received at the Horncastle Together meeting but that people had felt it might be best left until the spring when regulations might be being relaxed again. IM agreed to raise it with the newly formed Horncastle Traders Association who had unfortunately not attended the most recent meeting. All agreed it was an excellent idea that would raise a lot of interest.

Heritage Trail: Gail Dymoke had reported that ELDC had now printed the new town heritage trail leaflet that MS, BW and himself had been working on with Walkers Are Welcome for some time. The launch had had to be postponed due to a mix up with the Heritage Open Days brochure which had not included the event, but the leaflets were available from the Sir Joseph Banks Centre. Plans to install interpretation boards around the town to compliment the trail were still progressing and IM had attended a meeting in the churchyard with the Friends of St Mary's, the Town Council and the Rev Charles Patrick and Gail Dymoke to discuss potential designs likely to get 'Faculty' approval from the Diocese. They had also discussed some potential improvements to the churchyard as had been raised by members.

Item 3. Correspondence

MS had received an email from a film company in New Zealand who asked for permission to download a picture of William Marwood, Hangman for the British Government, adding we will be credited for this. The title of the proposed film was not known, nor if it will be shown in the UK.

MS had contacted Neil Wright who has written a book about the Theatre in Georgian Lincolnshire. He confessed that there had been an error in the book in that they had put the wrong location on the map for the theatre in Horncastle (as noticed by BW). He agreed to do a talk for us and noted that he can do theatrical talks, dressed in female period theatre costume. All felt that this would be something for us all to look forward to in the future, MS adding she has a number of suggestions for speakers going forward, not forgetting the ones which were already planned for this year which we have not been able to hold owing to current legislation.

Item 4. Financial Report (MS)

MS advised the balance on 25 September was £9,293.38 and there has been little change in that she has spent in the region of £100 on archive materials but has also paid in approximately £160.

IM handed over his completed paperwork which would allow him to be able to countersign cheques going forwards.

Item 5. Planning Report (MH)

MH apologised as he had not been able to compile a formal report ahead of the meeting but hoped to produce a report for circulation with the minutes. He updated the meeting on a number of on-going planning applications and a number of applications involving flats above shops in the Market Place. The windows and doors on the cottage at the back of the Punch House have been approved, MH commented on how nice the timber work was, even though it cannot be seen by passers-by. He hadn’t heard anything else about the application for two properties on Holt Lane which seems to have stopped short with just one property and a number of sheds which are becoming to look like they are intended to be permanent but were not as per the planning application. Work on the Fighting Cocks appears to be on hold and work seems to be intermittent on the Old Stables at the back.

IM reported that he had been asked for historic photographs of the Water Mill to be included in a publication by the national Save Britain's Heritage charity. It seems that this has been for sale for ever and previous meetings had recently Cllr Hinkins had been trying to lobby ELDC to sort it out. Vegetation has recently been cleared from around the mill and it was not clear if this had been done by the owner or organisations maintaining the river banks but it was an improvement. What was less good was that IM had heard rumours that there might soon be an application to demolish the mill, which if true would have to be strongly resisted.

It was noted that the windows had fallen out of the building behind the old bike shop in the Market Place and also that the roof had collapsed. This had left debris next to the alley from Perkins to the St Lawrence Street Car Park. IM reported this to ELDC after the meeting and has now been informed that the site has been secured, although not actually repaired.

There is an issue with pigeon droppings in the area, though an expert sent by the council said ‘there wasn’t a pigeon problem’. A return visit had been planned and MS noted that the Horncastle News today featured a story that hawks had been suggested as a solution. In order to tackle some cleanliness issues in the town (also raised by members), IM understood that the Town Council was considering paying to arrange additional street cleaning.

Item 6. Arrangements for Archives move to Sir Joseph Banks Centre (SJB)

MS advised that shortly after the last meeting we had been invited to put together a 'pop up' display in the former shop area so that the building could reopen and give a taste of what is to come. In a very short time IM and MS had put together a small display of Roman artefacts from the town with an information board and a wall of old photographs of the town. The technically minded volunteers from the SJB had helped set up a TV to besides the Roman display to play the recreation of how the town's Roman walls may have looked.

A very provisional first draft of a memorandum of understanding between the SJB and HHHS had been prepared. IM circulated copies of the draft agreement for discussion and comment and IM/MS would raise the comments below from the Executive Committee when they next meet with SJB representatives.

· We are currently referred to as Horncastle History Society (HHS) rather than Horncastle History and Heritage Society (HHHS)

· No mention of how the building will be referred to, although this might not need to go in the agreement, all agreed it was important that a name included 'Heritage Centre’ – and the new use of the centre needs to be quite clear on the outside of the building, potentially with new signage.

· Concern around the wording on the length of the agreement – agreed it should be for a minimum of 3 years

· Section 2 – no mention of the Town Archives. HHHS objectives should be the same as worded in our proposed new Constitution (on hold because of pandemic restrictions on holding an AGM/SGM).

· Item 4 should read ‘at no additional cost’

· Item 8 – would we have costs for separate business rates? – thought not but clarity needed

The question was raised when was our payment due? MS advised we would pay this one year in advance, adding that they were being very helpful, and she was sure our comments would be incorporated within this draft agreement.

MS has been back in touch with the Photographic Society who confirm they will be putting Watson’s Yard on the market. IM suggested we should give them a copy of the feasibility study which may help to give potential buyers some ideas on how to convert the property sympathetically, as well as its current condition, and that it isn’t as bad as it might appear.

Archives – MS has been looking for materials such as banners adding we could easily utilise three banners using photographs and information already collated on William Marwood, the Horse Fair and perhaps the Floods which would make the pop up space at the Sir Joseph Banks Centre look more like a Heritage Centre and reduces the need for us to display artefacts until such a time we can obtain suitable display units. MS felt we could apply to the Town Council as they had previously earmarked £5,000 funding towards a proposed Heritage Centre. MS happy to collate information for banners if IM could design what went on there. MS had looked at a number of banners available advising they ranged from £45 to £130 and it was agreed to look at mid-price range but agreed we need to keep to the same width and height as current banners - also that we should do this sooner rather than later.

Item 7. Planning future events (Thomas Sully Plaque, Railway 50^th Anniversary)

Thomas Sully Plaque: Owing to the 'Rule of 6' being brought in it had not been possible to hold an unveiling ceremony. It was agreed that the plaque would simply be erected and, once this is done, send out a press release and have leaflets available in the Co-op. Vaughan and BW will arrange to erect the plaque. It could always have a formal unveiling ceremony at a later date.

Railway 50^th Anniversary: Chris Bates (CB) was scheduled to meet tomorrow with Alan Stennett, a local railway historian, author and broadcaster and Patricia Duke-Cox, Chair of the Cottage Museum in Woodhall Spa and would discuss what we could do jointly with Woodhall, including talks, or what we could each do so as not to disrupt each other’s plans.

Display/Exhibition: There were currently two separate opportunities and owing to the current situation CB felt we should look at different options we would have for these. The most appropriate opportunity was that we have a number of photographs and articles about the local railway within the HHHS archive and have been offered access to private collections of railway photographs detailing Lincolnshire Railways including some previously unpublished material. CB had suggested if it was not possible to hold a live event owing to Government restrictions then this could work well if done similarly to the excellent website set up to commemorate the VE Day Anniversary earlier this year. The other opportunity was that we have been offered the loan of a national collection of railway photographs which have previously been displayed at the National Railway Museum in York. This collection is not specific to Lincolnshire and CB pointed out that this was something which could be held separately at a later date if we were unable to hold an event owing to restrictions, noting that owing to copyright we would not be able to reproduce this collection on a website.

It was agreed that we initially look to house both displays over the anniversary weekend with the additional option to invite Mike Fowler to bring along and talk about some of his collection of railway lamps and the potential of a talk given by Alan Stennett depending upon CBs forthcoming meeting. A provisional booking for the large hall at the Community Centre was made as we expect there would be on-going distancing requirements and this would give more space to operate a one way system noting that the Railway 50^th Anniversary falls on the Easter weekend 2021 so it was expected the town would be busy. It was then hoped that the displays from the HHHS archive and smaller private collection of Lincolnshire Railways could then be kept on display in SJB for a few weeks following on from this.

CB had also contacted operators of a miniature railway with a view to giving rides but it was agreed it would be difficult to find a suitable location to set this up as it needed to be close to the town centre and would need to be protected overnight.

BW was still keen to look into organising a drive in movie with the Horncastle Lions, perhaps showing classic movies over two nights such as The Railway Children and the Titfield Thunderbolt. Louth Lions had already done this very successfully recently at Manby.

We invite all our members to get in touch with their memories of local railways, particularly the line between Horncastle and Woodhall Spa and let us know of any artefacts, photos or documents they would be prepared to loan or let us copy for an exhibition - There is also the potential to produce a booklet.

Item 8. Roman Wall - Update

IM advised again there was very little to update. A contractor has now been appointed but conservation works has been delayed difficulties agreeing suitable access. It was still hoped that some work might take place this year if Historic England would agree to pay the grant in this way.

Item 9. Plans for 2021 Horncastle 'Then & Now' Calendar

IM had circulated a draft calendar in advance of the meeting along with costings. The calendar format would show a photograph of the same scene in two different time periods and would measure 14 x 42 cm. It was acknowledged that prices were reduced the more notice that was given so at this time of year we perhaps didn’t have the best deal, also the larger the order, the better the price.

MS was concerned as there was already a larger ‘Horncastle Past’ calendar on sale in the town. Whilst this was in black and white it was on sale for £4.50 with £1 of sales going towards Lives and if we were to go ahead and produce a calendar we would not be able to compete with the price of this calendar. Other concerns were that there would be no Christmas Market this year, which is our main sales outlet, though it was hoped that going forward we would also be able to sell through the on-line shop at SJB. It was agreed not to proceed with this year and perhaps look to create a 2022 calendar and get these ordered early next year in order to achieve a more competitive price using the photos already organised.

Item 10. Any Other Matters

Discussion took place on how best we can continue to raise funds for the Society as well as what are we able to offer to our membership. IF pointed out that whilst we were unable to hold organised talks, this was very much taken out of our hands and all organisations had this same problem. He felt our membership fees were very reasonable and hoped members would continue to support us, adding that we still continue to provide services such as overseeing planning applications within the Conservation Area, producing and erecting blue plaques, as well as holding Executive Meetings and meetings with partners to try to improve the town, and keeping our membership informed with minutes etc. In addition to this we had produced a special website for the VE Day Anniversary and IM had also created wonderful virtual tour of the town during the Heritage Open days, and other members have continued to work hard all summer maintaining the flowers in the town.

Consideration was given to reprinting the Horncastle's Great War book to sell on SJB site, along with booklets on Thomas Sully and potentially a Railway booklet.

IM agreed to put a Newsletter together and that this could be printed and sent to all members as a way of keeping them informed and reminding them of the Society's work. BW agreed to contribute by writing something on 40 years membership – and MS suggested that a newsletter has generally been sent out in November.

MS has had a few members of the archive team working socially distanced whilst regulations permit though there are some of the team desperate to return that she has had to turn down owing to the vulnerabilities.

We would, however, like to hear from all members who would be interested in helping to greet visitors to the new nature, heritage and tourist centre at the Sir Joseph Banks Centre in the future. There will also be opportunities to help care for our Archives, to research or design exhibitions and organise events, so it was hoped there was something to interest everyone, once the current situation improves.

Item 12. Date of next Meeting

The next meeting to be held at Watson’s Yard, Horncastle on Wednesday 25th November at 3 pm.

Julie Bates, Executive Committee Minutes Secretary

Horncastle History & Heritage Society – Minutes of a Meeting of the Executive Committee held Tuesday 1^st September 2020 at Watson’s Yard, Horncastle

Present: Ian Marshman (IM) Chairman, Mary Silverton (MS), Ian French (IF), Bob Wayne (BW), Ashleigh Bird (AB), Julie Bates (JB) Minutes Secretary and Michael Hieatt (MH) who was unable to attend the start of the meeting.

Apologies: Nick Fox (NF) and Trevor Butterworth (TB)

Item 1. Apologies for Absence

IM accepted apologies from those members detailed above.

Item 2. Approval of Executive Minutes 27/07/20 and Matters Arising (MA):

Minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as an accurate reflection of what took place. There were no matters arising that were not already covered on the agenda.

Item 3. Correspondence

MS had received a newsletter from Society for Lincolnshire History and Archaeology (SLHA) and reminded the group that these newsletters and magazines are available to members to look at under normal circumstances and will be accessible once restrictions are lifted etc.

IM had received an enquiry asking about Thomas & Mary Benson who lived in Horncastle in the mid 1800's, he had been butcher on West Street, and she had later been landlady of the Cross Keys on East Street/Foundry Street. MS said there would probably be some information about butchers shops in the town within the archive but pointed out that such requests are more Family History rather than the town’s history and heritage. She questioned if people were using us to gather family history information to avoid having to pay for information on some of the genealogy websites. IM added that Leicester University had scanned historical directories, including Lincolnshire from the 1800’s to WWI which is a very useful data source for researching businesses. http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4

Another member of the public has asked if we know the whereabouts of the Manor Court Rolls for Horncastle, specifically during the 1600s. The Committee did not know the answer with Ian suggesting maybe they were in Carlisle as the Bishops of Carlisle were the Lords of the Manor.

Horncastle Matters – MS pointed out that the advert in Horncastle Matters still gives her name and her old telephone number. Chris Bates to be asked to contact them and ask this to be changes to IM’s name and phone number going forward.

Horncastle Together – IM had been advised that these meetings are going to be held once more, the next one being 14^th September at 6 pm which he plans to attend.

Item 4. Financial Report (MS)

MS advised the balance on 27 July was £10,934 but there is still an outstanding uncashed cheque to the value of £1,166 being the money we received from the Tesco Roman Wall appeal which has now been made payable to the Community Centre who administer these funds. This, with other small items of income and expenditure, leaves a current balance of approximately £9,900. BW will follow up the outstanding cheque with the Community Centre which MS posted by hand.

MS and AB were still chasing a number of members for their membership fees. It was agreed they would write to the majority of these members though it was sadly agreed to remove one lapsed member who had also failed to renew membership the previous year. We appreciate we have not been able to arrange talks and visits this year which has been very much beyond our control and hope our members will continue to support us as we do rely on your memberships. Discussions on future activities will take place under Item 7.

Item 5. Planning Report (MH)

MH confirmed that regrettably the Homeleigh application had been approved on the recommendation of the Planning Committee. We do have some comfort in that whilst the demolition of the Homeleigh Cottage was approved (in order to give six car parking spaces) it was made a condition that this building cannot be demolished until such a time that the new council building has been built. This itself could well be affected depending on the outcome of the Governments request to Lincolnshire councils to work on plans for devolution involving the creation of one or more unitary authorities which would lead to the abolishment of all the individual districts including ELDC.

It was not clear who owned the surrounding land on the Homeleigh site, whether it still belonged to the County Council (CC) or if it had been sold to different groups and it was not known who was looking after the site which has been fenced off – ELDC or the CC, though it was noted that nearby residents already had concerns about the security of the site and anti-social behaviour taking place there.

MH apologised as he had not been able to circulate the full planning report following the previous meeting and would combine this with the August report. He continued to update the group on work now underway at various properties which had been stalled owing to current circumstances but noted that many projects remained stalled and there was still no action at the Health Centre site. He also noted that the application to convert Cagthorpe Hall from offices to a house have now removed the parking space from the application as this was too narrow to be practical. An application had come in to build several houses on land off Croft Street but with access along the unmade Hammerton Lane. IM noted that this area was full of Roman archaeology, and expected they would need to do some work before any permission would be granted. The state of Hammerton Lane was discussed and how a lot of work would be needed to even get access to the site as the area behind the Methodist Church was very overgrown. A full copy of the planning reports for July and August will follow.

IM reminded the group about the major Planning reform which the Government would be consulting on until end of October. He felt that we should be notified and consulted on all planning applications in Horncastle, not just those within the conservation area as large building schemes do have an impact on the town as a whole. It was noted that the housing being built up Langton Hill has now spilled over into Thimbleby and can be seen as a sprawling housing estate when approaching Horncastle from the east, and looming over the town when walking along the river. It was agreed to ask ELDC if we could be consulted on all applications going forward, even if we only commented on the applications where there were concerns.

Item 6. Future of the Archives

IM had written to the past secretary of the Photographic Society who have now confirmed we can continue to rent Watson’s Yard up until the end of the year and asked if we would like to negotiate an extended rental period in order to give us time to raise funding. IM explained that there is very little hope of us receiving the Grant we had been working towards, especially as a number of established schemes are struggling to remain afloat in the current climate. He advised them that we have received offers from three other organisations all hoping to consolidate resources and that these offers would be discussed at this Executive meeting.

MS added that the lockdown had highlighted many issues we would have faced if we had been further down the line and owned the building as our plans were very much to rent out the main room for other groups to hold activities in order to help fund the running costs. We ourselves would have been struggling financially if we had to run and maintain the building without any hope of income for a prolonged period of time. Nor was it simply a case of raising the asking price for the building but the much larger amount of money needed to bring the building up to modern standards, in good repair and eliminate damp. She had called in to check the building last week to find water pouring through the ceiling owing to a heavy downpour of rain which she had reported. During the meeting a neighbouring popped in and advised that a pane of glass has fallen out of a window which we hadn’t noticed as it was covered on the inside by a black out blind. The neighbour had kindly boarded this up and MS would notify our landlords.

IM continued to outline the proposals we had received which were discussed as follows:-

Youth Centre: Whilst annual rental costs had not been discussed, it was understood that the building still belongs to the CC. The Youth Centre is less central to the other two locations and unsure how viable this would be going forward as there was some way to go for the volunteers seeking to run it to be able to take it on and bring it up to date, as well as fund ongoing activities and equipment.

Community Centre: The Executive Group had been able to view a potential available space at the previous meeting. A rental figure hadn’t been agreed but it was understood that around £1,000 per year was the minimum that they could envisage. This annual rent would be an increase on what we currently pay but could be affordable. It would provide us with warm dry accommodation within the town centre though not in a very prominent position. However, the space isn’t very large and would require money to be spent to divide it up from other users so it could be secure. Another important issue was that we would not have our own access and it would be difficult and costly to resolve this because of the location next to the Listed church and the difference in ground level between the old school room and the churchyard outside.

Joseph Banks Centre: Noted that this offer of accommodation is based upon Joseph Banks Society (JBS) taking over the lease of the building from Joseph Banks Ltd who until recently have run a shop with paid staff in the room downstairs, alongside the Tourist Information which was provided for ELDC without any funding. The costs of running the shop were outweighing the income it generated, which was no longer sustainable, and this has led the JBS to rethink what they do with the ground floor rooms, with plans to create a natural history and education centre. We had been approached to see if the Society would consider joining this so that the displays could also include local history, which it was thought would complement their plans. Rental costs would be the same as those proposed by the Community Centre, an affordable increase (in ordinary non-coronavirus years) but with a more prominent position in the town centre.

IM and MS had met to discuss what would be on offer in terms of space allocated and restrictions etc. We would have permanent use of a 1^st floor room overlooking the Bridge Cafe to store our Archives with space for two tables to do some smaller group work (this would not be exclusive use as other users would need to pass through to access a kitchen area), with additional storage space in the loft for items not needed on a regular basis, proper storage for our books downstairs in a library room. There is another larger committee room on the 1^st floor which could also be used by agreement with other tenants - there is a diary to book the space, for when larger groups of volunteers work on material in the archives on a Wednesday morning. The suggestion was that we could book the room for every Wednesday morning which would allow the archive team to be split between the two rooms as there wouldn’t be sufficient space for the whole archive team to work in the smaller archive room. We would also have space in the downstairs shop area to display material from our archives to the public as had been envisaged in our Watson's Yard heritage centre plans. There is also space for temporary exhibitions in the modern link corridor, which we could make an entry charge for at weekends or evenings, but we would need to staff these and could keep any proceeds. JBS would want at least one member of HHHS to join their committee working on bringing their own collection up to modern museum standards. This was important as they need to achieve a certain level of collections standards before they will be able to borrow natural history items from other major collections to put on display. They also discussed what JBS hoped to achieve going forward and MS had questioned as their collection grows would we be pushed out? She was assured this would not be the case. This would also help us as we could work together on this as we also hoped to improve how we care for our Archives as well.

Some costs would be involved in that we would need to match display cabinets with those used by JBS and produce more professional display materials but we would be able to utilise some of the expertise of JBS volunteers in collections and in computer skills. MS said from an archives point of view it ticks all the boxes for being dry, heated etc and whilst she felt it was secure there was an acknowledgement that there would be other people walking through the area and we should have lockable cupboards to keep anything of value just as a general security measure.

It was also noted that as a joint facility with natural science collection and education, local history and the tourist information all under one roof in this historic building with the beautiful garden, it could be a real asset for the town. The Society would also benefit from being able to sell books both in the shop, and on the SJB website, and from being able to raise money from exhibitions, and the much raised profile of having a presence in the town. The SJB also hoped that our members would be interested in volunteering at the centre to welcome people to our historic town.

The Executive Committee unanimously agreed that the Joseph Banks Centre was the best option available and agreed to the move in principal, subject to clarity needed on various issues:

· Would need a formal agreement – IF suggested we would need a Licence Agreement outlining what has been agreed in terms of space and also questioned the length of the agreement. We need to know it will last and IF felt there was no point going to a lot of trouble just for one year, suggesting we should be looking at a 5 or 10 year agreement but pointing out that we would have to commit to pay rent for this period.

· BW felt we should also have some presence on the shop floor of the building, for example a desk labelled HHHS and though staffing may be an issue, it would be good to have someone on hand who was perhaps able to help with enquiries, particularly on Wednesdays.

· It was felt that such a move would raise the profile of the Society but we do need to be careful to maintain our own identity and not get absorbed into JBS.

In principal the Executive Committee agreed to pursue the option of working with the Joseph Banks Centre. There was not going to be a lot of money around for the next five years and it was agreed that different groups needed to join forces to get through these difficult times. MS asked if we should seek money from the Town Council who had committed to offer £5k towards our heritage centre plans, particularly as we would be helping to provide a resource for the whole town, adding that going forward she would like to see a dedicated budget for the archive in order to display and better preserve documentation and artefacts. Outcome from all town plans have suggested that the people want a heritage centre, and there was a great deal of support during our recent consultation. Going forward she would like to get more people involved and envisages two teams, an Archive Team and Exhibition and Display Team.

Regardless to whether or not we move to the JBC, we had agreed to loan some items of interest to fill a space in the 'pop up' museum/heritage centre now that the shop has closed.

All agreed that whilst it may look on the surface that we have done a lot of work for nothing by carrying out the feasibility study on Watson’s Yard, this study was funded and has not directly cost the Society anything other than the time of dedicated members which was to be applauded. The Executive Group is also able to use a lot of the valuable information gained from carrying out this study such as fundraising, equipment needs and have made many excellent contacts with other groups and grant organisations, with many of the ideas still able to be used in displays at the Joseph Banks Centre. The drawings prepared showing how the building could be adapted without harming it's heritage may also be helpful to the Photographic Society and may help them to sell the building. It is a lovely building and whilst it will be sad that it wouldn’t be accessible to the public if sold into private ownership, nor can the building be demolished because it is in the conservation area, so we are confident that the building will be restored and hopefully our plans could be used as inspiration for this.

Item 7. Potential to resume some Society activities

MS was keen to see us getting something organised to benefit our members, especially as we didn’t know how long restrictions would remain in place.

As the law stands at the moment up to 30 people may meet indoors and whilst this legislation was initially set for weddings etc – the wording around this also includes Community Activities and Support Groups. Based on this, MS had asked the Admiral Rodney if we would be able to rent their room as before, to which the answer was no! This is probably based upon the costs of cleaning the room before and after people have used it and this is not viable for a group like ourselves renting room only for a couple of hours (£30) as opposed to a wedding with guests dining and drinking etc.

BW felt there could be the potential of using the large hall at the Community Centre. There would have to be limited meetings with limited numbers and it was agreed to investigate how we would be able to do this, what would be the restrictions on numbers for the size of the hall and how we would fill those spaces – for example would people need to book their place in advance or would it be first come first serve? We would have to be fair to all.

IM questioned if everyone would need to wear masks and queried what happened in the cinema. AB advised that masks only needed to be worn in the foyer and whilst moving in corridors but once seated then masks may be removed.

The flowers around the town are still being looked after – a big thank you to our volunteers for all their hard work! Also we continue to monitor planning applications. Whilst we would dearly like to hold an AGM it is not feasible to do so as we cannot place a restriction on member numbers, and it was agreed that holding it electronically would be unfair as many members wouldn’t be able to take part. It was agreed that we should produce a newsletter for members.

BW asked about Heritage Open Days and asked if we had planned to do anything. IM advised that it had originally been our intention to organise a walk around Horncastle this year about how the town has changed in honour of Conservation Area's 50^th anniversary. Instead he has created a digital walk. IM added that he thought Gail Dymoke had planned to launch the new town Heritage Trail developed with us, Walkers Are Welcome and ELDC, but understands this has been put off. BW queried if an organised walk was allowed? IM would look into the possibility/viability of arranging a walk.

MS advised a lot of her archive volunteers want to come back and she had agreed with one of the team to help her to look at how they could space themselves out. She asked for permission to reinstate the archive group if it was restricted to once per week maintaining 72 hours between visits and surfaces were sprayed and wiped down before and at the end of each visit as per guidelines with a record kept of those attending and everyone taking their own drinks etc, and keeping the space well ventilated. All agreed this would be acceptable and MS to proceed.

Item 8. Planning future events (Thomas Sully Plaque, Railway 50^th Anniversary)

Thomas Sully Plaque: The plaque has arrived and MS brought this to show the group advising the Thomas Sully leaflets and the Mareham booklets would be ready on Friday of this week. We need to arrange to erect the plaque with a date and time for unveiling etc. MS will contact the Co-op and ask if we can stage a socially distanced event, probably a Sunday in October, and ask if we can perhaps tape off the necessary part of the car park for this. There had originally been some suggestion of providing light refreshments but unsure if this is something that can be done in the current climate. We need to give some thought as to who to invite in way of guests bearing in mind keeping numbers low. All agreed it was important to keep things happening so that members remained interested.

Railway 50^th Anniversary: Chris Bates (CB) had provided a progress report updating the group with who he had approached or managed to contact to obtain support and collaboration. He also advised that the anniversary of the closure of the railway will coincide with Easter 2021. He questioned whether a continuation of coronavirus restrictions would prevent the Society staging ‘physical’ events such as exhibitions, talks and displays and if we should consider staging a ‘virtual’ exhibition such as that successfully done to mark the Horncastle VE Day anniversary. All agreed that we should work towards staging live events and could revert to virtual events if no other option.

CB had asked Alan Stennett, a local railway historian, author and broadcaster if he would be interested in giving a talk at such an event. MS added that the Cottage Museum in Woodhall Spa had also been in touch with Alan Stennett – one of the things suggested by CB was a joint event with the Cottage Museum. Our understanding was that we have received all the talks on local lines by Mike Fowler which were very popular and perhaps we could ask MF to give a talk on his collections.

CB asked how best to gather and collate information and memories from people who either worked on the railways in the district or who’s parents/family members did and may have artefacts and photographs which could be used for an exhibition. MS suggested we ask all our members to get in touch with their memories of local railways, particularly the line between Horncastle and Woodhall Spa and let us know of any artefacts, photos or documents they would be prepared to loan or copy for an exhibition. She would have some photographs in the archive and CB had also contacted a noted photographer of Lincolnshire railways. MS felt it may be possible to compile a booklet of the Social History of the Railway if enough information and memories were submitted.

Other ideas of events which could take place over the weekend of the anniversary were to arrange for a model railway or ideally a garden railway to operate giving rides – perhaps in Friskney’s yard or the garden of the Joseph Banks Centre if small enough. If not then we could perhaps approach Bush’s and the building supplies on the site of the original railway station but this was a bit far out from the town centre for visitors to walk between. BW had attended a drive in movie held at Tedder Hall, Manby Park which had been arranged by the local Lions Group and wondered if we might arrange a similar event at The Wong, perhaps screen the Titfield Thunderbolt or similar. All thought these were wonderful ideas and asked BW if he could speak with the local Lions Group to ask if they might be prepared to help organise such an event.

This has the potential to be a really good event but it was stressed that we MUST get a sub committee together to get involved with helping to put the Railway event together. All members are urged to help in any way they can and get in touch either by email info@horncastlecivic.org.uk or approach any member of the Executive Group direct – once we have names then we can arrange to meet or how best to keep in contact with each other but we will need to work together to make an event happen.

Spa Trail Leaflet – IM had found a version of this leaflet but it only covered a small section, not the whole route. IM will check with the County Council and ask if they will consider re-issuing this as part of the anniversary events next year.

Item 9. Roman Wall - Update

IM advised there was very little to update. Tenders have been received although a contractor had not yet been appointed and there was various paperwork with Historic England to complete. It is not known when the works will be carried as we are moving towards worsening weather it is possible it might not be started this year.

Item 10. Any Other Matters

There were no other matters raised.

Item 12. Date of next Meeting

The next meeting to be held at Watson’s Yard, Horncastle on Wednesday 14th October at 3 pm.

Julie Bates, Executive Committee Minutes Secretary

 Minutes of a Meeting of the Executive Committee held Monday 27^thJuly 2020 in the Community Centre, Horncastle

Present: Ian Marshman (IM) Chairman, Michael Hieatt (MH), Mary Silverton (MS), Ian French (IF), Bob Wayne (BW), Ashleigh Bird (AB) and Julie Bates (JB) Minutes Secretary.

Apologies: Nick Fox (NF), Chris Bates (CB) and Trevor Butterworth (TB)

Item 1. Apologies for Absence

IM accepted apologies from those members detailed above.

Item 2. Approval of Executive Minutes 26/02/20 and Matters Arising (MA):

Minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as an accurate reflection of what took place with a minor spelling correction in relation to the Archive within Item 7 which should read ‘run on a shoestring’ though MS said they do have a lot of 'fun on a shoestring' whilst working on the archive!

26/02/20 Item 8 - Plans to mark 50^th Anniversary of Conservation Area: MS felt it important that we got other members involved in this project and JB pointed out that we are still to identify which ‘Then’ photographs we plan to use. Once we have done this then we can appeal to our membership to go out and take some ‘Now’ photographs of the same buildings and hopefully be in a position to have a selection of each venue to choose from. IM understood the sooner we can proceed with the calendar the cheaper it will be so he will look out some ‘Then’ photographs – BW offered to help with this also as he said he probably has a photograph of every Listed building in Horncastle.

Item 3. Correspondence

MS had received the latest magazines from our membership of Lincoln Society of History and Archaeology (LSHA) which includes a feature on The Punch House in Horncastle. She reminded the group that these magazines are available to members to look at under normal circumstances and will be accessible once restrictions are lifted etc.

IM had received a letter from a Mr Roughton asking if there were any books on the history of Roughton, and whether there were any other people of the name of Roughton connected with the village. BW knew of a prominent farming family by the name of Roughton not far from Willoughby near Alford - IM would follow up on this.

Item 4. Financial Report (MS)

MS advised the balance on 26 June was £11,847 but there are outstanding uncashed cheques to the value of £2,214 - one of these being £1,166 being the money we received from the Tesco Roman Wall appeal and have now made payable to the Community Centre. This leaves a balance of approximately £9,633.

Item 5. Planning Report (MH)

MH updated the group on work underway at various properties and also advised that a planning application to convert the upper floors of Mantles into flats had been approved but with various constraints. A full copy of the planning report will follow.

It was understood that the proposed works on Horncastle College were still awaiting decision and that the campaigning charity Save Britain's Heritage had submitted a strong letter of objection to the demolition of the Holmeleigh Cottage Homes, and asked the council to reject the application. IM also noted that the Government was asking Lincolnshire councils to work on plans for devolution that would involve the creation of one or more unitary authorities (where there is only one council instead of a county and a district). This would lead to the abolishment of all of the districts including ELDC, and as such and surely it would be better to wait until the outcome of this is known before any works are carried out. It would be a travesty if public money was spent demolishing Horncastle's historic buildings only for them to left as rubble for the foreseeable future, or for the new headquarters to be built only to be abandoned in a matter of months when the councils merged. IM would write again to the leader of ELDC in view of this, though he added he had not received a response from his previous letter.

One point worth noting was that the Government had brought in new changes on planning requirements which is intended to make the process of ‘change of use’ quicker as well as being able to demolish certain buildings such as an industrial unit or block of flats without the need for permission providing you build housing on the same footprint of the demolished building (although they could be two storeys higher). MH pointed out that this would not affect much of Horncastle in that you cannot demolish without permission within a conservation area. IM noted it could however affect buildings on the industrial estate as these could be redeveloped for housing alongside the remaining industrial units, as has happened in other areas, leaving future residents in poor living conditions.

Item 6. Watson’s Yard Project and Archives

IM had written to the past secretary of the Photographic Society to explain the position we are in, in that the Grant we had been working towards would not now come to fruition. He had responded advising that he could not speak for the Trustees but asked if we would like to negotiate for a much longer extension to beyond our current lease of September 2020, as he for one did not want us to be 'homeless'.

The Executive Committee agreed that whilst with great effort we could possibly raise the £45,000 needed to buy Watson's Yard this could take several years to achieve without lottery funding. We would also have no money to make the building fit for purpose, and it was agreed it was only fair to advise the Photographic Society that, due to these insurmountable problems, we would not be able to proceed with the purchase. IM would write to this effect and ask if we may continue to rent the building beyond September up until Christmas, assuming they do not find a buyer before then. It was also agreed that we would of course continue to look after their archive as agreed.

The Executive Committee discussed the initial results of discussion with several other parties in the town who might be able to store and display the Archives. It was agreed to continue to find out further details about how any future arrangements might work in practice before any decisions could be made about their future home. It was welcomed that there were now several possibilities and the outlook was not as bleak as when the Archives had to relocate from the Joseph Banks Society a few years ago.

Item 7. Plans to mark 50^th Anniversary of Railway Closure in 2021

CB had circulated a document ahead of the meeting outlining the history of the railway between Woodhall Junction and Horncastle [circulated with these minutes]. Whilst passenger services ceased in 1954, freight services continued up until April 1971. He had submitted a number of ideas on potential events and activities to mark this anniversary for discussion.

All agreed this would be a worthwhile event and it would be really good to have a joint exhibition with the Cottage Museum at Woodhall Spa who also had much material on the history of the line. MS agreed to contact them to tell them about our plans and see if it would fit with whatever plans they had for 2021. Another suggestion had been to ask Mike Fowler if he would be prepared to give a further talk on the line and perhaps loan some items for an exhibition – posters etc. It was also suggested to approach Alan Stennett on a similar basis – we could perhaps have both talks over the course of a weekend. JB advised she and CB would be meeting with Mike Fowler to collect a loaned item from him and would ask him if he would be prepared to do this. IM would love to bring a steam loco to Horncastle but felt that may be beyond the realms of possibility. JB pointed out that there are some smaller steam locos and even smaller narrow gauge locos so wouldn’t rule this out. CB to be asked to approach Morton’s to see if they might consider sponsoring something like this or to help with their contacts in the railway world. Other suggestions for events built around the railway were perhaps setting up a garden railway giving children rides around the churchyard. IM also suggested we speak to Walkers Are Welcome (of which BW is also a member) to ask if there was still a leaflet on the Spa Trail in production, and if not, to see if we could re-vamp it to encourage visitors. All agreed that CB's statement that "the line probably caries more 'passengers' today than when it closed in the 1950s" was a very interesting point, and it is good that it continues to be an asset to the town in a different way.

It was noted that all previous events and talks on the subject of the railway has generated a lot of interest at our meetings and we appeal to any of our members who are interested in helping research the history of the town's railway or with contacts in railways or model engineering to please get in touch.

Item 8. Thomas Sully Plaque – Update

MS has ordered the plaque and has asked for two quotes for the production of a leaflet – only one has come back to date which works out at £125 for 500 tri-fold leaflets – an example of which was circulated.

Item 9. Roman Wall - Update

IM explained the current situation, as there had been a delay caused by Historic England insisting that one of the three interested contractors could not accepted as they had replied after the deadline stated in a newspaper advert Invitation to Tender. Initially only two tenders were received – not surprising as there are not that many companies that specialise in Roman walls! Historic England however demanded there must be three tenders. The third application was received but this just missed the deadline, and Historic England had suggested that the whole process must start again which would delay the work until next year. IM managed to negotiate that the process should continue with the three interested parties in light of the pandemic and the urgent need to both carry out the work and support the struggling contractors who Historic England were currently offering grants to keep them in business. It was felt that it was unlikely that there would be any further interest even if we were to re-start the process and there was no public benefit in delaying and there would be no unfair trading. Unfortunately whilst this has been agreed, it had obviously still delayed things.

However IM confirmed that the three contractors are visiting the site in the following weeks to help prepare their tenders. The work may still be able to happen this year depending on the contractor's availability, and if not there is every confidence that it will happen next year – adding that we are closer than we have ever been to saving the Roman Wall!

Item 10. Members suggestions to help town recover from Coronavirus

IM reported on how on an individual basis he had proposed that previous plans agreed in the Neighbourhood Plan to pedestrianise St Lawrence Street from the Market Place to Dog Kennel Lane by revived. Noting that he now full understood what it is like trying to push a pram down narrow lanes with cars trying to get past! Others had also been calling for pedestrianising part of the Market Place to allow cafes to serve customers outside whilst maintaining social distancing, so he had tried to include a proposal for this in the plans whilst still allowing cars to park in the centre of the Market Place. From the comments he had received on his suggestion there was a roughly 70:30 split in favour from our members. Other comments/suggestions received to help the town recover are summarised below:-

· Free parking for up to 2 hours in line with Woodhall Spa and Conningsby

· More information and displays – History Boards (MS added that the council had come back to her recently on putting QR codes on historic buildings – there is an App where you enter the code and get all the information on the building etc).

· Better coordination between Councillors and Groups to help resolve issues and develop projects. (IM noted that unfortunately the Town Council had cancelled upcoming 'Horncastle Together' meetings so it was more difficult to know what others were working on or how the Society could help).

· Improve St Mary's churchyard as people were now using it more for social distanced meeting friends and family and with a few benches and planting it could be a much more welcoming and usable space. (It was noted that MH and the Friends of the Church had been working on similar plans for some time).

· Parking for cycles in the town centre and in the Market Place – this raised a point in relation to Planning – and it was noted that the Society should use our response to planning applications for bike shop/cafe to raise the issue of parking for cycles being provided MH to action

· New cycle paths, and more split space for cyclists and pedestrians to help them feel safe. Noted in particular Louth Road where very narrow pavement despite wide verges and that one requirement of the new zoo is that they have to put a pavement on the other side of the road to connect it to town. It was suggested that one side could be for pedestrians and the other for bikes. BW noted that he thought the new pavement for the zoo was only from the residential development next door to their gates, and as the development had ground to a halt, it was unclear when the full path would be built.

· Alleyway through to Perkins from St Lawrence Street Car Park could be improved to make it more welcoming and signposted as a safe route for pedestrians avoiding St Lawrence Street if it is not pedestrianised.

· Canopies for people queueing for shops – come winter people will not want to stand out in the rain waiting to be able to get into a shop, and without action their trade will suffer.

· Other ideas for encouraging visitors were a covered food court on The Backs near the Library off Wharf Road. With a covered but open area for eating/drinking as prove popular in many markets.

· One novel suggestion was a Hot Chocolate competition – all cafes to come up with their own recipe, with a map provided and be judged by the public on which one is the best – this is something a few committee members volunteered to judge! It is a good idea of the kind of event that could be planned for minimal effort and expense and that would bring people into town but not pose any issues for social distancing.

On a larger scale there was a suggestion of:

· Returning to a phased opening of the canal, with a member indicating that although it had been found that a full reopening would cost many millions of pounds, it was suggested that a phases approach be pursued as reopening for canoes could be accomplished from Dogdyke to Horncastle for minimal cost. BW noted that a grant had been applied for to install steps near the swimming pool to allow access for canoeists but had been unsuccessful so had not continued.

· Urban tree planting. IM noted that this was something the Civic Society had previously done, and in fact had been its first project in the 1960s. There were now many different grant schemes available with Forestry Commission, Woodland Trust etc all doing everything they can to plant as many trees as possible to help improve habitats and tackle climate change.

It was agreed that there were so many ideas it had not been possible to discuss them all properly and we will keep this as an agenda item for further discussion to see which the Society might be able to push forward.

Members are invited to get in touch if there is a project they feel passionate about and would like to work on. There is no shortage of excellent and achievable projects but we need your help if any of them are to be moved forward.

Item 11. Any Other Matters

Horncastle Matters: An article has been submitted for the next edition on the 50^th Anniversary of Conservation Area – thanks to CB for putting this together. The deadline for the next edition after this is 30 October – one suggestion for a possible article was Selwood House.

Mareham le Fen book: MS advised she had totally sold out of the Mareham booklet and has ordered a further 50 copies.

Planters: Thanks to everyone that helps to look after the planters, a number of members have commented on how nice they are and the Council has also commented how pleased they are with them. BW added that the Lions will be putting up flags in the town centre this weekend as part of a project to brighten up the town and make it look 'open for business'. If any other members would like to help with this, please get in touch as we could ask the Town Council to purchase additional planters if we can maintain them and make the town look even better!

Donation of artefacts: IM reported that the library had some Roman and other artefacts donated to them which had been found at the allotments. The library can’t house them and the Town Council didn’t want these to go to Lincoln and we have been asked if we can look after them. We would need to see how much there is etc before committing to looking after this. It was noted that any artefacts found on the allotments belong to the town council as landowners and should have come to them not kept or sold privately. It was agreed to write to the Town Council to ask if this could be included as a clause in their agreement for the allotment holders, as it would also encourage them to be alert for artefacts.

Item 12. Date of next Meeting

The next meeting to be held on Tuesday 1^st September at 3 pm – venue to be agreed depending on current restrictions.

Julie Bates Executive Committee Minutes Secretary

 Minutes of a Meeting of the Executive Committee held Tuesday 16^th June 2020 in the garden of the Manor House, Manor House Street, Horncastle

Present: Ian Marshman (IM) Chairman, Michael Hieatt (MH), Mary Silverton (MS), Ian French (IF), Bob Wayne (BW) and Julie Bates (JB) Minutes Secretary.

Apologies: Nick Fox (NF), Ashleigh Bird (AB) and Trevor Butterworth (TB)

Item 1. Apologies for Absence

IM accepted apologies from those members detailed above.

Item 2. Approval of Executive Minutes 26/02/20 and Matters Arising (MA):

Minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as an accurate reflection of what took place.

26/02/20 Item 8: Commemorating VE Day in May 2020: IM thanked all those who contributed to this project adding that despite not being able to hold events how we would have wished to, the VE Day website had been very successful. In total it had cost us £28.80 to set up this dedicated website and we have received 780 unique visitors to the site with a total of 3,180 hits on different pages so far. These have come from all over the world – USA, Spain, The Netherlands, France to name but a few. A suggestion was made that we may be able to make a booklet using the information gathered. IM also pointed out the publicity the Society received from having an article in the Horncastle News – JB passed on apologies on behalf of her husband who had compiled the information gathered by members in order to write up the article for the newspaper as, when published, this gave the impression that this was entirely his own work. This had certainly not been the intention and he wanted to ensure the credit went to those who had worked so hard to gather the information – his role was simply to pull it all together into an article for the paper and the website.

Item 3. Correspondence

The Society had received a request from Australia for a copy of the Mareham le Fen booklet.

IM has been contacted by the attendees of the Wong Disability Day Centre who IM had met with in relation to the Feasibility Study for Watson's Yard. They were keen to help us and were asking if we knew if we had received our grant yet.

Item 4. Financial Report (MS)

MS advised so far we have received membership renewal payments from 49 out of 118 members, adding that one person had now taken out life membership and some honorary members have now started paying membership too. We would like to thank everyone for their continued support, particularly at this difficult time, and gently remind those who are still to renew their subscriptions that they can do so by sending a cheque to either Ashleigh Bird, the Membership Secretary or to Mary, or by bank transfer to Sort Code 20-52-78 and Account No. 90481599. Don't forget that the rates are now £12 for an individual or £15 for joint membership (two members in the same household).

Whilst a very difficult subject to talk about, it was also agreed that we should give some thought to asking members to consider the Society in their Wills. This is something several charities do to raise much needed funds and even a few small donations can make all the difference to keeping the Society going and thus protecting our Heritage.

MS distributed a copy of the End of Year Accounts which have been audited and signed off by the Auditor. These accounts have been approved by the Executive Committee subject to the inability to hold an AGM at the moment, and MS will check with the Charity Commission if there are any issues with this. MS pointed out that Income and Expenditure relating to our meetings is now shown separately on the accounts and also pointed out the significant amount raised from gift aid. A copy of the accounts will be distributed with the minutes.

Following the Closing Balance of £13,255.90 with uncashed cheques to the value of £855.90 there has since been a number of large payments made in relation to the Feasibility Study, as well as a final payment received in relation to the study giving a balance at the end of April 2020 of £9,424 and balance at the end of May 2020 of £9,880. IM was keen to point out that whilst there has been a lot of cost involved in carrying out the Feasibility Study, this has all been funded by a grant specifically for this purpose and the Society has not incurred any additional costs.

Item 5. Planning Report (MH)

MH has still not received a response to this enquiry re Foundry Yard. There has still not been any attempt to build a second house as per the planning application and still not known if a separate planning request has been made to change this to include a number of metal sheds.

The new conservation officer at ELDC Emilie Wales had not got back to MH following his enquiry about the orange signage on a shop in the town, and he would follow this up with her.

A full copy of the planning report will follow.

Item 6. Coronavirus Issues for the Society and Horncastle

AGM: Firstly we would like to say we hope all our members are keeping themselves safe and well. We have been unable to arrange an AGM owing to the current circumstances and will not be able to do so until guidelines permit. The AGM will be held as soon as possible though for safety/distancing reasons we would need to find a suitable venue. It was proposed we hold a SGM at the same time in order to incorporate a vote for the new constitution. It was also agreed that it would not be fair to try to hold the meeting via electronic means as many of our members cannot use such things and would therefore be excluded.

Speakers/Talks: It was agreed we would pick up these when we can and re-book those missed for next year. MS was confident that the Thomas Sully talk would be able to go ahead at reasonable short notice but we will need to be led by science as to when this could be.

Impact on the Town: Whilst we are keen to stress members should not put themselves at risk, it was agreed that there was a civic duty upon us all to spend in local shops whenever possible. In many cases this could also be done over the phone or online, if people were not comfortable visiting in person. It is a very difficult time for shopkeepers and local businesses in general, and without our support they will not survive. It is also possible that we could lose some local businesses despite this, and it was understood that Travis Perkins were re-modelling their business, which could lead to their Horncastle shop closing. MS pointed out there had been two new businesses open up in the town during the lockdown period, both cycle shops, though the one in the old HSBC Bank building also has plans for a bikers cafe. MH queried if this should have a change of use planning application.

If members have any suggestions for things that could be done to help the town recover from the crisis, please do let us know so we can make sure we are lobbying the local authorities.

Item 7. Watson’s Yard Project and Archives

Feasibility Study: IM circulated a copy of the Feasibility Study ahead of the meeting (copy attached) and had three printed copies with him. The Feasibility Study finished on time and in budget though we were slightly late submitting the final paperwork evaluating the project. Since submitting the paperwork however we have not had any information from the Heritage Lottery Fund as to what happens next. Concerns were raised that the aftermath of the Coronavirus lockdown meant that many existing well established heritage sites, museums and attractions were on the brink of closing down and Lottery Funding may well be diverted to keeping them afloat rather than funding new projects such as ours. The National Lottery Heritage Fund has also suspended all their grant programme indefinitely (likely until at least the end of the year, and probably the financial year) in order to redirect grants to helping ongoing costs of heritage groups in difficulty. It was agreed that IM should get back in touch with our grant manager Jeremy Thackeray at the Lottery to find out what options there might be for us. The Society has until September to come up with the money to buy the building or firm plans for how we will raise it, with the Photographic Society having the potential to then grant us a rolling 3-month rolling extension.

Archive: MS explained that when the archive started this was a minor part of the Society and was run on a shoestring. She felt we need to agree it is now much bigger part of the Society's work with a group of around 8 volunteers meeting every week, and contributing to talks, publications and exhibitions. Going forward she explained that she feels the Society should budget money toward running the archive, such as for proper conservation materials and equipment, perhaps by running extra meetings and exhibitions to fund this.

Item 8. Plans to mark 50^th Anniversary of Conservation Area

2020 marks the 50^th anniversary of the former Lindsey County Council designating the Conservation Area to protect the historic heart of Horncastle. So far we have nothing planned in order to mark this occasion and a suggestion was made that we perhaps produce a calendar with a ‘Now and Then’ theme showing historical pictures of the town and buildings with the same up-to-date view - which in turn will give us something to sell at the Christmas Market, assuming the market will still go ahead in some form.

We have plenty of ‘Then’ and 'Now' pictures of the town but our ‘Now’ pictures themselves date back to the 1970s! So we definitely need more pictures of how things look today. Once we identify which ‘Then’ pictures we will use we could perhaps ask our members to take some up to date pictures of the same areas/buildings.

Item 9. Holmeleigh ELDC HQ Redevelopment - Update

IM wrote to ELDC to express the Society's concern of the future of the Holmeleigh site following reports in the Horncastle News which seemed to indicate that their plans for the proposed new headquarters were close to being finalised, with talk of demolishing some of the 1930s cottage homes. We had not been notified of a planning application being submitted despite reassurances from the Leader of the District Council that we would be consulted, and the fact we are usually consulted on 'major' applications in the town. Thankfully MH had noticed the application had been put in with the consultation running during lockdown meaning it was difficult for many parties to comment. Several members also contacted the Society to say they were unaware of the planning application having been submitted. Whilst the Town Council had not questioned the demolition of the cottage homes despite them being identified for protection in the Neighbourhood Plan, they had raised concerns that the Traffic Assessment for the development had been carried out during Lockdown when the roads were quiet and Banovallum School was closed. Its validity was certainly questionable!

We were able to make comments before the deadline which were acknowledged, but our letter to the Leader has gone unanswered. We did however receive an acknowledgment from the Executive Councillor in charge of Planning and Conservation, thanking us for raising our concerns but saying that he could not comment as it was a live planning application. This despite ELDC being the 'developer' as well as the decision maker.

Chris Bates (CB) sent out a press release on the matter which resulted in a large article in the Horncastle News 10 06 2020's edition -- two pages on the society's concerns and other matters relating to the proposed demolition of one of the crescent of Holmeleigh cottages, with photos etc. IM had also been invited to speak about the issue on BBC Radio Lincolnshire, and it was hoped that the coverage would encourage ELDC to rethink the demolition, which would only achieve an extra six car parking spaces.

MH noted that the plans looked to have not been thought through very well, with many trees being lost as well that could be kept with small tweaks to the design.

Item 10. Thomas Sully: approval of leaflet, blue plaque and quotations (MS)

MS has not progressed this but will speak with the Co-op in due course. IM suggested placing the order for the plaque so that we would be able to arrange for this to be erected as soon as possible once restrictions permitted.

Item 11. Roman Wall Update

IM advised there has finally been some progress. The specification has almost been agreed so the Tender process will soon be able to commence with an invitation to tender going out to conservation experts and in the Lincolnshire Echo (as required by the Historic England). We have also been told we can now go ahead and put out a press release in relation to the grant support for the project from Historic England. It is possible that the work may happen this year on the basis that the National Trust and many other conservation bodies have cancelled much of their planned works so we may be able to get the necessary experts sooner rather than later as they are looking for work.

We have received £1,166 from Tesco which will be paid direct to the Community Centre. Despite the fact we were well ahead of the other two charity boxes as far as tokens were concerned, Tesco stopped the voting because of the coronavirus just before voting closed and a decision was made nationally to split the money three ways. Thank you to all members who collected tokens and voted for us when they were doing their shopping.

IM will speak with CB re: press release.

Item 12. Any Other Matters

MS asked if anyone had anything to go into Horncastle Matters and suggested CB might be asked to put an article together on the 50^th Anniversary of the Conservation Area. Another possible article could be done on Selwood House.

Chris Bates had raised that next year would see the 50^th Anniversary of the Railway closing in Horncastle and IM and MS felt we should have an exhibition on this, possibly in collaboration with our friends at Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum since their collection would also likely contain much material on the line.

MH pointed out that as part of planning applications he receives there is a section on the history of the buildings in question and asked if this would be of interest to the archive. MS would welcome such information for the archive but realises the information may not be able to reproduced in exhibitions etc. because of copyright would be useful for research.

Item 13. Date of next Meeting

In light of the ever changing situation it was agreed to leave the date and venue of the next meeting to be confirmed at a later date.

Julie Bates

Executive Committee Minutes Secretary

Horncastle History & Heritage Society – Minutes of a Meeting of the Executive Committee held Wednesday 26^th February 2020 at Watson’s Yard, West Street, Horncastle

Present: Ian Marshman (IM) Chairman, Michael Hieatt (MH), Mary Silverton (MS), Nick Fox (NF), Ian French (IF) and Julie Bates (JB) Minutes Secretary.

Apologies: None

Item 1. Apologies for Absence

None Received

Item 2. Approval of Executive Minutes 04/12/19 and Matters Arising (MA):

Minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as an accurate reflection of what took place.

15/01/20 Item 2: Horncastle 'Vital & Viable' Regeneration Event: IM advised this second workshop event led by ELDC was held at the Stanhope Hall on 18^th February was well attended. He reported that following the first meeting businesses had got together and Horncastle once again now has a Traders Group, which will hopefully help to promote Horncastle. Following the recommendations in the Vital & Viable Horncastle Report, ELDC proposed to develop a public realm and signage strategy to improve public access and the appearance of the town through pavements, bus stops, signage etc. IM noted that it was also hoped that we could at long last move forward with interpretation boards as part of this, working with Walkers are Welcome. A lot of work has been carried out developing ideas for these boards but there has never been money available to progress producing them. It was understood that all signage would conform to the same style in way of branding for the town and Horncastle would also have its own page on a new ELDC website to promote the town to visitors. All agreed that the town does need to sell itself better, and the report recommended understanding what brought people to the town and what its unique selling point (USP) is – suggestions from the Executive Meeting included book shops, antiques, literary events and small galleries would be a good choice. Sadly it was understood that the newly formed Traders Group planned only to promote individual businesses and did not want to get involved with organising events. IM noted that all towns were being encouraged to put on events to encourage people onto the High Street but in Horncastle there was a lack of volunteers willing to help, with Horncastle Festivals now only able to put on the one annual event, the Christmas Market. Horncastle risks being overlooked and left behind if organisations cannot work together to promote it – although the VE Day plans were an example of how things could be done.

15/01/20 Item 11: Speakers – MS had already come up with a number of ideas for speakers at the previous meeting and had since thought of a few more topics – Lincolnshire dialect and also Horncastle Theatre. Sadly none of our members have so far come forward to volunteer as meeting coordinator and we once again appeal to our members for help with this. Generally somebody will suggest the topic and will provide the name and contact details for speakers, it is simply a case of slotting speakers into the date slots and getting back in touch with them closer to the date of their talk and confirm what equipment they need etc.

Whilst on the subject of speakers, JB raised the issue that we had still not received contact information for the person scheduled to speak at our November meeting. This was a speaker suggested by one of our members at the last AGM and whilst they have provided a name and suggested the November date was their preference, they have not given us any contact details so JB was unable to confirm the details etc.

Item 3. Correspondence

IM had received an email from the Society for Lincolnshire History & Archaeology asking for information on water supplies for the town, particularly before the first piped water. Specifically asking about public water pumps, conduits and specifically if there had ever been a water tower in the town. MS was confident there would be information in the archives about pumps but suggested Bob Wayne and Paul Scott might also be well placed to provide information on this.

IM had noted an article in Horncastle Matters from the Allotment Society who were looking for information. MS confirmed she had already passed on information.

Item 4. Financial Report (MS)

MS advised the last statement she had received was from the end of December 2019 which showed a balance of £12,660.50. A lot of cheques (approximately £3.5k) have been paid out during January and February mainly in relation to the feasibility study. We had also received the first two tax rebates of £83 and £72 thanks to Ruth completing all the paperwork needed to claim back Gift Aid and a big thank you to all our members who have also completed gift aid forms.

MS confirmed that the new mandate forms have still not been cleared by the bank. On chasing this she has been told that this is due to the fact that all charities are dealt with in a different way which is very time consuming and paperwork often gets held up in different sections. It was hoped this may become easier if were to become incorporated as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). The bank suggested that if they were in receipt of a letter from both MS and Trevor Butterworth then it should be possible to at least get correspondence sent to MS for the time being.

Item 5. Planning Report (MH)

MH advised it was still very quiet at the moment in relation to planning with only two new applications, one in West Street and one in East Street, which were both for replacing timber framed windows like for like so we wouldn’t look to object to these applications.

He had queried if planning had been changed in relation to Foundry Yard as planning had been given for two houses but there currently appears to be one house and a number of metal sheds put up instead. He has still not received a response to this enquiry.

There were no further developments on Langton Hill and MH is still trying to find out some information on the flood relief scheme. It was noted that one of the new properties on the Thimbleby Hill development had been flooded during the recent storms!

A full copy of the planning report will follow.

MH and IM reported on their meeting with the new conservation officer at ELDC Emilie Wales who had visited to see the Society's plans for Watson's Yard, but then agreed to a walk around the town listening to some of our members' concerns. EW explained that her role would be different to that of her predecessor Rob Walker, with her job title being 'Historic Environment Officer'. She would be an internal consultee to the District Council, rather than a part of planning team that made decisions, this meant she would only be consulted when a planning officer felt her specialist advice was needed, with officers taking decisions based on their own judgement at other times.

IM and MH reported that EW had explained that the planning application for the building on the corner of the marketplace had been refused on the basis they had wanted to completely remove an internal staircase and in a listed building this could not be permitted. It was understood that this issue was now being re-visited and discussions were ongoing with the owner and she was confident that a way forward could be reached that didn’t require losing the whole staircase or adding an ugly external fire escape. IM and MH had pointed out the buildings painted bright green and orange on Bridge Street and asked if this contravened planning regulations within the conservation area. EW said what colour you painted your property was not considered as 'development' so unless a building was Listed it did not need permission. The Council could take action if was so bad as to harm the whole area's amenity, but were unlikely to make a fuss unless they were sure they could win a case. EW did however agree that the large orange signs were advertisements that looked to need permission, and were certainly not in keeping with the area and she would investigate.

They then visited the Water Mill which had been of concern to members and townspeople for many years. They noted that a Town Councillor had contacted ELDC to ask for it to use 'Section 215' powers to make the owner tidy it up, but received a dismissive response saying it was ‘not bad enough’ for intervention. EW felt it could be a building worthy of the Council using its powers but she explained that before it could do so it needed to look at all buildings in the immediate area and ensure that it was prioritising the worst cases (she noted other buildings in town were in a worse condition and should take precedence) – as they couldn’t force action on one building for bringing down the appearance of the area. EW also noted that she had spotted the state of the condition of the old chapel on the corner of East Street and Queen Street and had raised a case with planning enforcement.

It was noted that owing to changes in the structure of what was the conservation officer role, EW is not always consulted by planning officers. Therefore the committee agreed that the Society and our members continued to be very much the eyes and ears for the conservation area. She advised that if we noticed anything happening which we felt should be challenged that we get in touch with her.

IM raised the issue of the redevelopment of Holmeleigh, the proposed new headquarters for ELDC. He had written to the leader of the council when we first heard of the proposed move in October 2019 and to raise our concerns that the site's history be respected. We were told not to worry and that the community would be consulted, but we have not heard anything else from them. Reports in the Horncastle News seemed to indicate that plans were close to being finalised and there was talk of demolition of existing buildings as they were not economical. EW was not able to tell us more during her visit, and it was agreed MH should write to express the Society's continued concern and seek reassurance that none of the Holmeleigh cottage homes would be demolished.

Item 6. Future of Watson’s Yard Project

Update on Project: We have now received the written valuation from JH Walter which was slightly lower than anticipated and it was agreed to discuss this with the Photographic Society.

Progress had also been made with volunteers visiting other local heritage and arts centres to collect ideas. So far there have been visits to Heckington Windmill, Boston Guildhall, Bardney Heritage Centre, Caister Arts & Heritage Centre, Kirton in Lindsey Town Hall's Heritage Room, Brigg Heritage Centre, Woodhall Cottage Museum and Utterby Church (Nr Louth). A group of volunteers also visited the County Museum in Lincoln to see material in their stores from Horncastle. They were keen to support our project and would be happy to let us borrow things back from the archive for display providing we create the right conditions for preserving items. IM was disappointed that they had been unable to locate the Roman lead coffin! Support caring for Archives was also offered, and the potential to laser scan and create replicas of some artefacts that were probably too precious to be borrowed except on short loan.

Since the last meeting plans had been continued to be developed with architect Philip Hawkins. These plans had been shared with the public at our open day on February 15^th which went extremely well with approximately 150 people visiting Watson's Yard and commenting on the various plans and ideas. Our thanks to everyone who helped on the day and especially to those making wonderful cakes which kept everyone smiling despite the terrible weather. Thanks were also offered to Joanna Pass from Horncastle Art Group who ran a print making workshop and Geoff Taylor from Chain Bridge Forge in Spalding who provided a demonstration of virtual reality and 3D printing models of historic buildings that proved fascinating.

Following the Condition Survey, it had been agreed with the National Lottery Heritage Fund that contingency funds could be spent on commissioning a structural engineer to inspect the roof space, which after much delay finally took place yesterday. MH had been present and reported that although there has been a few small leaks in the past the main beams appeared to be ok. We need to budget in for some smaller timbers and the ceiling to be replaced, but it looked likely that it would be possible to plaster over the surviving timber lathes, rather than removing them and installing modern plaster board. Overall, no major problems.

Outstanding tasks: At the Watson's Yard sub-committee meeting held on Monday it was agreed to pursue Option 2 which was by far the most popular option voted on at the open day (75%). Several visitors had also suggested that we should aim for Option 2 as we could always fall back to Option 1 if it became unfeasible, whereas it was harder to 'scale up'. However it was agreed by the sub-committee that we should raise concerns about the layout of the stairs with Philip Hawkins (PH) as we would prefer these to be the other way round as we wanted to avoid an unwelcoming lobby in front of the new front door. There was also something on the plans about removing a beam on Option 2 but it was noted that the ‘before’ drawing showed the beam in the wrong place so it was hoped that no beams would need to be removed. A member with significant architectural experience had sent detailed comments on the plans and reminded the Committee that the beams are of unusually large proportions and as original features they should not be ripped out lightly. The Committee also would like to ask if it is essential to have a toilet indoors as this also takes much needed space and created a further wasted lobby space – IM thought said PH had been told by ELDC that a disabled toilet should not be designated for use by able bodied people but all agreed it would seem to be very discriminating if we were to provide a new toilet indoors for the able bodied but sent disabled people outside! It was agreed to ask PH to look at these concerns and provide an updated section view for Option 2 showing how the reversed stairs and lobby would look. MS added a further suggestion a member had raised with her was that we could perhaps have the upper floor boarded out etc. and use as a storage area with the use of a substantial retractable loft ladder for the time being with the option to install a staircase in the future. IM confirmed that we have received permission from the Lottery to increase the amount spent on plans (by moving underspend between cost headings) so we can go ahead and ask PH to revise the plans and seek estimates for the work from contractors.

Following the sub-committee meeting we urgently need to collate some costing information by 6^th March to help Heritage Lincolnshire model viability. This included estimating both future income and expenditure in terms of running costs (utilities, insurance, wifi, software, archive matrials etc.). Other than membership fees we would need to work out what other income we would possibly have from hire fees and visitor admissions. MS confirmed that we do charge £5 to any non-members wishing to visit the archive, but added that most people visiting at the moment were already members or took out membership at the time of accessing the archive. NF suggested we should have a donations box along with a leaflet explaining how much our annual costs are, similar to those produced by churches to encourage visitors to give more. Another thing we should talk about is asking members to remember the Society in their wills.

MS agreed to speak to the Photographic Society regarding current insurance costs and she would also look into the Society's current income and some of the potential outgoings. IM explained he was due to meet the managers of the Community Centre to get a worst case scenario of operating costs as theirs was a similar but larger building. NF and MS both agreed they would look at costs for buying display cases as it was noted that our architect or builder would not be able to cost items such as this in the plans. This should take into account that Paul Scott has got a few artefacts we might want, from the old Horncastle museum, plus we would need a case for displaying (not just storing) documents. It was agreed to try to do this by email owing to the impending deadline – IM will send out an email so people can do a ‘reply to all’.

Also outstanding is the need to call an Extraordinary General Meeting to ask our members to vote on the Society being incorporated as a CIO (see Item 7 below).

Item 7. Incorporating the Society and New Constitution

Discussion took place in relation to the draft constitution and proposed rules and under the section ‘Area of Benefit’ we had put in ‘and surrounding villages’ keeping this deliberately vague as, if we were restricted to only be able to research Horncastle itself, we wouldn’t be able to do things like the Mareham le Fen book etc. Patrick Cordingly (PC) had queried this wording as legally it was vague and open to challenge, but it was agreed that if Chattertons and the Charity Commission were happy with the wording then we should leave it that way. IM noted organisations such as the Community Centre referred to "Horncastle & District" but as there had not been a rural district since 1974, the phrase district was also unclear but had been allowed.

PC had made a number of other helpful comments that were considered. This included a comment proposing that rules could allow the Trustees/Executive Committee to appoint the Officers but MS felt strongly that members should elect Officers. It was also agreed to include a section on the role of Patron, President and Vice President to make clear what their roles were.

It was also discussed whether members should declare their interests in addition to trustees (noted by PC) but this was already in our existing constitution. It was agreed that this was needed to avoid circumstances where a member might have an interest in an issue being discussed such as a new development, so it was necessary for members to be transparent about this to avoid conflicts of interest.

The clause regarding our intentions in the event of winding up on the Archives was also discussed – we want to keep this in to help avoid the circumstance of the Photographic Society and Watson's Yard where they are forced to sell assets to donate the proceeds, when in some cases donating the assets themselves might better further the Society's objects.

MS felt the Executive Committee should be the ones making decisions but agreed a premises committee would be useful to help with day to day management if we go ahead with the Watson's Yard project. MS to come up with a form of words.

15 people have agreed to propose the motion, need 12 people at the meeting to be quorate.

[Following the meeting via email it was agreed to set the Special General Meeting on 1^st April 2020, 7:30pm at Watson's Yard to ensure 28 days' notice could be given even those technically no changes to the existing constitution are being proposed.]

Item 8. Commemorating VE Day in May 2020

Following our appeal in the last meeting notes and two appeal in the Horncastle News only two people have come forward with memories of VE Day, and only one of which might be in a position to work with the children from the town's schools to record their memories. This sadly meant we probably wouldn’t be able to involve all three schools unless more people came forward, but it was noted that an appeal had only just appeared in Horncastle Matters so more volunteers may come forward with memories or photographs. MS reminded IM to get in touch with Mary Elliot who remembers dancing in the street with her sister well into the night.

NF recalled that the primary school had previously created a video, interviewing older people in care homes asking for their memories of wartime, in connection with Lincolnshire Arts Film and TV Awards. A Mr Bird was involved who is still a teacher at the school. IM would try to find out more about this as he had not been told anything about it when he met the primary school who were keen to be involved again now.

IM and Chris Bates (CB) have been working to reproduce relevant sections of the Horncastle News from VE Day and IM had created an A3 mock-up of the VE Day paper, with the idea of putting other information about the Society on the reverse side such as membership forms, Sponsor a Stone, Feasibility Study etc. CB had discovered that the local editor could also give permission for this as he had responsibility across the whole East Midlands, and he sounded favourable to the idea.

Item 9. Thomas Sully: approval of leaflet, blue plaque and quotations (MS)

Nothing to add.

Item 10. Roman Wall Update

Development work including a procurement strategy was still ongoing. IM had raised a further £250 over the last couple of weeks through giving talks, and £100 had been very kindly donated during our recent open day at Watson's Yard. The Tesco tokens are also doing very well, thanks to everyone for giving us your tokens! IM suggested doing a walk around again for Heritage Open Days in September, as it was not known what the position would be regarding the Archives so we could not commit to another exhibition.

Item 11. Setting Membership Subscriptions

Discussion took place as to whether we should increase our membership fees which have been held at the same price for the last ten years, which are £10 per individual member (£5 Junior) and £12 for a couple. Looking at how much costs have increased over the years such as insurance and postage as well as things we now need which we didn’t have ten years ago such as computer software licences and Wi-Fi it was agreed to increase the membership fees to £12 per individual (£6 Junior) and £15 per couple and resolved to re-evaluate these on a yearly basis. All Members – Please note these new membership fees and for those who pay by Standing Order, please update your Standing Order with your bank. You should be able to do this online or by contacting your bank by telephone or in person. New members who have joined since December 2019 will not be affected until April 2021 as your payment covers the new financial year as well.

Item 12. Any Other Matters

Society Outing(s): MS suggested that Brigg Museum would be a good place for a group visit. IM reminded her that he had already muted the idea of a trip to Batemans as we have been invited to visit one midweek evening by Mike Fowler to the Railway Exhibition being held there (date to be arranged between August and October). There is no reason why we can’t have more than one trip but as IM pointed out he hadn’t had any responses yet following the newsletter. Members are requested to let us know if they are interested in either or both of these trips. If we get interest then we can look to set a date.

Mareham le Fen book: MS asked for permission to have a further 50 copies of the book printed as these have all but sold out. All agreed more copies should printed and this was excellent news – well done to MS and Helen Huthwaite. Please get in touch if you would like to buy a copy!

Item 13. Date of next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 8^th April 2020 at 3pm at Watson’s Yard, West Street, Horncastle.

Julie Bates

Executive Committee Minutes Secretary

 The Society is delighted that Dr Ian Marshman has accepted the position of Chairman of the Society. He received a unanimous vote at the meeting of the Society on the 20th November 2018.  Ian is an Archaeologist and currently works for Lincolnshire County Council as an archaeological planner.  He has a special interest in conserving the Roman Wall in the town.

Mary Silverton, on stepping down after seven years as Chairman, stated that she was pleased that under her stewardship the membership of the Society had grown from 30 to 93 members, and was now in a good position to go forward under the guidance of a forward thinking, younger person.

Horncastle History & Heritage Society – Minutes of a Meeting of the Executive Committee held Wednesday 15^th January 2020 at Watson’s Yard, West Street, Horncastle

Present: Ian Marshman (IM) Chairman, Michael Hieatt (MH), Mary Silverton (MS), Nick Fox (NF), Annie Clark (AC) and Julie Bates (JB) Minutes Secretary.

Apologies: Ian French (IF) and Bob Wayne (BW)

Item 1. Apologies for Absence

IM accepted apologies from those members detailed above.

Item 2. Approval of Executive Minutes 04/12/19 and Matters Arising (MA):

Minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as an accurate reflection of what took place.

04/12/19 Item 2: Horncastle 'Vital & Viable' Regeneration Event: IM advised there is to be a further workshop led by ELDC at 6pm Tuesday 18^th February at the Stanhope Hall to progress some of the suggestions from the report to regenerate and promote Horncastle. For anyone interested the full report on Horncastle written by the Chartered Institute of Place Management can be found here https://www.e-lindsey.gov.uk/media/14882/Horncastle-V-V-report/pdf/Horncastle_V_V_report.pdf?m=637109798670170000

04/12/19 Item 5: Planning: IM to contact and arrange to meet with the new conservation officer Emilie Wales – also noted her initials EW not EM!

04/12/19 Item 6: Christmas Party and Market Events: The Christmas party had been a successful evening with everyone enjoying themselves. As too was the Society's stall at the Christmas Market which raised in excess of £600. Thanks to all who donated chocolate for our traditional tombola and special thanks to Nick (NF) who donated proceeds from his book on the Lincolnshire Rising to the Society. For anyone unable to purchase a book on the day, NF advised they are on sale in the Joseph Banks centre. There was also a lot of interest shown and many positive comments received in relation to the Watson’s Yard project, including 3 people with memories of going to school there in the 1940s!

Item 3. Correspondence

One of our members had very kindly provided information on the WWII soldier Arthur Hunt, which IM passed on to the Belgian correspondent in whose town Arthur was buried. We now know he was a boy from the Holmeleigh Children's homes and lived with a foster family in Croft Street and worked for the grocers Lunn & Dobson before going off to war. However, as yet there is no sign of a photo of Arthur Hunt, so it was recommended that an appeal be put in the Horncastle News.

A letter had been received from one of our members that had paid their membership fees twice. JB had spoken to the member and had passed this on to MS to follow up.

Item 4. Financial Report (MS)

MS has not heard anything from the bank in relation to the change of signatories, nor the main contact changing from Ruth to Mary. Cheques signed by the new signatories have been cashed which would suggest this change has all gone ahead but MS has not received any confirmation from the bank and will contact them if she doesn’t hear anything else.

MS advised the last bank balance available to her was that of 27 November 2019 which was £15,184.51. Whilst payments of approximately £4k have been made this still leaves us with a healthy balance, not forgetting the receipt of money in excess of £600 from the Christmas market.

Item 5. Planning Report (MH)

MH advised it was still very quiet at the moment in relation to planning, adding he is getting planning application information from within the conservation area but not for the whole Horncastle area. MS understood that he would need to request this information – IM’s understanding was you can request the full list but would have to then filter out anything specific to Horncastle from the whole of the East Lindsey district but could possibly ask the Town Council for a copy of the list they receive.

MH had queried if planning has been changed in relation to Foundry Yard as planning had been given for two houses but there currently appears to be one house and a number of metal sheds put up instead. He has not yet received a response to this enquiry.

MH had chased up information from Lincolnshire County Council on the Langton Hill development as he hadn’t received a response to his previous requests for a copy of the drainage system plans for Langton Hill and results of the flood relief scheme following the July flooding. Of particular concern is what happens to excess flow from the attenuation ponds on Langton Hill as the plans MH was provided with only show the water as coming off the site but not where it goes.

Whilst we had objected to a planning application to replace the rear windows of the almshouses with upvc, this had been approved and there is now a further application for a property in Queen Street to replace rear windows with upvc though it is understood that there is already upvc windows installed on this particular property, and their proposal was for a design that was in a more traditional form.

It is understood that the County Council 2020 budget plans to invest in and expansion to the Horncastle industrial estate. There would also be funding to improve pinch points on the A158 'Lincolnshire Coastal Highway', but there was no indication if there would be any improvements in the town now that a bypass had again been ruled out.

A full copy of the planning report will follow.

Item 6. Future of Watson’s Yard Project

Update on Project: A meeting has taken place before Christmas involving our architect Philip Hawkins (PH) and Heritage Lincolnshire at which we were able to come up with two sensible options for the building. Option 1 is to have no major building work, other than reinstate the front door as all agreed this was a relatively simple but very useful improvement, as well as a number of interior alterations such as heating, lighting, panelling, and storage and display cases for the archives. Option 2 had more major works, with the creation of a staircase to the first floor which had once been the teacher's bedroom and reinstating the dormer windows to make use of the upper floor. The Group were able to view and discuss the drawings and raised a number of queries which we hope PH will be able to address.

We are still awaiting the written valuation from JH Walter. They have now been paid for this and it is hoped we should receive the valuation soon once the surveyor returns from holiday on the 20^th January.

MS and IM met with the residents of Watson’s yard yesterday, which was very positive. Generally our neighbours were happy that it might be us that buys the property, and the only concerns raised were those of security and noise if the building was hired out. We agreed that the building should not be used for anything involving loud music or noisy events such as music lessons or discos and MS agreed to put a few words together in the new 'rules' to reflect that if we do buy the building then activities should be for 'quiet enjoyment'. The residents don’t have any major issues with our plans to improve the footpath to the building if we can fund the works, but have said they want to retain the stone paving (definitely not tarmac over) and would also prefer foot lights rather than down lighting or lanterns stuck in the ground – if the lighting was motion activated then this could also be a security feature.

Plans for public exhibition of options for reconfiguring the building: IM explained that our funding bid had included that we would set up an exhibition in order to show the options for the building to the public. He noted that as plans can be a bit tricky for people to understand without an explanation, so he suggested we could come up with some 'mood boards' showing examples of materials, equipment and displays might look like –such as examples of panelling and window shutters. MS noted that she had only today discovered some photographs taken in the 1960s by the Photographic Society showing the original panelling where the peg boarding is now on the walls, and it is hoped that this will mean we can accurately recreate it. It was agreed this exhibition should take place early February and a date was set at Saturday 15^th February, 10.00 – 14.00 hrs at Watson's Yard. Members are invited to attend and provide their comments, and any help promoting the event or on the day would be very welcome.

Outstanding tasks: MS started the discussion by pointing out that IM is doing far more than his share of the workload on this project and the onus is on the whole of the membership to get involved and take on some of the tasks, some of which are no more laborious than visiting an existing attraction and writing up a short one page report (see below). As per our appeal in the previous minutes, all members are asked to consider getting involved. The Executive Group is a small number of people trying to do everything, and with the expanding membership we welcome our new members getting more people involved in projects to keep the organisation running for the future of Horncastle.

IM pointed out that one of the things we really need to get on with is visiting other heritage centres to get ideas, as some of these are closed over the winter or only open by appointment. These are:-

Cottage Museum, Woodhall Spa – MS has visited the Cottage Museum previously and is able to write a short report on this.

Louth Museum – volunteer needed

Brigg Herigage Centre – MS said she would visit

Caistor Heritage Centre – this has been visited and BW has written up a report.

Kirton in Lindsey Town Hall – includes heritage room run by their Civic Society. – IM will visit

Sleaford Museum – it was understood Mark Bamford was happy to talk to us about their experience establishing this small museum that goes from strength to strength. – IM can visit if needed

Corby Glen, Willoughby Gallery – also in a historic old school with small archive and regular art exhibitions. It was understood this was only open when they had an exhibition. NF will attend as he has family in the village.

JB asked if there were any attractions in Heckington which could be reviewed for the project as she was thinking of visiting the area. Both the Windmill and the Railway and Heritage Museum would be viable attractions to visit but the Railway Heritage Museum will not open until Easter. JB will make every effort to visit the windmill.

Other suggestions could include:

Gainsborough Heritage Centre (volunteer run with a large archive similar to ours)

Utterby Church (nr Louth) with a new 'touch table' to display documents in their parish chest

Alford Manor House

Navigation House in Sleaford, has many 'interactives' run by a district council not volunteers

Grantham Museum

and many more!

As a guideline for anyone visiting these sites, we need to submit some notes (no more than one A4 sheet) on the heritage centre you visit, noting what has been done well, especially things we can copy and where possible take photographs. Also, when we have the opportunity to speak with those involved, find out from them what they found didn’t work so we can avoid making the same mistakes. Volunteers can also claim their travel expenses back as the Lottery grant included funding for this but please get in touch and put your name down for visiting one of the venues in advance so we can avoid duplication.

We had also receive the initial report from Heather Lomas the collections expert, but IM will chase to see if there is any progress regarding a return visit and a final report.

Sub-Committee Meeting: It was agreed that we really need a subcommittee meeting towards the end of January in order to be able to discuss the arrangements for the exhibition in February. A date was agreed for Wednesday 29^th January, 3pm at Watson's Yard by those Executive Group members who were able to give some time to this but any society member will be most welcome to attend and get involved. ALL – please send pictures of what you consider to be good examples of things you'd like to see that we can use to create the 'mood boards' to horncastlecivic@gmail.com

Visit to the county museum in Lincoln – Dawn Haywood had invited us to visit the Lincolnshire Archives and 'The Collection's store to look at some of the items they have stored which came from the old Horncastle Museum or were found in the town, with a view on us displaying some of these items (or copies) in a future heritage centre at Watson's Yard. IM will arrange a date.

There is also money in the budget to pay for training for our members/ volunteers on any aspect related to the Archives– for example the caring for archive, databases, or creating attractive displays. MS was thinking about getting in touch with the Spalding Gentleman’s Society for advice on looking after the archive as they have previously offered this to us on a visit.

Item 7. Incorporating the Society and New Constitution

It had been agreed that the Society should formally explore looking at becoming incorporated as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and IF had met with Roly Freeman who provided a model constitution produced by the Charity Commission. IF, IM and MS have looked at this with the solicitor to draft a version of the model constitution. It was noted that members of the Executive Committee effectively became a board of trustees, but we will need to have a separate set of 'rules' regarding officers roles etc., as this wasn’t something there were options for in the model constitution.

Once set up this will be very beneficial as it would mean the Society could carry out transactions and own land and objects in its own right (not vested in holding trustees), and that its committee/trustees and members would have limited liability with no financial contribution to make if the Society ever folded with debts to pay.

Following discussions a draft constitution and proposed rules have been drawn up and we are just waiting for a copy to be returned incorporating all the changes. Once we receive these we will be in a position to circulate them for consultation to Members, noting that nothing can proceed without a vote at an Extraordinary General Meeting. We need to give one month notice of an Extraordinary General Meeting which we ideally need to hold before the end of March so we can use the lottery funding to pay the solicitors fees for handling the incorporation. It was agreed to hold this meeting within 28 days of receiving the finalised constitution, subject to positive comments from members during the consultation.

Item 8. Commemorating VE Day in May 2020

VE Day 75, is a three-day international celebration that will take place from 8th May to 10th May 2020. IM advised that the May Bank Holiday has been moved to Friday 8 May and a number of events are being planned in Horncastle with the Society being part of the organising committee. Over the weekend there are hoped to be events such as a ration book baking competition, 40s style dress with a big event in the market area on the Saturday including 1940s classic cars and a church service and bell ringing on the Sunday. We plan to help with an exhibition in the Community Centre of wartime memories and memorabilia. MS suggested we should approach Ken Argent for help with this. Though we haven’t been able to find any photographs in our archives, we understand that the town was decorated in bunting, flags and streamers and there was a dance late into the night in the Market Place, and we would love to hear from any of our members who remember this or have any photographs or memorabilia. In particular we would like to record people’s memories from this time and seek volunteers both to share their memories, and help interviewing. We understand that schools are keen to get involved and we hope to work with them to record the 'oral histories', building on the success of our work with QEGS last year for Heritage Open Days. The intention is to play these recordings at the exhibition as well as being able to keep them in the archive for future generations so that these important events are remembered.

With help from Gail Dymoke, IM had managed to find a copy of the Horncastle News on microfiche in the library and wondered if Horncastle News or Morton might be interested in helping us reproducing this on the anniversary weekend. It was hoped Chris Bates might be able to help to see if this might be possible.

Item 9. Thomas Sully: approval of leaflet, blue plaque and quotations (MS)

At the last meeting we agreed the date of 19^th June to unveil the blue plaque as we understood this to be Thomas Sully’s birthday. Since then Colin Gascoin has received a lot more information from who is understood to be Sully’s Gt, Gt, Gt Grandson in America and there is now some query as to if his date of birth was the 8^th June. It was agreed that we would stick with original plans as agreed at the last meeting.

Item 10. Roman Wall Update

The lead advisor Dr David Watt is coming to look at the wall next week to see what needs to be done in light of its current condition, 2 years after his original condition survey. It is hoped that work will start and be completed this year in the warmer months, although at present Historic England has only given funding for the development work and tendering etc. It is understood that the Community Centre was now interested in looking at what is under the ground in the area using geophysics to see where the wall actually goes, and to hold a celebration of Roman Horncastle once the wall was restored. MH would be interested in seeing if geophysics could be used to detect where the wall runs in his garden across the road from the community centre.

Item 11. Any Other Matters

Speakers: MS has a number of ideas for 2021 speakers having one contact that does talks entitled ‘Lawless and Immoral’ and ‘the Disappearing Policemen’ as well as somebody who gives a talk on Lincolnshire dialect but we really do need a volunteer who will take on the role of contacting speakers, and getting in touch ahead of the proposed talk checking the speaker knows where they are going, time needed etc. IM noted that unlike in some Societies we have no problem finding speakers, it would just help to have someone coordinate this part of HHHS's work.

Literary Festival – will be held at the walled garden at Baumber on the 1^st and 2^nd May. Attended by authors, local publishers, book buyers – NF will be attending and thought it may be of interest to our members.

Item 12. Date of next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 26^th February 2020 at 3pm at Watson’s Yard, West Street, Horncastle.

Julie Bates

Executive Committee Minutes Secretary

Horncastle History & Heritage Society AGM held at Watson’s Infant School, West Street, Horncastle on Wednesday 15^th May 2019 at 7.30 pm

Present:        Executive Members:  Ian Marshman (IM) Chairman, Mary Silverton (MS),  Annie Clark (AC), Bob Wayne (BW), Michael Hieatt (MH), Sheila Jonkers (SJ) and Julie Bates (JB) Minutes Sec.  

Members:  Chris Bates, Karel Jonkers, Graham Silverton, Roger Hammond, June Benton, Jonothan Read, Mary Read, Patricia Paige, Nick Fox, Ashleigh Bird, Rich Avison, Carol Downer and Mary Elliott

Apologies:       Executive Members:  Chrissie Chapman (CC), Jean Forgham (JF), Ruth Addison (RA), Trevor Butterworth (TB).

Members:  Francis & Gail Dymoke, Richard Downie, Pearl Wheatley, Paul Scott, Ian and Judith French, Vaughan McKay, Fiona Martin, Marilyn Hieatt.

Item 1.             Apologies for Absence

IM accepted apologies from those members detailed above.

Item 2.             Approval of Minutes from the AGM held 16^th May 2018

IM asked for approval from those who had attended the meeting.  MS proposed the minutes were an accurate reflection of what took place and this was seconded by Roger Hammond and agreed unanimously. 

Item 3.             Matters Arising

There were no matters arising.

Item 4.             Chairman’s Report

IM read out his report outlining some of the Societies achievements over the last year such as reaching 100 members, Mary’s book selling out, the interesting topics and excellent speakers at meetings and the progress on fundraising to protect the Roman Wall.  He thanked all those who had been involved and helped the Society over the year for all their hard work and efforts which has seen the Society go from strength to strength.  He also paid tribute to Keith Sellars who had been a strong supporter of the Society for many years and a sad loss to all who knew him.  A copy of the Chairman’s Report will be circulated with these minutes.

Item 5.              Treasurer’s Report and Approval of Accounts 2018 - 2019

MS advised that the Treasurer (RA) was unable to attend the meeting and therefore gave a brief appraisal of the accounts which have again been audited in time for the AGM by the Independent Examiner.  Two items of note were the increase in membership income and also the purchase of a projector which has already justified its purchase and will hopefully continue to do so for years to come. 

The following questions were raised by Members:-

Do we now reclaim Gift Aid?
MS advised that the Treasurer had been working to achieve this and it had been hoped that the paperwork would be completed in advance of this AGM but unfortunately this had not been possible though she was advised that this is almost in place. She added that the delay had been caused by an unfortunate oversight as, when the Society changed to its current name, HMRC had not been advised of this change.  This has thus resulted in the need to track back to all the Trustees at that time to complete relevant paperwork and forms confirming the change to the Societies name before we could then proceed with the more straight forward paperwork relating to Gift Aid.  RA has assured MS that this is being dealt with and asked all members to complete a Gift Aid form if they had not already done so.

Should archives be listed as assets on the accounts?
Archives are listed on our insurance but it was generally felt these should not be shown as a value on our accounts – if anything these should be listed on an asset registry which is in effect the database we hold of items in the archive.  The archive material itself is irreplaceable – you cannot replace an original photograph once it is lost, but a photograph itself has very little if no monetary value.  We cannot use the archive as a means to securing a loan for example as you would be able to use a property (a true asset).  As one member felt otherwise then it was agreed we would refer this to the next Executive Meeting for discussion/clarification.

Sheila Jonkers proposed the accounts be accepted, this was seconded by Annie Clark and agreed by all except one of the meeting attendees.

Item 6.             Election of Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer and Secretary

IM welcomed any volunteers for any of these posts stressing that there was a real need to engage a Vice-Chair adding if nobody came forward to take on this role then he would look to fill this post via the Executive Committee. 

MS advised that RA was standing down as Treasurer and that she was prepared to take on this role.  Thanks were expressed to RA for all her hard work over the years.  There being no other volunteer for this role BW proposed that MS be accepted as Treasurer, this was seconded by JB.  There being no volunteer to take on the role of Vice-Chair this would be referred to Executive Committee to discuss further.  JB advised she was prepared to stand again as Secretary to which there were no objections.

Officers were therefore agreed by all members present as follows:-

  Chair:                                                              Ian Marshman
  Vice-Chair:                                                      Vacant
  Treasurer:                                                       Mary Silverton
  Secretary:                                                       Julie Bates
                                                                 

Item 7.             Election of Executive Committee

IM thanked everyone that has given their time to the Executive Committee and continue to give support going forward.  He especially thanked Jean Forgham and Chrissie Chapman for all their hard work and input over recent years adding that whilst they will continue to be supportive members they were no longer able to continue to commit to being Executive Committee members and were thus stepping down. He thanked Sheila & Karrel Jonkers who had assisted as interim membership secretary.

BW, MH, AC were prepared to continue as members of the Executive Committee and IM advised that Ashleigh Bird (AB), Nick Fox (NF) and Ian French (IF) had also put their names forward. He encouraged all members to consider joining the Executive Committee as new ideas were always welcomed.  

All members in attendance at the meeting were in favour and the Executive Committee was thus confirmed as:-

                                                                  Bob Wayne                                                    
                                                                  Michael Hieatt
                                                                  Annie Clark
                                                                  Nick Fox
                                                                  Ashleigh Bird
                                                                  Ian French

Item 8.             Proposals for the Future of Watson’s Infant School

IM explained that the Photographic Society would be holding an Extraordinary General Meeting on 11^th June to vote on a motion to close and wind up the Society, owing to declining and ageing membership. MS had originally been approached several months ago by the Photographic Society to discuss whether we would like to take on the long lease from them on peppercorn rent, with them able to then rent the space back from us for occasional meetings and their annual exhibition, a reversal of the present relationship where we hire the room from them.

We had not been able to advise members of the situation before this meeting owing to the need of the Photographic Society to first speak to their membership before this became public knowledge. The Executive Committee had agreed to look into the feasibility of taking on the building, and co-opted Patrick Cordingley and Ian French who have the relevant legal expertise to advise us. IM had also written an expression of interest to the National Lottery Heritage Fund (formerly Heritage Lottery Fund) regarding the possibility of us applying for a small grant (c.£12,000) to pay for condition surveys, and a feasibility study of how we could better use the building, as well as legal costs and some equipment such as a laptop for the archives and installing WiFi. The lottery had been positive and asked us to prepare more detailed costs.

However, MS had recently been informed by the Photographic Society that their legal advisors believe they cannot grant a lease, and their members were minded to formally close the society and wind it up. She had been advised that they were looking to close at the end of their programme in October, and then look to sell the building, but that they may be able to give us time to put things in order if we did want to buy it. IM explained that if we do want to buy the building, we would still need to carry out the feasibility project first in order to demonstrate to potential funders that we had a credible plan in place for what to do with the building and what the benefits would be for Horncastle.

He reminded everyone that ultimately if we do nothing then the Society's Archive would then be homeless, as two years ago when we left the Sir Joseph Banks Centre there had been nowhere else to go until Watsons Yard was offered.  The building could be used not just to store the archive, but as an arts and heritage space for the whole community.  Not a museum or visitor attraction that was open 365 days a year, but a space available for local groups and open to the public on summer Saturdays and for special events like Heritage Open Days.

IM asked Members what they thought of the idea, and for any comments or concerns, and the following questions were raised by Members:-

Can we afford to buy the building?
Our enquiries suggest it is possible we may get National Lottery Funding but we would need to go back to them with detailed figures and establish what they would and would not fund.  IM added ongoing running costs need to be taken into consideration though discussions with the Photographic Society indicated that these were manageable, and we were already covering most of them by way of our contributions in 'rent'.  Insurance wouldn’t be much more than we already pay, added to this would be electricity and water and, whilst it isn’t a listed building, the building would still need to be maintained going forward.

Are there plans to get others to use the building in addition to the Photograph Society?
We would certainly look at others using the building and feel it could be a popular venue for small groups. IM stated that he felt the space here was unique in Horncastle, being homely and welcoming, being larger than meeting rooms at the Joseph Banks Centre for instance, but smaller than the rooms at the Community Centre or the vast space at Stanhope Hall. He felt it would lend itself to arts classes or music groups (non-amplified), yoga etc. Whatever we did with it, we intend to keep the main space flexible. He also added that, without the Archive, there was probably no need for the Society to have a club house, so we would want to make sure the building was shared with the community to make the best use of it and with income for room hire going towards running costs.

Would we be able to adapt and/or extend the building?
The building does come with land to the north which was once the playground and includes the toilets, however this is crossed by a right of way to the former teachers house. Extending the property would obviously be subject to planning permissions and also need to take into account that there is a right of way through the yard which would determine how much you would be able to extend the building. It is possible we could look to improving access to the space above the meeting room, which is currently only accessible via a small loft hatch, but that had formerly been bedrooms with the dormer windows only being removed in the 1970s or 80s.

Would we be able to improve access to the building – better lighting etc?
We would certainly hope to be able to improve the lighting and, with the permission of other residents, hopefully relay the flagstone pathway.  Any funder would want to ensure that we made our facilities as accessible as possible, so there would be money available to make the path accessible to those with mobility issues.

MS noted that we currently have between 8 and 10 people working on the archives each Wednesday and if we were to take on ownership of the building or lease then we would be able to store and display the archive better.  IM added that we could have display space for temporary and touring exhibitions, noting that one such touring exhibition on 'Wolds Women of Influence' had not come to Horncastle recently on the basis there was nowhere for it to go.  It was acknowledged that we don’t have car parking space which is a problem and whilst we currently negotiate car parking space at Friskney’s when we have meetings this isn’t always going to be available if the site was developed. He hoped that we could negotiate with QEGS to provide it for any special events.

IM asked the members present if they were in favour of the Executive Committee proceeding to look into the possibilities - All members in attendance at the meeting were in favour.

Item 9.             Comments and Questions from Members about the Society’s Activities

SJ asked if it was possible to hold more informal coffee evenings.  MS was happy to continue with these but requests ideas for themes to be covered and feedback on the format.  It was felt best that people bring their own ideas on given themes as this got everyone involved but it was agreed it would be helpful for somebody to take the role of facilitator to help get the conversation started.

Another suggestion was to have an object handling session of the Roman objects, perhaps as an informal coffee evening. IM said that this was something we could look into.

IM invited ideas for future speakers which resulted in the following suggestions:-

Carol Downey suggested John Marshall-East who was restoring a Hampden WWII Bomber.  She agreed she would contact and ask him to speak to the group.

Sheila Jonkers suggested Mike Arnold who could speak on the topic of Iron Age Settlements.

Ashleigh Bird suggested her archaeology lecturer Duncan Wright may be persuaded to give a talk.

Chris Bates understood that the Lincolnshire Vintage Vehicles group have speakers and felt they would be more than happy to speak at one of our meetings – he was asked to follow this up.

MS advised that once we have agreed the dates for meetings following on from those already in place we will advise those who have suggested speakers in order they may contact them and confirm their availability etc.  IM also asked if anyone knew any metal detectorist groups who may be willing to give a talk and bring along some of their finds – please get in touch if you know anyone!

Rich Avison confirmed that we will be awarded a £1,000 ELDC Councillors Grant towards the Roman Wall, and that the three councillors had wanted to give £500 each but that there was a £1,000 limit to any organisation. IM also clarified that the Society is doing the fundraising for the Roman Wall on behalf of the Community Centre (run by a registered charity, the Horncastle & District Community Association), so wanted to point out that none of this money will appear on our accounts as everything raised is paid directly to their bank account for the Roman wall project.

It was also discussed that if a development across the road at Friskney's went ahead that we might perhaps try to tie in car parking with that, adding we may even wish to lobby for a purpose built heritage centre as part of the development.  IM agreed the Society would like to be involved in any discussions about this site going forward.

There being no further relevant matters to discuss IM thanked those present for their active participation and declared the meeting closed at 8.30 pm

Julie Bates
Secretary

Attachment:    Chairman’s Report
                                               

Town conservation society elects first President.

The recently held Annual General Meeting of Horncastle History and Heritage Society was made significant by the members electing their very first president. Trevor Butterworth has been an active member and officer of the group for as long as most people can remember, a past chairman he has only just relinquished the post of secretary. 

 Earlier in the year the Society was honoured when Francis Dymoke agreed to become their patron. In her report the Chairman Mary Silverton thanked Trevor and the committee for their support and noted that the past year had been particularly successful with the membership rising from 78 to 95. During the year the Society had found a new home for its archive at Watson’s Yard, West Street thanks to the generosity of the Photographic Society.

The Town archive which is now tended by 8 volunteer members has received major boost project with the receipt of a large quantity of material from the collection of the noted local historian David Robinson. Sadly David a "Town Boy” and a long time supporter of the society died last year. Mary also noted the loss of the long serving treasurer David Platt earlier this year.

As well as the well attended bi-monthly meetings held at the Admiral Rodney the Society had organised a number of activities most notably a trip to Ayscoughee Hall and the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society. The Society will be actively engaged with the Town’s Roman wall project and the Armistice Celebrations in November.

The election of officers resulted in Mary being re-elected as Chairman, Julie Bates, Secretary, Ruth Addison Treasurer and Chrissie Chapman Membership Secretary.

Submitted by Bob Wayne 

A Champion Tale.

One of the principle aims of the Horncastle History and Heritage Society is to connect members with the history that happened quite literally on their doorstep in this part of Lincolnshire.

The speaker at last Wednesday’s meeting held at the Society’s new Home at Watson’s Yard was Francis Dymoke whose family have lived at  Scrivelsby from the days of the Norman conquest and have been the sovereign’s champion for 34 generations. Francis started by stressing that although the title of Sovereign’s Champion is attached to the holding of the Scrivelsby Estate the actual appointment is only made at a coronation. Francis’s father Col John Dymoke became Queen’s Champion when he took part in  the coronation of Queen  Elisabeth ll. At a future coronation Francis will have to offer his services and if accepted would almost certainly become  King’s Champion.

Should Francis become his family’s 35^th Champion his contribution to the ceremony is unlikely to equal that of his illustrious forbear Henry Dymoke who entered the banquet at Westminster Hall that followed George lV’s coronation wearing a gleaming  suit of armour riding on a white charger to throw down his gauntlet 4 times as a  challenge to anyone who disputed the King’s position.

In the lively question and answer session that followed almost inevitably the first question was could Francis ride a horse? Hopes were expressed by members that we may see this tradition revived at a future coronation.

We are proud to report that Francis Dymoke agreed at the meeting to become a patron of the society thus emphasising again the strong links between the Dymoke family and the town of Horncastle. 

The gauntlet used by Henry Dymoke and one of the gold cups presented to Champions by the Monarch are shown in this photo of Francis Dymoke and the chairman, Mary Silverton.