Tabley: The Friends of Tabley

TABLEY NEWSLETTER

January 2010

NEWS FROM THE HOUSE - from Clare Pye (Chairman of the Trust)

By now, the house is fully put to bed for the close season, and we have embarked on the winter programme of cleaning and conservation. A new University Trustee has been appointed to replace Simon Gaskell, Lord Bradley. As Keith Bradley, he was MP for Withington until the last general election, and I am sure he will prove to be an extremely useful Trustee.

However, very sadly, I have to report that Lord Hawke, another of our Trustees, died at the end of November. Edward Hawke had not been a Trustee for very long, but his enthusiasm for Tabley and his quiet sense will be greatly missed by us all. Our sympathies go to Bronwen and the children.

But the work goes on. The NADFAS ladies, with the advice of Ann French from The Whitworth Art Gallery, are continuing with the conservation of the Gallery curtains; they are tackling a particularly tricky one at the moment; their skill and patience remain admirable! The Church Recording team are also finishing off their work in the Chapel. From January to March, the Wilmslow Guild is again using Tabley as a venue for a lecture series in the Portico Room on Thursday afternoons.

We are very pleased to see that both the guided tours and weddings are up on this stage last year. This is very largely due to the hard work put in by the administration team, Elina and Ros. Their enthusiasm and dedication to running Tabley is greatly valued by the Trustees.

The Volunteers had a very successful Christmas lunch at The Bells of Peover, and afterwards a group inspected the third Lord de Tabley’s grave in the churchyard. Many thanks to Joan Leach for giving us an impromptu graveside talk about the third lord. Some of you may already have heard that Joan is conducting a guided walk in Tabley Park on April 10th as part of the celebrations for Elizabeth Gaskell’s bicentenary. It will be advertised in the Heritage Centre, so I hope you will look out for it. We hope to have other events at Tabley connected to Elizabeth Gaskell later in the year, so do keep an eye out for those too.

THANKS:

A huge thank you goes to Pat Sheppard: For the past 15 years or so, Pat has stalwartly taken on the job of Treasurer, Ticket Officer, Membership Secretary and writer of News Letters etc. etc. for The Friends. A large job for which we can’t thank her enough. All this time she was continuing with her very busy professional job in Manchester. She has now decided to step down from all her Tabley jobs and deserves a good rest to allow her to cope with her busy professional life and her current family illness problems.

New Administration matters:

We have now split up the jobs amongst the Committee as follows : -

Chairman:   Nicholas Payne
Treasurer:        “           “
Membership: Carole Cooper
Tickets:   Anna Smyth
Publicity: Geoff & Jennie Holman
Events: David Marten, Rene Gill, Helen Marsland, Nick Payne & Geoff & Jennie
             Holman.

We have decided, in order to reduce costs and work, not to issue tickets for events: your name will be entered onto a list of attendees. If you have an email address, we will acknowledge your application by e-mail. So no S.A.E.s will be required for event applications – so a saving for you and a saving for us. In your application, please enter your e-mail address.
We have also decided that when someone has to pull out of an event, for what ever reason, we will only give a refund if we get at least two weeks notice before the date of the event.

FUTURE PROJECT:

With the Trust’s approval, we have decided to redecorate the Chapel. We will be asking Charles Hesp (who carried out the work in the Dining Room) to come up with a scheme and a quotation in consultation with Peter Cannon-Brookes.

RECENT EVENTS:

The visit to Consall Hall gardens and St Giles Church, Cheadle was considered a great success. Both the gardens at Consall and the interior by Pugin at St Giles were thought to be amazing. All thanks goes to David Marten for organising the event.
The elegant lunch in November was a resounding success. About 38 attended and all were able to have lunch at various tables in the Dining Room. We believe that there is a demand for another lunch next year. Beverley from the Tea-room produced a smashing Buffet Lunch for us.
The Carol Concert turned out to be well-attended; the choir, The Border Singers, sang better than ever. The carols and readings were varied and new. Thank you to all those who kindly read for us.

FUTURE EVENTS:

Wednesday: 21st April at 7.30pm. AGM & Talk by Sarah Webb (Trustee) “ Panting Hearts & Coronets: romance and scandals of the Leicesters of Tabley”. Charge £5(Friends) & £6 (Guests)

Sarah’s talk should be great fun and interesting. Do please try and come to it and the AGM to give us support. Wine and nibbles will be provided between the AGM and the talk.


Tabley House, Knutsford, Cheshire WA16 0HB Telephone: 01565 750151 \| Fax: 01565 653230 \| Enquiries & Bookings

TABLEY NEWSLETTER January 2010 NEWS FROM THE HOUSE - from Clare Pye (Chairman of the Trust) By now, the house is fully put to bed for the close season, and we have embarked on the winter programme of cleaning and conservation. A new University Trustee has been appointed to replace Simon Gaskell, Lord Bradley. As Keith Bradley, he was MP for Withington until the last general election, and I am sure he will prove to be an extremely useful Trustee. However, very sadly, I have to report that Lord Hawke, another of our Trustees, died at the end of November. Edward Hawke had not been a Trustee for very long, but his enthusiasm for Tabley and his quiet sense will be greatly missed by us all. Our sympathies go to Bronwen and the children. But the work goes on. The NADFAS ladies, with the advice of Ann French from The Whitworth Art Gallery, are continuing with the conservation of the Gallery curtains; they are tackling a particularly tricky one at the moment; their skill and patience remain admirable! The Church Recording team are also finishing off their work in the Chapel. From January to March, the Wilmslow Guild is again using Tabley as a venue for a lecture series in the Portico Room on Thursday afternoons. We are very pleased to see that both the guided tours and weddings are up on this stage last year. This is very largely due to the hard work put in by the administration team, Elina and Ros. Their enthusiasm and dedication to running Tabley is greatly valued by the Trustees. The Volunteers had a very successful Christmas lunch at The Bells of Peover, and afterwards a group inspected the third Lord de Tabley’s grave in the churchyard. Many thanks to Joan Leach for giving us an impromptu graveside talk about the third lord. Some of you may already have heard that Joan is conducting a guided walk in Tabley Park on April 10th as part of the celebrations for Elizabeth Gaskell’s bicentenary. It will be advertised in the Heritage Centre, so I hope you will look out for it. We hope to have other events at Tabley connected to Elizabeth Gaskell later in the year, so do keep an eye out for those too. THANKS: A huge thank you goes to Pat Sheppard: For the past 15 years or so, Pat has stalwartly taken on the job of Treasurer, Ticket Officer, Membership Secretary and writer of News Letters etc. etc. for The Friends. A large job for which we can’t thank her enough. All this time she was continuing with her very busy professional job in Manchester. She has now decided to step down from all her Tabley jobs and deserves a good rest to allow her to cope with her busy professional life and her current family illness problems. New Administration matters: We have now split up the jobs amongst the Committee as follows : - Chairman: Nicholas Payne Treasurer: “ “ Membership: Carole Cooper Tickets: Anna Smyth Publicity: Geoff & Jennie Holman Events: David Marten, Rene Gill, Helen Marsland, Nick Payne & Geoff & Jennie Holman. We have decided, in order to reduce costs and work, not to issue tickets for events: your name will be entered onto a list of attendees. If you have an email address, we will acknowledge your application by e-mail. So no S.A.E.s will be required for event applications – so a saving for you and a saving for us. In your application, please enter your e-mail address. We have also decided that when someone has to pull out of an event, for what ever reason, we will only give a refund if we get at least two weeks notice before the date of the event. FUTURE PROJECT: With the Trust’s approval, we have decided to redecorate the Chapel. We will be asking Charles Hesp (who carried out the work in the Dining Room) to come up with a scheme and a quotation in consultation with Peter Cannon-Brookes. RECENT EVENTS: The visit to Consall Hall gardens and St Giles Church, Cheadle was considered a great success. Both the gardens at Consall and the interior by Pugin at St Giles were thought to be amazing. All thanks goes to David Marten for organising the event. The elegant lunch in November was a resounding success. About 38 attended and all were able to have lunch at various tables in the Dining Room. We believe that there is a demand for another lunch next year. Beverley from the Tea-room produced a smashing Buffet Lunch for us. The Carol Concert turned out to be well-attended; the choir, The Border Singers, sang better than ever. The carols and readings were varied and new. Thank you to all those who kindly read for us. FUTURE EVENTS: Wednesday: 21st April at 7.30pm. AGM & Talk by Sarah Webb (Trustee) “ Panting Hearts & Coronets: romance and scandals of the Leicesters of Tabley”. Charge £5(Friends) & £6 (Guests) Sarah’s talk should be great fun and interesting. Do please try and come to it and the AGM to give us support. Wine and nibbles will be provided between the AGM and the talk. Back to Friends of Tabley Return to Home Page
Tabley House, Knutsford, Cheshire WA16 0HB Telephone: 01565 750151 \| Fax: 01565 653230 \| Enquiries & Bookings