The Farnham Trust Trustees Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31st December 2023.

The Farnham (Building Preservation) Trust organised an evening on the 28th November 2023 to celebrate Michael Blower’s 50 years involvement with the Trust. He has held several positions including Chairman at one time and he is now our Honorary President.

The event was held at Farnham Pottery by kind courtesy of the owners, Guy and Elaine Haines with superb food provided by the Pottery’s Hobo Cafe. It was attended by the Mayor, Alan Earwaker and 50 guests.

After an introduction by Guy Haines, Michael reminisced about the various projects he had been involved with in and around Farnham including Tanyard House and The Maltings, West Street Cemetery Lodge, Church Cottages, 31 Lower Church Lane, New Ashgate Gallery as well as the Pottery.

The evening closed with Martin Lloyd, Chairman of the Farnham Trust, thanking Michael for all his work and proposing a Toast to him.

The speaker was Clare Clinton, Arts, Heritage and Learning Manager of the West Horsley Place Trust, held at St Joan’s Centre, Tilford Road, Farnham on Thursday 20th October 2022.

The Annual General Meeting of the Farnham Buildings Preservation Trust took place at the Farnham pottery on Friday 15th July 2022 at 6pm.

The General Meeting was followed by a talk by Philip Harris entitled “The Farnham Pottery”.

Philip talked about the history of the pottery, including the Harris family’s pottery connections and activities prior to their moving to Wrecclesham, their reasons for setting-up the pottery there, and the rise and eventual fall of the business from 1872 until 1999. He also described the role of the Trust in rescuing the site and provided an overview of the current activities at the site.

AGENDA FOR THE MEETING

1.         Minutes of the 52^nd Annual General Meeting of the Farnham Trust held on Friday 12^th October 2021 at the Council Offices Farnham, at 5.00 pm.

2.         Report of the Board for the year ending 31^st December 2021 by the Chairman.

3.         Consideration of the Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31^st December 2021. 

4.        Election of members of the Board.
The members of the Board are currently:
        Mr M. Lloyd Chairman (re-elected 2019)
        Mr R. Heathcote Secretary and Treasurer (re-elected 2020)
     Mrs C. Bean (re-elected 2019)
        Mr B. Davey (re-elected 2020)
        Mr D. Lang (re-elected 2021)
        Mr B. Lowe (re-elected 2021)
        Mr I. Lynch (elected 2021)
        Mrs L. Rodd (elected 2020)
        Mr R. Steel (elected 2020)
        Mrs G. Ward (elected 2021)
Under the terms of Article 25 of the Articles of Association of the Farnham Trust members of the Board are appointed for terms of three years and must then retire and may offer themselves for re-election.
Accordingly, Martin Lloyd, and Christine Bean retire from the Board and offer themselves for re-election.

5.     The Chairman will invite questions from members and will then close the meeting

Old Yew Tree Cottage was let out in 2020 to a family who moved out last month. We had hoped to take advantage of the Stamp Duty Land Tax  (SDLT) holiday to sell it to provide funds for our next project. We ended up with two offers above the level we received when we marketed it in 2019. Unfortunately, our buyer pulled out and by then the underbidder had had an offer accepted on another property. As there was insufficient time to find another buyer who could complete before the SDLT holiday ended, the Board took the decision to let it again, particularly as as there is currently a lack of good quality family sized homes to rent.

It is our intention to market OYTC again next Easter, 2022.

Old Yew Tree Cottage, Wrecclesham has been on the market for several months but while there has been interest from a number of parties, no acceptable offer to buy has been received.

An opportunity arose to let OYTC on a 12 month basis at a very good rental and in view of not having any immediate future project needing funds, the Board agreed to accept this rental offer in early March 2020.

It is envisaged that OYTC will be put back on the market in 9-12 months time.

Apart from the Trust benefitting by receiving a good income, the cottage will also benefit from being lived in.

The Trustees’ Report for 2018 was presented at the Annual General Meeting of the Farnham Trust at the Garden Gallery, Museum of Farnham, West Street, Farnham on Friday 5th July 2019

After the formal part of the meeting, there was a fascinating talk by local historian Roy Waight on “The amazing story of More House School and the Frensham Circus”.

The AGM is open to all members of the Farnham Trust and we welcome new members who support our aims. Membership is free entitling you to attend open meetings and our AGM. We also hold occasional visits to current projects. If you are interested in becoming a member, please contact us at info@farnhamtrust.org.uk .

The Farnham Building Preservation Trust was recently shortlisted for the prestigious Surrey Heritage Awards for conservation works and restoration of a 16th century building, Old Yew Tree Cottage in Wrecclesham. The Awards recognise “Best Practice” in historic building conservation in Surrey, looking in particular for examples of projects that breathe new life into neglected buildings.

When the Farnham Trust purchased the Grade II listed Old Yew Tree Cottage in 2015 it was in urgent need of care and attention to save and restore it, returning it to practical use and ensuring its survival into the future. The Trust’s aim was to conserve the building using traditional materials and techniques, adding a sympathetic extension to allow the building to be used and lived in. The Trust also chose to prepare a detailed record of the history of the house and were able to use dendrochronology, or tree-ring dating, to obtain a likely construction date of 1551 for the oldest part of the building.

The vision was to bring the building into the 21st century in a sympathetic way and make it suitable for modern life. Unsuitable modern materials that had been used in past repairs were stripped back, and the building was then conserved using the traditional materials that were essential to maintain it appropriately for the future. The timber frame needed many repairs, and while the work was in progress it was found necessary to include a complete roof replacement, because previous repairs had caused rot in the timbers.

In addition, as part of the project a new entrance wing was added. In designing this the Trust adopted an honest approach, making sure that the old and the new would sit comfortably, side by side. The project was completed at the beginning of this year and Old Yew Tree Cottage is now on the market awaiting its new owner. The lucky owner will have the advantage of benefiting from the extensive professional repairs and improvements that the Farnham Trust has carried out, leaving it ready for occupation.

The Surrey Heritage Awards are organised by The Surrey Historic Buildings Trust, and the awards event was held at the stunning West Horsley Place, courtesy of the Mary Roxburghe Trust and Bamber Gascoigne, on Wednesday 27 March 2019. The six shortlisted projects were judged by a panel of experts including chief judge Matthew Slocombe, Director of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB). The Trust’s Patron, Michael More-Molyneux, Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey presented the awards with Parklands Farm Granary, Ockley being named the overall winner.

We are pleased to announce that our renovation of Old Yew Tree Cottage is now complete and is on the market through our agents Savilles.

Full details are here

This is a rare opportunity to own a character property that has undergone a thorough restoration and upgrade, offering a unique chance to live in this charming property without many of the usual worries.

On Saturday 13th October, we held a very well attended prize giving at the Bush Hotel for our 50th Anniversary Art & Writing Competition.

Nearly a hundred and fifty rose to the challenge we set to local schoolchildren in years R to 6 to produce a piece of artwork or write about a building that inspires them in or around Farnham. The judges were faced with the almost impossible task of deciding who should be awarded the first, second and third prizes in each of the three age groups.

The Farnham Herald were there to report and photograph the winners alongside the Mayor and Martin Lloyd, the chairman of the FBPT; you can read the article here.