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News from the Chapel Fund Trustees

John Davey

Meeting of the Trustees, 18th January, 2001

By courtesy of the Headmaster, Martyn Ofield, a meeting of the Trustees of the School Chapel was held at the Priory School on 18th January 2001.

The Chairman, Ivor Wycherley, welcomed Ray Brickell and Jim Peters as new Trustees.

A report was received from the school's Head of Music, who invited the Trustees to consider whether it might be possible to re-site the organ and thereby improve its performance and (perhaps) its life expectancy! It was clear that it would be necessary to raise a very substantial sum of money if any re-siting of the organ within the Chapel was to be feasible. Although - as a result of the generosity of those who attended the Reunion - we already have the funds necessary to undertake an overhaul of the organ, it was agreed that it would not be wise to proceed with this work until a decision could be taken concerning the re-siting. The Headmaster undertook to report back to the Trustees on the feasibility of re-siting the organ and the probable cost involved.

Further discussion took place concerning the need for some repair to the fabric of the Chapel, and it was agreed that a structural survey should be undertaken in order to determine whether or not funds would be required for any essential repairs. The Headmaster undertook to arrange for a structural survey to be carried out as soon as possible.

It was agreed that the next meeting of the Trustees should be held on 12th July when the feasibility study and the survey report would be available.

After the Meeting

After the formal meeting, the Trustees enjoyed a brief visit to the Old Lewesians website and discussed various matters arising from the recent Reunion and from comments received from members. Thanks and congratulations were offered to our webmaster for the excellent work he has done in establishing a website for the old Lewesians.

It was agreed that every effort should be made to publicise the existence of the website and, to this end, it was agreed that a number of measures be taken. This would include a notice in the Sussex Express and better use of our existing email list.

Regarding historical material relating to the School for publication on the website, it was agreed that an approach would be made to the relatives of Mr Bradshaw with a view to obtaining more information and documentation about the early days of the school and Mr Bradshaw himself. It also transpired that some of the older trustees have a collection of unsorted material going back to the 1930s, and it was agreed that an attempt will be made to sort items of interest from this cache as soon as practicable.