2022-03-31-accounts

The Friends of Beverley Minster 86th ANNUAL REPORT 2021 - 2022

Contents

Chairman’s Report	Roger Lewis	3
Programme Secretary’s Report	Pamela Martin	6
October Weekend Programme		8
Vicar’s Report	Jonathan Baker	9
Membership Secretary’s Report	Liz Grove	11
Report by the Director of Music	Robert Poyser	13
Report by the Minster Surveyor	Simon Delaney	15
St John of Beverley - Fact and Fiction	Pamela Hopkins	20
Beverley Minster - Timeline	Dr Stuart Harrison, John Phillips	26
Sanctuary Project update	Mervyn King	34
Annual Accounts	James Moore	36
AGM Minutes 2021		38
Annual General Meeting 2022 Agenda		39
Members of the Council		47

Friends’ visit to Coverham in September 2021

Chairman’s Report

As I am standing down this year, this is a good opportunity to take stock of the Friends as an organisation. To do this, I suggest the following criteria for a healthy charitable organisation: a purpose that

continues to be relevant; sufficient members, including those who are active within the organisation; sufficient resources; and efficient operating arrangements, including capable officers. I argue that we meet these criteria - though as always we face challenges!

Purpose

Most would agree that our purpose as an organisation remains relevant. Three partners have responsibility for the Minster - the PCC, the Old Fund and ourselves. Each has distinctive areas of activity. One objective marks us out clearly from the other two: we ‘promote public interest in the Minster, its history and its work’.

Our ‘promote public interest’ remit shows itself in our support for publications (such as the books by Jonathan Foyle and John Phillips) and in our annual programme, designed by Pamela Martin. We also fund research and investigations, to uncover and then disseminate, new knowledge of the Minster and its history (involving, for example, dendrochronology of the roof timbers).

Our members are supporting a building. Recently we have committed major sums to ensure the Minster remains in sound structural condition. We partnered with the Old Fund to carry out substantial work on the nave and lesser south transept roofs. In this connection it is interesting that those who wrote our constitution (back in the 1930s) stated that, should the Friends be dissolved, its assets would be ‘transferred to the Trustees of Queen Elizabeth’s Church Endowment (otherwise known as Minster Old Fund)…for the repair and maintenance of Beverley Minster’. We are far from this situation happening but the statement (by which we are still bound) shows that the clear priority is the Minster as a physical object within a particular location. We are enjoined, by our Constitution, to carry out all our activities ‘to seek to bind together in a common fellowship all those who love Beverley Minster’ - again, the building is the focus.

Members

So, a tick for purpose: our purpose remains valid and important. The next criterion relates to numbers of members - do we have sufficient members paying their membership fee and, within this group, are enough of them active within the organisation? In terms of the first of these, our Membership Secretary reports that our numbers have increased over the year from 432 to 445. In the current climate, this is a real achievement and we must thank Liz for her energy in converting interested ‘outsiders’ into paying members. Membership of comparable Friends’

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organisations has been dropping so we are bucking the trend. Over 400 is a healthy number - Ripon Cathedral, for example, recently reported 280 members. Recruitment remains a priority and we know we could do more - all those new houses south of the Minster, for example, are potential sources of members. We know we need to do more ‘marketing’.

We also need a subset of members who are active and participate - who come to the Annual General Meeting, to talks and day schools and on coach trips; who are prepared to help with our activities - from serving tea and coffee to taking on responsibilities as ‘officers’ (I come to that later). Our Programme Secretary’s report shows that we attract people to take part in our events - which in addition act as a recruiting ground for new members. We have also been fortunate to have members prepared to take responsibility for projects in which they are particularly interested, such as the shop (Joyce and Roger Shaw) and gilding the clock face (Mike Robson). Another member - Mervyn King - helps us unfailingly every year with the design of our reports, newsletters and leaflets and maintains our website presence. So another ‘tick’ for membership though (again) we mustn’t be complacent.

Resources

An organisation such as the Friends needs to have sufficient resources to carry out its purpose. A definite tick here, as the statement of accounts in this annual report shows. Members’ subscriptions provide all we need for day-to-day operation of the organisation (production of this report, postage etc.), leaving a surplus which we use for our core projects. Many Friends’ organisations hold

smaller surpluses than we do and use these for relatively minor ‘adornment’ projects. Indeed, this was the territory in which we used to operate.

For, in addition to subscriptions, we are blessed by significant donations and (especially) bequests. I like to think that one reason for this is that our members know that we will make careful use of their money - this flows back to the section above on our purpose; those leaving us money do this because they love the Minster as a building. We have achieved our surplus through careful management of our resources, waiting for suitable projects in which to invest. We have a financial policy that explains what we are trying to do and how we operate. Last year we were able to invest in excess of £500k in major structural projects. Our balance is still healthy and we have identified three priority areas: restoration of the east and west windows; opening up the two quire aisles; and lighting the heritage aspects of the building (such as the misericords). We collaborate with other partners to identify and scope projects. We work on the principle of matching funding - in this connection, the Director of Music shows, elsewhere in this report, how this ideally works. The Friends provided funding for instrumental tuition for choristers on a ‘pump prime’ basis and Robert has now attracted £30k from the Deflog charitable foundation - which enables this work to continue. This is a good use of Friends’ money to draw in complementary funding from outside.

Operating arrangements.

This criterion means, in our context, that we must have an effective ‘governing body’ (our Council) and officers to ‘do the work’. We must be sure to follow good practice as a charity,

The minutes of Council meetings reflect these qualities - and they show how we consider matters with care and justify the decisions we take. We have to thank John Phillips for many things - taking such full minutes is but one of these.

attending to advice from the Charity Commission.

We have worked hard over the years to expand and widen the Council. In particular we have recruited younger members (‘younger’ for us means younger than say 60, age is a relative concept) Gregory Becker, Edward Lock and Amy Albudri come to mind (none of them anywhere near 60!). Young people have many responsibilities and they tend to leave the area (as happened with Edward) either to go to university or for employment but we are glad to have the benefit of their fresh perspectives for as long as they are in Beverley.

I’ll address the question of ‘officers’ at this year’s AGM. Suffice it to say that recruiting people for key jobs is a challenge for all societies such as ours. We fill these positions annually but we do need new people to come forward.

Conclusion

To look every so often at the above criteria, and see how well the organisation measures against them, helps us decide where to place our energies in a world that is constantly changing.

Most people who join the Council comment positively on their experience - they can contribute and their ideas are listened to; there is active debate, no one is more ‘important’ than anyone else. And it is fun - more dynamic (we are told) than other committees or groups.

Roger Lewis

Friends’ outing to Gisborough Priory in July 2022

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Programme Secretary’s Report

The first event of 2022, following the

successful Epiphany Organ Recital reported in the last Newsletter, was the April Study Day, entitled ‘Architecture and the Arts in Churches and Cathedrals in the 20th Century’, which was created and presented by Roger Willson. Roger has delivered several excellent Study Days for the Friends in the past and this latest one was no exception. Twenty-eight delegates were treated to four lectures which approached the subject in a most engaging and informative manner. Roger’s relaxed and yet meticulous style led us on an amazing journey…Part one examined the Architectural Setting: church and cathedral buildings of the 20th century but seen against the background of previous styles; Part two looked at the Arts and Crafts Movement in church buildings and furnishings from the late Victorian period to well into the 20th century. After a buffet lunch, the subject matter focussed on the Arts in our Churches in the post-1945 decades and the final session reflected on Recent Decades and the Contemporary scene. The day ended with a meditative presentation set to music. The Study Day as a whole was inspiring, not least for the incredible range of architectural styles and buildings of all denominations covered in Roger’s visual interpretation.

The Evenings in June guided tours comprised two held in Beverley Minster and one in St Mary’s Parish Church. John Phillips, through his meticulous research, established concrete evidence of the earlier dating of the Minster than had previously been assumed. His talk and tour, entitled ‘New Discoveries at Beverley Minster – Trees and Stones’, focussed on the findings that he and Dr Stuart Harrison had

made in recent years. Using dendrochronology to assess and date the roof timbers and by examining the masons’ marks in the building, the earlier date of 1188 was achieved with greater accuracy. Twenty six people attended the event. The visit to St Mary’s Parish Church attracted a smaller gathering and our guide was Dr Jennie England, Heritage Learning Officer for St Mary’s. We enjoyed a most informative evening re-visiting the church from new perspectives and examining the recent restoration which was almost completed. Such was the interest of participants that time ran out… Finally, Mike Robson, the Captain of the Tower and Keeper of the Steeple at the Minster provided an evening of ‘Anecdotes and History’ for a group of some eighteen people. The first part of the evening was devoted to bells and bell ringing at the Minster, covering the history and some of the present day problems encountered in replacing and recasting bells, including the materials used for clappers and the tuning process. A tour of the building followed highlighting some of Mike’s favourite, but lesser seen gems in the Minster, drawing on over fifty years’ experience of working there and delivered in his own inimitable style. One such ‘find’ was a tiny gargoyle hidden under a small tile in the west nave floor, which added a touch of humour to the evening. Overall, the attendances of the June Tours attracted not only members of The Friends, but church welcomers, parishioners and people from the wider community and social media helped in this respect.

The annual Coach Tour this year focussed on two locations in North Yorkshire, firstly the Knights Templar Preceptory at Foulbridge Farm

near Snainton discovered in the later 20th

century followed by the remains of Gisborough Priory. We were fortunate to have a mild day with plenty of sunshine after rather a dull start. Morning coffee was taken at the Old Lodge in Malton (complete with homemade biscuits) and we were joined by our guide for the day, Dr Stuart Harrison, at Foulbridge. Mr Andrew Nutt, after welcoming the group of thirty five, explained how his mother had first discovered the building, which was contained within two adjoining farm houses and is now a grade one listed building. Dr Harrison gave additional background information about the Knights Templar movement in general and its place in European history. We were then invited to look more closely at the structure and architecture of this ‘hidden gem’ and family photographs relating to the building were available to browse through. Some also enjoyed a short time in the garden. Back on the coach, we headed for Hutton-le-Hole and our lunchtime stop at the Barn Guesthouse. A warm welcome awaited us and a delicious spread of savouries and cakes were devoured with relish. A journey over the Moors to Guisborough followed via the historic parish of Danby. Gisborough Priory was our first port of call where Dr Stuart Harrison gave a very informative talk about the site and remaining structures, placing it within the historic background of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. A short walkabout of the site followed when explanation was given about some of the stone relics scattered on the ground. The last half hour was devoted to visiting the nearby parish church of St Nicholas, which contains the De Brus Cenotaph, a memorial to the medieval De Brus family. A most interesting talk was given by

local historian and church member Roger

Darnton, placing the history of the church in context with that of the town and area. The De Brus Cenotaph was highlighted as well as other features such as the architecture and the stained glass. We were particularly grateful to the church warden and Mr Darnton for their willingness to keep the church open after closing time in order to accommodate our visit. The final stop was for tea/coffee and cake at the nearby Gisborough Hall Hotel served in the large conservatory annex. Our evening sundrenched return journey took the coastal route, passing Whitby on the left, with the North York Moors to the right and cutting across to Pickering, Malton and thence to Beverley – a perfect finish to a memorable day.

Details of the October weekend (Saturday 8th October and Sunday 9th October 2022) appear after this report. Both lectures will be delivered by experts in their field - Dr Susan Neave and Dr Kate Giles, respectively. It is hoped that a musical interlude will follow the AGM before the St John of Beverley Lecture. Evensong in the Minster will follow the Sunday events commencing at 17.30. Unfortunately, we were not able arrange the Annual Dinner on the Friday evening of the weekend, due to a prior booking having been made at Cerutti 2. We will try to make sure that this event is reinstated next year.

Thank you to all members who have attended our Events Programme in the last year, your support has been invaluable and much appreciated

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October Weekend Programme

Friday 7th October – Sunday 9th October 2022

Saturday 8th October

2.00pm Annual General Meeting

• 3.15pm St John of Beverley Annual Lecture

• 'The Minster Precinct from the Middle Ages to the mid-18th century' Speaker: Dr Susan Neave

An Afternoon Tea buffet will follow

Cost: Free for Friends; £6 per person for non-Friends attending the lecture and buffet

BOOKING ESSENTIAL

Sunday 9th October

• 2.00pm ‘The Medieval Wall Paintings of Pickering: Discovery, Restoration and Meaning’ Speaker: Dr Kate Giles

An Afternoon Tea buffet will follow

Cost: £5 per person for Friends; £6 per person for non-Friends attending

For further details see the Minster website. BOOKING ESSENTIAL

• 5.30pm Choral Evensong in Beverley Minster

Saturday 7th January 2023

6.00pm EPIPHANY ORGAN RECITAL by Robert Poyser (Director of Music, Beverley Minster) followed by refreshments (sponsored by the Friends).

‘Messiaen: La Nativité du Seigneur’

BOOKING ENQUIRIES:

The Programme Secretary, Friends of Beverley Minster, 85, Ancaster Avenue, Hull, HU5 4QR

E-mail: [e-mail] Telephone [phone] Please use the enclosed form to apply for places OR use our website to make enquiries.

Vicar’s Report

In some ways the restrictions imposed by the Coronavirus pandemic now seem to belong to the distant past. We are back in the Minster, running a full programme of services and events, and seem to be as busy as ever. The Flower Festival earlier this summer was a magnificent effort and created a real buzz in the community as well as generating funds for the Minster. Other events around the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee were well supported and showed the town and county that we are very much still in business.

Nevertheless, things are not quite as they were in 2019; some of the changes made because of the pandemic have not yet been reversed, such as holding Choral Evensong in the nave rather than in the Quire. This isn’t purely because of caution about rates of infection in enclosed spaces, but is also to do with the complexities of streaming services online. This has become a standard expectation, and is easier to do well in the nave than in the Quire because of the way the equipment is set up.

At Communion services we are not yet sharing the common cup, and are keeping this under review. In all sorts of other small ways the changes made over the last two years or so are still with us, and this has contributed to a sense of continuing disruption, perhaps exacerbated because the reason for it is no longer at the front of our minds.

The sense of continuous and disorientating change is also heightened by the Vision Strategy, which was outlined in last year’s Vicar’s Report. As we have emerged from the restrictions, so a range of new initiatives has been getting under way. The most obvious of

these has been the introduction of a new pattern of services.

The Minster now runs five services every Sunday, up from the three we used to offer before the pandemic. The new services include a very informal activity-based service in the Parish Hall on Sunday afternoons aimed at families with young children. It normally attracts 30 or so people, most of whom were not previously weekly worshippers.

The other new arrival is a contemporary-style service at 9.15am which is aimed at adults but is more interactive and visual than the more traditional services. There is still an element of trial and error around this service, and through the summer of 2022 we are experimenting with a regular ‘Café Church’ format allowing folk to discuss the Bible and contemporary issues around tables.

Meanwhile the old 10.30 service has moved to 11am and has been streamlined to give a slightly enhanced role to the choir. The Director of Music’s Report will highlight the many ways in which the choir is developing and enriching the life and worship of the Minster. The new pattern of services is under review and there will be further reflection on how it is working. All of the services have healthy, viable congregations and it is clear that the increased diversity of style has attracted new people even though some existing members have not returned since the pandemic.

The Vision Strategy has also led to a new group looking at how the church engages with environmental concerns, which will be running a programme of events through September

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and October. A new Pastoral Team is planning several initiatives this autumn to support people who are bereaved, alone or housebound and it is encouraging to see fresh energy being released to serve in this area.

Outreach into the wider community has increased, for example with a weekly offering of Collective Worship in each of our three Church schools. Relationships with the schools has always been good, but the frequency and depth of engagement has now changed gear. We have also recently entered a formal agreement with Hope Into Action, a national charity working with churches to support people at risk of homelessness. This is a project shared with Churches Together in Beverley but in which the Minster will play a key role. We hope to report more about this next year but it is an exciting venture which should make a significant difference to the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in our town.

An array of other initiatives is waiting in the wings and will get going as time and capacity permit. Suffice it to say that there is an air of confidence and new life in many parts of the Minster community. The purpose of the Vision Strategy is to create a stronger sense of shared purpose by growing the church, deepening Christian discipleship and reaching out into the wider community, and these initiatives should all be understood in that light.

Less positively, one area which was badly affected by the pandemic and has not yet recovered is the opportunity for social activity, and we hope to see this revive over the next year. Even more seriously, the financial

concerns mentioned in last year’s Vicar’s Report have not gone away. Indeed, progress in addressing them has been limited by problems related to staff turnover and accountancy outsourcing, with some unsatisfactory results. A new finance team is working to clarify the scale of the problem faced by the PCC in balancing its books, but there is no doubt that the pandemic has led to the erosion of reserves and a much more challenging outlook. Last year’s Report outlined some possible responses to this situation, but until we can achieve clarity about the current position it would be unwise to make strategic decisions which might later be regretted.

Meanwhile visitor numbers have been

increasing, coach tours are returning, and the shop has reported record-breaking turnover. A growing number of outside organisations are asking to use the Minster for concerts and events, and we are trying, with our limited staff capacity, to develop more professional ways of meeting the expectations of the wider world.

We are indebted to our hard-pressed staff and many committed volunteers (of whom many are members of the Friends) for all that they have been doing to help the Minster recover from the pandemic as well as it has, and who give such cause for hope as we develop new pathways of growth. We are also indebted to the Friends for their support with the major works on the Minster roof which were such a feature of last year, and anticipate further opportunities for partnership in the coming months.

Jonathan Baker

Membership Secretary’s Report

primary role of the Friends, and while we’re delighted that people want to be involved, our first duty is to use our efforts and money to fulfil these obligations.

Liz Grove, Hon. Membership Secretary

Isn’t it great to be able to properly Friend-ly again. It has been great to catch up with people and revel in our glorious Minster. Recitals have been particularly welcome: it’s lovely to hear the building breathe again. Perhaps I should apologise to those new Friends who got nabbed by me at these events but you were such pleasant people and we’re delighted to welcome you as new Friends.

Thirdly, while local support is wonderful, we also have Friends all over the world, equally keen to support us. Events for locals are great but we keep our priorities focused on the Minster. We remain delighted that people want to be a Friend of the Minster and hope that you appreciate what we try to do to fulfil our role – and be Friends!

This year we’re celebrating an exciting report – we have gained more new Friends than sadly lost some. This is the first time this has happened in the 7 years that I’ve been doing this job and is really pleasing. Last year we had 432 Friends, this year 445 (28.8.22)

New members since September 2021:

Mr S Bailey, of Beverley Miss A. Bedlington, of Beverley Mrs E Burt, of Beverley Mr R Care, of Filey Miss A Chapman, of Beverley Mr G Cox, of Beverley Mr P Edwards, of Eclépens, Switzerland Mr M Eldred, of Hull Mr & Mrs Fatkin, of Beverley Dr G Fawcett, of Lockington Ms K Fraser, of Beverley Revd & Mrs Hawkes, of Beverley Dr L Hawkins, of Hull Rt Revd & Mrs James, retired Bishop of Bradford, of Beverley

I am asked, particularly by new Friends, why you don’t hear from us more often. There are several reasons for this.

Firstly, every Council official is a volunteer and, while keen and enthusiastic, under everyday pressures to keep up with life. Our two annual communications, the Spring Newsletter and the Autumn Annual Report, are our established contacts and we work hard to ensure that they keep you as up to date as possible. But these take time and money, even if you receive the information electronically. Time and money we gladly offer, but increasingly we are using social media (Facebook) to advertise what is going on. See Friends of Beverley Minster page.

Mr & Mrs Johnson, Lady Mayor of Beverley Dr Joan Kemp, of Cherry Burton Mr & Mrs Kirby, of Beverley Mr & Mrs MacLachan, of Beverley Ms Mary Mead, of North Newbald, near Beverley – our new Chair elect! Mrs Berna Moody, local historian, of Beverley Mrs L Robinson, of Beverley

Secondly, our role is to support the structure and enhancement of the Minster. That is the

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Mrs J Stewart, of Lewes Mr G Wilkinson, of Purley-on-Thames Mr J Young, of Rothwell, Leeds

She was a genuinely Christian Friend, also past Social Secretary and Hon. Vice President Mr Ian Goldthorpe, artist, of Grassington, author of a book on the Victorian architecture of Hull and regular participant in Friends' events. Mr & Mrs N Parkinson, of Selby

All most welcome!

Deaths

Mrs C Burley, of Bushey Mrs J Gibson, of Leven Mr Stephen Hird, of Beverley Mrs Lorna Jones, a stalwart of the Minster and leading figure in the work of the Friends.

All remembered with thankfulness for their Friendship.

Please let me know if there is someone we should know about, be the news happy or sad.

Report by the Director of Music

Flexibility has been the watchword for the past few years in the music department as rules have changed, covid has waxed and waned and new services introduced. The 11am Eucharist, as introduced in January, has provided the choir with an excellent opportunity to learn a variety of new Mass Settings. We hope you are enjoying the newfound variety of music we can offer at this service – there are plenty more to come!

September 2021. Our regular three choral services a week have been supplemented by concerts, both Christmassy and otherwise. It was particularly good to perform a concert (in the midst of 70 mph winds) in February in memory of Susan Dent. Susan had done so much for the choir, in particular making all of our surplices (the white bits) and helping with so many other things. The concert raised money both for the choir and also MacMillan Cancer Support. In the Summer term we enjoyed getting back to Harpham for the annual evensong and procession to the well. It was good to get back to events that had been traditional pre-covid. Likewise, our end of term concert was a great way to mark the end of a successful year and to publicly thank Tom Moore who has played the organ for us so splendidly this past year. We wish Tom all the best as he takes up a new post as Director of Music at St Matthew’s Church Northampton from September 2022.

It was good to restart the Junior Choir in the summer of 2021 under the expert direction of Rachel Dent. It has attracted a number of new families and young people to the Minster and the children are singing with great enthusiasm and energy. The Junior Choir is a great way to start off singing at the Minster and we hope that, as in the past, as its members become older, they join the Boys’ and Girls’ choirs.

The Minster Choir is around 33% new since we restarted regular singing in the Summer of 2020 and its current membership sits at around 68, 46 of whom are under 18. It has been lovely to welcome new people to the ranks, both adults and children, as we rebuild in the not quite post-pandemic world. Look out for our latest recruitment initiatives coming up later this year, and, as ever, do spread the word about our choir and encourage people, especially boys (!) to come forward and join. Being in a choir was a fabulous experience for me as a child and encouraging others to share in this unique opportunity is a really great thing.

We have been without an Assistant Organist, a University Organ Scholar and a Junior Organ Scholar for the majority of the past year which has proved somewhat challenging. I have been indebted to the support of Sue Wheeldon and Rachel Dent in leading when no organist is available (especially whilst I was off with covid over Easter) and also to Nick Wise and Ronald and Liz Hawkes, Luca Myers and Mervyn King who have played the organ for a myriad of services so expertly.

We are in full swing planning for a choir tour to Essex in the Autumn. We will sing a concert in Colchester, the days services at Chelmsford Cathedral and evensong in Lincoln Cathedral

The choir have been really busy since we returned to a near-normal timetable in

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on the way home. Choir tours are a great team-building enterprise and previous experiences show that the choir always sings even better after it has been away together!

The organ is mostly in fine shape although we carried out some remedial work on 130-yearold pneumatic drawstop machines in the Summer which delayed the start of our Summer Concert Series by a week. As they failed, certain sounds of the organ were becoming intermittent and then unavailable so it is good to have this work completed with the new electric solenoids modernising this aspect of the organ and adding to its reliability. David Wood (of Wood of Huddersfield) continues his expert care of the instrument which is proving reliable even in the somewhat chilly environs of the Minster! This is very much the first phase of similar work which we will progress in stages over the next few years. Nearly 30 years has elapsed since the last major rebuild so it is vital to keep on top of maintenance to keep such a major project well into the future. We were delighted to receive a generous donation to enable us to replace our rather temperamental keyboard with a splendid Johannus One in the Autumn. This has proved really useful as, along with being a very decent piano sound, it also works as a chamber organ allowing me to direct from the keyboard.

Our choral foundation scheme has also been the recipient of a grant of £30,000 from the Deflog Foundation. This scheme, which allows our choristers to learn an instrument has proved a success since it was set up with the support of the Friends of the Minster in 2017. The Deflog foundation will provide us with three instalments of £10,000 over three years which will help safeguard this vital part of our music ministry for years to come. It is wonderful to see that an initiative, funded by

the Friends has been judged a success and has attracted significant further funding. Thank you so much for backing this and for all of your support of the Music at the Minster.

I have also been busy plotting concerts. Our Friday lunchtime series is back up and running and proving as popular as ever. Do look out for the Autumn series starting in September. We also have a full organ recital series in the Summer with a particular highlight being David Briggs, an inspirational organist, currently residing at St John the Divine in New York. I was David’s organ scholar at Gloucester Cathedral when I was at school and his playing is truly stunning!

There are significant challenges ahead, but it has been good to have a near normal year of music after the challenges of the recent past. The choir have bounced back remarkably well and we look forward to welcoming the Cathedral Music Trust to visit us on the 5th November to hear our choir and find out more about the music life of Beverley Minster.

Robert Poyser, Director of Music

Our latest CD featuring choral and organ music for Christmas is available to buy online from the Minster Shop. Visit our website for our latest books, CDs and gifts. www.beverleyminster.org.uk

Report by the Minster Surveyor

fabric after his return to his mason’s tools. He still has to perfect his mason mark, but a future John Phillips will be able to identify his work in the centuries to come.

Since my last report there have been some changes to the Beverley Minster Old Fund maintenance team as we start a process of change within the team that will shape the way we maintain the Minster in years to come. Our search for a replacement for Steve Rial our Plumber Glazier who will retire after 33 years’ service in October didn’t quite produce the results we were looking for as no suitable candidates applied for the role. We did, however, have a successful application from Rob Dodson a stone mason who had worked as an apprentice under Dennis Massey (mason) in a previous job. He was at the time working in the caravan industry and we were able to offer him a way back into masonry where he had done his training. He went into his dad’s garage to dig out his mason’s tools and joined us in November. Since joining us Dennis has taken him under his wing and he has become a key member of our small and effective maintenance team.

Our new two man mason team has never been busier or more productive. Whilst Rob has carved the lesser south stones Dennis has been busy carving replacement pinnacles that went up on the lesser north transept roof during July. We replaced the two pinnacles highlighted by the Minster Architect and fitted a new finial to a third. We did intend to replace the eroded finial with one we had stored, but this cracked when we tried to install it. After reported trip issues we have also replaced the bottom step to the north transept that over the years had turned slightly on its very limited foundation. The team carved and placed the lower step in four sections of stone weighing over 250kgs using a special lifting rig. They also replaced a number of paving stones on the top landing to complete the job prior to the Jubilee Flower (and Gin) festivals. Several other paving stone and floor slabs have been swapped out within the building where they have cracked or worn over time.

Since the completion of the larger funded roof project (lesser south transept and nave) the BMOF team have got back to ‘normal’ over the last 12 months. There has been some work to complete off the back of these projects which we have picked up and have either completed or are in the process of doing so. With this in mind the team will start the final sections of low level stone on the lesser south transept left by the NHLF funded project. The final section of work will be completed in August 2022 when we install the final stones into the gable elevation. With Dennis busy carving pinnacles, the new stones on this elevation, as they were on the eastern elevation will be Rob Dodson’s first stones going into the Minster

Steve Rial with his glazing hat on has restored two windows in the lessor south transept running alongside the lower level stone mentioned above to help us maximise the cost of the scaffold. Recently he also completed window in the north transept which will be his last big window before he retires in October. He has also fabricated a window at the request of the tower captain to go in the northwest tower where jackdaws have broken through

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the protective mesh on a window and nested in the opening. This will be installed in the coming weeks. With his heavier lead hat on, he has been supporting the masons and undertaking roofing and gutter repairs around the areas that we have had scaffolded.

Whilst doing these planned works, the team have been also undertaking the cyclical maintenance works such as ensuring the rainwater comes to ground via the downpipes by keeping the gutters/pipes and gullies clear, monitoring the movement in the roof and treating invasive plants growing on the building.

During 2022 BMOF funded the working at height training for our team and the virger team. This was followed on by the rescue from height training which was expanded to include the roof tour guides and include an exercise to show how to evacuate a casualty from the central tower through the central boss. This is something that will now be an annual part of the teams’ training programme to ensure that if an incident happens in the roof we can safely get someone down to the ground. Joint training going forward will also include firefighting/warden training as it has included first aid training in the past. All designed to make the working/using and visiting experience a safe one.

Steve has gathered the craftsmen’s marks/ graffiti taken from the lesser south transept and nave roofs and mounted these on a board which is now position in the north transept roof void for roof tour visitors to enjoy. It would be good in the future to be able to share these and the roof tour experience with the less mobile/partially mobile who are unable to climb the steps up to the roof.

You may be aware that we have, for the first time, had nesting peregrines on the Southwest tower. Previously, they had only been visitors coming in from their nesting site in Walkington to teach the fledglings to hunt off the southwest tower. This seems to be as a result of a meeting with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust on the tower roof and the team relocating the nest box onto the South side of the tower. We had two fledglings who have been making a lot of noise and mess around the Minster and have brought new interest to the building. Discussions will be held very soon as to how we can capture next (and future) years fledgings. We have gathered together the costings for the installation of cameras so that we can have a live feed on websites as well as having the same live feed somewhere in the church. We need to ascertain if there is interest to move this project forward.

After COVID delays, the Minster architect (Andy Burrell) has now issued the Quinquennial Inspection survey report. Andy has spoken to a number of people at the Minster to gather information and ensure that he has included as much data as possible in this report which will be the cornerstone in planning the next five years workload at the Minster.

The roof alarm was fitted using funding from Ecclesiastical Insurances All Churches Trust topped up by BMOF. This alarm covers the low roof over the accessible entrance, virgers office, toilets, shop store and boiler house, which is the only real roof accessible for potential lead theft. These areas and the Highgate entrance are also covered by the BMOF funded CCTV system fixed to the Hall and linked to the Beverley Town Council system.

well supported and possibly a good first step to starting the restoration of this important window.

In June a Beverley Civic Society event was held in the west end of the Minster. This is something which had been discussed for a number of years and part of the Civic Society Day where they visited us in the morning and St Mary’s after lunch. The topic of the seminar was based around the Great West window and its issues, historical significance and possible restoration. Dr Sarah Brown from York Glaziers’ Trust who carried out the last inspection of all the Minster glass presented to approximately 50 attendees at no cost. The presentation was well received and has raised a lot of interest in how we can move the restoration of the Great West window forward from the 2028 date currently set provisionally in the Two Churches One Two plan. During the event a small number of interested parties were taken up close to the window so that they could take a look at the condition of the glass and the test panel that was carried out three years ago by the Old Fund. The Sanctuary Project Learning and Engagement Officers Cathy and Anna (pictured below), played a supporting role during the morning and enthralled attendees with some of the activities they have been undertaking which the local schools. In all it was a good event,

A future funding committee has been formed pulling together BMOF, friends, PCC and Two Churches One Town. Although in its early days initial meetings have been positive, bringing the parties together to discuss funding and priorities for the building.

Away from public eyes the Old Fund have undertaken some improvements to the masons’ building in the yard replacing the roof and main entrance door/window to increase access and the light into Dennis’s carving room. We have ordered some more effective dust extraction units which we hope will be installed in the very near future as we start to think about 2023’s planned works and the increased output of the masons. Cutting lists will be prepared in the next four to six weeks so we can start carving for replacement pinnacles which will be going in various locations around the high roofs over the next two to three years.

Simon Delaney

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From top left: North Transept steps before and after New pinnacles on the lessor North Transept. Window N17 before and after Sarah Brown presenting Rob placing his first pieces of stone in the Lesser south transept

Farewell to Steve Rial, Beverley Minster’s Plumber and Glazier

On October 7th Steve Rial, plumber-glazier to the Minster for 33 years retires. The Friends would like to express our profound thanks to Steve for all his work over those years, amongst many other tasks, keeping the building watertight by repairing leaks in the leads, and also for his skill in making and replacing a large number of the leaded lights in the Minster. His other skills have included removing leaves from the roof drainage system, and countless other day to day tasks to keep our magnificent building sound for future generations. His skills are proving impossible to replace.

We wish Steve a long and happy retirement, success with his new book on the Manx TT races, and many pleasurable hours on his motorbike.

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Saint John of Beverley - Fact and Fiction

Some ‘facts’ related in previous centuries

Sometimes stories about the life of St John of Beverley are difficult to unravel – what is fact, what is fiction and what is tradition.

During the lifetime of St John, the Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria stretched from the Humber up to the Ayrshire coast. The northern part of the kingdom was known as Bernicia and the southern part Deira. The period from the beginning of the 7th to the end of the 8th century AD is often called the ‘Golden Age of Northumbria’ when art, culture and learning flourished under a succession of Northumbrian kings.

The exact date and place of John of Beverley’s birth is as yet unknown. For many years there has been a tradition that he was born in the village of Harpham (nine miles north of Beverley) which has a church dedicated to his name. Today, however historians suspect (but as yet have no proof) that his birthplace was Bernicia .

Christ-like figure, a man of peace who ‘liked to walk in the countryside with his companions, preaching and healing’.

Almost all information about the life of John comes from the writings of St Bede, a monk, who from the age of seven, lived in a monastery at Jarrow-Monkwearmouth. Bede wrote many books about the Christian faith. His most famous book ‘The Ecclesiastical History of the English People’ records the history of the English up to the time of his death in 735AD and describes the growth of the Christian church in Northumbria. He devotes five chapters to tell the story of the life, miracles and death of John. Bede had a great respect for John and portrays him as a

He recalls that John began his priestly training at Whitby Abbey and that in 687AD, when the bishop of Hexham resigned, John, ‘a man of great holiness and humility’, became bishop. Bede knew John personally for on at least two occasions, Bishop John visited Jarrow first to confirm Bede as deacon and later as a priest.

In 705AD, after eighteen years as Bishop of Hexham, John was appointed Bishop of York

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where he remained for 13 years. When, ‘owing to advancing years’, Bishop John decided to retire, he went to a monastery he had founded, ‘where he ended his days in a way of life honouring to God’. Bede records five stories about occasions when Bishop John appears to have brought about miraculous healing. Several stories about the miracles of Bishop John were told to Bede by Berhthun, abbot of the monastery at ‘Inderawuuda’, meaning ‘in the wood of the men of Deira’. Today, archaeological excavation confirms the existence of a Saxon monastic settlement on the site where the present Beverley Minster is situated.

On 7th May 721AD Bishop John died and Bede tells us that his remains were buried in the church attached to that monastery. It seems likely that soon after the death of Bishop John pilgrims came to visit the place where this man with a reputation of holiness had both lived and died. The fact that he had performed

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miracles during his lifetime showed that he was favoured by God.

There are no records of what happened to that early church; the monastic buildings may well have been destroyed during Viking raids. The next reliable information we have is that by 934AD there was a church at Breveli (first use of that name) centred round the tomb of Bishop John and that his Feast Day was celebrated in the North of England, in France and in Italy.

King Athelstan visits Beverley?

In 937AD Athelstan, first king of all England, travelled north with his army to fight the Scots. After his success at the battle of Brunanburh he gave certain rights and privileges to the town and the church which housed the remains of John of Beverley – rights such as: a. The right to be a Collegiate Church, thus called a Minster, a church run by canons

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b. The right of sanctuary – a right which covered the whole town of Beverley

c. The right of thraves (tithes) to be paid on lands in East Yorkshire belonging to the canons

d. The right for the town to be exempt from paying the king’s tax

150 years after the event William Kettle, an official at Beverley Minster, told the story of John of Beverley which included a tale of how King Athelstan, left his army to come to Beverley in order to ask for the support of John of Beverley in battle. We are told that ‘he visited the tomb and poured out hearty prayers and drenched the pavement with his tears’. This story, maybe written to demonstrate the importance of Beverley and its saint, has been repeated over the years but recently historians making further investigations have concluded that Athelstan would not have left his army to come to Beverley. The story promoted the town of Beverley and made known the rights and privileges which had already been given by to the church and town. In the Minster today are many statues and images showing St John and King Athelstan together. In medieval times many believed that while St John of Beverley was the founder of the Saxon monastery, King Athelstan was the founder of the collegiate church.

Bishop John is canonised

300 years after his death, John of Beverley was canonised and became known as St John of Beverley.

1066 was the year of the Norman invasion. A year later the Archbishop of York, Eldred (who was Lord of the Manor of Beverley) invited a monk named, Folcard to write the story of St

John. In his account Folcard lists the miracles which occurred at St. John’s tomb and concludes by saying ‘through the merits of the saint cripples were cured, demons were banished, the blind were made to see, the deaf were made to hear, the mute were made to speak, the lame were made to walk and all kinds of ailments were put to flight; and our sins were wiped out through his intervention’. No doubt Eldred’s intention in commissioning Folcard to write the story of St John was to make the new Norman rulers aware of the power of Beverley’s saint. Spreading knowledge about the miraculous healings would encourage pilgrims from far and wide to come to the church where the remains of the saint were believed to lie.

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The Chapter Act Book of the Collegiate Church of St John of Beverley (1286-1347) reports some of the miracles which occurred at the Minster at Beverley. An entry for 22nd July 1318 reads that ‘Miracles wrought through the prayer of the Confessor John of Beverley should be known that God’s glory in St John’s church might be exalted by its being more frequented’.

Three accounts of miraculous healing then follow. One story was of ‘John, son of William of North Ferriby, aged ten became dumb; marked with a cross in the Priory of Ferriby, a vow to visit Beverley being made, his speech was restored. Next day he became blind. They brought him to St John’s tomb and after a short stay he received his sight’. As was usual

he was examined by an official at the Minster before a miracle was declared.

All publicity would be for a purpose – when news of the power of the saint was spread it would encourage pilgrims to visit the church and money and gifts received from pilgrims contributed towards the cost of building. A devotee of St John was Julian of Norwich (1342-1416), a mystic who wrote about her religious experiences. She declared that John of Beverley was an example of someone who having sinned in his youth, had shown humility and contrition during his life and was thus raised by God to a state of grace.

By early 16th century Protestants had begun to actively reject Catholic images. A Dutch folktale, Historie van Jan van Beverley, first printed in Brussels in 1512, tells the story of John, a hermit, who is tricked by the devil into choosing between drunkenness, unchastity or murder. He chose the first and ended up by committing the other two by raping and murdering his sister; thus, proving the mercy of God in giving forgiveness however bad the sin.

The True Facts

For 800 years after the death of St Bede, until the mid-16th century pilgrims came in great number to pray before the tomb of St John of Beverley. These pilgrims brought wealth to the town and to the magnificent church which, it was believed, housed the remains of its saint.

The town of Beverley grew and developed as a result of the rights and privileges given to the church and town firstly by King Athelstan and later by many of the medieval kings of England who respected Beverley’s saint. Most of them

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the canons, became redundant, the right of thraves no longer went to the church. The freedom from paying the king’s tax had long ago disappeared.

visited his tomb and gave further rights and privileges to the town. Several asked to take the banner of St John of Beverley with them as they went north to fights the Scots. 4

Today, pilgrims continue to come to the

Minster church at Beverley, built in honour of St John, only today we call them tourists. Once again, the church offers sanctuary to people in need.

The Church in England (under the authority of the Pope) becomes the Church of England (with the monarch as Supreme Governor)

Whatever the facts, or the fiction or the truths as yet undiscovered, this supreme example of gothic architecture stands as a lasting memorial to St John of Beverley.

Nicholas Orme (Emeritus Professor of History at Exeter University) in his book ‘’Going to church in Medieval England)( 2021), states that in 1536 Henry VIII, ‘ordered clergy to educate their congregations about the right use of images and relics. Such objects should not be treated superstitiously with incense, kneeling and offerings but worship should be done only to God. Saints could be prayed to but without belief that they were patrons of particular causes or that prayer to them was more effective than it was to Christ’.

On 24th October 2021 a Catholic High Mass was celebrated in Beverley Minster (with permission of the Revd. Canon Jonathan Baker, vicar of the Minster) - believed to be the first since the Reformation. The ceremony was conducted by Bishop Terry, bishop of Middlesbrough. The church was filled with members of the Roman Catholic community who had come to celebrate the feast day of St John of Beverley.

In 1540 the Right of Sanctuary at the Collegiate Church in Beverley, was abolished.

1301 years after the death of our saint, this great building is still used for the same purpose as that 8th century monastery – ‘a place for honouring God’.

On Easter Day, 1548 the order came that images that attracted pilgrimage or offerings were to be taken down. The Collegiate Church of St John the Evangelist at Beverley lost its collegiate status and became a parish church. The 74 officials at the Minster, which included

Pamela Hopkins

1. Picture of stained glass window in north-west corner of nave. 1919 designed by Hardman and Co. The left-hand side shows Bishop John of Hexham ordaining the Venerable Bede.

2. In 1416 a new east window was placed Beverley Minster. As pilgrims approached the church from Flemingate they would see the two stone figures at the top of the window: on the right St John of Beverley (note the beaver at his feet) and on the left King Athelstan (holding the copy of the king’s charter for Beverley and its minster).

3. 1781 somewhat romanticised lead statues of St John and King Athelstan – originally placed at the entrance to the chancel as part of Hawksmoor’s screen.

4. A post reformation, possibly early 17th century picture of King Athelstan holding a copy of the charter while St John of Beverley points to the king – whom he never met for they lived 300 years apart.

Above. In 1308 a new gold and silver shrine was placed, probably behind the altar in Beverley Minster. In 1312 Queen Margaret, widow of Edward 1st after hearing mass in the Minster fixed a gold ornament on the shrine. In 1318 Lady Isabella of France, consort of Edward II presented a precious jewel to the shrine. The reredos at the Minster has, above the door to the concealed staircase, a carving showing St John of Beverley, founder of that 8th century monastery, and King Athelstan carrying his charter.

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Beverley Minster - the Timeline

Thanks to the generosity of the Friends, since 2012 a programme of dendrochronological sampling of the roof timbers in the Minster has progressed to the point when in March 2022 the final session of tests was completed by sampling in the choir roof. This was the final piece in a very large jigsaw of some 180 samples and completed the survey of all the main roofs of the Minster. Together with the use of other disciplines such as documentation, studies of stone and brickwork, as well as a return to the original research on masons’ marks, the dendrochronology has enabled the assembly of a comprehensive timeline for the building of Beverley Minster which is outlined below. Readers are advised that this is an article, not a report, so it isn’t referenced in the text. A full report by the authors is scheduled to appear in a journal and online in 2023 which will, as an archaeological report, be much more detailed and fully referenced.

new pointed style and must have begun almost immediately, because the first fact that the dendrochronology gives us is that the eastern part of the building was roofed by 1206, and in use. A remarkably short time of about 17 years. The south transept followed by 1218 and the north a little later.

The Minster, in effect, functioned as two buildings throughout the medieval period. The canons’ church, the powerhouse of the building housing the liturgy of the regular services, the high altar dedicated to St John the Evangelist, and the shrine of St John, functioned as a separate building east of the present organ screen. It was in effect a separate church consisting of a choir, central tower with transepts and a retrochoir. This was the ‘private’ space devoted to the college with a chapter house attached to the north, which was of two storeys, with a sacristy and probably a treasury in the undercroft, and the octagonal chapter house itself, approached by the beautiful stairs which still remain in the north choir aisle and a vestibule, on the first floor. The chapter house, dating to the late 12th century, was one of the earliest polygonal chapter houses in the country. The main transepts, which were joined, by two new bays, to the Norman nave, and the rest of the building, functioned as public space, and contained the tomb of St John in the second bay of the nave and this is where later miracles occurred. Also added at the time was the wall of the south nave aisle which extended as far as the present south porch and included a block of reused Norman ashlars.

On 21st September 1188, a chronicler tells us that ‘Beverley and all its churches’ was burned. The church in existence at that time was the Norman predecessor of the present building which stood on the same footprint. We know this because excavations in 2003 outside the nave walls found the foundations and lower courses of the Norman nave in the same positions as those of the present building. In the event only part of the Norman church seems to have been severely damaged, and this is likely to have been the east, and most important part of the building, the canons’ church. The nave survived and was used until after the second decade of the 14th century as we shall see. The canons decided to take the opportunity to build a brand new church in the

Romanesque chevron detail

Romanesque chevron behind triforium

The scale of the new build was such that it proceeded apace and was not hampered by demolition of the remains of the Norman church. The present building was planned around the east end of the Norman church, which is why building was able to start very quickly. The builders lost no time in demolishing the Norman building and indeed much of the ashlar was recycled, most of it probably in the foundations of the present building where some can still be seen, recognisable by its diagonal surface striations made with an axe in the lower courses of the walls. There is also a row of Norman corbels in the base of the rose window in the north transept, and reused Romanesque chevron on

voussoirs in the relieving arches behind two bays of the nave triforium.

Some time after the completion of the main building the canons decided that the lantern tower over the crossing of their church would be further embellished by a superstructure above the level of the roofs. Opinions differ as to whether this was a tower or perhaps a spire, the miracle account which details its destruction isn’t clear, but what is clear is that the builders were not paying attention to the load bearing capabilities of the design. They were trying to heighten the tower and they inserted the new works “elegantly, rather than firmly, into the old building works” and in spite of visible cracking of the stonework, and apparently using marble columns in a load bearing situation they continued to build “a huge structure of such a remarkably lofty height” that the structure was seen to be in danger of collapse. The miracle story which gives this account tells how the canons were holding their night office in the choir when stones were heard falling off the new work. They retreated to the nave to finish their service, and went home to bed, at which moment a huge crash was heard as the tower fell to the ground bringing down the adjoining parts of the church, (the transepts and retrochoir). This is known to have occurred sometime after 1214, in the month of October. Interestingly, the four main piers of the tower survived as each still contains the staircase used to access upper levels from the clerestory. The canons choir had to be moved into the nave. The shrine and the high altar were set up around the tomb.

It is difficult to be certain how much damage the tower fall did or exactly when it occurred. We do know that the builders salvaged large quantities of roof timbers which they stored

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East tower base south side

East tower base north side

and then used almost one hundred years later to roof the first bays of the nave which covered St John’s tomb after the completion of the clerestories, and then to cover the newly reconstructed nave as far as the porches. They are dated before 1202 so that is the only place they could have been reused from.

How the stone structure was affected is also difficult to ascertain. There is a very clear building break in the stonework on the west wall of the south eastern transept, so perhaps all the higher levels were destroyed. According to current thinking, guided by the chronology of the Miracle accounts which are said to have taken place 5 years after the lifting of the Papal Interdict against King John in 1214 and

the Barons’ revolt in 1215-17, the rebuilding apparently took another 30 years which is highly unlikely. The more likely scenario is that the extension to the tower was not actually contemplated and carried out until the 1230s, some 15 -20 years after completion of the main structure. This would possibly explain why the rebuilding was apparently taking place, according to the dendrochronology, in the 1230s and 1240s. The high altar was dedicated in 1261, presumably to mark the completion of the repairs.

Purbeck marble moulding on ruined west side of eastern crossing north side

North side of crossing from above

Perhaps the canons were short of money. An indulgence was granted by Archbishop Walter de Grey in 1232 for those who supported the

funding of the fabric which was “miserabili ruina….. enormiter deformata”, and Henry III gave 40 oaks from Sherwood Forest for the fabric in 1245 and again in 1252, presumably for the replacement roof. These oaks were used in the roofs of the two eastern transepts, the roof which replaced the tower, and the roof over the retrochoir and are dated to 1234-59 by dendrochronology and can be identified as sourced from Sherwood Forest, a source of timber which was also being utilised at about the same time by Lincoln cathedral.

In 1292 the canons issued a contract to Roger of Faringdon, a London Goldsmith for the making of a new splendid and elaborate gold and silver shrine for St John. The work was not completed until 1308 when the balance of the money in the shrine fund was transferred to the fabric fund for the building of a new nave, and it is assumed that work began soon afterwards. The Archbishops of York issued indulgences for the Fabric in 1302 and again in 1308, and Elias de Lumby was appointed collector for the fabric by Chapter in the dioceses of York, Durham, Carlisle and Lincoln.

The builders’ first task was to update the wall of the south aisle of the nave. The parish of St Martin had an altar in the nave of the Romanesque church which would have to be moved so that the parish services could continue to function while the rebuilding continued. The new church of St Martin was built on the first floor above the charnel house situated outside the south west corner of the Romanesque nave. The altar of St Martin was moved into it in 1324. Work was probably spasmodic for the first few years and then interrupted by the Great Famine of 1315-1317 which must have stopped building completely. 25-30% of the population died during these years, of malnutrition and other causes, up to

80% of farm animals died of diseases, and the recovery lasted until 1322 and beyond, and some scholars think that the after effects were still being felt when the Black Death struck in 1349.

Another possible cause of delays may have been the incursions of Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland and his troops, after their defeat of Edward II at the Battle of Bannockburn in June 1314, who terrorised the north of England for years, and in 1316 raided Yorkshire, burning Northallerton and only sparing Ripon on the payment of 1,000 marks (£333.33). Fearful for their own safety the Canons petitioned Robert the Bruce in October 1322 asking him to take them and all their possessions under his protection ‘that they may receive no damage from your men.’ The Scots were noted for destroying crops, and the Canons depended on their tax of sheaves of corn from every ploughland in the East Riding for the income to build their church.

Sometime after 1319 William Canon of Corfe on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset supplied a pair of Purbeck marble shafts and bases for the new reredos behind the high altar. These are identical to four shafts supplied by Canon in 1319 to Exeter Cathedral for their new pulpitum, and the details of the purchase are in the Fabric Rolls at Exeter. Perhaps Exeter ordered six of these shafts, but in the event only used four of them. Whatever the circumstances were, the supply of the shafts to Beverley dates the reredos to after 1319. Masons’ marks on the reredos are identical to masons’ marks on the north aisle of the nave ogee arches carrying the sculptures of the musicians which makes them contemporary. The reredos must have been finished before work started to assemble the Percy Canopy, built to commemorate Lady Eleanor Percy wife

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of the 1st Baron Percy who had predeceased her in 1315. She died in July 1328 at Seamer near Scarborough. The canopy contains the arms of England quartering France which were adopted by Edward III when he claimed the throne of France in 1340, thus giving an approximated date for the construction of the canopy between 1328 and 1340.

Exeter cathedral pulpitum showing the four Purbeck marble piers supplied by William Canon of Corfe in 1319

The reredos at Beverley showing the two identical piers supplied by William Canon of Corfe in Dorset after 1319

Progress on the nave was halted by the Black Death which reached Beverley before June 1349. A partition must have been erected in the bay just to the west of St John’s tomb to

separate it from the east part of the building. Stone for the nave piers was brought in as finished articles from the quarry at Tadcaster, a journey of over 60 miles by water which took about two months. All the complex work on the aisles, the ogee arches and the carvings of musicians was done on site in the masons’ yard. This is confirmed by the two different sets of masons’ marks used on the different sections of the work.

The original intention seems to have been to complete the building. Building St Martins over the charnel to the south west had probably involved demolition of an assumed south west tower of the Romanesque building, sited near the position of the south porch of the nave, in order to join St Martins on to the alignment of the eastern part of the church. The lower courses of the north wall, beyond the future site of the Highgate porch, was also carried on as far as the north west corner and then south as far south as the west doorway.

How far up the building work had gone before the plague struck is difficult to ascertain. There is a series of beam slots on the south clerestory which may indicate that a temporary roof had to be put in place to cover the building site until work could be resumed some time in the future. None of these beam slots exist on the north side perhaps indicating that work had not progressed quite as far as on the south side. Masons’ marks show that the walls on the south side had got as far as the base courses of the windows up to the cills and also on the short piers of the screen in front of the windows which would support the vault. Marks on the north side are less advanced.

This period also saw the addition of the clerestories, to a design which is still

essentially Decorated with its complex tracery, but which anticipates the change to Perpendicular. It was done in two sections, the first of which was the bays from the central tower to the east side of the bay containing the porches. The roof frames stored from the east end collapse were taken out of storage, reconstructed, then put on to the nave. The builders removed the lower pitch roof from the first three bays and replaced it with 19 trusses reconstructed from the old timbers, followed by the remainder of the nave as far as the porches. There is a clear building break in the stonework on the exterior at this point, and a marked change in the size of the ashlar used between he east and west spandrels of the main arcade in the bay containing the porches. One or both of the towers of the old Norman west work may still have been standing at this time.

Nave roof transition above porches indicated by the brick infill of a timber beam slot

Work on the final phase of the building, allowing for a period of recovery after the Black Death, must have started circa 1360-

1. We have a number of different ways to date this period of building. The first is the ‘tricking’ of the heraldry of the original west window glass by Sir William Dugdale, Garter King of Arms, in 1641. His drawings are preserved in the British Library and show the arms of various people connected to the Minster including the then Archbishop of York, Thomas Arundel, and Richard II king of England. This dates the design of the glass in the window from 1388 when Arundel became Archbishop to 1399 when Richard was deposed by Henry Bolingbroke who later became Henry IV.

Archbishop Richard Neville who had preceded Arundel was accused of treason in February 1388 and fled to France. All his assets, both personal and those of the Archbishopric were frozen. Soon after, the canons petitioned the crown for the release of oaks from South Burton Wood given to them by the Archbishop ‘and were cut down before the judgement of forfeiture rendered against him.’ Dendrochronology of that section of the roof dates the timbers to no later than 1392 which probably indicates that these were the timbers from South Burton Wood. The roof would have needed to be complete and watertight before the builders contemplated inserting the vaulting.

In 1394 the Governors of the town granted a licence to the canons for the movement of stone from the Beck to the Minster by sledge ‘for the repair of the vault beyond St John’s tomb,’ which clearly indicates the nave vaulting. Masons’ marks on the vault ribs indicate that they are contemporary with the structure of the western part of the building including stairs and windows and together with the brickwork which comprises the filling of the webs between the ribs also put the date of this

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part of the building towards the end of the 14th century. Logically the vaulting would follow the roofing of the building which needed to be watertight before the vaulting could be built.

The bricks themselves, or ‘walltiles’ – ‘tegulas’ as they are referred to – the word brick didn’t come into common use until the early 1400s, - can also be fairly accurately placed in the timeline. The bricks used are a unique size, 10.50 x 5.25 x 2 inches, which was peculiar to the Hull area during the 14th century and early part of the 15th. Very similar sized bricks were used for the walls of Hull earlier in the century from a brickyard owned by the De la Pole family which ceased production as soon as the walls were finished. Bricks of a similar size were also used to build parts of Holy Trinity

church at Hull around 1340, and also the gatehouse at Thornton abbey in north Lincolnshire after 1382, where the bricks are recorded as coming from Hull. In 1391 citizens of Beverley were granted a license to produce 3,000 ‘walltyles’ at Grovehill, which may have been the bricks for the Minster vault. Bricks of the same size were used at the Friary, possibly at Watton Priory, and at the North Bar of Beverley which dates to 1409. After that they seem to go out of use in favour of more standard sized bricks. During building works parts of the Mister had to be partitioned off. There was clearly a partition which separated the east end of the building from the nave, just west of St John’s tomb. It was probably a wooden wall keyed into the main fabric. There is evidence for its removal in the spandrels of the second and third bays of the nave where

new ashlar was inserted into the walls. This may also have been at the same time as the final demolition of the Norman west façade because Romanesque chevron voussoirs from an arch, which may have been the west portal of the Norman church, were used as relieving arches in the back of the triforium in this area. This time may also have indicated the final joining up of the three sections of the building and the unveiling for the first time of the completed church, and may coincide with the licence to move stone for the ‘repair of the vault beyond St John’s tomb’ quoted above, in 1394.

Work to finish the western towers of the Minster probably continued into the 15th century. Unfortunately dendrochronology of the roof beam in the south western tower to

give a possible end date for the building was not possible, but the masons’ marks continue in an unbroken sequence to the tops of the towers so one can assume that the building was a continuous process. By 1419 money for a new tomb for St John to stand in the nave was left to the church by Provost Robert Manfield if it had not been completed in his lifetime, and in 1421 King Henry V visited St John to give thanks for his victory at Agincourt in 1415. It is tempting to imagine that he would have seen the fabric of the building as a more colourful version of the building we see today.

Dr Stuart Harrison FSA, John Phillips FSA

Below: Choir vault. View looking west under the walkway showing the extent of the eastern crossing

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Sanctuary Project Update

In 2019 we began a long journey to access funding to begin the process of restoration to the Minster’s fabric which our architect had prioritised in his five yearly survey. First on the list was the south lesser transept roof - lead, stone and wood repairs were urgent.

We applied to the National Lottery Heritage Fund and on our second attempt were successful. As the NLHF is an organisation with responsibility for distributing public money the process was not without its challenges. In order to justify the repair of buildings of national significance, not only do organisations need to match fund any grant given, but about 20% of any grant has to interest and engage with new and diverse groups in society. This prompted us to propose telling our Sanctuary story.

Updates have been given in publications to Friends and we now have an end in sight.

A concert given by Cecil Jones, a manager at the Open Doors refugee centre, gave a concert attracting a diverse audience.

Originally our grant expired in June this year, but given the restrictions experienced during the pandemic we were given an extension to the end of November 2022 to complete all the elements of the project.

This collection of photographs will be a reminder of the various aspects of the project that have been undertaken.

The Friends, in particular, were responsible for match funding the elements of the sanctuary story.

Have a look at our website including a blog by Anna and Cathy about their work. www.beverleyminster.org.uk

The south door in the nave has been re-opened to allow access into the churchyard - a place of sanctuary.

The lesser transept south roof was the first restoration project to be completed in May 2021.

The churchyard has 3 new benches, 3 Corten steel planters for herbs and an area of wild flowers.

Cathy and Anna are our Learning and Engagement Officers who organise sanctuary themed events. Read their website blog!

Dr Louise Hampson, Revd Canon Jonathan Baker and Mayor of Beverley, Cllr. Linda Johnson, open the sanctuary exhibition.

Our roof and ground floor tours are increasingly popular and have a sanctuary or heritage theme.

Visitors interact with one of our touch screens to find out more about historic and contemporary sanctuary.

Mervyn King

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Annual Accounts 2020 - 2021

2,923

James Moore, Treasurer

Independent Examiner’s Report

In connection with my recent examination, no matter has come to my attention:

1. Which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material aspect the requirements to keep accounting records in accordance with Section 41 of the 1993 Act; and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 1993 Act have not been met, or 2. To which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

David Sunman, Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA)

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Annual General Meeting Agenda 2022

THE AGM OF THE FRIENDS OF BEVERLEY MINSTER TO BE HELD IN THE PARISH HALL ON SATURDAY 8[TH] OCTOBER 2022 at 2.00 p.m

A G E N D A

1. Apologies for absence

2. Minutes of the 2021 AGM held on Monday 16[th] October 2021

3. Matters arising

4. Council Chairman’s Report – Prof. Roger Lewis

5. Hon. Secretary’s Report - Mr John Phillips

6. Hon. Treasurer’s Report – Mr James Moore

7. Hon. Membership Secretary’s Report – Ms Liz Grove

8. Hon. Social Secretary’s Report – Miss Pamela Martin

9. Vicar’s Report – Rev. Canon Jonathan Baker

10. The adoption of the reports proposed by the Mayor of Beverley, Cllr Linda Johnson 11. Election of Officers

To be re-elected:

Vice Presidents – Mayor of Beverley, Mrs Pamela Hopkins, Messrs Terry Holmes, Richard Kemp, John Ramsdale, and Peter Calvert

Hon. Social Secretary – Miss Pamela Martin

Hon. Secretary – Mr John Phillips

Hon. Treasurer – Mr James Moore

• Hon. Membership Secretary – Ms Liz Grove

To be elected:

New members of the Council.

President Mrs Pamela Hopkins Chair Ms Mary Mead Minutes Secretary Dr Susan Neave

1. Any Other Business

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AGM Minutes 2021

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE FRIENDS OF BEVERLEY MINSTER HELD ON 16TH OCTOBER 2021.

The meeting was chaired by the Ret Reverend Alison White, Bishop of Hull

Present: Barbara English, John and Irma Askey, Martin Needler, Joyce Shaw, Mervyn King, Jane Paine, Berna Moody, David and Patricia Brunt, Rita Steadman, Annegret Aveyard, Bernard Vickers, Stephen Deas, Gail Cahill, John Phillips, Roger Lewis, James Moore, Liz Grove, Pamela Martin, Jonathan Baker, Gillian Fawcett, John Wilton-Eley, Valerie Hobson, Robert Poyser, Pamela Hopkins, Marilyn Lloyd, Mr & Mrs P Quigley, Michael J Moss, David James, Meg Choules, Susan Nicholson, Milly Hill, Pamela Davies, Jackie Odini.

1. Apologies for absence: Sylvia Broady, Karla Vickers, G & I Wallace, Mike Robson, Helena Anderson, Dr Amy Albudri, Val Sutton, Bob Aveyard.

2. The minutes of the AGM held on 19

April 2021 were passed – nem con

3. Matters arising – none

4. Chairman’s report AGM for year 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 (Roger Lewis)

I should like to welcome Bishop Alison and say how much we appreciate her chairing our AGM; and to welcome Linda, Mayor of Beverley and to thank her for her interest in the work we do.

We are all somewhat confused over dates given the dislocation to routine brought about by Covid. We caught up on the year 19-20 by a Zoom AGM held outside our usual schedule; today we are covering the year from the first of April 2020, though we are not following that too literally, for example later there will be coverage of the re-gilding of the clock face, carried out after this period.

I also need to announce a change in today’s programme. Our speaker for the St John of Beverley lecture was to have been Edward Everett; unfortunately, however, we heard late last night that his car has broken down and he is marooned in France. We have been very fortunate at this late notice in Professor Barbara English stepping in. On the 1300th anniversary of St John’s death this is particularly appropriate given Barbara’s key role in the Beverley 1300 festival taking place next weekend. There is no one more fitting to speak today than Barbara (one of our members) given her role not only in that celebration but also in achieving so much on behalf of the town.

Whilst on today’s programme I am glad to say that at the end of this AGM and before Barbara’s talk we will enjoy a concert given by some of the choristers the Friends are sponsoring. They are benefiting from instrument lessons in return for commitments to the choir. Robert Poyser – the Minster’s Director of Music – will introduce them. This is an appropriate moment to thank Robert for all he has done to keep the choir together in the very difficult circumstances since March 2020.

And, of course, our usual afternoon tea – for which we will all be more than ready – will be served after Barbara’s talk.

The Treasurer will report on finances later in this meeting. You will note that, of our income, subscriptions form a relatively minor

component (comfortably covering our regular outgoings); donations and bequests form the basis of our assets and it is largely from these that we fund our work for the Minster. It is reassuring that Friends (and others in the community) trust us with this money, confident that we will spend it carefully and thoughtfully.

You will note a significant increase in expenditure this year, £152k for the roof and £42k for the sanctuary project. This reflects our growing spending commitments - though, with offsetting income during the year, our balance of £96k is £18k up on the previous year and our net assets are up by £100k at just over £1million – though spending to which we are committed will eat into that.

We are at a new stage of Friends’ funding characterised by (i) work on the fabric of the building, (ii) collaborating with the Old Fund and (iii) using our funding to attract funding from external sources. Later in the agenda, we will ask for your approval of a funding policy to underpin this strategy.

A summary of the work on the roofs shows this in action.

Phase one: approximately £50k from the Friends (along with £196k of Old Fund money) released £500k from the National Heritage Lottery Fund. This enabled full repair of the lesser south transept roof and the multiple benefits of the associated sanctuary project.

Phase two: summer 2020, £150k from the Friends, £42k from the Old Fund, £42k from the PCC and £38k from the Two Churches One Town charity released approximately £600k from the government’s Culture Recovery Fund to renew the eastern half of the nave roof.

Phase three: £476k from the Friends with a matching amount from the Old Fund (no contribution from the PCC or Two Churches) meant that the western half of the nave roof could be completed, taking advantage of the scaffolding already on site.

(Projected) phase four: a proposal to a further phase of the Culture Recovery Fund, to renew the retro-quire roof. We committed approximately £75k with the same sum from the Old Fund to release £600k government money (no contributions from PCC or Two Churches). Unfortunately this proposal was unsuccessful.

Your Friends’ Council agreed to this expenditure confident that what unites our members is a commitment to the Minster as a building.

The Minster is in demand, used for a variety of purposes. It remains a place of Christian worship (its users here are congregation members). It is a building of outstanding medieval significance (users in this context are tourists and visitors). It is a place to hire for a variety of purposes, some ‘cultural’ (concerts, exhibitions); others rather less easy to define (recently, gin, wedding and retro fairs - some Friends have been upset at some of these uses). And fourthly it is a building for the community (users here are people living in Beverley). All these groups need a building that is structurally sound and we have been happy to contribute to that objective.

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We also committed funding during the year to re-gilding the clock face (the work was carried out in the subsequent year) and to continuing the music scholarship scheme. The quality of music at the Minster is recognised not just by our funding but also by external trusts who have contributed money specifically for this purpose, including the Friends of Cathedral Music and the Ouseley Trust.

As a society we have weathered the pandemic well, finding new ways to communicate with our members (including use of the website and Zoom lectures). We resumed more traditional activity with a very successful coach trip in September and we look forward to seeing much more of you in the coming year.

5. Secretary’s Report – John Phillips

This has been a very active, different, and in lots of ways, exciting year for the Friends. Due to Covid-19 restrictions our meetings have been held for the greater part by email which has been an interesting and, in many ways, different way of conducting our business and I am delighted to say that despite lockdown and other problems we have managed to continue to operate to our normal schedule, and I must express my thanks to all members of the Council for their adapting to a new way of working with such commitment and enthusiasm. It made the secretary’s job much easier.

In all our meetings we review, as a matter of course, our finances, membership, our social programme, and projects such as the Sanctuary project, publications, reports from the PCC and the like, so this report details only specific additional agenda items.

As you will see from this chronological resumé

of the deliberations for the May 2020-February 2021 period, we have been called upon to support the long-term safety of the Minster which has involved us committing considerable chunks of money to major projects involving the re-leading of the nave roof. In addition to these major outlays, we have also put in place a Financial Policy to guide our future expenditure; you will be asked to ratify this later in this meeting

In May 2020 we received for consideration a report from the Friends Working Group on Priorities. These were listed as:

• Targeted help with restoration of the east and west windows

• Aspects of a lighting scheme (including lighting the Percy Canopy, the misericords and other aspects of the building’s heritage).

• Opening up the south quire aisle, including views of the organ pipes, together with appropriate interpretation.

The report was accepted by a clear majority of the Council, with reservations from our Vicar and PCC representative. Although these have been identified as priorities for a while, we always have stressed that this does not preclude requests for funding for other projects as you will see.

In June 2020 we circulated the proposed new Financial Policy, which was finally agreed by the Council in August, for ratification at this meeting.

In August 2020 we received a request for funding to publish a new book, a Guide to the Minster’s Stained Glass; we were happy to support this.

The Friends were approached in September 2020 for urgent support for a proposal to be submitted for use of Historic England money to repair the eastern half of the Minster’s nave roof. The work was scheduled at that time as costing £750k (plus VAT). 20% match funding was required totalling £150k. Two Churches One Town were prepared to provide £40k of this; the Friends of the Minster Council was approached to contribute the remaining £110k. The deadline was extremely tight – both to complete the bid for funding and subsequently, if successful, to complete the actual roof work. Accordingly, the Friends held an extraordinary meeting by email 23-29 September 2020 . Within 24 hours, the proposal to match fund to a total of £110k for this specific funding application was agreed unanimously by all who responded. The application was successful and the award was for £600,724.

Recalculations however, subsequently revealed an increase in costs, which now stood at £875,016 (an increase of £125k). Deducting from this sum the grant (£601k) and the matched funding from the Friends and Two Churches One Town (£150k) left a shortfall of £124k. The chair of the bidding team (Tim Carlisle) contacted the chairs of the Friends, the PCC and the Old Fund asking whether, in principle, each organisation would provide one third of the shortfall (£42k each) to enable the project to go ahead.

The chair consulted the secretary and the treasurer and – whilst we regretted the unexpected increase in costs - we agreed that we should ask the Council to endorse this proposal, given the importance of work on the nave roof proceeding and the opportunity to use significant external funding that might not again be available in these difficult times.

The Council was thus asked formally to agree to the release of a further £42k for the purpose of the roof repairs, making a total of £152k as the Friends’ contribution to this project, subject to equal contributions (£42k each) from the Old Fund and the PCC. This was formally agreed at the November Council meeting.

This set of circumstances raised significant questions from Council members about how a discrepancy of this magnitude could occur in a properly costed proposal. We indicated to the proposers that this would not be acceptable in future projects.

In November 2020 having received their list of priorities from the PCC, we returned to our consideration of the two sets of priorities. After due consideration we concluded that we would retain £100k for support of the Minster’s music; £500k to support the projects we have identified as priorities; the remainder to be available for other projects that may be brought to us. We also agreed that the subgroups of Friends and PCC should continue to liaise.

We received an update from TCOTS about the grant bid, and the Sanctuary project which is part funded by the Friends as part of the NHLF funding for the re-leading of the roof of the lesser south transept.

In February 2021 we arranged for our postponed 2020 AGM to be held by Zoom in April.

We received a proposal for the re-leading of the western half of the nave roof which required the Friends and the Old Fund to each provide a maximum of £476k. There were compelling reasons why this should go ahead,

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not least of which was the considerable logistical saving to be had by retaining the equipment and services of the Messenger group, who were completing the eastern half of the nave at the time.

The Council agreed to the funding proposal unanimously after a thorough debate by email.

We discussed the role of music in the Minster and the Friends’ long-term support of it. Members warmly commended the work of the Director of Music but raised concerns about the likely future of this important work given the straitened circumstances indicated by the PCC. The concerns fell into two categories: the use of the Friends’ financial contributions, and those of the other external agencies who have contributed funding specifically for the Minster’s music and earmarked for specific purposes; and the process in place to review the future of music in the Minster. On the second point, we questioned whether a review was in place and, if so, what were its terms of reference and were these public? We also asked whether there was to be a consultation with external stakeholders, the date for reporting the results of the review, and who would be considering the outcome?

6. Treasurer’s report: James Moore presented the Accounts from the Annual Report and answered questions.

7. Membership Secretary’s report : Liz Grove

Membership on 25th August was 432. Inevitably this is down from last year, and some further losses have sadly been noted. Membership has risen since then, mostly thanks to the online facilities now available and the wonderful publicity generated by the

spectacular re-gilding of the clock which was organised by Mike Robson and financed by the Friends, and the numbers now stand at 438.

I have to thank especially, for support during the year, Dr Amy Albudri, and Mr & Mrs Mike Redhead. Mike has designed our database of members, and thanks to him it is now even more efficient and secure.

Finally, a big ‘thank you’ to my colleagues on the Friends’ Council. We have needed to make a lot of big decisions over the past year, but thanks to Roger and John we have been kept well informed and given help and guidance. Thanks too, to Mervyn King whose skills and cheerful efficiency have helped immeasurably making our online presence much more obvious and useful.

8. Social Secretary’s report: Pamela Martin

On 3rd September 28 Friends enjoyed a coach trip to Jervaulx Abbey and Coverham Abbey - commencing with morning coffee at the Old Lodge, Malton. After a circuitous journey to Jervaulx, we enjoyed a most interesting guided tour delivered by Dr Stuart Harrison. Lunch was taken at the Cover Bridge Inn - a wonderful buffet spread. We then progressed to Coverham Abbey, some three miles down the road, where a warm welcome awaited from Mrs Harriet Corner. Dr Harrison led a tour of the box - hedged garden set within the ruins of the Abbey and we were invited into the medieval hall - the icing on the cake. Tea and biscuits were served in the new refectory.

AGM 16th October

36 Friends attended the AGM. This was followed by Professor Barbara English's replacement talk on Sanctuary which was a

great success, especially as it was delivered at very short notice following the last minute cancellation by the advertised speaker, who was still detained in France with motor vehicle problems.

A musical interlude bridged the gap between AGM and St John's Lecture - performances by four instrumental students from the scheme supported by the Friends and organised by Robert Poyser, Director of Music at the Minster. Without doubt, this part of the proceedings enhanced the afternoon. An appetising buffet tea followed bringing the event to a satisfying close.

The following paragraph was written subsequent to the AGM but is included here to give a full account of the day.

The Programme Secretary briefly outlined hopes for the coming year in terms of a more comprehensive programme. Mention was made of Robert Poyser's Epiphany Organ Recital in January 2022, which would be supported by the Friends in the form of a buffet reception after the event.

9. Vicar’s Report: Jonathan Baker

Jonathan Baker began by referring to the financial challenges facing the Minster mentioned in the Vicar’s Report. There was a deficit which had led to two staff redundancies, and there was a need for funds to repair the hall roof quite apart from the existing needs of the Minster itself. These needs included the replacement of the remaining unrepaired sections of the roof, the lighting, toilets, boilers, windows etc.

Against this background the PCC had launched a new ‘Vision Strategy’ for the next 3-5 years,

recognising that the best way to secure the future of the Minster building is for it to continue to be the home for a vibrant and growing worshipping community which is outward facing. The strategy is for growth, recognising that the best way to join up what we already do is for there to be a shared vision.

The vision includes sections on the following:

• a better quality of community life with

• attention to welcoming visitors and worshippers, pastoral care, and social events. - broadening the appeal of worship to different audiences, ‘not just Radio 3, but also including Radio 1 and 2,’ with a view to connecting with younger people.

• Prayer and Teaching, to raise awareness of

• different ways of praying and to relate the Christian faith to everyday experience.

• interpreting the building to tell a story which

• includes its purpose and the people who use it.

• infrastructure and communications, including

• lighting, heating, toilets and access – not least online access.

• financial sustainability with better

• transparency and controls.

• supporting staff and volunteers.

• closer collaboration between the Minster, the

• Friends, the Old Fund, and Two Churches, One Town.

The Vicar noted that the lack of face to face meetings during the pandemic had made communication between the PCC and Friends more difficult, and that matters had not been made easier by the very tight deadlines imposed by the Culture Recovery Fund for decisions about pledging match funding for a grant bid. He concluded by saying that coming out of lockdown was a good opportunity for reassessment of how all the stakeholders in

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the future of the building could work together and reflect on how we can address some of the various pressing needs currently facing Beverley Minster.

The proposal was approved by a clear majority with one contra.

12. Election of Officers

It was decided to re-elect all officers of the Council en bloc, proposed by Patricia Brunt, seconded by Annegret Aveyard. Carried nem con.

10. Adoption of the reports. The Mayor of Beverley, Councillor Linda Johnson proposed the adoption of the reports, seconded by Pamela Hopkins

Election of New Members of the Council.

Carried, nem con.

11. Adoption of the new Financial Policy

Nominations for new Council members were Karla Vickers and Jane Payne, proposed by Stephen Deas and seconded by Gail Cahill. Carried nem con.

Roger Lewis summarised the new Financial Policy and explained the reasons why it had become necessary to have a Financial Policy at this time.

13. Any other business.

There was no further business.

Adoption was proposed by Rita Steadman, seconded by Stephen Deas.

Members of the Council 2021-2022

Professor Roger Lewis (Chair) 29 Highgate, Beverley, HU17 ODN. Tel. [phone] Email: [e-mail]

Revd. Canon Jonathan Baker (Vicar of Beverley Minster) The Minster Vicarage Highgate Beverley HU17 0DN Email: [e-mail]

Mr James Moore (Hon. Treasurer) 3 The Orchard, Tickton, Beverley HU17 9JE Tel. [phone]. Email: [e-mail]

Ms Meg Choules (PCC Representative) Rt Revd David James (PCC Nominee) Mr Martin Needler (Old Fund Representative) Mr Mervyn King (Co-opted) Mr Robert Poyser (Co-opted) Dr Susan Neave (Co-opted) Elected members : Mr Mike Robson (Retires 2022) Mr Stephen Deas (Retires 2023) Mrs Helena Anderson (Retires 2023) Ms Gail Cahill (Retires 2023) Mrs Karla Vickers (Retires 2024) Ms Jane Payne (Retires 2024)

Mr John Phillips (Hon. Secretary) 20 Fawcett Gardens, Driffield, Y025 5NR Tel: [phone] Email: [e-mail]

Ms Liz Grove (Hon. Membership Secretary) 5 Long Lane Beverley HU17 0NH Email: [e-mail]

Miss Pamela J Martin (Hon Social Secretary) 85 Ancaster Avenue HULL HU5 4QR Tel: [phone] Email: [e-mail]

Friends visit Gisborough Priory in July 2022

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Friends admiring the 14th century hall of the Knights Templar preceptory at Foulbridge, near Malton.

The Friends’ Annual Report is compiled by John Phillips and designed by Mervyn King

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