SI&KIF> fiKiAL Co P7 IY'(IN lJiikDfNS Notlco of the 2025 Annual Goneial Megtlng Notice is hereby given that an Annual General Meetlng of Avon Garden8 Trust will be hold on S8turd8y 25" October 2024 commencing 2.00pm atthe Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester. GL7 6JS Aganda Apologies for absence 2. Chairs opening remarks To receive ihe Minutes ofthe Extraordin8ry G¢neral Metsting hold on Saturday 291h April 2025 4. Presentation of AGT accounts for 2024-2025 S. To dissolve the Avon Gardens Trust and integrate wtth the new Avon & Gloucestershire Gard8ns Trust This AGM will be followed by the inaugural general meeting of the Avon and Gloucestershire Gaidens Trust. An agenda will be sent by separate message tor this event. The meetings will be followed by refreshments and a lecture at 3.00PM from our Plesident Tlmothy Mowi who will lalk of 'A prettylsh klnd of a Ilttte w5lderne8s' _ Landscap8s and gardon8 In the novels ol Jane Au￿?￿ Tlmothy Mowl's lavishly illustfated talk will consider designed landscapes and garden3 in lane Austen's novels. not only as representative of cuirent horticultural fads, but as important elements in the plots. providing the background to moments of high emotion31 drama. Her life spans the demise of Capability Brown's minimalist landscapinE (died 17831, th8 growth of Pictijresque theory in the late 178Os and 1790s. which she satirises in North8ngerAbbey, and the coming of Humphry Repton. who appears in Mansfield Park. with his promotion ol Omamental Gardening. At the heart of the novels and of this talk are the shrubberi8S. sweet-scented. shadowy places for exercise. rontemplation and romantlc 88signatlons The evant is Freo for G8rden8 Trust members and £10.00 for Guests. Pa8elo17 I,Akf)ENS REPORTS OF THE TRUSTEES 2024-2025 CHAIRS REPORT I have veryTnixed feelings about writingthis last Chair's r8POrt forAvon Gard8nsTrust.' my last as Chair and the last for Avon Gardèns Trust itself. One of the very first County Gardens Trust5. after 38 very successful years we are merging with Gloucestershire Gardens & Landscape Trust in October to form the Avon and Gloucesiershire Gardgns Trust- AGGT. For th8 L85t few months our merger committee have all been working hard to facilit8t8 th8 smooth tr8nsition from two County Gafden Trusts to a sin818 bigger. bettor and bolder single Gard8ns Trust. 8ncompassing B8th & North East Somersat and North Som8rs8t and historic8lly re- uniting Bristol and South Gloucest8rshlre with Gloucestershlre. Part ol our remlt has bean to produce a new Constitutlon. overseen by 88rbBia H8rdy, our fellow Trustee 8nd lawyer. It 18 now. we think, r88dy for the Char¢ty Commission. We h9ve allocDted roles to whatwill now be a larger and better equipped Committee. with more resources and combined knowledge of histori¢ gardons spannirngthe whole region. There will be seven Trustees as well ag a number ol other people on sub-committees. The appointments are. ol course, subject to approval from our Members w the AGM. Chair-Ali lewell VSce Chair- Kay ROSB Trea$uier- Golin Johnston Secretary- Flona Gunn Re5earch-Glll Glarke Planning & Research- David Evan3 loumal Ediior- Barbara Hardy M8rgie Hoffnung. Chair of GGLT, will be stopping down to eoncontr8te ol her new horticullural business. and We wish her every succBs8. Our membersh5pwill, of coursfr, effactiv8lydouble and we hopeth8t au members will continuetoloin us. Fion8 wlll be responsiblts for membership and we artr eternally grateful to Pete Hilis for offering to maintain the n8W AGGT w8bsit8 for th8 pr888nt- W4W¢.a8gt Drg- and k8epin4 us 811 up to spe8d. Other than speclflc em8SLs lor Events and Planning. we will have a centr8L, single 8rn8il- info@agglt.org that will monitor and distribute em8i18tO 8nd from AGGT. The journal. ably prep8red by B8rbar8 and Tim. will be av8il8ble forthe AGM. and we will encourage m8mber8 to come and t8ke theirs- and for any for members they know- to avoid high postage costs. We wll now have a bigger team researching the garden histories across the region- combining our databases and addlng new material as well as updating e￿$tIng entries. Gill Clarke and Thoss Shealer will he8d up research and I now hope to be able to concentrate more on research. We in the South-west have been allocated a Research Study Day in February by the Gardens Trust and we are looking ai a park site in Bristol. We hope that members will join us for the day and learn more abDUt researching historic g8rdens and 18ndsc8P88 in Avon 8nd GIouc85t8rshir8. More del8iLs tofollowl Colin and I will continue to Look ￿ grants for both schools and community g8rd8ns. but w8 do need volunteers trom Glouces1ershire. Tho same is true of our planning remit. and again. whilst David Ev8n8 and France8 Russell wll Coniinueto ¢Jeal wSlh plannlng applications Yor Avon. we urgently need volunteer members to desl with planning in Gloucestershire. We provide trainingfor anyone who feels theywould ts.ke to volunteer. We are. of Gourse, organisinga programme of talks lorthewinterol 2025-6followed by a series of springgarden Vlslts. Tim Mowl has. 8$ before. produced a Series of speakers almost immediately. The talks will be evenly Spread b8tW88n BRLSI in Bath and Cirenc8St8r Royal Agricultural University. who have ample parklng and purp0$8 built the8lre. Tim will speak at th8 AGM on Saturd8y 25 October in Cir8nce$t8r. then we have two talks November and Januory at BRLSI. followed by 811n81 one 8t C+renc8st8T. From Aprilth8rewill b8 monthly PaRe3of7 garden visits, in the process of belng org8nised by mys8lf, Margie, Akn" and Flon8. Any sugg8Stions will be gratefully received-we are always looking for new gardens to wsii. Our IT wizard James Cooper is Combining the two websites for u5, after Ali. Helene Gammack and myself looked at the content. Helene is now liaising with James. as she has with the design of our n8w logo by Kevin Srnith. which we hop8you like. based oh a knot garden. Once up and running. we will address both a Facebook and In5t8gram 51te. as well a$ a regular newsletter. There have be8n 8 number of interesting developments In B8th rec8ntly which AGT have b8en involvad wlth. Helene, Glll 8nd I h8v8 met with Councll members io help Iocllltate lalks on the restoration of ihe Georglan Garden behind 4 Th8 Circus, which has been 811owed to deterlorate ov8r the Last few years. D8vid has had S meetingwithAlex Sherman of BPTabout a proposed garden behind 1 Roy81Crescent and I have alsotaken part in 8 consultation with BPT 8bout the future of Bath. There w85 8 signilicant lack of any mention of 88rdens and 18ndscape which I have hopefully r8¢tified. and I have ha(J a very p051tive response from BPT. It is possible that we might beworking more closely with them now, which will help bring Bath's parks 8nd gardens into sharper focus with the City. l am sure you will all have many more questions lor me. and I wantto th8nk you allforyour patience during the last few months and what hos possibly looked a bit sparse on information from tim8 to time. Amongst our volunt8er members, I would like to thank Frances Russell, who hès overseen 50 many planning applications and off8r8d ex¢8llent obs8ryations and recommendations, Heiene Gammackfor providingadvicB and so much 8XC8l18nt help during the merger and Wgndy Sm8ie for her 8aKle-eyed proof reading ot th8 journals ond n￿sletter5 OV8rthe past few y88rs. It just Leaves me to giv8 a masslve thank you to Anne and Pete Hllts lor thelr Invaluable work foi AGT over the ye&r5. Anne ha5 addre55ed Avon's planning application5 With knowledgeable and reasoned scrutiny. her excellent conservation and planning expertise enabling AGT to produce consistently sound argumen15 and recommendations. Pete, well, where do I begin? Administrator. web81t8 manager, membership Secretary, minuie laker and evant5 0rg81115er, responsible for setting up grant 8nd booking forms, organising meetings, settingup the lecture rooms and always there to meet and greet mernbers for both talksand garden visits. .Ihe list g08s on. On a pgrsongl note, I simply could not have done thejob of Chairwithout their invaluable help and support. One thing is undoubtBdlytrue. theywill both be very much mis58d and we wish them all the very best In thBir new SurrEy home. So. Welcometo th8 n8wAvon & GIou¢8St8rshlr8 GardensTrust and I lookfotwardto continulngthls newph8se ol ourlourneywith you. Kay Ross. Chair of Avon GardensTrust MEMBERSHIP sECR￿ARY's REPORT The membership of Avon Gardens Tru8t fell dr8matically thi8 year at renewal this July. We as Trustees were awai8 that many members ljad indicated thoy w8f8 not to r8new due to age, immobllity or moving frorn th8 are8. Wg now stand at 63 Members. 4 Honorary Members. I President. This is a signSllcant drDP from the 92 members of Last year. We rnove forward to the new Avon 8nd Glouce8t8r3hire G8rden8 Trust IAGGT), all AGT member8 will automatically transferto the newTru8t. Pet8r Hills. Membership Secretary RESEARCH AND RECORDING REPORT As reported last year the Avon on-line Dilectory now compristss 811 th8 information from the 1991 Gazeteer. In gen8ral. the r8gistef8d sites 8r8 WBIL-documonte¢J. 8Lthough th8r8 15 8 need to 8fisuT8 th8yar8 k8Pt upto d8t8. pbrticulÈrly as regardstheir current State #nd 8ccuracy8s more research data is revealed. Plans are underw8y io Combine the Dlf8ctorywith site Information held by Gloucestershire GLT. Additional intormaiion Is added as Pa8e4of7 K'i) it becomes avai18bl8. for example from planning appUc81ions, Historic England notes, or queries from inttsrested parties. Additionsto the Directory- lo the registered s1tes and the Ioc811y listed sites. continue and updat8s h8ve be8n made to the 8ntry on Hedgemead Park. and on siles at Claverton, information on the Brunel Bridge in Sydney G8rden$, #nd on the grotto at RoyalVlctori8 Park. Brentry. W8 also receive occ89ion81 enquSriBS. for 6xample a recent one was Cote House. Westbury-on-Trym. There is welcome news regarding No 4 the Circus. which was restored efter archaeological excavation in the 1980's bui has since been allowed to overgrow and the frne replica bench to decay. Discussions between the AGT, Bath PreservationTrust, the Councitand theTw8tees oflhe ch8ritythat managesthe garden at No. 4 have reeenlly taken place although we await a p031tive oul¢ome on these efforts to restore thi5 Georgian garden to its former glory. Gi￿an CLark8 EVEpifs REPOflT We have held 3 Lectures and 4 gardens vi61ts overthe last 12 months. Ledures at BRSLI. 8rp8nged by our Presideni TIM Mowl, were well 8ffend8d and well rec8lv8d wlth 8ome intgrestingtopics reve818d. Gardens vlslts grr)n8ed by Kay were also well 8ttend8d with highlights at C81sson House for spring snowdrops ant1 the visits to th8 Old Rectory 8nd Dereh8rn Park. The series of lectures and garden ￿ls[t$ will continue with the new AGGT. so we looktorward to seeing you. Peter Hills. PLANNING REPORT Since the 18St AGM. with the help irf Frances RLbssell, I have monltored 67 piannlng 8ppllc8tions. the vast malorlty of whleh needèd no response, they do howevertake time tocheck a8ainsi the Historic Englané's P&G reglster an¢J the Iocol Hlsiorlc EnvSronmeM Records. A couple of irends can be outllned Sn plgnnlng. First. not allthe Avon LPAS submit8pplic8tjons related to local registered P&Gs. Asecondtrend relates to Gr8de11 P&Gs Ithou8h the LPA. unlike the case with grade11 listed building5, these should referred to, and be 8s5essed by Hi6toric England. this is not always the case. It should also be noted that the way the GardengTrLbSi deals with planning has changed, we nowhave a searchable (Jat8base forappts"cations which I can accesswithout waiting to th¢ GT to forward details. A5 you will no doubt know the gDvernment Is irying to remove the Gardens Tru￿ Ithereby local Trusts) as statutory consultee foi pl8nnlng m8tlers. which obviously remove an Importsnt lunctlon from Ioc81 GTS. A tT8nd which goes against current gov8rnm8nt policy for increased local democracy. Therefore, I have been working closelywith the Gardens Trust in their campaign to reverse this ill-informed potentiaLthr8at. I musl report al least one 10$5. the planning authoritys decision to 811ow major developm8nt 8t 8ath Rugby ground. which we $8e. although UNESCO do not agree. as 8 thr88t to Bath's double status 8$ 8 World Heritage Site. Although I shall not detail it, much of I do is not directly associated with planning applicatlons concems the status and presentation of P&Gs. Mosi rEcentlytryingio discern what BTlStol Citycouncil intends for Castle P8rk. It 15 mywewthatlhe p8rk8hould be considered as in 8ffect 8 Wèr memorial, unfortunately onewhich will be overlooked by t811 buildin£s. Not all Is lost we are supporting 8ath Presetvation Trust's apptscation for a 'pocket park, and supported in prin¢iple 8CCs plan for a linear Part a8 Part of the development at St Phillips. David Evans Page5of7 Avon Gardans TrLt#t Annual Fln•n¢lffjl A•port & Stat•m•nt forth• p•rlod 1 July2024to ao Jun• 2025 Le8aL and Administrotive Informatlon Status. The Trust is a Gharitable Incorporated Organisation, Regi￿ered Charity No. 900377 Tru8teo•. DurtnEthe 12 months to 30 June 2025. the Trustees were.. Kay Ross (Chairman). G￿l[lan Clarke, Anne Hills. P8t8r Hi118. David Evans, Selena Gr8y (Treasurer, to 12 Octobef 20241. Golinjohnston (Treasurer. from 12 Oct 20241, Barb8r8 Hardy (from 12 October 20241. Reglstored Offlc•: The CREATE Centre, Sm8aton R08d. Bristol. BS16XN Bank•rs:There is a current accountwSth No1 West B8nk, 250 Bishopsgate. London EC2M 4AA. We 8180 had an accountwith CAF Bank Ltd., 25 Klngs HIIIAv8nue. Kings Hill, West Malllng, Kent ME19 4JQ which was c1088d in Augusi 2024. sa￿Ng$ are held with NatWe81 Business R888Ne. 81so N8tionwlde Bulldlng Society. Kings Park Fload. Moulton Park. Northampton. NN3 6NW. Report oltho Truste06forthe ptsrlod 1 Jun• 2024 to 30 Jun• 2025 ObJa¢tlv•¥ The objectives of the Charity are forthe public benefit: l.Charitable Objectives lo promote the education of the public on matt8r8 connected with the arts and 8cience$ of pbrks, gatdens and designed landscapes. to presetva, enhance and re-cieate for the education and enjoyment of the public whatever parks. gardens and designed landscapes that may exist or have existed in and around Avon. 2.Publi¢ Benefit The Trustees confirm that ihey have complied with th8 duty in Section 4 of the Gharilies Act 2011 to hBve due re88rd to the Charity Commi88ion's general guidanee on public benefit. Acto￿tIO* Avon Gardens Trust has been actively involv8d in the prOte￿iDn anij conservation of historic parks. gardens and design8d landscapes in the Avon artra. The Trust has mad8 awards to community groups and schools. Rosearch into 811 BSP8Cts of designed 18ndscapes Is oncour8g8d bythg Trust with findSngs being publish8d in Its Journ81. The Trustees hove ¥ctlvely sought to promot8 collaboration wllh owners, Ioc81 authorities. edu¢8tlonal organi58tions 8nd Friends. groups. Information about the actlvlties of th8 Trusl 13 included in our publlcatlons lonlln• and In prfntl. Future Strat•gy The Trust Intends to continue thos range of act*vities, subjectto sat181actoryfunding arrangementg. Rl#kand Re8•rve8 Poucy TheTrusteesaresatisf4edihattheTru￿ is notexposedto signifi¢antfinan¢ial risks, andthat its reservesprovide an adequate basis for meeting expendr(ure that m•y ari8E. These 8CCDunts comply with the ch8rity'$ governing document, the Charities Act 2011 and th8 Charity CommissSon's SORP 2014 #pplicable to account8 pr8P8red in accord8n¢e with the FRS102 SORP. Approved bythe Trustees on 25 Oct 2025 and sign8d on thelr behalf by: Name: Date.. Page6of7 AVC)N GARDENS Income 2024125 2023124 Subs 1.315 1,035 Donations Gift Aid 238 248 4,a21 Gr8nt8 Iniere Other 460 Transfew 2.500 Total Income 8.434 7.131 EX￿n￿￿t￿l0 Grants 3,270 1,250 Events 2,920 Donatlon$ 100 Expenses 49 AGM 139 139 Other 1.331 1.760 Journal 966 776 Refund of subs 180 Total Expendltur• 8.808 7.919 Net movement in funds -2,372 -788 Totol funds at Start of financialyear 21.225 22.014 8alance 18,853 21.225 Interestforthe year on our Savings A¢¢ountS 8mouni&d 10 £750 whlch piovldes us with Total Ca¥h Fund• Carrlod Forward ol É19.603. Total Funds of £19,603 consist of Nationwide Business Sovings Aecouni E17,710, Nat West Buslness Account £1.873, Nat West Business Reserve £20. The CAF Current Account was closed during the yeor and lis lund$ Ir8nsferred to our Nat West Accounts. An incre8sed nLtrnber ￿ gr8nt 8ppltcBtions vM8 feeeTh￿ thls year and V4t were ple#sedto m8k& more 8wArds th8n in previous yeafs, which is in line with our educational role contained in our Constitution. Runningcosts (shown in Expenditure 8s Oth•rl include webslte mainienonce. software. ileketing systems. postage, priniingllyers. These accounts are pr8por8d on 8 receipt6 and payments basi6 Within each accounting y8af and will includo income and expendiiure for events held outside tha 12 monih o¢¢ounting pariod. 1 July to 30 lung. The Trustees received no remuneration from theTrust. Signed on behalf of Trustges Name.. 25-0&.2&2t)-.