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| Bishop of Llandaff is surrounded by senior staff Source: Twitter |
A nice little jolly for senior staff in the diocese of Llandaff has been highlighted on Twitter: "The Llandaff Senior Staff are enjoying the hospitality of Mill House Retreat Centre for a couple of days of team building including our new Archdeacon! Down to work!"
No dingy church hall for them. Compare the lifestyle at the top with Ministry Areas struggling to make ends meet and it is clear where priorities lie in the Church in Wales.
Archbishop John Davies was right in his presidential address to members at the recent meeting of the Governing Body when he acknowledged that the church was facing ‘confusing and challenging times’. He urged members to follow the example of people in the Bible by putting their faith in God and acting confidently to make change happen.
There has been a flurry of archdeacon appointments lately. The appointment of the Archdeacon of Margam follows the appointment of an additional Archdeacon in Monmouth to jolly along the switch to Ministry Areas with more advertised in the expectation that they will improve a dire situation.
From 'Ministry Share: A Guide' issued by the diocese of St Davids: "Put simply, it is the financial cost of spreading the Gospel and maintaining ministry in our diocese, shared among all the parishes of St Davids. It is a commitment of our faith, rather than a tax or imposition, which finds its beginnings in the earliest days of the church and a very similar financial pool of funds is described in Acts.
It is more about spreading the load than spreading the Gospel. The widows' mites funding life at the top.
The current position is unsustainable. The guide explains that the funds required for the pool are calculated each year in the diocesan budget. The Bishop and senior staff have to calculate the number of clergy required and this is the biggest single item in the budget.
A commentator pointed out under a previous thread, Taking stock, "Meanwhile....Cwmbran has gone from 5 full time clergy to a ministry area with no paid clergy since August....a roaring success hey? 5 churches and a CiW school.......but the parish share has remained at over £120K per year.......But at least the governing body will be debating politics soon, that will really help this crisis and grow the Church!
Not all change is for the better it seems.
Postscript [24.04.2018]
Emergency food bank supplies increase in Wales
The number of emergency food bank supplies given to families in crisis in Wales increased by 3% in the past year, figures show. The Trussell Trust food bank network said 98,350 three-day food bags were given out from April 2017 to March 2018 - 35,403 of which were to children. BBC News report here.
What a nerve! Don't these people realise the effect that this has on demoralised parishioners who work so hard to maintain their parishes in extremely difficult times. Even more so, the effects must be so disheartening to those many priests who work tirelessly to maintain the true faith with little acknowledgment of their labours! Surely, if there is a need for team building (whatever that is), this could easily have been accommodated within the diocese at the many places available without incurring the costs that this event will demand. The fact that it has been publicised in this way suggests more clearly than ever that the hierarchy is totally unaware (or indifferent to ) the harsh realities of parish life. Shame on you all.
ReplyDeletePlease don't ask me to put any more money in the collection plate!
Nemesis
What's wrong with the accommodation and facilities at St. Michelle's conference centre?
DeleteDon't forget the additional costs of Caiaphas' "team" travelling all the way to Devon and back for their jolly.
The question is this.
DeleteWhy does Caiaphas need to take herself and seven "senior staff" such a long distance to a retreat house that has a maximum of seven (yes, 7) bedrooms?
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51a70b68e4b01abd05764117/t/58f67e005016e1f7a7c0e54e/1492549120554/2017+Whole+House+Booking+Form.pdf
One shudders to think Mrs S.
DeleteWho was "bunking" with whom?
I would have thought sharing a room would not be a novelty Mrs Slocombe but what of the travel arrangements? Did they all share or did they each claim travelling expenses to Devon?
DeleteMr Grainger
A gift of an opportunity for another Caption competition Ancient Briton?
ReplyDeleteCaiaphas and the Seven Sadducees - West Country Tour 2018
Good idea Ruth. Printable captions welcome.
Delete"We continue as we please darlings".
DeleteWith apologies to Jonathan Woss.
DeleteA Pilate, a Pharisee and three Poofs but no Piano.
This week's topic of conversation.
DeleteNew clothes for CinW Priests.
https://scontent.fbhx1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/30743925_1700386786689746_8427129761325345623_n.png?_nc_cat=0&oh=a64198fb9996578ec43c16daea9b6aa9&oe=5B5D25A4
"Well Bishop, when I talked about visiting a cottage this wasn't quite what I meant..."
DeleteThis little piggy went to market,
DeleteThis little piggy stayed home,
This little piggy had roast beef,
This little piggy had none,
And this little piggy cried,
Oh, hang on, there are too many big piggies.
Porkie
Whilst I find the uncharitable misogyny in your piece and comments very unpleasant, and think it is positive that attention is being paid to team building, I do find it worrying that ££ was taken to Devon when there are so many centres/halls in Wales who could do with the ££ but maybe there was an exceptional leader there to facilitate the process. Adarynefoedd.
ReplyDeleteit is not uncharitable to point out that money which is so scarce in the Church in Wales is being wasted on ventures such as this. If there has to be "team building" it could as you say have been accommodated closer to home at minimal cost. I was open-minded about the appointment of our current bishop, but events such as this are quickly undermining any confidence I might once have had. I can do no other than question her judgement - and I am not being misogynistic!
DeleteNemesis
With respect Nemesis, whilst I understand that most Bangor clerics prefer bed to work I cannot resist giving them a little wake up call from the Enforcer bunker .
DeleteFinance within the Church in Wales is not a problem, and never has been.It is what sustains the corruption and allows it to come up for air.Dating back to 1997, £250,000 in one week was spent annihilating the ministry of a whistle blower by sexually discriminating between him and fellow colleagues who were homosexual. In a blaze of Cathedral Road publicity he was depicted an adulterer - off with his head. Homosexuality,on the other hand, has never been a contributory factor towards adultery in UK law.
Insider sources reveal costs later reached £305,000, possibly +. To quote one legal Church in Wales source at the time, "How long is a piece of string"? (His Hon Michael Evans QC, Church Times 1998).
Prophetic, but on balance, highly improbable your Honour. Bad stewardship. Mission not accomplished.
If you look at the website for the place Adarynefoedd, it looks like a bunch of menopausal divorcees experimenting with their sexuality.
DeleteAnd it would have been cheaper to invite any "exceptional leader there" to come to stay at St. Michelle's "to facilitate the process"!
But maybe there wasn't "an exceptional leader there".
Perhaps it was just an excuse to get well away from to discuss the outcome of the 3 Stooges' Review out of earshot of any ears in the walls?
Are you sitting comfortably readers?
DeleteHere's the job description written for Jeffrey John.
But seemingly the Holy Ghost intervened and Caiaphas got there instead.
With an annual deficit of a trifling £75k obviously Rowena and June feel a jolly to Devon for a few days will fit well in the budget.
Happy reading.
http://cinw.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/6.-Diocesan-Profile-Person-Specification.docx
Is that sick bucket still doing the rounds?
Are they serving God, or themselves?
ReplyDeleteWhat this says about the new Bishop makes me quite worried.
Perhaps they could have sent what they spent on this awayday to the children dying in Syria.
Where is their sacrifice for God?
Troubled
PP. Most denominations have team building away time for its senior team. Perhaps this team will come from this retreat with a fresh perspective on the diocese. At least the Bishop is not another autocrat, who dictates rather than leads. Perhaps the benefit of the doubt should be given. Anyway, many forward thinking parishes, go on retreat away from the local scene. So why not this senior team.
ReplyDeleteIt will soon be the publication date for the Cathedral review, that is sure to raise a few eyebrows.
PP, your perspicacious comment about the Cathedral review publication date has piqued my curiosity.
DeleteIf it truly does contain some meaty recommendations then maybe these were better chewed over in Devon than (say) the Vale of Glamorgan.
We await the Cathedral review if not with bated breath, then at least with some interest. Let us hope it follows the recent English cathedral visitations that pulled no punches in their reports.
PP Totally agree
DeleteDo you really think the review will be published?
DeleteOnly if it is a Chakrabhati like whitewash methinks.
LetsBeReal
The review will be published as long as it's not too bad for the Capon and the Toad.
DeleteOne anticipates the usual copious volumes of shitewash splashed liberally over a lot of stonewalling.
Something along the usual lines of
"We have conducted a thorough and deep review of previous activities at Landaff Cahedral over the last decade or so. We invited comments and input from all the various stake-holders and interviewing X people and receiving Y written submissions. Whilst we accept some rather unsettling mistakes were made, we recommend the Dean & Chapter learn the lessons of the past, employ a consultant to update their procedures and practices. Rather than dwelling on the past we encourage the Dean & Chapter to move on and look forward to more Mission and Ministry of the jam tomorrow variety."
Hole in one Episkopos.
DeleteI fully expect the "review" to go the same way as the Eleri Jones report.
Recommendations will be watered down to mere "suggestions" by the Capon.
It is as likely to be as freely as the covered up Health & Safety and Quinquennial reports.
Apologies readers.l
DeleteFor "freely" above please read "freely available".
PP. Can it honestly be so negative. The group of people engaged in the review are for the most part outside Wales. I know, I know ... what has that got to do with it! But these are professionals who would not want there reputations down the sink. So,could they really succumb to a white wash? It maybe what the Cathedral needs a flushing out. Look at the recent GB acceptance of the St Woolos Newport changes, after years of troubled waters. Lets have a modicum of faith. Who knows, the deanery might be empty by the autumn and a vacancy of senior verger ensuing. Dont under estimate the power on the throne, softly softly catch yer monkey. You dont hold a post of Dean in one of England's finest cathedral for over a decade without some serious kudos.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThere will not have been much straight talking. Nobby Clarke
ReplyDeleteThere won't have been much of anything straight!
DeleteFirst a trip to Rome, and now a junket to the Devon countryside. What is the next charabanc the poor parishioners of the Church in Wales are expected to stump-up for? Another Sunday off for the Dean and his chums so they can visit the antiques market at the Porte de Clignancourt in Paris, perhaps? Or what about Archdeacon Smith and Canon Lowndes leading a fact-finding pilgrimage to some lesser known attractions in Berlin? Surely, Peggy the Pilate will be pushing for an in-service training day at the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovil (with strawberry cream tea thrown in for good measure). And June must be gagging to get back to Salisbury to show off what she easily gave up in her desperation to be clothed in purple and given the best seat.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the decline shows no sign of arrest...
By the way, talking of decline, I hear a whisper on the provincial grapevine that Bangor is about to loose yet another hard-working and Welsh-speaking cleric. Not many left by now. 'More fools than wise.'
Strange you should mention the best seat Alwyn.
DeleteWhatever "Down to work!" was supposed to mean during the "team-building" junket, it is safe to assume a dose of Humility was not included in the curriculum provided by Ruth's "menopausal" good time gals in Devon.
Whatever the real objective it was business as usual in Llandaff on Sunday.
As is the the glove puppet's habit and need for his regular ego massage, Her Majesty's chair was set out ready for the service at which he was scheduled to be the celebrant.
How amusing and absurd in equal measure therefore, to observe the frenzied efforts of the verging staff to replace it when they knew the queen would not be squatting upon it after all.
And still no sign of Cathedral accounts.
Does the remit of the 3 stooges include reviewing Capon's inability to adhere to and obey the constitution of the Church in Wales?
One assumes the oily amphibian Mr Toad is considerably less than happy not merely due to being overlooked for the invitations to partake in the jolly Devon caper (thus missing out on an ideal opportunity to tell Caiaphas how and why she was getting everything so badly wrong and how, in his most humble of opinions, it should be done properly) but -quelle horreur- Lowndes has literally taken his place at the Capon's shoulder whispering instructions into the ear of the poison letters scribbler.
Delete
DeleteSwimming in the smug swamp, they go to Devon to indulge in
“Afternoon tea on arrival, supper, breakfast, morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea” (a total of five meals per day)
Meanwhile hundreds of homeless people live in doorways in Queen Street in Cardiff, or under railway bridges within arms reach of the city’s most expensive offices in Callaghan Square, having to survive on handouts and charity. What would have been far more impressive would have been for Caiaphas and the “senior staff” to cook for the homeless and minister to the poor. Instead they were “enjoying the hospitality” at their exclusive smug junket. But they are so deep in the swamp they simply can’t see it.
Drain the swamp.
Well said Drain the swamp.
DeleteI can imagine it so easily.
Sat out on the lawn, Caiaphas holding Court, Bishop's Chaplain scribbling with a marker pen on a large flipchart, drawing Venn diagrams, pie charts, histograms and flowcharts, discussing the latest ideas for a new Diocesan strap-line, the Pilate wringing her hands over the finances, Rowena gently fanning them with large Ostrich feathers.
All whilst eating cake and biscuits and swilling it down with Rum Pansies or Pink Gin & Prosecco cocktails.
Meanwhile, back in the Diocese, the homeless are still homeless, the hungry are still hungry and the poor are still poor.
Yet still the cry goes out.
"Increase your giving - we need more money to continue God's Mission in Llandaff" .
Their greed and arrogance makes me think of the word septic tank, not swamp. "Religion which is pure and not defiled before God is this,.........." James 1:27. Until they choke on their mire Drain the 'swamp'.
DeleteThere are at least two reasons the poor are still poor, the hungry still hungry and the homeless are still homeless in Cardiff tonight.
Delete1. Caiaphas and her "senior staff" will have been discussing a draft version of the review by the 3 stooges and how they will spin it.
2. They will have laughing with each other about their success in covering over the cracks once more while giving "thanks" there hasn't been another leak.
Ah, well
YR EGLWYS THE CHURCH
YNG NGHYMRU IN WALES
ARCHESGOB CYMRU AC ESGOB LLANDAF, Y PARCHEDICAF DDR BARRY MORGAN
ARCHBISHOP OF WALES AND BISHOP OF LLANDAFF, THE MOST RVEREND DR BARRY MORGAN
21st August 2015
TO THE DEAN AND MEMBERS OF THE CHAPTER OF LLANDAFF CATHEDRAL
The Deputy Chapter Clerk has sent me a copy of the letter he has sent to you regarding my statement at the AGM of the Friends. Had he discussed the matter with me before writing to you, I could have discussed the issue with him. Since he did not, I now need to write to you to set the record straight.
Before I address the specific issue he raises of the Chapter Acts not supporting what I said, you need to know something of the context of my speech to the Friends.
The latter have investments of £900,000 which can only be used for Cathedral purposes. I was urging the Friends to encourage its Council to be generous to the Cathedral when it makes requests to support the music, the fabric and the general life of the Cathedral. I said the Friends were rich whilst the Cathedral was relatively poor, partly because the Cathedral had realised assets in selling No. 9 The Green (£635,000) and assets from trusts held by the representative Body for the Cathedral of around £100,000. The Cathedral asked for these assets to be sold specifically in order to finance the new organ.
Whatever is or is not supported by the Acts Book, I enclose a note from the November 2009 minutes of the Representative Body. This makes it very clear that in November 2008, the Representative Body was asked permission by the Dean and Chapter to sell a property on The Green to finance the new organ.
I was present as archbishop at that meeting and had not been given advance warning of the request. The Representative Body agreed to give the Cathedral an interest free loan of £400,000 for a year to give the Cathedral the opportunity of finding the money to avoid selling the property. In October 2009, the Dean again asked for permission to sell No. 9 The Green since the Cathedral had not been able to raise the money needed. I then persuaded the Representative Body to buy it in order that a property on The green would not be lost to the church. (Letter from the Dean dated 30th October 2009).
All this makes it very clear, whatever the Deputy Chapter Clerk says, that the request was made by the Dean to sell the property and it explicitly states that it was doing so in order to finance the new organ, seemingly with the consent of the Chapter, in September 2009.
What I did not know until March this year was that nine trusts worth
£100,000, held on behalf of the Dean and Chapter by the Representative Body, were also liquidated in 2008 again at the request of the Dean and Chapter and again the reason given was that it needed the money to pay for the organ.
If therefore the appeal was as successful as we are now told it was, why was £735,000 of assets liquidated (as the records show) to finance the new organ?
The minutes of the Representative Body and the letter from the then Dean substantiate the statement I made to the Friends. It is not for me to comment as to why all this was not recorded in the Acts Book.
+Barry Cambrensis
Rattled and defensive, as usual. Yet again, the golfer is shifting responsibility on to others. As the saying goes, if you are covered in smear, make sure you smear others as well.
DeleteWhat a grubby little outfit. It makes you wonder whether Richard Desmond has an interest in it.
Looks like bully boy --Bazza was settling up his glove puppet to sack David Lambert at the next Chapter meeting while simultaneously throwing his old chum former Dean John "Bonaparte" Lewis under the bus.
DeleteHow was it possible for the Charity Commission to give this shower the all clear?
Is it any wonder Janet Henderson refused to sign the accounts for the Easter Vestry Meeting in 2013?
DeleteYou will recall readers that Darth --Insidious had to get that dolt Peggy "the taxman will never know" Pilate into signing the accounts that year to cover about Janet Henderson's premature departure and then the bully boy shows up on the might claiming Janet Henderson has asked him to Chair the EVM in her absence when in reality she had already "resigned" on the 25th April!
And, lest we forget, here's what the Arch deceiver had to say about it in the June 2013 edition of The Bell
(previkously available at http://www.llandaffcathedral.org.uk/documents/BELLJun2013Final.pdf
but guess what readers? That link no longer works)
The Most Reverend Dr Barry Morgan
Archbishop of Wales
My Dear Friends
I did not expect to be writing this letter in The Bell but I know that many of you were shocked and saddened at Dean Janet’s resignation and I share in that sadness. In the few weeks she had been in our midst, she had, I know, endeared herself to many people. I also know that many of you had made her feel very welcome. Nevertheless, at a time such as this, one of the questions we, as a cathedral community as a whole, need to ask of ourselves is, what is it about our corporate life that can lead to a situation such as this? There are no easy or facile answers to that question but it is a question that we need to address.
In the meantime, I ask you to remember Janet and Dave in your prayers. I also ask for your prayers for me as the Bishop and Archbishop as I ponder about what to do next. In the meantime, I have asked Archdeacon Peggy, the Archdeacon of Llandaff, as the senior member of the Chapter, to have oversight of the Cathedral on my behalf.
Unsettling as all of this has been, and it is deeply unsettling, we need to bear in mind, as I said at the installation service, and as one of you reminded me this week, that the church of God and this Cathedral has faced all kinds of difficulties and crises in the past but God has been steadfast in His care for us and assures us that whatever we face, He faces it with us and alongside us. In the end, it is His church and not ours.
Yours in God’s love
+Barry
So riddle me this --Bazza.
"WHAT IS IT ABOUT OUR CORPORATE LIFE THAT CAN LEAD TO A SITUATION SUCH AS THIS?"
How about a missing £3/4 million and the several cover-ups that have since followed and perpetuated by Peggy the Pilate, Barry himself, his stooges Capon & Toad, and Caiaphas since she took over?
Might have something to do with the delay publishing this year's Cathedral accounts which have only just been made available.
DeleteDoes anyone seriously believe, given her propensity for phoning people at all hours of the day and night, that June has not actually spoken with Janet about the reasons for her departure from Llandaff? As in all of Byzantine Barry's dodgy dealings, her departure will have been subject to a gagging clause; but that doesn't mean the reasons cannot be freely disclosed in a private conversation.
DeleteAs for THAT letter in The Bell, we can now see what an odious pile of dissembling waste material it is!
FRCO, it was an 'odious pile of dissembling waste material' that penned the letter!
DeleteThe Llandaff begging bowl is doing the rounds once more.
Deletehttps://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/llandaffcathedralchoir
"In 2013, to address a budget deficit at the cathedral, a decision was taken to make the Lay Clerks and Assistant Organist redundant. The Cathedral received negative publicity as a result. Since that time a programme of rebuilding an consolidation has taken place to re-establish the choir's reputation for excellence. It is hoped that, through this recording, we might be able to share that success more widely."
So there's money aplenty to pay for Caiaphas and "friends" to stuff themselves with food 5 times a day in Devon but her faux Cathedral choir have to go begging?
Shameless!
Music was never a priority in Llandaff and obviously nothing has changed.
What is "an consolidation" Harold?
DeleteIs it musical terminology or something from the Llandaff septic tank?
Poor old Stephen Moore, it's not his week.
DeleteFirst he doesn't get get the Llandaff Choral Society job and then he's humiliated by the failure of the Dean and Chapter to support his singers to the tune of a trifling £3k.
Caiaphas ought to be blushing in shame but she's probably busy burying her face buried in another large Clark's pie!
Keep your eyes open viewers.
DeleteLet's see how much Caiaphas, the Capon, Peggy "the taxman will never know" Pilate, Smith, Komor, Kirk, Masson et al will donate from their own pockets.
It will be very interesting to see how much the scab singers will contribute towards their own project too.
@Laughing Gas
Delete"An consolidation" is indeed something from the Llandaff septic tank that --Bazza's glove puppet drops into the Cathedral accounts every year.
How humiliating for Llandaff.
DeleteThe Parishioners must be squirming with embarrassment and the PCC certainly should be.
I hear the Capon is crowing about a small operating surplus that has appeared in this year's accounts, conveniently just in time for his annual Easter vestry meeting.
But he refuses to invest a paltry £3k in recording his "new" choir.
What about the wealthy parents of the Choristers driving around their privileged little daaahlings in their Chelsea tractors? If there's 20 boys in the choir that would be £150 per chorister, all of whom attend a £10k per annum private day school.
Then there's the money printing machine known as the Cathedral school, where's the Headmistress and Bursar in all of this? This begging exercise doesn't reflect well on the Cathedral school.
At what other Cathedral would this very public omni-shambles occur?
One wonders whether Mr Moore obtained permission from the glove puppet for his crowdfunding PR disaster?
Delete@Teilo, what of the Bursar indeed? I should add that I also answer to that title but am not associated with the Cathedral School.
DeleteI received the Llandaff Cathedral accounts very late this year and it took me some time to peruse them before making my observations.
It is useful to bear in mind the past 3 years’ accounts (i.e. 2014-2016). The years 2015 and 2016 can be found on the Charity Commission website, and 2015 also contains figures from 2014.
See: http://beta.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regid=1159090&subid=0
When the figures for giving (Gift Direct, Envelopes, Plate and Gift Aid) from 2014 to 2017 are lined up, it is remarkable how static they are. In 2014 the Gift Direct was £127,892, in 2017 in was £125,633 and varied little in between.
The total Envelope donations was highest in 2015 at £53,999 but has declined to £40,784 in 2017. Meanwhile the Plate donations in 2017 were actually the greatest at £47,570. The total Unrestricted Funds amount for 2017 (£330,503) is slightly up on last year (£323,053) due to more income from Special Services and weddings & funerals.
I read this as a slight decline in the giving via Direct Debit (down just over £2200 since 2014) and a significant downturn in the Envelopes (down nearly £7000 since 2014). By contrast, £16,000 more is going into the Plate, but the result of that is that fewer people are signing up to Gift Aid. This is down £5000 since 2014.
Donations are also down nearly £9000 on 2016 and the income from properties has also dropped by about £9000. Facility fees are bringing in more than they did in 2014 (£30,592 vs £16,759) but the income from the Parish Hall has dropped by £3000.
Overall Cathedral income is down from £551,014 in 2016 to £534,032 in 2017. Meanwhile expenditure rose from £508,464 to £524,209. Even so there is a surplus of £9823.
Much is made of this surplus but it is really an accounting trick. In 2014 when there was a deficit of £29,271, the Cathedral was paying the Diocese a Parish Share of £168,049. In 2017 the Share is now £148,512 and suddenly there is a surplus.
It should also be noted that the amount the Diocese contributes to the Cathedral has risen from £49,402 in 2014 to £67,426 in 2017.
In real terms, the Diocese pays £18,024 more to Llandaff than it did 4 years ago, and receives back £19,537 less. That means overall the Cathedral should be £37,561 better off than in 2014.
When the deficit of £29,271 is subtracted from £37,561, the result is £8290. Very close to the claimed “surplus”.
Dean Capon, in the minutes from the 2016 Vestry Meeting, claims to be cutting back on expenses and running a tight ship. In fact the salary costs for 10 employees have risen by nearly £20,000 since 2014, not counting pensions nor the amount contributed by the Friends to the Music.
If I were to give a professional opinion, I would say that Llandaff Cathedral is no better off than it was in 2014, and the decline in Parish Share suggests a measurable drop in the number of people going to services. Perhaps the much-vaunted Stewardship Campaign is having little impact.
Thank you once more Bursar, your insightful analysis helps lift the cloud of fog once more.
DeleteBut can anyone please explain what is going on with property prices in Llandaff?
Parish Hall
2012 - £80,000
2013 - £80,000
2014 - £80,000
2015 - £35,000
2016 - £45,000
2017 - £60,000
Cathedral School
2012 - £725,000
2013 - £725,000
2014 - £725,000
2015 - £810,000
2016 - £825,000
2017 - £875,000
11 The Green, White House Cottage, 1 The White House & 2 The White House
2012 - £680,000, £785,000, £660,000 & £630,000 respectively total £2,755,000
2013 - £680,000, £785,000, £660,000 & £630,000 respectively total £2,755,000
2014 - £680,000, £785,000, £660,000 & £630,000 respectively total £2,755,000
Lumped together and described as "Residential Properties"
2015 - £2,500,000
2016 - £2,525,000
2017 - £2,585,000
Was the arrival of Capon on The Green the cause of significant drops in property values?
From the minutes of the Annual Easter Vestry Meeting held on 21st April 2015.
Delete"The Dean reported back that after investigation into whether the proceeds of the sale of the Memorial Hall should be paid into a trust, the Charity Commission had confirmed that the proceeds could be paid directly into the Cathedral accounts. This money will be ring-fenced for maintenance of the fabric of the Cathedral. Rob Render requested a copy of the Charity Commission letter, the Dean said he would take legal advice as to whether the contents of the letter could be disclosed."
This raises several questions in one's mind.
If, as is recorded, the proceeds of the Memorial Hall sale have been ring-fenced for maintenance of the fabric of the Cathedral, why has the sum of £199,127 (the proceeds) been sitting in the accounts for 3 years doing nothing?
Why hasn't the Cathedral spent a £1 of it on fabric maintenance?
And why is the Cathedral using to the Friend's money (£205,026) for fabric repairs without using any of it's own funds specifically reserved for that purpose?
Was the letter from the Charity Commission ever released to Rob Render?
If not, is this another Capon cover-up?
One also notes from the 2015 accounts that Capon "thanked David Lambert for continuing as Chapter Clerk and for all his support and legal advice".
Subsequent strange behaviour from the Capon for David Lambert's advice to be ignored thereafter resulting in his dismissal 5 months later.
One suspects Capon wasn't getting the answers he wanted to hear and the value he truly places on good legal advice is perhaps best demonstrated by the fact the Chapter has not had the benefit of a legally qualified Chapter Clerk since.
That's correct Episkopos, Capon has effectively done away with the post of Chapter Clerk and at meetings he gets one his ar*e kissers to take the minutes for him. The Acts Sped are no more.
Delete@The Bursar
DeleteThank you again Sir.
Since bully boy --Bazza imposed his inexperienced and under-qualified boy-wonder golf caddie on us, like so much else in the rotten Borough, the finances have been stagnant.
The Parish share has dropped by £20k which can only mean a marked drop in attendance but of course the Communicant numbers remain unpublished in The Bell since December 2015 to cover up this inconvenient truth.
The only repairs being carried out to the fabric have been financed by the Friends of Llandaff Cathedral, no Cathedral fund raising has taken place to address the need for the other £1.5 million rumoured to be needed for remedial work on the Lady Chapel, Processional Way and Prebendal House.
The Quinquennial report remains concealed from the public.
There's no sign of any improvements to the shop.
The pop-up Cafe experiment was a disastrous flop closing early
There's still no sign of a professional Development Manager/Fund raiser as per Eleri Jones' £5,000 RECOMMENDATIONS (my emphasis for the benefit of the antiques dealing dud squatting in the Deanery).
The Director of Music has had to mount a humiliating crowd-funding begging campaign to pay for a proposed recording later this year.
The Organ Appeal scandal and cover-ups continue simmering nicely.
To top it all, he can't even find enough people this year to fill the seats on his PCC.
Does Caiaphas really need to wait for the review to be published by her 3 stooges before taking the remedial action that is so obviously urgently required?
I hope someone has had the foresight to take a Dictaphone with them to record tonight's Easter Vestry Meeting in Llandaff.
DeleteRecordings and transcripts are very powerful tools in the right hands!
There's every chance there will be so little interest in the Llandaff cesspit they won't even be quorate!
Delete