Committee Meeting - 26th July 2024
A lot’s happened since the Committee last met in May! At the start of June, the banners went up – very smoothly thanks to some fine weather and a well-organized team of banner hangers who were able to divide up the various streets amongst us and get the bulk of the work done before the town got busy on a sunny Sunday morning. We’ll most likely be taking them down on 29 September so, if you have a spare morning in your diary, we’re hoping to get as good a turnout and get them down in good order ready for the winter maintenance period.
Our other major project has been steering through planning permission for the Queen Margaret of Anjou statue we aim to erect in the Abbey grounds. Thanks to some good advice from both the sculptors and Society members, we were able to propose a commonsense approach to the archaeological survey necessary for any installation on a listed site. Next step is to work out the timescale for manufacture and do some additional fundraising to defray the costs to our reserves.
And then there was the Medieval Festival, where we played our usual role in sponsoring the exhibition tent to provide a space for fellow battlefield charities and other non-profit-making heritage organisation, along with Graham Turner’s extensive and popular display of his artwork. The atmosphere in the tent was buzzing, with all the exhibitors appreciating the revised layout and some lively trade in merchandize. As usual, we also ran regular short tours of the battlefield to allow visitors to relate what they see at the re-enactment to the ground on which the Battle itself was fought. These always go down well, attracting everything from local residents wanting to know more about the ground, to a group on an organized battlefield tour experience, taking in the Festival as part of their programme.
We also took the opportunity to set a provisional date for our AGM, which we hope to hold in the Tudor House Hotel at 7.30 on Friday 18 October. All Society members are welcome – the formal business is usually quite swift (though important to be transparent in how we run the Society as a charity), allowing us time for a bit of social interaction. Hope to see you there…