At the SWAPT Funding Fair in Exeter

I left Patrick's cottage in Dorset at 8-30am to drive to Exeter along beautiful winding roads crossing the rolling hills of southern England and drove with music to sing along to. I even arrived on time. I was attending a special Funding Fair which has been organised by our Stroud Preservation Trust on behalf of the South West Association of Preservation Trusts. Our trust is quite well known for its successful history of raising funds to preserve our local buildings and the National Association thought it would be a good idea if we could try to arrange a convention to share that knowledge. Camilla and Ruth have done all the work in bringing together representatives from the key grant providing bodies and arranging for them to hold workshops to provide guidance and expertise.

I was there with both my SPT hat and my Stroud Town Council hat as I chair the committee that has been fund raising for, and delivering the upgrade of Lansdown Hall and Gallery in Stroud for the last three years. We are about to spend nearly £200,000 pounds on the next stage of works. Camilla has acted as the fund raiser for this project for the last year and done wonderfully well. She is also the chair of SPT, so I know her well and work with her often.

The event was held in Exeter Community Centre which itself was a renovated historic building and it provided an excellent venue. There were lectures, discussions and one to one meetings available for the attendees. I had promised to take pictures for both SPT's publicity purposes but also for the main association to use if they so wish. I like this picture of Josephine best because of the light which was a bit tricky being in a well of the building. Josephine came to Stroud last year and I met her when she gave us guidance about future fund-raising possibilities for Lansdown Hall.

I was quite tired by the end of the day and had to drive back to Stroud. I stopped off at a Somerset farm which is owned by Leary, a very old friend whom I had lost contact with for about thirty years. I popped in for tea unannounced and was delighted to find that the kettle was boiling just as I arrived and we were able to have an hour long chat before I had to leave again to finish my journey.