The prospect that the Quantock Centre could shut down at the end of 2008 in the absence of members to fill key posts in the organisation is causing serious concern at the National Trust. The Centre has consistently been among the most successful of the Trust's supporter groups, but is now joining a list of centres and associations struggling to survive through lack of volunteers for top jobs — the Chairman and Hon. Treasurer in the case of the Quantock Centre.
The Trust's Supporter Group Adviser, Earle Kessler, has been to Taunton twice in the past three months to meet the Executive of the Centre to explore how it can avert closure. The plain fact that no-one has come forward for constitutionally essential jobs means that the Centre has to start the process of winding-up.
However, Mr Kessler and the Executive have provisionally agreed to initiate an in-depth study of the problems confronting the Centre and to seek solutions with a view to making the Centre “manageable and viable”. It is hoped the project will yield important messages and lessons not only for the Quantock Centre but for other Trust supporter groups.
Members of the Centre will be invited to participate in the project, which is expected to start in the Spring and be concluded in the Autumn. Full details will be given in the Centre's next Newsletter, to be published in April. Information will also be available on this website.
A cheque for £100 has been given to Lacock Abbey by the Quantock Centre following a visit there in October. The money is being used to help restore the botanic garden greenhouses.
The death has occurred of a former Chairman of the Quantock Centre, Harold Packington. He and his wife, Elizabeth, to whom Centre members extend their condolences in her loss, were stalwarts of the Centre in the 1980s and '90s.
They were members of the Centre Committee from 1985 and served jointly as Membership Secretaries from 1988 until 1994. Mr Packington was Chairman for two years until the election of David Bastable in 1991.
Marjorie Jensen, President of the Quantock Centre, said Mr and Mrs Packington were very active and enthusiastic supporters of the Centre and the National Trust. She added: “Harold was a highly popular figure. He always had a joke on his lips and, at Centre get-togethers and other events, he used to give marvellous readings from great writers such as Charles Dickens.”