david bangs
2013-10-03 10:52:40 UTC
The following has more information and may provide part of a model for folk's responses,
Dave Bangs
----- Original Message -----
From: david bangs
To: Bishop at Chichester.Anglican.Org ; admin at familysupportwork.org.uk
Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2013 11:48 AM
Subject: The closure of Knowles Tooth
To the Right Reverend the Bishop of Chichester and to Ms Maggie Simmons
October 3rd 2013
Dear Jason and Maggie,
I write both as someone who has attended Knowles Tooth with refugee families in the past and as a local naturalist and defender of the countryside.
Knowles Tooth is a truly wonderful place for the children and families who attend it, many of whom have suffered - and continue to suffer - severe traumas as refugees and as victims of poverty and deprivation.
For these children, the possibility of free play in nature is part of what real freedom means. It is a complete delight.
I can think of no higher objective in the church than that of ministering to the weak, the poor and the homeless. This facility does that to the highest degree.
It is imperative that this resource be kept.
I wish to point out, too, the extra-special character of Knowles Tooth's play meadow - its central outdoor play facility.
This meadow has an intact archaic vegetation community, which may have a long ecological continuity. It has frequent Pepper Saxifrage, as well as Oval Sedge (both old meadow 'indicator species') and a wide range of old meadow herbs, such as Eggs and Bacon, Knapweed, and Meadow Vetchling, in a matrix with Yorkshire Fog, Bent Grass, Timothy, et al. In summer it is alive with meadow butterflies - browns and skippers - and bush crickets and grasshoppers.
At the centre of the play meadow is a huge veteran English Oak pollard, perhaps 300 to 400 years old, with an elaborate tree house nestling in its poll.
The surrounding countryside is badly stripped of such features, with a heavy loss of hedgerows and a near absence of archaic grasslands.
It is rare for any children, leave alone those children who attend this centre, to experience such special places.
This play meadow is of equal value to the Church's heritage of ancient places of worship,
Dave Bangs
----- Original Message -----
From: Brighton Unemployed Workers Ct
To: cvs_forum
Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2013 12:40 AM
Subject: The closure of Knowles Tooth
People may have seen the article in today?s Argus about the decision of the Church of England?s Chichester Diocese to close the Knowles Tooth children?s centre. http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10709729.Church_closes_popular_Sussex_children_s_centre/
The Unemployed Centre, like many other children's charities in Brighton & Hove and Sussex has been taking children to the Knowles Tooth children's centre for more years than I can remember. Every year we organise a refugee children's outing.
It has suddenly been announced, courtesy of its Director Maggie Simmons (01273 425699)admin at familysupportwork.org.uk its closure, which we had an inkling of when we arrived 2 weeks ago and found the warden had been made redundant.
Ms Simmons responded to Argus inquiries by saying that it was a charity and nothing to do with the church! A cursory examination of the 2013 accounts below of this 'independent' charity http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends37/0000285337_AC_20130331_E_C.pdf
tell us that not only does the Bishop of Chichester appoint the Chair of the Trustees but that 21 of the 27 trustees are elected by the Deaneries of the diocese!
What you can do is write to the Bishop at the address below
Bishop at Chichester.Anglican.Org and also Maggie Simmons at admin at familysupportwork.org.uk and also bombard the Argus, who are asking for responses, by letter and comment.
Perhaps we should also hold a demonstration outside since it's likely to be sold off to one of the 'wealth creators' of Britain for whom a country home plus 3 acres will make a nice county house.
Tony Greenstein
To: Bishop of Chichester <Bishop at Chichester.Anglican.Org>
Sent: Wednesday, 2 October 2013, 20:12
Bishop at Chichester.Anglican.Org
Dear Bishop Warner,
I find it truly depressing to find someone so senior in the church hierarchy as yourself speaking as an accountant: 'in these stringent times' ......
It is precisely in these times that you should be increasing your support for the poor, not reducing it.
It would appear that underneath, the Church of the 1833 Poor Law has not changed.
The FSW may be legally separate. No one has doubted it but according to its constitution and annual report you as Bishop nominate its Chairperson and no less than 21 of its trustees, according to the 2012 annual report, are nominated by the local deaneries. To say it is nothing to do with the Church is to play with words. You clearly have a lot of influence. I hope you will use it to the good and cut other aspects of the church which are less necessary.
Regards
Tony Greenstein
From: Bishop of Chichester <Bishop at Chichester.Anglican.Org>
To: tony greenstein <tonygreenstein at yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, 1 October 2013, 11:24
Subject: RE: The Closure of Knowles Tooth
Mr Greenstein ? thank you for your email.
The Bishop has issued this statement and I thought you would be interested in seeing it:
The decision to close Knowles Tooth is a very sad consequence of financial necessity for FSW (Family Support Work). It does, however, indicate that as a matter of urgency this charity must now review its structures and its work in order to meet an aspect of social need that becomes ever more acute.
FSW depends on widespread commitment from across the diocese of Chichester , but is legally and financially a separate charity. My hope is that the trustees will be rigorous, realistic and imaginative in assessing how to use limited resources to deliver the best and most professional service possible to families in desperate need.
In stringent times the model of partnership, especially with colleagues in statutory and other voluntary agencies, must play a vital part in the future work of FSW.
+Martin Cicestr:
Sincerely
Jason
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Reverend Jason Rendell
Chaplain to the Bishop of Chichester
The Palace | Chichester | PO19 1PY
01243 782161
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Dave Bangs
----- Original Message -----
From: david bangs
To: Bishop at Chichester.Anglican.Org ; admin at familysupportwork.org.uk
Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2013 11:48 AM
Subject: The closure of Knowles Tooth
To the Right Reverend the Bishop of Chichester and to Ms Maggie Simmons
October 3rd 2013
Dear Jason and Maggie,
I write both as someone who has attended Knowles Tooth with refugee families in the past and as a local naturalist and defender of the countryside.
Knowles Tooth is a truly wonderful place for the children and families who attend it, many of whom have suffered - and continue to suffer - severe traumas as refugees and as victims of poverty and deprivation.
For these children, the possibility of free play in nature is part of what real freedom means. It is a complete delight.
I can think of no higher objective in the church than that of ministering to the weak, the poor and the homeless. This facility does that to the highest degree.
It is imperative that this resource be kept.
I wish to point out, too, the extra-special character of Knowles Tooth's play meadow - its central outdoor play facility.
This meadow has an intact archaic vegetation community, which may have a long ecological continuity. It has frequent Pepper Saxifrage, as well as Oval Sedge (both old meadow 'indicator species') and a wide range of old meadow herbs, such as Eggs and Bacon, Knapweed, and Meadow Vetchling, in a matrix with Yorkshire Fog, Bent Grass, Timothy, et al. In summer it is alive with meadow butterflies - browns and skippers - and bush crickets and grasshoppers.
At the centre of the play meadow is a huge veteran English Oak pollard, perhaps 300 to 400 years old, with an elaborate tree house nestling in its poll.
The surrounding countryside is badly stripped of such features, with a heavy loss of hedgerows and a near absence of archaic grasslands.
It is rare for any children, leave alone those children who attend this centre, to experience such special places.
This play meadow is of equal value to the Church's heritage of ancient places of worship,
Dave Bangs
----- Original Message -----
From: Brighton Unemployed Workers Ct
To: cvs_forum
Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2013 12:40 AM
Subject: The closure of Knowles Tooth
People may have seen the article in today?s Argus about the decision of the Church of England?s Chichester Diocese to close the Knowles Tooth children?s centre. http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/10709729.Church_closes_popular_Sussex_children_s_centre/
The Unemployed Centre, like many other children's charities in Brighton & Hove and Sussex has been taking children to the Knowles Tooth children's centre for more years than I can remember. Every year we organise a refugee children's outing.
It has suddenly been announced, courtesy of its Director Maggie Simmons (01273 425699)admin at familysupportwork.org.uk its closure, which we had an inkling of when we arrived 2 weeks ago and found the warden had been made redundant.
Ms Simmons responded to Argus inquiries by saying that it was a charity and nothing to do with the church! A cursory examination of the 2013 accounts below of this 'independent' charity http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Accounts/Ends37/0000285337_AC_20130331_E_C.pdf
tell us that not only does the Bishop of Chichester appoint the Chair of the Trustees but that 21 of the 27 trustees are elected by the Deaneries of the diocese!
What you can do is write to the Bishop at the address below
Bishop at Chichester.Anglican.Org and also Maggie Simmons at admin at familysupportwork.org.uk and also bombard the Argus, who are asking for responses, by letter and comment.
Perhaps we should also hold a demonstration outside since it's likely to be sold off to one of the 'wealth creators' of Britain for whom a country home plus 3 acres will make a nice county house.
Tony Greenstein
To: Bishop of Chichester <Bishop at Chichester.Anglican.Org>
Sent: Wednesday, 2 October 2013, 20:12
Bishop at Chichester.Anglican.Org
Dear Bishop Warner,
I find it truly depressing to find someone so senior in the church hierarchy as yourself speaking as an accountant: 'in these stringent times' ......
It is precisely in these times that you should be increasing your support for the poor, not reducing it.
It would appear that underneath, the Church of the 1833 Poor Law has not changed.
The FSW may be legally separate. No one has doubted it but according to its constitution and annual report you as Bishop nominate its Chairperson and no less than 21 of its trustees, according to the 2012 annual report, are nominated by the local deaneries. To say it is nothing to do with the Church is to play with words. You clearly have a lot of influence. I hope you will use it to the good and cut other aspects of the church which are less necessary.
Regards
Tony Greenstein
From: Bishop of Chichester <Bishop at Chichester.Anglican.Org>
To: tony greenstein <tonygreenstein at yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, 1 October 2013, 11:24
Subject: RE: The Closure of Knowles Tooth
Mr Greenstein ? thank you for your email.
The Bishop has issued this statement and I thought you would be interested in seeing it:
The decision to close Knowles Tooth is a very sad consequence of financial necessity for FSW (Family Support Work). It does, however, indicate that as a matter of urgency this charity must now review its structures and its work in order to meet an aspect of social need that becomes ever more acute.
FSW depends on widespread commitment from across the diocese of Chichester , but is legally and financially a separate charity. My hope is that the trustees will be rigorous, realistic and imaginative in assessing how to use limited resources to deliver the best and most professional service possible to families in desperate need.
In stringent times the model of partnership, especially with colleagues in statutory and other voluntary agencies, must play a vital part in the future work of FSW.
+Martin Cicestr:
Sincerely
Jason
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Reverend Jason Rendell
Chaplain to the Bishop of Chichester
The Palace | Chichester | PO19 1PY
01243 782161
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