Article on pages 19 - 20 of Dickon Independent issue 80

AGM And Visit To St Leonard's Church Newland - April 9

A big change to the committee as Judith Sealey retired from being a wonderful chairman for the past five years. Pat Parminter was enthusiastically elected as the new chairman.

Judith will continue as branch librarian. Everyone else stayed the same. Now that Pat is our chairman, her secretary’s post is vacant, and Kate Hunt joined the committee with a view to possibly taking over this important job. But at the next committee meeting Carol Southworth took over as secretary until Kate decides. Pat will do the reports for the Bulletin.

It was a lovely place to hold our AGM and the weather was superb. June is lucky enough to have one of the flats overlooking the courtyard with its green grass, flower beds and seats - all looking perfect in the sunshine. She had made delicious scones to accompany our much needed cups of tea.

Val recommended that the subscription and entrance charges stay the same at £7, £2 and £3 if we have a speaker. The surplus in branch funds is helping to make our 25th anniversary banquet a very special occasion.

We had our tour of St Leonard’s Church first, then walked along the covered cloister to the room where we held the AGM.

The church is the Chapel of the Beauchamp Community and was completed in 1864. It replaced a timber-framed chapel which stood a few hundred yards away. The eastern part of it was re-erected adjoining the cloister.

Originally the chapel was a dependency of Great Malvern Priory and served by monks from there. Following the dissolution it became a chapelry of Great Malvern Parish.

In the 1840's Charlotte, wife of the third Earl Beauchamp of Madresfield, wanted to build almshouses for retired workers from their estate who had lost their tied cottages. She died before the scheme could be implemented, but her husband pursued the idea and eventually the Beauchamp Community was built with its own church as Newland had been separated from the parish of Great Malvern.

Inside the church is beautifully decorated. The walls are covered in paintings showing scenes from the Bible and the stained glass windows show prophets and apostles.

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