CANOLFAN CAERNARFON CYF.
INDEX OF IMPORTANT LETTERS
This page lists the more important letters, communications and events that have taken place in our work to buy Christ Church. The index is in simple datal order, and each year is separated. Some of the more important letters are linked, and can be viewed by clicking the index entry.
To go to a specific year, use the following links:-
1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999.
1862-4 Christ Church was built, originally without the tower and spire, which was added in 1886-8. Designed by Anthony Salvin (of London) with drawings by R Norman Shaw in 1856.
date? Christ church was closed, and the lot passed to the Representative Body of the Church-in-Wales for disposal.
1989
Ron Kirk, as mayor of the Royal Town of Caernarfon, visits Royal Town of Tunbridge Wells, and is shown the emerging Trinity Arts Centre, in which a redundant church is to be converted for use as a public culture centre.
Public meeting called to propose that Caernarfon should seek to buy and convert Christ Church to provide a much needed community and arts facility. Great support was expressed and a committee formed to prepare a feasibility report.
November A structural survey carried out by John Barnard of MRM Partnership, confirms that the building is structurally safe and secure and could be converted for public use.
The owners the Church-in-Wales, indicate through their agents that they expect at least £180,000 for the freehold, and require us to seek planning approval, even though the class of use we intend is the same as the present use as a place of worship.
January. Change of use applied for and granted, for period of 5 years.
April. In the absence of any particulars of sale, we offer £30,000 for freehold.
March. Our first Feasibility Report prepared, and published, showing how Christ Church could be restored and converted to provide a theatre, a large hall, a seminar room, cafe, workshops, and meeting rooms, and full supporting facilities. Copies sent to Cadw, Gwynedd Council, WDA and other interested bodies.
Cadw confirm that the scheme is eligible for their support of up to 40% of conservation costs, and agree that the insertion of structural ties between both nave walls would be considered necessary for the future conservation of the building, and therefore eligible for their support.
The Architectural Heritage Trust accept our report, and offer their support towards the purchase of the site (based upon a current valuation) without requiring any further report.
Our negotiations to purchase through Church-in-Wales local agents are frustrated through lack of communication.
At a second public meeting it was resolved to form a charitable company.
Over £5,000 is raised from public donations to pay for administrative costs.
Canolfan Caernarfon Cyf. incorporated December 1991, and registered as a charity February 1992, with aim to further culture, primarily (but not exclusively) through the medium of Welsh, by the provision of proper public facilities for the arts.
We offer £80,000, Not enough. RB says they have now accepted a better offer, but no sale results.
May 24. We again offer £80,000 for freehold subject to contract and reports on structure. Agents demand £100,000 in cash.
June. We offer £90,000, but again RB rejects. As prudent trustee, the Church-in-Wales must be able to select the best of two or more offers.
June 30 We send copies of our new report to Mr D L Jones, Chief Executive Arfon Council, The Chief Planning Officeer, Arfon Council and the Chief Executive Gwynedd Council and the County Planning Department.
July. We consider offering £100,000, but RB say they have at least four other strong bids already. In November we re-affirm our offer of £90,000 for the freehold, but are told the site has been sold to Watkin-Jones, but again no sale results.
July. We meet Mr Gwyn Hughes, Chief Planning officer for Arfon District Council to discuss the planning aspects of our proposal in the context of the town development He fully supports our proposal, and indicates that he is very concerned about the continued dilapidation of the site. He states that the Council do not consider this site to be at all suitable for housing or accommodation, but should retain its existing public access. He described his ideas for a tourism heritage theme feature using animated puppets like the Robin Hood Centre in Nottingham. (We feel very sick at the thought of it).
August We discuss our proposals with Mr Peter Marsden of Gwynedd Council. The project is received with considerable enthusiasm. Questions asked about the revenue implications. We explain that most of the costs can be covered through conservation funding, providing a new facility on a plate. The revenue creasted by letting the facilities would more than cover the administrative costs.
September 2. We send a further copy of the report to Mr Marsden, and request another meeting.
November 25. Solicitors for the Church-in-Wales send us copy of lease intended for Watkin-Jones.
December 9. We are told that RB will after all accept our offer of £90,000.
January 12 and 26 We reply pointing out that our offer was for the freehold, but the RB are now selling a lease with restrictive covenants. We confirm our interest but request details of terms of lease offered.
February 2. We are asked to confirm our interest, and we move to finalise terms of lease.
March We agree price of £90,000 subject to contract, and agreement on conditions.
May 12. We write to RB complaining that we are unable to communicate through agents, and the key provided to our surveyor did not work.
June We meet Huw Vaughan Thomas and Jeff St Paul. They fully support our proposals but indicate that there is no immediate funding available to provide support, but they do offer to support any bids we may make for outside funding. It is suggested that there could be funding from slippage. Jeff St Paul suggests the Architectural Heritage Fund might be helpful.
June We attend the Caernarfon Town Regeneration Conference and speak about our proposals to HRH The Prince of Wales.
June 13. Jeff St Pauls provides address for AHF, and looks forward to hearing from us as soon as the question of ownership is resolved.
June. We gain access to the interior of the building after many years to discover the pews have been carefully removed, the bells destroyed, the J W Walker organ taken apart and choice pipe work removed, and other valuable artefacts removed or damaged. The Church-in-Wales are not able to account for the removal or loss of these items.
Simon Simcox values the unrestricted leasehold of the property at £60,000 and the leasehold with all the covenants at £40,000.
July 7. We write to RB complaining about lack of access, no reply to letters, inaccurate terms of lease etc. We state that the lease has so many restrictions that it has no value to us, but confirm our interest in the freehold.
July 14. RB explain that lease supplied by their agents was not prepared for our use, and promises a new one.
July 22. Gwynedd Council officer, Clive James informs us that the Council are unable to process our SDS application because the Culture & Leisure committee failed to give its support, and also because other chief officers have already drawn up their own recommendations of projects eligible for grant aid.
August 5. We visit Mr Samuel of the RB in Cardiff, and discuss all outstanding technicalities, in the preparation of an acceptable lease.
September 9 We visit the Ucheldre Centre in Holyhead.
September. Gwynedd Council say they have no powers to enforce the Listed Building requirements of the Town & Country Planning Act 1990. Arfon Council confirm that they have no intention to remove or require the owners to remove the ivy from this listed building. The building continues to decay.
September 15. RB indicate interest from another party.
September 23. We offer £75,000 subject to contract, and the provision of a new lease as promised. The agents demand sight of a new planning application.
October 3. RB agents acknowledge our offer, and demand planning consent notice, and copy of our plans.
October 19. We send plans and planning forms to RB agents. They reply confirming that the only obstacle is now the drafting of the lease with covenants.
November 4. We press RB to provide contact as we need to submit details in time for a grant application.
November 29. We meet with Church-in-Wales local agents and agree terms of a deal.
December 1. A ‘white form’ is completed and sent to RB, ready for preparation of contract. We expect to sign contract in 3 - 4 weeks.
December 24. Huw Vaughan Thomas, Chief Executive of Gwynedd Council is extremely anxious to see some movement with Christ Church. Offers to intercede to try and persuade the Church-in-Wales to adopt a more realistic attitude towards the disposal of the property.
January. We meet Jeff St Paul, Gwynedd Council Economic Development and planning, to discuss progress to-date and gain the department’s support in our funding bid.
January 27. We reaffirm our offer of 75,000 for the leasehold, and ask about progress. Solicitors acting for the Church-in-Wales confirm agreement to sell at £75,000. subject to agreement on terms of lease.
January 30. Change of use (D1 & D2) granted for 5 years.
February 11. We set out our proposals for the terms of the lease, and receive letter from our solicitors confirming that the Church-in-Wales have accepted our offer. We write to Gwynedd Council.
June 9. We push for progress, and confirm that we still await a lease.
June 20. Gwynedd Council Committee considers our SDS bid. The Council do not respond to our request for support for a ERDF funding, and fail to prioritise our bid.
August 5. We write to RB requesting permission to cut back growth on the building, clear drains and landers, and erect signs, but permission is not forthcomming.
August 30. Our SDS bid is not included for consideration by Strategic Matters Steering Committee.
September. We again offer £75,000 subject to three conditions.
September 1. Gwynedd Council officer Clive James writes informing us that our bid for SDS funding support not been recommended for inclusion by the Strategic Matters Steering Committee.
February 12. Church-in-Wales threaten to sell to another undisclosed party, but a sale does not materialise.
November 26. RB reply to letter from JNL Thomas of Caernarfon Civic Society suggesting that it would be helpful if they could assist the Canolfan Group in putting together a scheme.
February 20. Meeting of Caernarfon Heritage Forum at which the proposals for Christ Church were explained.
March 13. Meeting of the Caernarfon Heritage Forum at which we were asked to submit full details of our proposals to Gwynedd Council.
April 16. We present to the Royal Town Council, and recommendations are made that the Council should pledge its support for our project and also write to Gwynedd Council requesting a meeting, and also write to the RB.
May 5 We write to Gwynedd Council asking if they can help towards the deposit of £10,000 to lay the foundation for this project for the benefit of the people of the town.
May. The concept of developing a Community Arts Centre in Caernarfon receives full support of Caernarfon Partnership.
May 23. Clerk to the Royal Town Council offers the Council’s wholehearted support for our project to save Christ Church and provide a new community centre. The Clerk to Caernarfon Royal Town Council also writes to RB supporting our proposals and pressing for a sale, and to Gwynedd Council requesting a meeting of officers.
May 16. Gwynedd Council officer Claire Vint writes confirming that there are no financial resources to support our scheme, and suggests all kinds of alternatives (which, unknown to her, we have already contacted and received positive responses from. However, the Council are required to give their written support to bids for funding).
June 3. Save Britain’s Heritage write to RB confirming their support for our project to restore Christ Church with them as conservation partners.
July 7. We write to HLF to register fast track appraisal of our bid.
July 9. The Church-in-Wales decide to sell a lease to developers, Watkin-Jones, with covenants preventing any use accept as flats, for which planning permission has not been sought or granted. The reasons given for rejecting our identical offer was that they need to complete a sale quickly, and our offer being secured by a loan from AHF was unreliable.
We offer to buy the lease from Watkin-Jones. At first they refuse, but then they agree to sell.
June 12. We write to Iwan Jones asking why there has been no further meetings of the Caernarfon Heritage Forum, and why our previous letters have received no reply.
June 14. Lord Anglesey writes letter to Archbishop expressing his deepest concern over the way the RB are dealing with this matter of Christ Church.
June 22. We write to our solicitors, listing the problems we have encountered in dealing with the RB and their agents over the past seven years.
June 23. Caernarfon Town Council pledge their support to the sum of £5,000 towards the project to buy Christ Church.
June 24. We receive letter from solicitors acting for Church-in-Wales confirming that RB are ready to proceed on the basis of our offer of £75,000. We ask for copy of contract and terms of lease.
June 24. We write to RB expressing our dismay that our offer for Christ Church of February 1995 has not been acted on, and this has caused such delay and subsequent dilapidation to the site.
June 25. We write again to Henry Thomas requesting a meeting to discuss the Christ Church project.
June 25. Mr D Wigley MP writes to RB complaining about the treatment of our offer to buy Christ Church.
June 26. Janet Brinnand of the AHF confirms that our project is eligible for AHF support
June 27. We write to RB enclosing copy of the loan offer from AHF.
June 27. We write to RB enclosing finance offer from AHF, and offering a deposit of 10% to secure deal. RB replies 2 July requesting further financial details for our revenue and conservation sources.
June 27. Gwynedd Council officer for strategic development, Iawn Jones writes to arrange a meeting between Canolfan Caernarfon and the Town Partnership to discuss the way forward with Christ Church.
July 4. We submit full and finalised offer to RB for lease of Christ Church at £75,000, providing full details of funding and revenue forecast.
July 9. RB decide to sell lease to undisclosed developers, at the same figure as our bid. The reasons given are that the developer did not depend upon loans or grants and there was now a need to settle the matter quickly.
July 16. We meet with representatives of the Gwynedd Council, chaired by Dafydd Iwan. It is suggested that we should consider the Goleuad Building.
July 17. We complain to RB over the continued procrastination in finalising the purchase of Christ Church and list in summary the relevant letters of correspondence.
July 25. Lord Anglesey writes to Archbishop expressing his great concern over the situation in which the RB appear to have properly considered the information provided by Canolfan Caernarfon Cyf. on the funding offer by AHF.
October. Cwmni Tref, publish DCA (Cardiff) feasibility report “A Creative Enterprise Centre for Caernarfon”, on the concept of a new multi-media venture on the dockside, at a cost of £25,000. The Canolfan Arts group are not consulted.
The AHF re-confirm their loan offer.
September 9. We look over the Goleuad Building and find that it is not suitable for our purposes.
September 15. We write to Watkin-Jones asking confirmation that they are new owners.
December 27. We publish new revised version of our report, and circulate to Cadw, AHF and Councils.
December Watkin Jones confirm willingness to sell lease to us for £85,000 plus their costs.
We approach the Church-in-Wales to obtain an agreement in principle to assign the lease and agree to changes in the terms of covenant to allow the use we intend. the Church-in-Wales refuse to act without a letter from Watkin-Jones.
January 13. We write to Chief Executive and heads of all relevant departments of Gwynedd Council seeking a meeting to discuss the details of our proposals and the involvement of the local authority.
February 2. Meeting with members and senior officers of Gwynedd Council to discuss the situation, Agreement made that our proposals are not in conflict with the proposed dock-side multi-media centre, which is a commercial venture. Support promised in form of WO, SDS and ERDF support.
February 10. Watkin-Jones withdraw from offer to sell to us.
The agreement of the Church-in-Wales is secured to assign to us, with the necessary changes in the terms of covenant to allow the use we intend.
February 12. RB confirm that the assignment will be considered at their meeting on 11th March.
March 11. The RB are unable to decide on the assignment of the lease as they have not received any letter from their tenants Watkin-Jones. WJS write to the RB 13 March pressing for this matter to be resolved.
June 30. Bishop Barry Morgan confirms his agreement to the sale of alcohol, and Christian worship.
September 1. We present a report to the Caernarfon Royal Town Council. Resolutions are made to meet with the Gwynedd Council and to write to the Church-in-Wales, to the Gwynedd Council and to Cadw, and to Watkin-Jones requiring the condition of the site to be improved.
September 16. Caernarfon Town Council write to the RB drawing attention to the condition of the site of Christ Church.
September 17. HRH The Prince of Wales gives his suport and appreciation for the work done in saving Christ Church, and ensuring that it can be used again for various purposes including worship and community involvement.
August 6. Simon Simcox inspects the building and re-values the lease hold at £65,000.
August 15. We offer £65,000 for lease on basis of valuation.
August 24. Our offer is then rejected. They want £85,000. As charitable trust, we cannot offer more than the true valuation to any speculator without good reason. We ask for reasons for their increase in the value of the site, but get no answer.
August 23. We write to again to Geraint Jones, Chief Executive Gwynedd Council requesting the Councils support as guarantor for AHF loan.
September 17. Geraint Jones writes saying that the Council needs more information. We print and supply further copies of the feasibility report.
October 15. We write to Geraint Jones as Chief Executive Gwynedd Council requesting action on various matters.
October 16. We write again to Watkin-Jones asking for reasons for increase in valuation, and request a meeting. They stick to their figure of £85,000.
November 19. Watkin-Jones put the property up for sale by auction, but bids fail to reach their reserve price of £85,000.
November 22. Following the failure of the auction sale, we renew our offer of £65,000.
November 26. Watkin Jones reject our offer 65,000 and state that they are considering another offer nearer to £85,000.
December 12. Richard Cuthbertson meets Chief Executive Gwynedd Council, and writes formally as the chairman of National Trust and local buildings preservation trusts, pressing the Council to respond positively to our project which has four most beneficial aims.
December 28. Dr G K Brandwood writes to Chief Executive Gwynedd Council, supporting our proposals and pressing for action.
January 15 We write again to Chief Executive requesting a meeting to discuss outstanding matters.
January 20 We submit a further offer of £65,000 for the lease, pressing for a decision prior to the next meeting of the RB property committee in March.
May 28th. We ask Cwmni Tref to respond to our comparisons between the two schemes.
June. We speak to Cadw about the spread of dry-rot in christ Church. They promise to write to Gwynedd Council.
We receive calls from several Gwynedd Council members, asking technical questions about our proposals. We suspect that a report has been published, and circulaated without our knowledge. We write to Mr Whittall June 21st asking for an explaination.
The Agenda for the meeting of the Executive Committee is published.
June 29th. Gwynedd Council Executive meet to respond to the Officer's report prepared by Gareth Haulfryn Williams, The matter is defered to allow members to read information we circulated drawing attention to the inaccurate portrail of our project.
July 1st. We meet Sian Tomos of the Arts Council, who tells us that the Lottery Unit in Cardiff has already made its decision to support the Cwmni Tref bid.
Julty 5th. We receive an application pack for the Arts Lottery fund, and respond to the content.
July 8th. We inspect the interior of Christ Church with Uli John Roth , and discover new outbreaks of dry-rot, now with large fruiting bodies. We telephone Cadw and demand that action be taken. They confirm that consideration is being given to writing to Gwynedd Council, and confirm that a letter is being sent to me about this and other matters.
July 8th. We meet the Chief Executive and Officers of Gwynedd Council, but they refuse to withdraw their report or their recommendations. The Chief Executive listens to all that is said, but says remarkably little.
July 13th. Gwynedd Council Executive Committee decide to give their support to the Cwmni Tref proposals and reject ours. Three Council members speak giving their full support to the Cwmni Tref scheme, Brian Evans, Dafydd Iwan, and John Haycock. None of them rise to speak against the recommendation of the officers.
July 14th. We write again to Mr Samuel at the RB, requesting that action is taken to prevent the further spread of dry-rot.
Canolfan Caernarfon Cyf. is registered as a charity number 1008039,
and as a company number 2667354.