Letter re Village Hall faculty 1960

Letter preseved in Village Hall Papers.
LEE, BOLTON & LEE
1 The Sanctuary  Westminster S.W.1
3rd March 1960
Dear Mr. Thatcher,
Wanborough Church Hall  Please forgive my delay in replying to your letter of 12th ult. But as you know it raided many thorny problems, and I have been rather unusually heavily engaged in the meantime owing to Staff illness.
I am interested to know that Mr. Turner, who you are satisfied is the present freeholder of that part of the Hall not built on the graveyard, is prepared to convey it to the Diocesan Board of Finance on Trust for the Parochial Church Council, and that this proposal is generally acceptable. So far as the Church and graveyard themselves are concerned I find the letter of Mr. Hilary Rogers of the Church Commissioners’ Official Solicitor’s Department very illuminating and I think, coupled with the contents, of Mr. Duckworth’s letter to Mr. Clarke, goes to show we are dealing with an Ancient Consecrated Church and Graveyard, which became largely secularised between the time of the Civil War and its restoration in 1861, and we must assume they still retain their consecrated nature, and that there is some kind of bare legal estate vested in the McKibbins. We must also, I think, assume that even without the grant of a Faculty the Lease of 11th July 1911 to the then Vicar and Church¬wardens, which we all agree is vested in the Rev. C.W.H.Storey, has some sort of validity. I cannot say what attitude the Chancellor will adopt, but feel we have now probed the whole matter so far as we can and that a Petition for a Faculty should be prepared and signed by the Vicar and Churchwardens on the following lines:-
(1) After setting out the whole history asking for confirmation of the 999 years lease granted in July 1911
(2) Request authority for the assignment of this lease by the Rev. C.W.H.Storey to the Guildford Diocesan Board of Finance on Trust for the Parochial Church Council and with the consent of the freeholder. The McKibbins should perhaps be parties to the Petition.
(3) Having reached this stage authority should be sought, again with the consent of the freeholder, to the grant by the Board, with the approval of the Church Council, of a 21 years lease to Village Hall Trustees for general Village Hall Trusts, the rent to be a peppercorn only, as recommended by the Surveyors, in consideration of the expenditure of £400 odd which will have to by incurred by the new Trustees in order to get the building into a proper state of repair to meet the requirements of the Authorities.
As I Say 1 don’t know what attitude the Chancellor will adopt, but I think we must make a move now, and if you agree perhaps you will put the matter before the Church Council to enable them to pass the appropriate Resolution in support, a copy of which should be sent to me certified by the Chairman or Secretary. I think a Plan and Specification should also be submitted as the Chancellor will want to know what is required, and these must be approved by the Advisory Committee of the Diocese in the first place. I could then prepare the appropriate Petition for a Faculty once all these preliminary steps have been taken and we must hope for the best. Yours sincerely
GRAHAM D. HEATH