NEWS

Annual Dinner

The Society's Annual Dinner was held on 15th June at the Otley Golf Club. About 80 members and their guests were present and the guest speaker was Lady Legard. She spoke with great enthusiasm of the restoration of the walled garden at Scampston Hall which has been her brain child and is now nearing completion. Scampston is an extremely interesting Regency house, with some very fine furniture (including a set of chairs attributed to Chippendale), and we hope to arrange a visit there for the members in the near future.

Exhibition at Temple Newsam

A small exhibition entitled Chippendale's Director: a 250th anniversary has been mounted at Temple Newsam, which includes a copy of the Society's first edition on display. The exhibition looks at the three different styles employed by Chippendale in his great book: Gothic, Chinese and Modern, and relates some of the plates to examples of mid 18th century furniture on display at Temple Newsam. The show continues until the end of the year.

Dumfries House

There has been a certain amount of discussion in the press about the future of Dumfries House, Ayrshire which the owner, the Marquess of Bute, now wishes to sell. The house contains the finest and largest group of early documented Chippendale furniture in existence, supplied to the house from the late 1750s, and still remarkably in situ. Much of it was published in Christopher Gilbert's magisterial Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale. The National Trust for Scotland is keen to acquire the house and its contents, perhaps by means of a private treaty sale which would offer a tax benefit to Lord Bute. However, it is feared that the price may run to tens of millions of pounds and could be prohibitive. A possible solution might be for a consortium to attempt to acquire the house with substantial contributions from the Scottish Executive and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

AUTUMN LECTURE

The autumn lecture will take place in All Saints Otley Parish Church Hall (with the kind permission of the Vicar and Churchwardens) on Wednesday 13th October at 8 pm. The Hall is located on Burras Lane and there is a car park opposite. The church (where Thomas Chippendale the elder was baptised) will be open from 7 pm.
The subject of the lecture will be

Collecting 18th century Books
By Peter Miller
(proprietor of Spellman's, the well-known antiquarian bookshop in Micklegate, York)

The talk will be illustrated with slides and examples. Members are invited to bring along interesting books of their own for discussion.

Tickets at the door, £2 to include refreshments. Guests very welcome.