RE: Bolton Town Councils proposal to abolish the Smithillls Hall and Park Trust and replace it with control from a department in the Town Hall.
Can the Council tell us from where this crazy idea came, and why it should have been given any credence.
The Hall has never been operated as successfully as it is currently being operated. The Trust, together with the members of "The Friends of Smithills Hall" provide a service which no council committee could hope to replace.
Many thousands of visitors come to Smithills Hall and its country park every year. The hall is staffed by dedicated volunteers who provide their services free of charge. They act as guides showing visitors round the hall, they serve in the shop selling refreshment, an excellent range of books, childrens toys, and other artefacts that you will not find anywhere else in Bolton. Their love of the place and their knowledge about it could never be replaced by a group of faceless council employees ensconced in the Town Hall.
The Trust's companion body, "The Friends of Smithills Hall", produce a quarterly magazine, "The Smithills Hall and Park Newsletter", which is supplied free of charge to all members.
The Patron of this society of is the Duke of Norfolk, and the president is Sir William Goring - the nephew of our late President, John Ainsworth, the last surviving member of the Ainsworth family who owned the Hall from 1926 until the Bolton Town Council bought it from them in 1938. Both of them are busy men with heavy responsibilities, but they take time out to give their comments regularly to the editor of the newsletter, as do all our members.
We send out some 200 copies of the newsletter each quarter.
Our latest edition contains a wonderful article sent to us by a 98-year-old man, Mr Thomas Roscoe, who has lived just outside the main gates of Smithills Hall for 70 of those years and knew the last private owners, the Ainsworth Family, intimately.
If you would like a copy write in to the Smithills Hall shop for one, (its 50p per copy from the Hall and £1 to include postage).
Better still come and join us as a member and help to fight this absurdity that our Town Councillors have imposed upon us.
Albert Hornby
Editor
Smithills Hall and Park Newsletter
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