Masterplan – from bad to much much worse II

[spiderlegs]

CH is an extremely wealthy organisation (the sixth largest charity in Britain?) because it owns a varied assortment of land and property in London and Sussex. The income generated by these assets has, by and large, been sufficient to fund the running of the school for the past few hundred years.
That is, until the Masterplan.
Viewed as unnecessarily lavish and over ambitious by many from when the first plans were submitted, certain Almoners zealously pushed on with the plan’s implementation. This, despite it being founded on economic projections that, at best, could be described as overly optimistic.
(Anyone with a basic grasp of economics knows that capitalist economies operate on cycles – and the wild stock market growth of a few years ago was no basis for constructing a plan to finance a multi-million pound building project.)
Now the school finds itself in the position of having to consider selling off more property in London (which it can freely do, because the Almoners recently suggested and passed a move to Total Return as a method of accounting) and land around the school in order to find cash. It goes without saying that once this property and land is sold off, it is gone forever – and the source of income on which the school has survived for so long, has lessened.
When viewed in the long term, things look very bleak for the future of CH as we know it.
To reply to Great Plum’s comment on what can be done, the Ridley Society sees an urgent need to address the apparent incompetence of certain Almoners. When the school moved from London to the site near Horsham, it was as a result of recommendations put forward by a Royal Commission appointed to safeguard the school’s survival. Perhaps a similar move, where the appointment of a group of experts who ARE ACCOUNTABLE IN EVERYTHING THEY DO would be appropriate now.
I stress accountable because, in the Ridley Society’s opinion, certain decisions by Almoners involved in the awarding of building contracts at the school (starting with the alleged rigging of the Sports Centre contract and going right through to the disastrous Masterplan itself) remain open to question. However, this is part of an ongoing enquiry with the Charities Commission so, for now, names and details must remain secret. The Ridley Society hopes to be far more forthcoming very soon.

Shoz’s point about CH being over generous in its subsidies is an entirely different matter. CH was founded as an establishment to educate underprivileged children. Many believe the opposite to your point: rules have been relaxed so much in recent times a large percentage of pupils aren’t from poor backgrounds at all.
Indeed, for a few parents with ‘creative’ accountancy skills, CH has become a way for the very wealthy to get their children an outstanding education ‘on the cheap’.
Look at the cars that fill the grounds at the beginning and end of each term. And that’s not including the Aston Martins prudently left at home in the owner’s double garage!

[Richard Ruck]

Look at the cars that fill the grounds at the beginning and end of each term. And that’s not including the Aston Martins prudently left at home in the owner’s double garage!

There were quite a few Cortinas in my day.....!

[Great Plum]

Spiderlegs is right about one thing at least... the cars at the school now are ridiculous...

[spiderlegs]

Spiderlegs is right about one thing at least...

If you doubt the facts behind -
The move to Total Return, see the Clerk's recent report (I think at the end of the summer term). He breezily mentioned it there as a sensible way of moving the school forward.
Previous disastrous sales of London property, see the documents relating to the mysterious sale of Queen Anne's Gate on the Ridley Society web site.
Attempts to sell off land bordering the school, see past issues of the West Sussex County Times and the extreme resentment these proposals have caused among the school's neighbours in Horsham.
Desperate attempts to raise cash, talk to recent schhol leavers who were asked to phone Old Blues begging for money on behalf of the school.

[Great Plum]

Oh I'm not disputing that - it certainly appears that something is wrong financially with the school!

[J.R.]

Don't be shy, Plum !

Name Names.

(On second thoughts................... !)

Here's an analogy for yer !

(a) Create a property company.

(b) Pull off one spectacular business deal, (in London).

(c) Dissolve property company.

(d) Dissappear.

It's not exactly rocket-science, is it ???

[spiderlegs]

You should see the documents in the Ridley Society's possession (copies of which are now with the Charities Commission) regarding the Sports Centre contract.
Decisions made about which building firm to award the contract to can only be described as extremely baffling.
For instance, the market leader at that time submitted a bid that was by far the cheapest.
So what did the Almoners on the property committee do?
Award the contract to an entirely different company that just happened to have links to certain individuals on that committee.
The words 'worms', 'can' and 'of' spring to mind...

[Hendrik]

who wants to bet that freemasonry is involved at various points along the way...

(no offence to any freemasons on the board, and for sure there will be a few. my great grandfather was a freemason so please don't cut out my tongue)

[Richard Ruck]

who wants to bet that freemasonry is involved at various points along the way...

(no offence to any freemasons on the board, and for sure there will be a few. my great grandfather was a freemason so please don't cut out my tongue)

Nail hit on head, I think!

[Hendrik]

Maybe we should start a poll as to whether the school should be affiliated with them any longer:

"Poll: Should the school continue to be affiliated with the Freemasons?"

"No. The financial büggery has gone on long enough. Hang the ********."

or

"Yes. I honestly believe that the tuppence they give to the BSB outweighs years of financial büggery to the tune of unknown millions of pounds."

[Great Plum]

To be fair Hendrik, the chances of getting freemasons out of the school would be trying to get them out of society...

And I'm still to be convinced that it is nothing more sinister than an old boys' club - which lets face it, is like the CHA...

[spiderlegs]

Nail hit on head, I think!

I second that.

The Ridley Society has actual names.
I also agree that not all Freemasons are corrupt and conniving. However, there's very strong evidence to suggest certain ones involved with the running of the school are.
Of course, these ones also bring into disrepute the entire network. The question is, will the ones of integrity be prepared to out the corrupt ones within their lodge?
(And it is a specific lodge we're talking about here.)

PS How do you highlight in a white box a comment from a previous posting?

[Richard Ruck]

How to quote : Simon explains it all here -

viewtopic.php?t=814

[englishangel]

How to quote : Simon explains it all here -

viewtopic.php?t=814

A bit complicated.

Just click on the 'quote' box in the top right hand corner of the post you want to quote.

[spiderlegs]

How to quote : Simon explains it all here -

viewtopic.php?t=814

A bit complicated.

Just click on the 'quote' box in the top right hand corner of the post you want to quote.

Well, I seem to have messed that up.