East Dulwich Society

[edhistory]

A friend sent me this photo of the ceremony.

[KidKruger]

Is there a transcript of the speech ?

[edhistory]

I've not seen a transcript of the speech.

Mr Barber wrote:

"I'd like to say a big thank you to Janet and Chris Coy and other East Dulwich Society committee members and general members for all the years of sterling service to our community. Thank you."

[Sue]

What was the ceremony?

Sorry, I feel I should know!

[James Barber]

This picture was of the cheque being handed over from the East Dulwich Society, represented by Janet, to the Dulwich Society, represented by Ian, the final act of the formal closure of the East Dulwich Society and transfer of members and assets to the Dulwich Society.

My involvement was to encourage the East Dulwich Society to decide on its future and then support them agreeing their decision with the Dulwich Society.

For some years the Dulwich Society has had more East Dulwich members than the East Dulwich Society and have been supportive in many East Dulwich projects and campaigns. A number of local residents are key members of the cultch Society.

I would encourage East Dulwich residents to join the Dulwich Society and get involved lcoally -http://www.dulwichsociety.com/membership

[Penguin68]

I would encourage East Dulwich residents to join the Dulwich Society and get involved lcoally

In which case it would be nice if the Dulwich Society, on its website, in any way acknowledged this transfer of engagements and the widening of its remit - it still looks very focused on Dulwich Village (the road) and its immediate environs alone. It seems at the moment to have received ED's assets and members, but none of its interests or concerns. I am glad it has a special focus on its 400 year old burial ground and 144 burials - but the wider ED has rather larger interment issue on its doorstep (for instance).

[edhistory]

The East Dulwich Society does not appear to be dissolved yet, but it should be soon.

There seems to be two more returns to be made to the Charities Commission.

The amount of money handed over will appear in the Dulwich Society accounts in due course.

[rch]

This is the logic behind why I've been working with The Dulwich Society over the past three years with a view towards extending their remit into East Dulwich (Lordship Lane in the initial instance) in an attempt to sidestep all the obstacles.

I was in the process of discussing the concept of setting up a local ED steering committee with some of the more pro-active traders led by Laurence Rouellier White before he sadly passed away, so now I'm back to square one, liaising with Ian McInnes directly.

If you can identify more frozen funding, edhistory, that would be brilliant...!

[nxjen]

Perhaps it might be a good idea to see if any East Dulwich residents would like to be involved on an East Dulwich Steering Committee of the Dulwich Society? To potentially only involve businesses leads to a lop sided emphasis on what East Dulwich may or may not need/want. For example, the recent proposal, which I really hope has been dropped, for banners hanging from lamp-posts which may benefit businesses but as far as I recall was a not popular proposal with residents.

The demise of the old East Dulwich Society seems to have happened without much open discussion,the integration into the Dulwich Society appears to have been a done deal long before it was announced rather than give any opportunity for residents to become involved in reviving the Society. As far as I recall there was one rather downbeat, negative post on the EDF about two or three years ago saying the ED Society had run down without any real effort to try and attract newer, younger blood, which I'm sure East Dulwich must be teeming with.

As I said before, the history and character of East Dulwich is totally different from Dulwich Village, in addition East Dulwich is not subject to the overwhelming presence of the Dulwich Estate.

[rch]

Yes, nxjen, I actually agree with you... but I've asked repeatedly both on this forum and to residents in person if they want to be involved in any of my East Dulwich campaigns/activities, but everyone tells me they've lost heart because there's no point.

There are real logistical problems here in ED that don't exist in the Village... for one thing, communication is so bad that no one even knew about the above "ceremony" to fold the ED Society into the Dulwich Society... I only found out in passing when I talked to the chair of the DulSoc at a community council meeting after the fact, as he just assumed that I knew.

So, I've just been going ahead with specific issues I care strongly about (bearing in mind that I have been an East Dulwich resident for 31 years now and know the area extremely well), openly sharing my actions on this forum and using the Dulwich Society as a constituted amenity society to process activities through.

As I've said over and over... we have nothing set up in East Dulwich to use as a vehicle (in my personal experience, there were more complex problems with the ED Society, which I used to be a member of, than you have cited above), so the fact that the Dulwich Society are volunteering their services is the only current viable way forward.

Therefore, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing...

[Inbetweener]

Just curious....

How long did this run for & what was the membership?

Did they do a newsletter?

[Lynne]

I didn't know the East Dulwich Soc. still existed, and I used to be the secretary years ago. I've got their banner(somewhere). I thought it had sort of imploded.

[James Barber]

Hi nxjen,

The membership of the EDS and neighbouring civic society were invited to an EGM of the EDS at the East Dulwich Community Centre.

Hi edhistory,

I've already seen a big shift in the monthly eNewsletter published by the Dulwich Society and the paper quarterly magazine has started covering more East Dulwich and SE22 stories for some time. I know their various sub-committees have been getting involved but with more East dulwich residents can do even more of this.

[edhistory]

rch Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

> If you can identify more frozen funding,

> edhistory, that would be brilliant...!

A better description would be dormant balance(s).

The Dulwich Society should have been provided with copies of East Dulwich past accounts. These with details of income and expenditure for 2016/17 and 2017/18 should determine the amount of cash due to be handed over.

A rough benchmark for money involved can be had from the financial returns (not accounts) submitted to the Charities Commission.

For example, 2012 shows an income of ?1,334 and expenditure of ?46 that leaves a surplus of ?1,288 for 2012.

I do not have a complete set of figures.

Those I have show a cumulative surplus in excess of ?10,284.

All should be clear when we see the relevant Dulwich Society accounts.

[rch]

Yes, dormant balances... you're better at digging through official paperwork than I am, so definitely let me know what you can dig up.

My understanding is that these funds can be allocated via the Dulwich Society for works and projects in East Dulwich, which can be topped up or match-funded with other funds such as CGS, Neighbourhood Fund, or even crowdfunded/donations.

So... maybe we can actually finally have our pavements replaced if the residents support this?!

We should make a priority project list...

[edhistory]

Russell Lloyd, Dulwich Society Treasurer, probably needs a little time to work through the documents.

If need be, the settled sum of money, can be included in the Dulwich Society eNewsletter, before the Dulwich Society accounts are published.

[Pugwash]

Notices re the Extra Ordinary Meeting for EDS were put on community notice boards and in the ED Community Centre. Letters sent by post to all known 'current' and past members. Copies of accounts for last 3 years were on display and for inspection as were all the bank statements going back several years. Those attending the meeting voted that in terms of the objectives of the EDS that the DS most closely replicated these aims. Following the death of the chair, the move to Norfolk of one of the signatories, the death of the other signatory meant that only one signatory remained. On advice of the bank and Charity Commission - the society was wound up. The CC is currently winding down the EDS- they have been furbished with all the account details and copies of correspondence. All monies in the bank - account were paid by cheque to DS

[edhistory]

In The Peckham Society News Issue 148 Peter Frost reported that the balance in the East Dulwich Society dormant HSBC account was about ?1,900.