The Society of St Augustine of Canterbury

Over fifty members and their guests attended the 99th Annual General Meeting of the Society in the Throne Room of Archbishop’s House on 28 March 2023, preceded by Holy Mass in the Cathedral.

The Chairman welcomed members to the meeting and began by reviewing the wonderful events of the last year:

• The Centenary Reception, hosted by His Eminence, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, on 10 May last year, in the Throne Room, was the highlight of the year, when The Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, agreed to be our special Guest of Honour. It was a huge privilege and will be remembered with gratitude for many years by the more than one hundred guests who met him.

• The Summer Reception at Mansion House in July, hosted by The Lord Mayor of London, Alderman Vincent Keaveny, was also a magnificent occasion.  We were thrilled that the Westminster Cathedral Choir School choristers, whose predecessors had sung at the first reception held a hundred years ago, sang for us during the evening.

• The Summer Outing was held at Arundel Castle at the invitation of our President, the Duke of Norfolk.  Mass was celebrated by our Chaplain, Father Peter Harris, in the Private Chapel, followed by a most interesting tour of the Castle, with lunch and a talk by a local historian.

• The Autumn Reception was held on 7 November at which the Cathedral architect, Mrs Suzi Pendlebury gave an interesting talk, with slides, on the history and building of Archbishop’s House.

The Chairman thanked all the donors who had given so generously to the Centenary Appeal and announced that £90,000 of our initial target of £100,000 had been raised to-date. The Appeal will continue so that as many energy saving projects as possible can be completed. Mrs Goodwin reported that the Society had already been able to fund the replacement of all the lighting to LED lamps, resulting in a 70% saving in energy and £12,000 in annual costs.  The next project to be investigated will be replacement windows with energy savings there too. 

The Treasurer’s report highlighted the financial performance of the Society since the previous AGM and announced that the contribution to Archbishop’s House this year was £39,135. The Society’s accounts had been independently examined and approved by Council. These will be submitted to The Charity Commission in England and Wales and copies are available from the Secretary. The Chairman thanked Council members for their dedication to the Society during the year.

Following the business of the AGM, His Eminence was appreciative of the contribution the Society makes towards the maintenance of Archbishop’s House and his office personally. He cited some of the many repair and improvement works that the Society had helped to fund over the last fourteen years. The Chairman presented the Cardinal with the Society’s gifts and thanked members for their support.