Welcome to The Friends of Arundells' website
Working to Save Arundells for the Nation
THE HOUSE IS UNDER
THREAT ONCE AGAIN!
PLEASE VISIT THE NEXT PAGE
(LATEST NEWS) FOR DETAILS
Arundells dates from the 13th century and is located in the Cathedral Close, Salisbury. Sir Edward Heath made it his home from 1985 until his death in 2005. In his Will he left his home and its contents to the care of a charitable foundation, The Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation. His intention was that Arundells should be open to the public to enjoy and to appreciate the collections of painting, ceramics, sailing and political memorabilia together with the two acres of magnificent garden.
The Friends of Arundells is a group formed in 2010 to campaign against the closure of Arundells and save it for the benefit of the public as envisaged in Sir Edward Heath's Will. In 2010 the Trustees of the Foundation decided to sell the house and auction off its contents, as they were unable to generate the necessary income. They applied to the Charity Commission, but The Friends argued and campaigned both locally and nationally that, with a different business plan and a more energetic approach, the house could become self-financing.
The Charity Commission declined the Trustees’ application and recommended that Arundells should stay open and that the Trustees should look at all possible ways of making Arundells pay its way including by co-operating with the Friends. Since then The Friends have continually campaigned to keep the house open and during 2012 with the agreement of the Trustees, provided volunteers to help run it to keep running costs down The Friends provided volunteer guides on Thursdays throughout the 2012 visitor season and this generated an income of approximately £12K gross for Arundells. However, the Trustees, after only one further visitor season, applied again to the Charity Commission in October 2012 to sell Arundells. Since then, Mr Peter Batey, who was Sir Edward’s Political Private Secretary from 1982 to 1986 , together with some of his associates, has presented the Trustees with a comprehensive financial proposal to save Arundells from being sold and secure its future.
This website outlines the background details and explains some of the issues. But importantly, please see our next pages on this website, “Latest News” and “Media Coverage”, where you will find the current position of the Trustees’ latest application to the Charity Commission including the Trustees’ consideration of the Peter Batey Group’s proposal to save Arundells.
Please join “The Friends of Arundells” to help secure the future of the house (there is no membership fee) - the 'How to Join The Friends' page on this website gives further details. Thank you for your support and we look forward to hearing from you.