Madam,

‘Unintelligent actions’ by parishioners, which is a term by Mr Murphy, a diocese of Menevia trustee, is his paraphrase for those parishioners’ insistence on accountability and transparency.

As a trustee, he and his fellow trustees will have to adhere to Charities Commission stipulations on standards, and may need to answer how a loan of £360,000 (down to £350,000 by last week’s letter) will be forced on the parish without any consultation with a representative body of the parish, thus exposing the parish assets and beneficiaries to undue risk.

(Charities Commission Essential Trustee: 7). As the diocesan trustees seem to ignore all surveys and reports, it is questionable how they are effectively able to protect trust assets and to invest carefully.

His comment as to St Winefride’s having reached a ‘sell-by date’ is also a reflection of how little understanding of heritage Mr Murphy has. Indeed the Vatican itself would not survive were he one of its trustees!

Mr Murphy maintains that the diocese has spent tens of thousands of pounds on repairs to St Winefride’s; there is no recollection of this within the parish, and so could these accounts be made public, with a breakdown of how the £103,000 taken from the parish (of which only £11,000 have been accounted for) have been spent? According to Charity Commission Laws, proper accounts are to be kept

Berating parishioners from the comfortable distance of Carmarthen or Swansea, without the diocese of Menevia risking its own money in the venture, is not convincing when there is the much cheaper option and the obvious spiritual benefit of refurbishing and reopening St Winefride’s church, I, as a parishioner, am not apologetic for ‘unintelligent actions’ which question diocesan trustees’ motives.

Future generations will have to shoulder their consequences.

Yours etc,

Lucy Huws,

Trinity Road,

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