Lottery win in reverse.
It seems stunning to me that sheep farmers. Andrew and Gail Wallbank of Carno are having to pay for repairs to their local church in Aston Cantlow.
The case is somewhat like one of those cases featured in A.P. Herbert’s “Misleading Cases” where people wrote cheques on cows and such like
This case is all too real however. By virtue of the Wallbank’s ownership of Glebe Farm in Aston Cantlow near Stratford on Avon and the inclusion in that farm of a field called Clanacre which is classified as rectoral property the couple became “lay rectors” of the parish.
Under the Chancel Repairs Act 1932 they are responsible for over £200,000 worth of repairs following a seven year legal fight.
The Chuch which is probably where Shakespeare’s parents married undoubtedly needs these repairs but it does seem harsh on the Wallbanks. They will now be forced to sell the farm but who will want that millstone of a field, Clanacre?
Cannot the Royal Shakespeare Company put on a few performances to raise some of the money – I wonder. Is there a rich Shakespearean individual benefactor or society, in the USA for example, which could help?
