Profit and salaries cost Shire Horses their home.

Chawton House Library (CHL) the charity that administers Chawton Estate has published its 2017 accounts. 2017 was the year CHL declared a funding emergency and launched a public appeal to keep the House and Library open. It was also the year that CHL’s Trustees announced they would dispose of the Heavy Horses that had graced the Estate for over a decade for cost-cutting reasons. A Press Release declared:  ‘Yesterday and today we bid a fond farewell to our four Shire horses, Royston, Speedy, Isaac and Summer. It was with heavy hearts that the decision was made to no longer keep them at Chawton House Library.’

The accounts reveal a different story. In 2017 the CHL declared an Operating Profit of £87,603. The annual cost of maintaining the Shires was £48,000. Income increased by £212,261 (28%) over 2016 to £977,471 and revenue from visitor fees increased 45% to £136,050. In what is described as ‘prudent stewardship’ by the trustees & COO operating costs were cut by a meagre £1,885 in 2017 (0.2%) to £889,868. More than 60% of these costs were expended on salaries which increased by £37,984 (8.3%) despite headcount being reduced from 22 to 19. A further £111,699 was paid directly to the University of Southampton by an independent Trust Fund to cover the salaries of CHL’s Executive Director and a Postgrad Research Assistant. Against this backdrop of financial featherbedding, the Trustees decided that the Shires were too expensive and had to go.

Save Chawton Shires (SCS) approached CHL’s Trustees with an offer of a £10,000 guarantee provided by a generous local resident to retain the Shires and cover their costs until Q1 2018 while we worked with CHL to produce a viable financial plan to transform the Shires to a profit centre rather than a cost. Our offer was rejected. Undaunted, we proposed a second plan under which SCS would rent CHL’s stables and grazing rights at our expense to retain Shire Horses thereby providing CHL with an income stream from unutilised assets at no cost or risk to the charity. This offer was also rejected.

We urge our many supporters to continue to boycott this charity and deprive them of both support and income until they agree to restore Shire Horses, and other endangered species and livestock to their Estate. We know from CHL’s own statements that our strategy has caused them financial concern. Keep up the good work and provide CHL’s newly-appointed CEO, Katie Childs, with an appropriate welcome message.

Thank you for your continued support.