From the recently sent out ‘Theosophical Society Annual Report 2011 (TPEL)’ for the Theosophical Society in England (published here with permission):
Tekels Park Estate:
In October 2009 offers had been considered on a piece of land that had been held over for two years under an option agreement, which ended in August 09. During the process our agent reported that he had received some interest in purchasing the entire Estate and in line with the decision of the National Council that the Estate be sold several offers were received in the following two months. The board considered the offers and chose to proceed with the only buyer who satisfied most of the necessary conditions.
However, it became clear that this purchaser was not sympathetic to the needs of the users of the Park and the large meeting hall (known as the Church Hall) and in January 2010 an approach was made by Natta Country Homes Ltd. As the Board was not prepared to sell to a buyer who was not sympathetic to the theosophical and spiritual activities, which express the established spiritual ethos, the offer from Natta Country Homes was pursued. This new buyer was keen to maintain the Hall and to develop its potential as a church and meeting place and to actively encourage the various spiritual activities including the Round Table camp site. With this and other firm assurances in place the purchase has proceeded, albeit at a very slow pace.
The board of Tekels Park Estate Limited are very mindful of the National Council’s instruction to sell the Estate and are concerned about the year-on-year losses of tens of thousands of pounds while the sale proceeds. To this end, the board is doing all it can to complete the sale and thereby cut these losses, which we can no longer sustain. The sale has not been held up by our prospective purchaser but due to lack of documentation going back several decades and the need to seek ‘First Registration’ on the land. Selling Tekels Park Estate was never going to be an easy task, and indeed, it has proven to be fraught with innumerable difficulties. However, we are now hopeful that the sale can go ahead very soon.
The wildlife continues to thrive in the beautiful Parkland and plans are proposed to enhance the habitat even more. The deer and other animals continue to roam in and out of the Park, as they migrate constantly to and fro along the wildlife corridor extending for several miles along side the M3 motorway. (Rumours of the intended slaughter of the deer are nothing more than malicious lies and should be exposed as such at every opportunity.)
Two ‘Open Days’ were held at Tekels Park on the 12th and 13th of June 2010. This was an opportunity to reminisce with friends, to enjoy the beautiful Park, and to celebrate 80 years of theosophical activity, ceremony, and worship.
It appears then that:
- The Theosophical Society in England still has it’s charter (confirmed by two sources)
- Teckel’s Park hasn’t been sold yet
- The proper use of the estate by the future owners is definitely on the agenda of the administration
I think that covers the main points.
Congratulations to the Directors of the Tekels Park Estate on a well crafted statement. The original strategy was to sell Tekels Park quickly with everything conducted in secret and this is a response to the news leaking out. Many are sceptical that a property development company is going to pay big money for prime development land that they aren’t going to exploit fully.
What happens if the buyer doesn’t honour any agreement made?
What happens to any agreement if the buyer sells Tekels Park on to someone else or to another company in the same group?
A commitment not to slaughter the deer must be welcomed but the Tekels Park Estate directors know that they cannot prevent this after the Park is sold.
This 18 month delay over documents sounds a bit odd.
In 1962, the original Theosophical Tekels Park Community signed the Park over to the Theosophical Society in England for a nominal £2,600. This was a very complex arrangement which may make it difficult to sell Tekels Park for development and may present residents who own property in Tekels Park with an opportunity to make a legal challenge against the sale. Ordinary members of the Theosophical Society and local residents who may be affected by developments may also have this opportunity. It is unlikely that a legal challenge could be made after the sale but not impossible. Even an unsuccessful legal challenge could hold up the sale or subsequent development for several years.
Can the Tekels Park Estate Limited prove that they have the legal right to sell the Park for development?
Does the sale need to be put to the general membership for approval before it can go ahead?
Why was professional advice not to sell Tekels Park ignored in 2009?
Why wasn’t the matter presented to members and proposals invited for making Tekels Park viable?
Local residents who would be affected by any development were kept in the dark and are now raising concerns.
The above DOES say that selling will be hard and that the legal tangles haven’t been solved yet.
However, if what you say is true, then this is clearly something that has to pass a members meeting or a meeting including representatives of the lodges (depending on how the TS is organised in England).
A property developer who doesn’t intend to develop the real estate that he buys? But nobody seems to believe anything that the Theosophical Society in England leadership says anyway.
“Malicious Lies” is an expression we have heard in North Wales many times. … has often used it in his famous rants on many issues when his authority is challenged. There are clearly genuine concerns about the fate of the Tekels Park wildlife and “malicious lies” is a very unprofessional term to use in an annual report.
I’ve held back and looked into this before I commented but the idea of a safe wildlife corridor alongside the M3 in either direction is nonsense.
Deer certainly could not migrate out of the park safely so their slaughter may still be on the agenda.
Slaughter of the deer – malicious lies – I don’t think so
“build now and apply for permission later”
Here are some links about the prospective buyer of Tekels Park
http://www.gethampshire.co.uk/news/s/31408_gates_given_second_veto
http://www.gethampshire.co.uk/news/s/31455_tear_down_the_gates_of_wrath
http://www.gethampshire.co.uk/news/s/31163_errors_in_gates_of_wrath_saga
http://www.gethampshire.co.uk/news/s/31314_rethink_on_those_gates
These links are to local newspaper reports and the information is therefore already in the public domain. They cannot be described as “Malicious Lies”
BTW – the above was not posted directly because WordPress (the CMS I use for this site) automatically filters posts with more than two links. This is a way to keep spam out.
However, it’s unclear to me what that news (from 2003 and 2004) has to do with Teckel’s Park. This is about the buyer that WILL NOT BE BUYING Teckel’s Park, according to the above posted excerpt from the Theosophical Society Anual Report 2011.
What exactly are these “other firm assurances”?
Anything about the fate of the wildlife?
Do these assurances have any standing in law?
Are these assurances even in writing?
Has anyone other than … even heard these assurances?
What is going to happen to the deer?
As long as the sale hasn’t gone through, nobody can give you any certainty. Not even Eric McGough.
And only members have a say, however small a say it is.
Hi Katinka
I can only assume that my links to newspaper articles about the proposed purchaser of Tekels Park, Mr John Whelan of Natta Country Homes are too sensitive and posting them would give the Tekels Park Estate Directors too much to think about and some awkward questions to answer.
Oh, not for me. I do believe in ‘both sides of the story’ sort of thing. And if it made the actual press, that is definitely relevant.
I’d prefer if you posted the text of the whole newspaper article though (including the link so we can check that you didn’t make it up): newspaper sites have a deplorable lack of archiving policy generally speaking.[You assume wrong: the comment about those realters wasn’t posted at once because it contained 4 links, which is a sign of spam. So it was held for moderation. And since I don’t check my email daily (and comments are at the bottom of the heap), approving it took some time. ]
As for the content of those newspaper articles: I don’t see what they have to do with the current situation, so I would NOT have appreciated them being posted here.
Sorry Katinka, I didn’t understand the website system.
The newspaper reports are relevent in that they reveal a disregard for planning law and an indifference to the community. This doesn’t bode very well for the future of Tekels Park but I doubt if this concerns the Theosophical Society in England leadership.
To refer to fears that the Tekels Park Deer may be slaughtered as “malicious lies” indicates that the there is something wrong.
Notice that the official report of the Tekels Park Estate Limited refers to “the intended slaughter of the deer” as being “nothing more than malicious lies” and there is no clear statement that the Tekels Park deer will not be slaughtered.
If there has been a firm assurance from Natta Country Homes that the Tekels Park deer will not be slaughtered, why has it not been mentioned?
The “malicious lies” diatribe is probably aimed at those who have been expelled from the Theosophical Society in England for raising concerns about the Tekels Park wildlife.
Do Natta Country Homes know the extent of concern about the future of the Tekels Park wildlife? … seems to have been very good at keeping everyone in the dark. He has instructed his North Wales groups to deny any connection with the TS in England even though many of the North Wales meetings are sponsored by the Foundation for Theosophical Studies, of which he is chairman. Many England lodges are now denying any connection with Tekels Park. Chester lodge seem to be under very strict instructions in this respect.
Seems to me that slaughtering deer is simply illegal in England, as in most of Europe. The habitat of the deer is likely to become a bit less ideal when the sale goes through, but that can’t be helped, I think.
All in all the case is pretty simple: the Teckels Park estate is running a loss, so it has to be sold at some point.
There are procedures to follow but the Tekels Park deer can be slaughtered and the meat sold.
This ‘need to sell Tekels Park because of unsustainable losses’ line only came into play after … was rumbled in secret negotiations to sell the park quietly before anyone knew about it. This coincided with sudden massive losses by the Foundation for Theosophical Studies – chairman, …. Where is the money actually being lost?
When I was in the UK a few years back it was already clear that the estate needed to be sold, because it just wasn’t fulfilling a useful enough function for the TS as a whole. The money argument may not have been communicated properly. I don’t know about that. However, I heard about that side of things back then, and Eric wasn’t on the radar yet, as far as I could tell.
That fits, the Foundation for Theosophical Studies went from healthy profit to phenomenal loss.
The period from 1999 to mid 2007 witnessed probably the biggest property price boom that the UK has even known. This is when Tekels Park would have been sold if the Theosophical Society in England really wanted to sell it. They certainly would not have held on until the worst time since 1945 to sell.
After years of surplus the Foundation for Theosophical Studies – chairman, … returned losses for 2008 of £47,369 and for 2009 of £62,903. It was to plug this hole in the finances that … started secret negotiations to sell Tekels Park in late 2009.
… has been seen to erupt in anger if he is questioned about the Theosophical Society finances. This has made the members of the General Council too frightened to do anything.
Even the subsidies to …’s North Wales groups don’t account for this reversal of fortunes. If the losses are caused by unsustainable spending, will the level of spending continue after Tekels Park is sold?
I know it would be likely to elicit an explosion of anger but has anyone on the TS England National Council dared to ask … why he joined the Theosophical Society in England when he lives in Wales and runs groups here.
Why run a group in Wakes where one lives and also join the TS in England? This is a fair question but obviously the members of the National Council are too timid to ask it.
Being chairman of the Foundation for Theosophical Studies and directing resources to one’s own group in Wales is also a strange situation.
I think it merely goes to show that it’s artificial to have a seperate Welsch section, instead of an overall UK one.
An amalgamation of the UK Theosophical Societies might have some advantages but I understand that in the past Wales has voted against it several times. I don’t know if this proposal has ever been put to Scotland but at present some Scottish members want to distance themselves from the current turmoil in England and the Tekels Park wildlife issue.
I think … and … like the idea of the double power base anyway.
I totally agree that Teckels Park ought to have been sold earlier. However, nobody saw the financial crisis coming, so the idea that the sale would have happened then if the TS wanted the sale to happen doesn’t make sense.
As for financial mismanagement: if anybody has real evidence, I’m sure Colyn Price and the police would be interested.
Hi Katinka
Very sorry to give you yet another unpleasant story
… has shown himself to be one of …’s most loyal supporters and won’t be challenging his control of the Theosophical Society in England’s assets and finances.
… even rang a member to tell her that she would not be welcome at the 2009 Nottingham Summer School because she had asked … awkward questions about his running of the finances. This lady was suffering from cancer.
This action constitutes an expulsion from the Theosophical Society in England and shows the sort of people who are now in charge.
… defends his position with large amount of indecisive waffle.
… took over everything in the TS England after only four years membership with the support of Colin Price.
… accompanied … to the 2009 Camberley Lodge AGM. Prior to this meeting, Camberley Lodge was about the largest in England but after the AGM nearly all the members resigned.
It’s one thing for Colin to accompany Eric to an Annual General Meeting, another for him to consciously allow Eric to embezzle money, which is what some of the comments here suggest.
It’s quite easy to lose money in the ordinary management of the TS. It might be mismanagement, it might be taking a risk to get the TS back on its feet. Whether it’s one or the other is subjective and can partly only be judged in hindsight.
Either is less culpable than stealing, obviously. I can believe mismanagement. I can believe Colin supporting a chair who was after all elected to his post. Much harder to believe is anybody supporting a thief knowingly.
As for Eric having been a member for only 4 years… that’s hardly a crime. One has to suppose there were no better candidates.
Of course … wouldn’t know what was being covered up when he kicked this poor lady out of the Society on …’s orders for asking too many awkward questions about the finances, he was too frightened to ask.
Colin Price used to be big on compassion for animals but his current silence on the issue coupled with his continued directorship of the Tekels Park Estate Limited indicates that this is no longer the case.
Here’s what Colin Price says about compassion for animals
“Compassion for the theosophist is no more a choice than for any other member of the human race. It is a duty and it arises from the same basis as our concept of brotherhood – recognition that we derive our very existence from the same originating first cause. We are sparks of the same Divine flame. In fact we share this with all life and so theosophists extend the same principles of compassion to the animal kingdom.”
This is from
Insight Magazine – Spring 2008 Vol 49 No 1
Colin Price – Compassion The Basis of Peace and Understanding
http://www.theosophical-society.org.uk/html/insight_articles/spring2008_compassion.html
Is Colin Price going to remove this article from the Theosophical Society in England website if the Tekels Park animals are killed?
Here is a tale for your anonymous contacts to confirm or deny Katinka
There is a story that, in the early days of negotiation over the sale of Tekels Park in late 2009, … attempted to conceal the existence of badgers in the park.
Notice there is no mention of badgers on the Tekels Park Estate Limited annual report.
… got really angry when stuff about the Tekels Park Badgers started appearing on the net.
But did he really think he could dupe the buyer by keeping quiet about the badgers?
Well, here’s more news: badgers on the estate? I suppose the suggestion is that they’re protected by law, and that if the buyer realized that, they would not buy.
However, it’s one or the other: either (1) the badgers ARE protected by law, and are therefore in no danger at all, but a buyer can be duped by staying ignorant of their existance or (2) the badgers are NOT protected by law, are therefore in danger of being killed, but no buyer can be duped by their existence.
In short: one or the other.
All reference to the Tekels Park wildlife has been removed from the Tekels Park website
http://www.tekelspark.co.uk
St Francis Co-Freemasonry Lodge open day.
Saturday June 18th 2011.
Tekels Park Animal Death Camp.
What a place to hold a recruitment drive.
TOS& Animal Welfare
The Theosophical Order of Service in England (TOS) is holding its AGM at the Theosophical Society Summer School in Bristol this week (Spot the Member). They make a big deal out of their support for animal welfare charities but do not oppose the killing of the Tekels Park animals.
Will the killing of the Tekels Park animals be a banned subject at the TOS annual general meeting. They have certainly maintained an obediant silence on the matter so far.
Are … prepared to stand up to … and speak out against the killing of the Tekels Park animals?