Restoration Enquiries and Initiatives.
The following notes describe the detailed implementation of certain paragraphs in the BSS Restoration and Conservation Policy, 1998. It is hoped that fellow trustees will find the time to read the Policy as well and then find that for BSS Restoration Matters have been well structured and implemented by the Restoration Advisor. What is now required is that Grants Policy should be reviewed and its implementation documented to the same degree so that both policies can co-exist coherently.
The Role of the Restoration Advisor.
1) For restoration enquiries made to BSS or initiated by BSS, the Restoration Advisor (RA) should be the single point of contact and expertise until a restorer is selected.
Enquires received by other trustees, as BSS Officers, should be passed directly to the RA for a first reply to the enquiry otherwise there is no point in having a Restoration Advisor.
2) The task of the RA is to provide encouragement, education and practical advice. The emphasis should initially be on the technical and practical aspects of the restoration, whatever the size. Then the owner is urged to access the BSS List to select and contact several potential names. The RA cannot suggest individual names, it must be the choice of the owner for the obvious reasons discussed later. Sometimes the owner is confident and competent enough to do the restoration himself or use local craftsmen having received the correct gnomonic advice. In these cases the RA may provide detailed gnomonic data tables to assist the work.
3) When a restorer/contractor has been selected by the owner, BSS stands aside. The restorer and owner have a commercial contract, the restorer defines the actual work to be carried out. It is now nothing to do with BSS unless the owner seeks further advice from the Restoration Advisor. It is a serial process, the funding comes last and will require the owner/patron to diligently examine all the various potential funding sources in the light of the estimated cost. The RA does not provide restoration costs but he can indicate rough boundaries of cost and advise the owner that the non gnomonic costs and tasks are often the major components of the total cost.
4) Organisations/owners initially need technical advice for several reasons :-
a) To help them understand that the sundial is an accurate scientific instrument and is a valuable asset.
b) To explain that all the geometry is crucial to its function and must be maintained or recovered during restoration and installation.
c) That old sundials are usually very well designed and implemented. Use of computers is just the modern way of doing/checking the calculations.
d) For large organisations this information helps them to specify the work schedule correctly before it is put out to tender.
e) The information from a neutral source enables owners to understand and judge what a restorer has offered to do at a certain cost. The owner is empowered by the knowledge which helps his choice of and relationship with the (expert) restorer.
5) Organisations/owners are always urged to select names from the BSS list. For enquiries made to BSS or initiated by BSS the Restoration Advisor or any other BSS trustee cannot suggest single names, especially their own, or act as agents for two reasons that reinforce and overlap each other:-
a) Because under the Charity Commission rules Trustees must not use the opportunities of their official position in the Society to favour themselves or specific members.
b) Because under the ethics of BSS as a Society, Council Members cannot favour themselves or certain members against others. BSS Council Members must be neutral in this respect whether BSS is a Charity or not.
6) Nevertheless the owner may subsequently and independently select a trustee to tender or bid for the work. There is some probability of this because half the BSS trustees are also on the BSS list. Consequently enquiries made to BSS or initiated by BSS must be managed with greatest care and be open to audit by the Council, or any ordinary BSS member or by the Charity Commissioners.
7) Although these paragraphs (5,6) refer to Restorers obviously the same neutral care must be applied to enquires received by BSS that seek Consultants and Makers.
8) When does the Restoration Advisor represent BSS ?
The answer is whenever BSS initiates an approach or receives an enquiry regarding a potential restoration. However the obvious tables below recognise that restorers can receive or make approaches in their own right and that is nothing to do with BSS.
Reactive Enquiries.
Enquiry made by / Enquiry made to / RestorationOwner/Other / To BSS / Direct to Restorer / Advisor Involved ?
Y / Y / N / Y
Y / N / Y / N
Pro-Active Approaches.
Approach made by / Approach made to / RestorationBSS / Restorer / Owner / Advisor Involved ?
Y / N / Y / Y
N / Y / Y / N
Issues arising from Mansfield.
1) The practical implementation of the embryonic Grants Policy has not been thought through and until it is understood it should be kept at a distance from potential restoration activities. The policy is currently divisive and can seriously misdirect a proactive restoration initiative as at Mansfield. The Council has no agreement as to when and how the grant should be operated and phased in the variety of different potential restoration scenarios. It is not a prize, it is a grant under collective Council control that Council might use occasionally to enable certain restorations that otherwise would not happen. It is quite pointless to encourage every restoration to make an application, especially if they are well funded.
2) As Mansfield demonstrates, restorations should not be grant driven, potential funding sources should only be examined by the owner after technical analysis and costing by the contractor/restorer appointed to carry out the work. In my experience once large organisations become enthusiastic and gain confidence about their sundial they always find the funds. Mansfield Local Authority had access to considerable funding, just as I predicted, and did not need a grant but was being encouraged by BSS to make a premature application at the expense of technical information that would have lead directly to a competent sundial restorer
3) Large public authorities like Mansfield always have strict audit processes involving several departments concerning tendering and placing of work with contractors. Some trustees do not appear to be aware of this.
Graham Aldred October 2006
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