Club News
August: Chairman, Tony Farrell, welcomed 19 members and guest Darryl Cabral, who will be inducted as a member today. Chaiman’s Charity raised £40 and Raffle £21.
Update on Members: Graham Bass’ funeral was on 30th August. Tony reported on the death of Brian Blakeney’s wife Lorna. Dennis Evans has had a relapse and true-to-form is meticulously putting everything in place.
Outings/Events: 10 C&P members attended the skittles match with Sanderstead and Riddlesdown on 22nd August. Andrew Banford and Jenny won the cup and three certificates. [See some pictures from the skittles match on the back page.] Terry Ribbens is planning an outing to Battersea Power Station, possibly combined with a River Trip.
Lunch changes by 10.30am the prior Tuesday to chris@moniz.co.uk T: 020 8660 6063. Please also report any Member News to Chris.
Please email vincent@fosdike.com with articles/news for the Newsletter.
Speaker: Andrew Warde: ‘The Lost Whitehall Palace’
3rd October: Neil Sadler: ‘Bisons and Custer’
August Speaker: James Dearlove – What’s it worth?
Underlying that question are the dark passions of greed anxiety and perhaps elements of criminality.
Everything has a price and the various branches of the valuation profession are here to see fair play at some risk to themselves. This aspect underlies our guest speaker (James Dearlove’s) talk entitled “What I wasn’t told at college.” I suspect many of us had a similar experience.
Before reading for a degree in Estate management James acquired the attributes he would latter use in his profession via some seemingly chance employments in a pub, a garden centre and a glass house site. The common theme being an eye for detail and the meeting of deadlines within a legal framework. When melded with the formal training in all aspects of property law and surveying, these produce a valuable skill set which is sought after by buyers, sellers, planners, lawyers and no doubt local activists. Disputes and challenges await at every turn. Some work could be just a market valuation as seen whilst others could be subject to proposed changes of use and with or without stock, fixtures and fittings which might be very diverse. How do you value a Tarot card readers hut on a pier or at the opposite end of the scale, a hospital?
Ah well all in a day’s work but no this has missed out the very physical side of the work. Would the property be inhabited and if so would the inhabitants be friendly, hostile, indifferent or devious. How to do a valuation when there was passive resistance or even rendered deliberately hazardous is a constant background element to the work. Divorce sales can engender any of the above as can commercial interests. Such attitudes have given rise to the discovery of a hideous swarm of flies being released when an industrial cold store had to be opened revealing a goodly supply of rotting meat thus saving on electricity! On a domestic level a fall down a manhole into sewerage occurred when no warning was given and a wasp attack when a nest was broken open during a valuation inspection. Whether these were allowed to happen by unsympathetic owners or were genuine accidents is probably best not dwelt upon.
Some properties will be vandalized out of resentment stemming from a repossession by a mortgage lender, others may be flee ridden after a period of abandonment or mis use. Criminal evidence may be sought when occupiers might have concealed cannabis plants within the building.
On one occasion James suffered a broken humorous bone when a ladder collapsed but much more serious was a television set being thrown down from the 7th floor of a block of flats.
By the time these experiences have been endured and work has been undertaken both in the public and private sector one must surely be an asset to any commercial organization since they must deal with the nitty gritty of our economic and social life which underlies the fine print of legal documents, (pun noted).
Surely there should be an award like the French give their civil servants. However even these can be found for sale in the Marché au Puce as I have found in Paris!!
James decided that perhaps he had served long enough in this field and subsequently retrained as a care giver. In conclusion he would not go back.
As I believe Churchill once said, “Life is a journey well worth undertaking once”. Perhaps this resonates here.
Thank you James
Heart Transplant – by Vincent Fosdike
First day, new firm, name on the door and secretary in the outer office. Things must surely go well. A quick glance at my watch expecting it to be nine o’clock. No, it showed about eleven. There was no sound of phones or conversation and I had not been told that a client had arrived. Had I had a cerebral accident/stroke or a Salvador Dali experience? I looked again at the watch. The whole face including the day and date panel were about 40 degrees anti clockwise.
Glynis knocked on the door with a cup of tea which suggested it was about nine o’clock. As she put it on the table I checked her watch. Such a relief nine o-five! She reminded me I was due in court at eleven. At just that moment I had also remembered the hearing which might well have led to her having a new boss almost instantaneously if I had missed it. This firm did not take prisoners.
I was back by one thirty with the watch slipping backwards but actually telling the right time if contra rotated. There was a jewellers fifty yards away which was closing down. They advised me that the face of my watch was secured on a trivet which had rusted and that next time to get a higher standard of water proofing if I wanted to surf with it. Uneconomic to repair! They made a sale at discount. For 34 years that watch was a faithful friend only failing once during a landing at Heathrow when the pilot advised us to re-set to GMT and the control button (known as a winder on mechanical watches) detached itself. That marked the half way point of its life. Signing documents with day and date is not my strong point so I was totally reliant on it. Occasionally I would glance at it when under pressure to reach a court where a judge had agreed to wait for another hour to hear my application for an injunction with a power of arrest. My anxious client beside me not wanting the lack of police authority to cause another sleepless night. On other occasions it would be ticking away the endless seconds whilst a judge criticised my statement for referring to a child as “it” and I winced as the family were listening – I just wanting the hands to move on taking me away from my embarrassment. Nowadays I suppose “it” would be the correct gender neutral form and the criticism would be reversed. Time does move on. Indeed I am sure on reflection that the family could not have cared as the child was really a pawn in their politics. I wonder if the judge also knew this and was just playing his part.
Other times electronic dispatches would be invalid if they were not at least sent by the statutory deadline, literally on the moment. Again I would fret as the typing just went for the line. Accuracy was key the watch must not let me down. We actually had a hearing when that time was disputed with the risk that the case may be struck out. We won by a hair’s breadth. In Bankruptcy the declaration is marked by the judge stating the minute it takes effect. This can be exciting if a seagoing yacht is in issue. I always noted the time from my watch as well, ready for an appeal. In criminal cases a date may be disputed on oath and a witness was actually asked to hand up his watch to the judge only to discover it was a day out, causing a further line of enquiry to be explored in relation to a statement already on the court file.
Well, a couple of weeks ago my faithful watch stopped, it had begun to gain in its last year, a paradox of electronics. The jeweller found no fault with the battery but a real problem with the movement. Probably this was the end of the road, but she would send it away for a second opinion if I wished. The outcome was that surgery could be attempted but with uncertain results. A transplant was difficult as the movement was no longer made by the original manufacturer, but an adaption of another might be possible. Did I wish to go for it? Cost? The same as a modern model by the same manufacturer!
Could you let an old friend down, consign them to oblivion taking their battle scars with them?
I have still not been able to find the source of the replacement heart and it took a while to engineer. But it should do at least another 30 years and so outlive me. Sadly my children do not value watches much but possibly my grandchildren would be interested enough to keep a battery in it if I tell them this with their bedtime story.
Some pictures from the skittles match with Sanderstead and Riddlesdown on 22nd August
