The matter of Wladyslaw Duda (The Marians state that he is no longer a priest) is a key issue in the history of Fawley Court. To understand it we must go back to the eighties. At that time there arose alleged problems with the management of Divine Mercy College. There exist statements of two fatal accidents, and, for reasons unknown, the expulsion of a whole class from the school. At the start of the eighties the Marians hired a lawyer, Mr.Richard Parkes, to tidy up the title documents. Mr.Parkes informed us that after tedious work he registered complex documents at the Land Registry in 1985, which referred to the School and to the additional purchases of parts of the property in the early stage. Fawley Court was registered since 1967 as a charitable institution no.251717. A year after registration at the Land Registry (1986) suddenly and without warning the Marians closed the school, giving as reason lack of interest, despite statements from other sources which refer to the protests of the families and the community. At the beginning of that year the Marians registered a new trustee, Fr.Walter Gurgul, as his predecessors (e.g. Fr.A.Janicki) had been removed from Fawley Court and moved to Ealing. In this new document they add on the right to sell the land, despite a stated condition that it is only for the School. There arose rumours at the same time about the sale of Fawley Court to pay off a huge debt which the Marian denied. A new era began of the Pilgrim’s House and broadened educational activities, that is retreats, and the intake of young new arrivals, mostly from Poland, to help with the monastery and to learn English.
Fr.Wladyslaw Duda arrived from Poland in 1998. In a short time he became the Director of the Apostolate and with other trustees he registered a new Marian charity with the Charity Commission, number 1075608 (Marian Fathers Charitable Trust). He furnished the Charity Commission with a new document, over 20 pages long which changed their mission statement from educational to the advancement of Roman Catholic faith worldwide. A year later he deleted the previous charity, registered there as the Congregation of Marian Fathers BVM Mother of Mercy, V Province in Great Britain. The old documents were destroyed. A new history of a new institution began. At the time, no one knew about this.
Fr.Duda collected some £200 000 for the erection of a new Apostolate building, but after five years the Marians announced that they were refused planning permission, despite the fact that at the start of the appeal in 2000 they wrote in their publication, “Divine Mercy Messenger” that they had just received this permission. Wladyslaw Duda, a trustee, suddenly disappeared. There is no document confirming his resignation. People wrote to him and to the other trustees at Fawley Court. A representative of Fawley Court Old Boys was informed in a telephone conversation by the Marians that Wladyslaw Duda is no longer a member of the Congregation of Marian Fathers. After long deliberation and written suggestions by the Ministries we referred the matter of Wladyslaw Duda to Thames Valley Police. We informed them of breach of law in the production of new documents to facilitate sale of Fawley Court and offered to supply substantial documentation. Inspector Andy Taylor replied within two days, declining our offer of documentation, that after careful investigation he considers the accusations unfounded.
What happened to the money collected for the Apostolate? The Charity Commission has published the accounts, beginning from the end of the appeal and not from the start of registration. They also published the trustees’ reports. The 2006 report states that due to high costs of maintenance and low income of the Museum of Fr.Jarzembowski, they have decided to get rid of it. However from the appended accounts at the Charity Commission it can be seen that the income from the new charges for the Museum grows rapidly from about £1000 to £12 000 by 2006.
The Marian accounts in the period 2005-08 show an annual income of £1million approx, and the value of the property is shown around £8 million. In 2007 the Marians stated their intention to sell Fawley Court, asserting shortage of money – despite an annual income of £1 million – for the upkeep of the property. The 2008 accounts show a sudden increase in the value of the fixed assets, from £8 million to nearly £20M.
In the notes to the accounts there is a mention of revaluation “to reflect the rebuild cost for insurance purposes”, a statement that has been found questionable by an independent accountant.
This sudden jump from 8 to 20 million is of some interest. The report to the Charity Commission of 2007 states their intention to sell Fawley Court, later announced publicly. The following year, Marriotts Estate Agents announced Fawley Court for sale for £22 million. Earlier, the Polish Catholic Mission made them an offer to purchase Fawley Court for the Polish Community for £8M. At that time the value of the assets was shown as £8M (the increase to £20M in the 2008 accounts was lodged with the Charity Commission only in October 2009). From January 2009 the Marians maintained publicly that Fawley Court is sold, as contradicted by their private correspondence. The Catholic Herald first announced Urs Schwarcenbach as the buyer but retracted this a week later. Then the Telegraph stated Aida Hersham as the buyer.
The document registered in 1985 by Richard Parkes, no. BM82000 refers to “Divine Mercy College, Fawley Court”, which means that the School, Divine Mercy College, was put up for sale, and not the Marians’ property. It is to the School that the community contributed at the start and maintained it through difficult years, buying extra land and creating the Museum which belonged to it. It is self-evident that the Poles in the UK did not buy Fawley Court to provide splendour for three priests, but for the use of the School with 200 boarders. It was for the use of the students and the arriving faithful that Prince Radziwill built the St. Anne’s Church in the seventies. Next to this church, Father Jarzembowski lies buried, whose remains the Marians wish to remove.
What is known about the buyer of Fawley Court? Aida Hersham took part, as a trustee, in the attempted sale of St.John and St. Elizabeth Catholic Hospital in London, and after the intervention of the Charity Commission, had to resign. She officially represents(is that so?) Cherrilow Ltd, a firm which operated in England, now resurrected in Jersey. In the Henley Standard she is presented as a philanthropist and admits that she made a mistake in not considering the importance of the lawful owners of Fawley Court. Did she really pay £13 million for our School? It is £9M lower than the stated market price, which the regulations of the Charity Commission do not allow, as quoted by the Marians in their negotiations with the Polish Catholic Mission. Where is the Trust Deed for the School that was undertaken to be executed after 1953? We demand that these scandalous matters are explained and that the transaction is set aside. The Marians – to everyone’s joy – have at last left Fawley Court. They should now return the keys to the proper owners and explain what happened to the missing £13 Million.
Krzysztof Jastrzembski
Fawley Court Old Boys
Bądź pierwszą osobą, komentującą ten artykuł.
