The Society mourns the death of its past Chairman, John Wort, who served as a Trustee from 2000 and as Chairman from 2008 until 2016. When John retired back to his home town of Salisbury he joined The Society because he was interested in the care of The Close. Sir Robin Ibbs invited him to join the Committee, then become Vice Chairman and later John succeeded Sir Robin Ibbs as the Society’s Chairman. John’s calm manner, sound common sense and firmness maintained the respect with which the Society’s views were held with a succession of Chapter Clerks. Among his principal achievements was the Society’s response to the Cathedral’s master plan. The Society received a warm, hand written note from the Dean for its response to the Master Plan and that was certainly not because the Society had agreed with everything. He strengthened the membership of the Board with his invitations and its stability by his chairmanship and great sense of humour; it was always a pleasure to attend the Society’s Trustee meetings. He was always generous in his encouragement of the efforts of others and was much missed when he resigned in 2016.
