Project Northmoor (20 Northmoor Road)

Really struggling with the point of this and can't really see people giving £4.5 million for them to buy and own the house.

Trotter wrote:

Really struggling with the point of this and can't really see people giving £4.5 million for them to buy and own the house.

I think it would be wonderful if they could pull it off and turn it into a museum to Tolkien, open to the public, like other historical landmarks. I would like to see the Tolkien Society get involved in the campaign as well.

I just don’t know who these people are, and what their connection to Tolkien is, and how they will staff a Centre that will actually preserve and enhance Tolkien’s legacy.

Who are the team behind the project?

The team is led by Julia Golding, an award-winning author based in Oxford, UK. You can find out all about Julia at her own website. She has teamed up with Joss Saunders, her husband and well-known charity lawyer. They are assisted by volunteers all over the world. In North America/USA, Brian and Frances Boyd serve as Directors for Project Northmoor. Boyds also run a global digital marketing and communications company serving NGO’s and non-profits.

Urulókë wrote:

I just don’t know who these people are, and what their connection to Tolkien is, and how they will staff a Centre that will actually preserve and enhance Tolkien’s legacy.

Who are the team behind the project?

The team is led by Julia Golding, an award-winning author based in Oxford, UK. You can find out all about Julia at her own website. She has teamed up with Joss Saunders, her husband and well-known charity lawyer. They are assisted by volunteers all over the world. In North America/USA, Brian and Frances Boyd serve as Directors for Project Northmoor. Boyds also run a global digital marketing and communications company serving NGO’s and non-profits.

Does anyone know if The Society Leadership is making any effort to get involved in this?

There are countless homes to literary/artists/engineers throughout the world so I don't think this is a terrible idea on the face of it but I do agree with Urulókë about the team behind it. I mean no disrespect but a project like this needs weight and if no one in the Tolkien world beyond a few actors has given their weight to it then I would ask why?

I also don't like the vague FAQ about donations.

What will happen to my donation if you don't meet your target?

We hope that doesn’t happen, of course, but in the event we cannot buy the property, we will still be able to use your donation to fulfill our charity’s objectives, promoting the knowledge and appreciation of Tolkien’s works, and those of his friends his fellow Inklings; and promoting arts, crafts and literature, through creative writing, film and other means. For example, establishing a centre to run courses and events in Oxford and elsewhere to promote the appreciation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s works and inspire future generations of writers and artists in fantasy and other genres.

The project is to buy the house, surely if that fails then the project is over. Getting the general public to part with £4M is a tough ask, one I actually think impossible to reach and the levels of donation verses return seem heavily disproportionate.

Plus the house will be accessible by appointment only. This surely in itself goes against the desires of the team behind this if they want to inspire future writers and artists, allow fans to experience the house and to see where Tolkien wrote his masterpieces. They want a centre for writers and artists, a place where events can take place and then make it unlikely that the general public can actually access it. And the whole centre dedicated to Tolkien thing? There is a world of scholars and fans who collectively through websites just like this one, social media, YouTube, podcasts and societies/moots/Tolkien conventions/other conventions and on and on that do this already. I don't see an average sized house with a small staff being able to add anything really significant.

That is my take on it. Others may disagree but I think this is a flawed idea myself.

I loved visiting the Kilns (C.S. Lewis) with the archivist when I was last in Oxford, and I completely understand the desire to be able to walk through a house that Tolkien lived in, and to have some educational value associated with such a monument.

If £4.5M is being raised as a charitable organization to do wondrous things, is buying a house the best use of those charitable funds? Would that money be better used in other ways to do said wondrous things? (In my opinion, definitely).

Would existing UK Tolkien related non-profits spend a windfall (or fundraised) £4.5M on real estate as the best use of the money for their mission? Beyond the cost of acquisition and renovation, what is the annual upkeep cost for a property of this value? Do non-profits/charities not pay property taxes in the UK, for example?

Since there is likely zero percent chance that any furnishings or heirlooms will be original from the estate, this feels very "Disneyland" rather than a place of pilgrimage and contemplation.

Okay, this is what I have found out so far (mistakes could be in there so take it with a grain of salt):

Everyone responsible for the project comes from a strongly activist Christian background. Like in REALLY strongly, international cooperation Christian.

There is, obviously, nothing wrong in doing good via your faith.

I just get reeeeeaaallly nervous when they start selling a project like this on the back of the films ONLY and Christians.

There is no museum in this. No Tolkien research.

If you ask me.

This is going to be a shrine with a couple of extras.

Is that fireplace that someone was trying to flog multiple times on eBay going to be a feature of this future museum?

All of this new info from y'all is disheartening...if this is really what their plan for the house would be then my mind is changed.