Stamford Civic Society

Here’s a brief review of our events going back to 2007, to give you a flavour of what you may have missed. 

At the end of February. Stephen Alford, Fellow in History at King’s College, Cambridge, talked on “William Cecil and Stamford”. A full house heard him describe Cecil’s involvement with Stamford. Copies of his recent bool were on sale afterwards.

Our second Arts Centre talk was by Christopher Lewis, the ex-executive producer of the Antiques Road Show who gave a higgly entertaining talk entitled “A warm fire, a cup of tea and the Antiques Road Show”

Crispin Truman, Chief Executive of the Churches Conservation Trust delivered the first of our lectures at the Arts Centre on “The Churches Conservation Trust, protecting historic churches at risk.”

After her wonderful talk at Burghley in November 2010, we asked Gil Darby to talk again in 2011. This time, she spoke about Twentieth Century Jewellery to a packed meeting at Browne’s Hospital.

On October 24th, the Goldmark Gallery in Uppingham hosted a drinks party for members with the artist Peter Ashley who has produced a stunning Stamford capriccio in attendance to give a short talk about his work and promote the print. A significant part of the proceeds from print sales will go to the Civic Society.

The combined 2011 AGM and Awards evening was held in October.

A coach visit on September 8th to Newark proved memorable, with many people surprised at the wonderful Georgian buildings in the town. Members were shown around by Blue Badge Guides.

On July 19th, about 35 members enjoyed a private tour of Elton Hall, near Peterborough. Thanks to a tremendous thundery downpour we were not able to venture into the gardens, but members did enjoy looking at the furniture, paintings, silver and china in the house.

The end of June saw Civic Day, organised nationwide by Civic Voice. To celebrate, we arranged a debate at the Town Hall. In addition, children from Malcolm Sergeant’s school put together a quiz about Stamford; this was published in the Mercury on the 24th June.

Our first outing of 2011 was a full day visit to Ely on May 31, where Philip Dixon, the consultant archaeologist at the Cathedral gave us a talk and a guided tour of the Cathedral.

On March 22nd, we had a talk by Stuart Orme, Historic Interpretation Manager at Peterborough museum, on Norman Cross, the first British POW camp. About 50 members heard Stuart’s fascinating and beautifully illustrated talk.

On Tuesday November 23rd, one of our committee members, Gil Darby spoke on “Porcelain East to West: China to Burghley". The talk was given at Burghley in the Great Hall, and some of the porcelain that she was discussing was on show at the meeting. Afterwards, we had drinks in the Brewhouse, to end what was a delightful evening.

On Wednesday 20th October, we had a joint talk with the Men of the Stones . John Smith spoke on "Baroque Reinstated; neo baroque and classical architecture in the early twentieth century."

The 2010 AGM was on October 7th, at the Town Hall,, and was well attended. The speaker was Tony Burton, Director of Cvic Voice, who explained the role of Civic Voice, which is the organisation that has replaced the Civic Trust.

In August, about 30 members visited Oundle, where we were shown round the town by a Blue Badge Guide.

On Thursday July 22nd, six gardens in Barn Hill were open. We did of course choose the one evening in a long time when it rained, but in spite of that, the gardens looked wonderful, and everybody enjoyed themselves. Our thanks to all those who opened their gardens for us.

Our Awards this year were a little different; we had a ‘Views Of The Future Competition’ for young people that aimed to encourage them to think creatively about and influence the future of the town. We asked the children to present their ideas about what they think Stamford might look like in the future and submit either a piece of artwork or a piece of writing. More information can be found on our Awards page.

On Tuesday June 1st a coach load of members visited Lincoln Cathedral, for a talk and guided tours by Dr Philip Dickson, the architectural advisor to several Cathedrals, including Lincoln.

On Wednesday June 16th, we visited Peter Heyes’ garden. Peter does a tremendous amount of planting round the town and this was a chance to see his own wonderful garden. All proceeds from this evening, amounting to about £200 went to the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust.

In April 2010, we were delighted to welcome Elizabeth Inman, the Director of the Burghley Horse Trials, to talk about 50 years of three day eventing at Burghley. We were all fascinated, both by the details on the horses and the incredible amount of organisation and planing that goes into each year’s event.

On December 3rd, Professor Alan Rogers gave a talk titled “New light on the founding of Browne’s Hospital”.

In November, David Lee gave a fascinating talk on “The Tolethorpe Year” and the staging of the Summer Season there. It made us all look forward to the 2010 season.

The 2009 AGM was held on October 1st in the Town Hall. Our guest speaker was Desmond FitzGerald, Knight of Glin and Executive Director of the Irish Georgian Society, who came over from Ireland for the occasion. He spoke on the history of Irish Gardens.

9th June saw about 18 members paying a memorable visit to Uppingham School. We saw how the school had evolved from some of its oldest buildings, to interesting modern designs and even the building site that within a year will be new sports and science blocks.

On May 20th we returned to the ‘Eco House’ at the Walled Garden, Barnsdale. The weather was reasonably kind and members saw the spring flowers in all their glory, getting a very different view of the gardens from our previous visit.

On 17th March, we had a Guided tour of Peterborough Cathedral, followed by evensong for those who wished to attend. About 30 people went on the visit .

Our first event in 2009 was the 2009 Civic Society Awards Ceremony – to recognize high standards of design and craftsmanship in Stamford. This was a social evening, with lots of time to talk to other members over a glass of wine and light refreshments.

In November 2008, Wolfgang Buttress, the artist involved with the the Gateway Project talked to an audience of over 60 at Browne’s Hospital. This was followed by a question and answer session. It was a fascinating insight in to how the Project was designed.

The 2008 AGM on September 18th was well attended, and the members thoroughly enjoyed a talk by Crispin Kelly a builder and architect on his views regarding how modern houses should be designed.

The first of our 2008 summer events was a visit to the village of Irnham, where members enjoyed a tour of the Church and a visit to Irnham Hall. The second event in August was very different - a visit to the Eco house being built at Barnsdale, in a wonderful walled garden. Fortunately, the rain stopped just enough for this visit to be possible; we are returning to see the garden again in the Spring of 2009.

Our 2008 Spring talk was given by our President, Orlando Rock, in the Great Hall at Burghley. The talk’s title was “The Sale that never was”, about Dumfries House, a conservation success story.

Our Autumn lecture was given by Charles Crawford, a Landscape Architect and Urban Designer. Titled “Developments and Special Places: A study of two towns”, it compared developments in Stamford with Freiburg in Germany. About 50 people attended, and from the buzz of conversation afterwards, the talk was both enjoyable and thought-provoking.

The 2007 AGM was held on Thursday 27th September in the Town Hall, and was attended by about 50 members. The guest speaker was Peter Neal, Head of Public Space at the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the first Urban Conservation Area in the country in Stamford, the Society arranged a series of lectures in the Arts Centre during 2007

Lady Victoria Leatham talking about 25 years of conservation at Burghley

Quinlan Terry, one of the country's most distinguished architects - How to construct a stone building which will last for centuries

Clive Aslet, Editor at Large for Country Life - Some Landmarks of Britain

Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage - Goodbye England - does anyone out there care?

The last of the 40 years celebration talks was given by our retiring Chairman, John Plumb.

September 8th and 9th was Heritage weekend, celebrated throughout the UK and Europe. To mark this, we arranged two walks on the 9^th September, which were enjoyed by about 20 people, one celebrating William Stuckley’s Stamford and the other Medieval Stamford.

On 16th August, a group of members visited Ayscoughfee Hall, Spalding. Lottery money in rural Lincolnshire has helped to restore this impressive late fifteenth century building, now the local museum and formal gardens.

On 7th July, about 90 members and friends gathered at St. Leonard’s Priory for our summer Garden Party. Amazingly after the dreadful weather of the previous week, the sun shone!

As always, it turned out to be a very enjoyable evening, with excellent food, quality wines and entertainment provided by the Happy Jazz quintet

On Thursday, 7th June members met at Kings Cliffe Church for a tour of this very interesting village in the company of local residents and Society members Mr. & Mrs. J.P. Paige.

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