History of the civic movement
Civic Voice is exploring a project to tell the story of the civic movement. The civic society movement is one of the country's most important social movements. Currently, there are over a thousand volunteer local civic and amenity societies in the warp and weft of local communities and they have over 250,000 individual members. The first civic society was set up in the 1840s and the movement shares roots in the nineteenth century with bodies such as the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and the National Trust.
The movement received a major boost when Duncan Sandys gave it a national voice in 1957 with the creation of the Civic Trust as a champion for the character and diversity of the buildings and places that make up our cities, towns and villages. From the outset, the Civic Trust focused not only on conservation, but also on bringing about positive change and promoting higher standards. The Civic Trust’s work included drafting legislation which created conservation areas in 1967 – there are now 9,300 conservation areas in England - and it ran the country’s largest voluntary cultural event – Heritage Open Days - until going into administration in April 2009. Remarkably, despite its importance, there is no true history of the civic movement or its relationships to other social movements and changes in society over nearly 200 years.
A number of civic societies have their own histories, researched and written by local volunteers. These are expected to grow rapidly in number as many civic societies approach their 50th anniversary. Yet, the movement lacks the story of its roots and its significance and the project is designed to address this gap. The benefits of understanding and celebrating the importance of the civic movement have rarely been more important. There is growing recognition of the importance of social and community action and we are at the formative stage in the development of a new chapter for the civic movement with the establishment of Civic Voice following the recent closure of the Civic Trust. This project presents an opportunity to develop this new phase on inspiring foundations.
Get Involved
A group of around 30 volunteers from the following groups has already come forward in response to a request for expressions of interest in the project: Worthing Society Hinckley Society Market Weighton Civic Society Kilbarchan Civic Society Chippenham Civic Society Cirencester Civic Society Bexley Civic Society Tiverton Civic Society Faversham Society Harrogate Civic Society Leicester Civic Society Formby Civic Society Petersfield Society Hale Civic Society Merseyside Civic Society Portsmouth Society Staffordshire Civic Society Swindon Civic Trust Malvern Civic Society Halifax Civic Trust Bewdley Civic Society Brighton Society Kidderminster Civic Society The Broadstairs Society Littleborough Civic Trust
If you are interested in learning more about and contributing to the history of the civic movement project then contact us at info@civicvoice.org.uk
Read more here link http://www.ncl.ac.uk/guru/research/project/3946