Chairman's Jottings - TrustNews Jun 12
We recently welcomed the Civic Voice organisation to Winchester, at a conference attended by representatives from many towns and cities from around the Country. The conference was called to exchange ideas on how to improve the levels of awareness by local people of local societies such as ours, particularly as the Government is encouraging ‘localism’. As I have emphasised on previous jottings, it is important when lobbying politicians, to have a strong body of member support.
It never ceases to amaze me how the Winchester Trust members contribute so much of their spare time towards the Trust activities. There is a wealth of knowledge on tap which enables us to comment professionally on many issues relating to town planning framework, building history, architecture, traffic management and landscape. There are others who provide financial advice, archive organisation and web site material. There is always room however for new volunteers to widen our activities as well as alleviating some of the pressure points.
Once again, John Beveridge has managed to put together a wealth of interesting talks and walks; starting on June 6th, these are always well attended. Iain Patton has also been arranging visits to other places of interest. The first one, which was at Guildford, proved to be a fascinating day out, well prepared by the Guildford Trust. Portsmouth is next, followed by Malvern in September. These outings are well worth attending - they are stimulating and keep Winchester in perspective!
Finally and most importantly, you may recall that in the last Trust News I wrote that his Honour Judge Christopher Clark has been posted well away from Winchester and we needed to find a new President for the Trust. We are pleased to announce that Mrs Joy Carter, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Winchester, has agreed to fill this post and she will be formally appointed at the Annual General Meeting in September. We are very grateful to her for two things, firstly her agreement to become President and secondly she has agreed to give the main address at the AGM.