Chairman's Jottings - TrustNews Sept 12
I never intended to become a television addict or for that matter an avid watcher of cycling. But here I am, half watching the strange antics of a man on a motorbike, dressed in curious clothes, leading a crocodile of cyclists around an oval track and at the same time. I am trying to produce some sensible `jottings' ! The Velodrome incidentally, for me, is the best architectural statement in the Olympic Park. It is a simple elegant statement which reflects the purpose for which it was built. Many of the other stadiums seem to try too hard to impress.
For some time now, Nick Hirst has been working away to bring order to our archive. Much of his hard work can be seen on our website. We have a wealth of information backed up by photographs covering much of the 20th Century. It is very accessible and, apart from the general interest of the collection, can on occasion provide architects, surveyors and householders with useful background material for scheme proposals. The website has been masterminded by Barrie Brinkman and one of the items he has managed to undertake is to put a list of all listed buildings onto the system. It seems a great deal easier to check our site for listed buildings than the English Heritage website which always seems to be quite difficult. On behalf of the Trust, I should like to take this opportunity to thank both Barrie Brinkman and Nick Hirst for their amazing work on rationalising our archive and then making much of it available to Trust members via our website. www. cityofwinchestertrust.co.uk.
As many of you are aware, the Trust has been concerned about the protection of Winchester's historic and important green belt setting. It is felt that the Winchester District Local Plan does not fully recognise the importance of the setting which should in our view have strong policies to protect it, given the Government's requirement for a large number of houses to be somehow absorbed into the City. The Trust's policy group led by Patrick Davis, have worked hard to submit representations to the Winchester District Council local plan.
lain Patton has organised two very successful outings to Portsmouth and Guildford this year. We have one exciting visit left this year and that is to Malvern which lain has been arranging with help from the Malvern Civic Society. We are very much looking forward to this visit and I understand that there are still a few places left.