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Annual General Meeting October 2024

The AGM was held on Thursday 3rd October 2024 in the Refectory, Chester Cathedral, St Werburgh Street, Chester.

The formal business was preceded by a fantastic talk from The Bishop of Chester, Mark Tanner.

Mark spoke significantly about the buildings we inherit, use and pass on to others and how their function might, or has to, change to fit the times. We are simply custodians!

The conversion of Chester Civic Trust’s status to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) was voted in unanimously.

Here is the link to the new constitution which has been worked on intensively and approved by your committees and trustees.

 

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Guests from the Foundling Hospital in London

In May the trust did something unusual: we moved one of our regular social meetings from Bishop Lloyd’s Palace to the Bluecoat Building. We have to thank Mike, Cathy and Janette for welcoming us there. The changed location was appropriate because Anthony Annakin-Smith was giving his lecture on Chester Foundling Hospital. It was housed in the building.

A group of visitors from the London branch joined us as our guests. They were led by Chris Jones and her Voices Through Time digitalisation team. The Coram Hospital kept detailed records of the children in its care. These date from 1739 to the mid-fifties. There are over half a million documents. The team is digitalising the earliest records. These form about a quarter of the archive. They consist of such items as the registration records of the children. They were numbered on arrival and given a new name. Baptism took place if this was necessary. If the mother left a note this was placed on the record. Medical records are also available. Some of these stories are available on the web

Tony has been working with the group. On a random visit to the Museum, he discovered that a branch of the Hospital had been opened in Chester. This was an interesting surprise to him, and he was driven to research this new information.

Between 1756 and 1760 the government legislated that all children handed in to the Hospital had to be cared for. This period, called the Great Reception, meant that the number of children in the Hospital’s care was multiplied. It was beyond what the London branch could manage, and seven provincial outposts were opened. Chester was one of these.  It took orphans from London from 1763 to 1769. The hub of their work was the Bluecoat Building but most children were ‘farmed out’ to so-called nurses in local villages.

There is a synopsis of Tony’s engrossing talk on the Coram website. He is also writing a book on the subject. He hopes it will be published next year. We will keep you informed.

The Foundling Museum in the Euston/Bloomsbury area is well worth a visit. Upstairs are magnificent rooms and an art gallery. Downstairs is a museum telling the sad stories of the young people in its care. Particularly moving is the collection of tokens left by parents to identify their child in case they could ever reclaim them.

FOUNDLING MUSEUM, 40, BRUNSWICK SQUARE, LONDON. WC1N 1AZ. Open Tuesday to Sunday

Karen McKay

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2024 Good, Bad and Ugly Awards

Now in its 18th year, The Chester Civic Trust has given its verdict on the best examples of new development, renovation of existing buildings and community projects in its annual Good, Bad and Ugly awards for the City.

The awards made at a ceremony at the headquarters of Chester Civic Trust at Bishop Lloyd’s Palace Watergate Street, Chester on 17th June, highlight Chester’s buildings, places, spaces and projects in an alternative ‘New Financial Year Honours list’.

Peter Hadfield, chairman of the judging panel, said: “These annual awards are based on nominations from our members. They aim to recognise the best changes to the Chester property scene in the past year. We hope they will encourage higher standards of design and maintenance in our public realm. As always, I would like to thank my fellow Judges for their time and commitment visiting and providing insightful comments on the nominations.”

He added; “Members of the Chester Civic Trust excelled this year with a total of 55 nominations. 32 Bad/Ugly nominations were submitted together with 23 Good nominations.

All categories included an interesting mix of nominations. Once again it was good to see some from outside the city and we would like to receive more in the future.

The judges said; “The Bad and The Ugly Awards are included in the hope that it will prompt action. Sadly, given the current stagnant economy and inadequate funding for local services, we are not anticipating that 2024 will bring many improvements.

As usual we had many nominations for our ‘Hardy Perennials’ (those buildings which get mentioned year after year) including Dee House, the state of the City Walls, the former Quicks Garage and St Olaves Church. We remain concerned about all these areas but this year we decided to concentrate on new nominations and those which we have not mentioned for some time.”

There were several projects which the Judges declined to consider this year as they are incomplete. These will automatically be included with other nominations next year.”

The Chair’s Special Award

  • Picturehouse

The Good Awards

  • The Flaggs and Hamilton House, Church Street, Tarvin
  • ōH Chester Design Foundation, Bridge Street
  • 6-12 Saint Werburgh Street, Renovation of Facades
  • New Chester Market
  • Chester Zoo Nature Recovery Corridor

Good – Commendations

  • The White Horse, Churton
  • Bren Bikes, Live! New Scene, Newton
  • New Residential Property, Farndon
  • The Lock Vaults, Hoole Lane
  • Chester Residents Association Group

The Bad and The Ugly Awards

  • Delamere Street
  • The Roman Strong Room
  • The Riverside Promenade
  • Interpretive Devices
  • Collapsed Wall, Liverpool Road
  • Closure of a Section of The Rows
  • Poor Street Lighting

 

A full copy of the judges’ comments is available.

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