News

The Colchester Civic Society, like Civic Societies throughout the country, is  involved with Heritage Open Days. Our members steward a number of the properties open to visitors during this event at the beginning of September each year. Heritage Open Days in 2024 will be held on 6th-15th September.   For full information of what’s on

We have a survey of Colchester’s Sculptures now available to view. The survey  originated from a request by Simon Cairns, the Development and Planning Manager at the Planning Department for the Civic Society to consider such a piece of research . There are two sections to this survey. The first being publicly accessible sculptures across the

Colchester Civic Society Visit to Cannock Mill Our visit to Cannock Mill and the cohousing scheme of which the mill is now a part was hosted by Colchester Civic Society member David York. Thanks  to David and some of his fellow members of the community we were made very welcome  and provided with accounts of

  If you love Colchester and loathe litter, here is an opportunity to help towards making Colchester ‘Britain’s first recorded litter-free city.’ The aim is to remove all the old litter and rubbish blighting the Borough, including cleaning up the numerous grot-spots. The target is to fill 1,000 to 2,000 bags. Why in the middle

An update on The Cast Iron Lamppost Project in 2023 from John Salmon. As many of you will know by now Colchester Civic Society is running a project for the stripping and repainting of Colchester’s cast iron lampposts. This began in 2020 and has now just completed it’s fourth year, with lampposts in Errington Road, Wickham

Three more films have been added to  our Colchester on Film Archive Section this month.  There is a six minute colour film, with commentary covering the major retail developments of Lion Walk, Culver Square and also the St. John’s Street supermarket and multi storey car park, a film about the opening of the Mercury Theatre

A Visit To Jumbo Some of our members took the opportunity to climb up inside the  water tower in January 2023. The Colchester and North East Essex Building Preservation Trust, who are now the lease holders, hosted two parties of members  on this visit and others, who did not feel up to the long climb,

Colchester officially became a city on Wednesday, 23 November, when the letters patent – an official document written on parchment – was presented to the mayor during a special meeting of the Full Council.  As part of the media presentations of the event Jo Edwards agreed to be interviewed by BBC Essex on our behalf.

Colchester Civic Society’s project to renovate our cast iron lampposts is now in it’s third year. In the previous two years more than forty of Colchester’s historic cast iron lampposts, most of which were made in local foundries during the early years of the  twentieth century, have been stripped and repainted. This year teams in

As part of our Social Program ten Civic Society members took the opportunity to be shown around Colchester Arts Centre by  Anthony Roberts. Anthony, who has been director The  Arts Centre Director since 1991, ran through the history of the building from it’s inauguration as St. Mary The Virgin in 1286, it’s part in the

Late in the afternoon of the 8th September 2022, a number of Colchester Civic Society members were gathered together at the Town House for a briefing about Colchester’s Town Deal Funding. Just as the meeting was drawing to a close, the very sad news of the death of HM Queen Elizabeth ll was announced by

Our summer newsletter is now published. If you would like to read it online, then please follow this link Newsletter for summer 2022  

DETAILS OF THIS YEARS HERITAGE OPEN DAYS  ON 10TH AND 11TH SEPTEMBER ARE NOW AVAILABLE ON OUR HERITAGE OPEN DAYS PAGE. The Colchester Civic Society, like Civic Societies throughout the country, is deeply involved with Heritage Open Days. Our members steward many of the properties open to visitors during this event at the beginning of

  Active travel proposals for key route in Colchester to be reviewed after consultation with residents and businesses in the area. Plans to revamp Crouch Street in Colchester aimed at improving walking and cycling provision will be reviewed after Essex County Council (ECC) listened to public feedback. Proposals drawn up for Crouch Street would’ve seen

  OUR PROGRAMME OF EVENTS for the latter half of 2022 is now available on our  OUTINGS AND EVENTS page. This is not the complete programme for the year. Other events are still at the planning stage and will appear in the next Newsletter, due later in the summer. Please keep an eye on the Society’s

The following article was submitted to the Colchester Gazette recently and an expanded version was published last week. This was a follow-up to Sir Bob Russell’s report published in  the Gazette in November outlining the work carried out on by the Irvine Road Residents Association. We hope that it will serve to encourage more volunteers

Six Society members joined the fifth Community Action Day organised by the CBC Neighbourhood team on 2nd November. We worked for three hours including a short coffee break, coffee provided by CBC. The work involved litter picking along North Station Road from Middleborough to the Albert Roundabout, including the area around the Riverside Hotel, Also,

  Three more plastic ties have been added to our ever growing pile after we found ( and put out of their misery) these rather outdated statutory notice dated 23rd July 2020 announcing temporary ‘post lockdown traffic orders in St Paul’s Road. Why don’t they remove them? Members of the Society Eyes and Ears team

The British Legion was established in May 1921 and the Colchester branch in August of the same year. To commemorate the centenaries of the two organisations, The Society’s knitters set a target of 100 knitted poppies for volunteers to sell during the November poppy appeal. 130 were handed over and we intend to get clicking

The painting out of graffiti was postponed because of the threat of rain. However, six Society members collected 16 sacks of litter – and an abandoned carpet. A good morning’s work. We intend taking part in further Community Action Days  

The Town Centre Manager Sam Lancaster is arranging a Community  Action Day on Monday 4th October. and is appealing for volunteers. She says: “We are having another Resident Action Day on Monday 4th October. This time our focus is Childwell Alley that runs from Rosebery Avenue to Brook Street. The alleyway is completely covered in

Heritage Open Day returns to Colchester for another popular pair of weekends between the 11th and 19th September 2021, when the doors to Colchester’s heritage attractions are flung open and residents and visitors alike are invited to explore the secrets and stories contained within. Highlights include a free open day at Colchester Castle, free guided tours

The Society’s efforts to remove the irritating cable ties used to fasten notices to lampposts etc. across Colchester continues. Another 1000 have been handed to CBC for recycling. We’ve now collected over 5000 in a campaign to rid our streets of these plastic eyesores.

Litter pickers in Colchester find 110 face masks and broken bicycles This was the headline in the Colchester Gazette following the Civic Society’s Great British Spring Clean Litter Pick. It explains that: “Colchester Civic Society volunteers collected a total of 45 bags during Keep Britain Tidy’s annual Great British Spring Clean event. This was more

NEW INTERPRETATION BOARD AT ST. BOTOLPH’S  PRIORY This new board was unveiled today following a joint project between Colchester Civic Society, Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service and Colchester Borough Council. This is the first of two projects intended to raise knowledge and interest in the Priory and its grounds. The  Interpretation Board explains the significance

LITTER PICK ON THURSDAY 3RD JUNE AT GREYFRIARS HOTEL at 10am This year’s Keep Britain Tidy Great British Spring Clean, branded the “MillionMilesMission”, takes place from 28 May to 13 June. The goal is to clean up a million miles of UK streets, coastline, parks, footpaths, and neighbourhoods. Due to the COVID situation KBT advises against

The Essex Highways Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan consultation is one of a number of consultations being conducted under the banner of Safer Greener Healthier. The Essex Highways Site explains that: Essex has been awarded over £7million of government funding to develop safer, greener and healthier travel and transport locally as part of the Phase

Packs of paint and equipment are now being distributed to the four teams who will be repainting cast iron lampposts in four areas of the town this year. During 2021 The Irvine Area Residents Association will be organizing volunteers to carry out restoration work on the cast iron posts in Athelstan, Irvine, Capel and Audley

Colchester Civic Society are supporting this new campaign to address Colchester residents’ concerns about air quality A new Colchester-wide campaign has launched to encourage drivers to switch off their car engines while they wait at traffic lights, level crossings or outside schools, to improve their own health and help reduce air pollution in the town.

Written for us by Bob Russell, the article printed in the Gazette on Tuesday 10th August and reproduced below,  explains that the painting of some of Colchester’s Cast Iron lampposts has almost been completed in Roman and Castle Road. The Irvine Road Area Residents Association are now planning to follow on and repaint the lampposts

The long running saga of the application to build 120 flats in blocks on land to the west of Brook Street was passed at a Planning Meeting on June18 2020, having been recommended for approval by the Planning Department. The application dates back to the 7th January 2019 and has undergone various stages of alteration

Public Right of Way 93 at the eastern end of Meander Mews, takes you alongside Cowdray Marsh Wildlife Site on a 2-metre wide tarmac footway between the River Colne and Cowdray Avenue. 300 metres on from where PROW 93 meets Cowdray Avenue, the footway ends abruptly at a piece of unregistered land approximately 100 metres

Many of you will have already been made aware that under instruction from Central government Essex Highways have introduced a range of measures intended to maintain social distancing  in the town centre now that the shops are reopening. This has all been introduced at very short notice and as a consequence only a limited amount

Colchester Civic Society under Lockdown All our events and face to face meetings have of course been cancelled for the foreseeable future, including executive committee meetings, our AGM and the monthly coffee mornings at Greyfriars. However our work continues, as far as possible, behind the scenes as you will see from the report following Jo’s

Ken was a long serving Borough Councillor, Mayor, Alderman and a chairman of Colchester Civic Society. Born and brought up in Layer de la Haye, Ken worked for Colchester Cooperative Society Funeral Department and then later at the University of Essex. In addition to serving on many committees, and the board of Colchester Cooperative Society,

THE PROPOSED ALUMNO DEVELOPMENT THE CIVIC SOCIETY WILL BE REPRESENTED AT THE PUBLIC INQUIRY WHICH STARTS TODAY AT ST. BOTOLPH’S CHURCH. HERE IS THE PROGRAM. PUBLIC INQUIRY 10:00 on Wednesday 16 October 2019 Appeal by Alumno Student (Essex) Ltd re Demolition of existing buildings/structures and redevelopment to provide purpose-built student accommodation; hotel; commercial space (use

Wishes for Colchester There were 141 responses to the Society’s popular Wishing Wall at the St Botolph’s Priory Event. Residents and visitors took time to pass on their wish for our town. Popular wishes included: cleaner, tidier streets, safer pavements, more trees and a firm no to the proposed student flats in Colchester’s Cultural Quarter.

Superdrug‘s shop in our High Street incorporates one of the fine Georgian gems to have survived with a beautiful bay window and very old iron light holders. The Society saw in late November 2018 that part of the bay was in great danger of falling apart . We raised the issue with the enforcement officer

Colchester Civic Society hosted a meeting at Firstsite on Saturday 5th October for representatives of Civic Societies from across East Anglia. This was the fourth in what we hope will be an ongoing series of meetings where we seek to learn and support oneanother in our efforts to improve the towns we live in.

Our social program again this year included evening visits to Fingringhoe Wick Nature Reserve to watch a badger clan. Just four people are admitted each time along with a volunteer warden. You get to sit in an armchair in a hide and watch the badgers feeding through the large windows. A very special evening. The

Colchester Civic Society will have a stand and a version of our Wishing Wall at the St. Botolph’s Open Day and Market on Saturday 21st September. Please come and say hello And make a wish for Colchester. All wishes will be passed on to Colchester Council.

Heritage Open Days begin again on Friday 13th September. for the full details go to our page  Heritage Open Days       

Our comments on Essex Highways St Botolphs Circus Final Masterplan  proposals for changes to St. Botolph’s Roundabout in Colchester. The current proposal, by Essex Highways own admission is a short to medium term change which will cause major disruption to a key part of the town’s road network while the work is carried out; and

There was a good turn out for the meeting with Kevin Bentley at Greyfriars yesterday evening, standing room only for many people. Representatives from local businesses and organisations were invited along with the residents of Roman and Castle Road and Greyfriars Court. The outcome: The meeting was informed that the traffic island at Lewis Gardens

A survey of Colchester’s Iron Work. This is a comprehensive survey by Robert Mercer covering all forms of cast iron work, including lampposts, bollards, railings, manhole covers and a variety of other forms of casting, which have survived in Colchester. However, as Robert points out in his own introduction, the essence of the survey is

Colchester Civic Society members played their part in yesterday’s Keep Britain Tidy Great British Spring Clean. They collected 21 sacks of rubbish, 5 discarded oil containers, 4 cones and a stack of yellow buckets.

The formal road ‘opening’ at Peter Crowe Approach in Hampton Park, Stanway. Six new roads are named after Mayors – Allen Aldridge, Reg Hilham, Westley Sandford, Martin Hunt, Christopher Garnett, & Peter Crowe. The sign for Reg Hilham Walk still has to be erected. As you can see many local politicians attended and played a

Back in November we appealed for help from the public to report to us any telephone boxes in need of repair. Here is an update from our chairperson Jo Edwards, as published in the Colchester newspapers this week.   On behalf of Colchester Civic Society, I recently wrote to ask the town’s residents for information

Twenty four members (if you include  Jo’s  19 month old grandson Jimmy!) enjoyed the new year lunch at Greyfriars on Sunday 20th January.  

It’s not just the oceans that are awash with plastic! Colchester Civic Society members have been collecting redundant plastic cable ties from around lampposts etc in the town centre area. Ties used by CBC and ECC to fix statutory notices and left behind when the notices were removed. Over 2000 so far- and counting… If

In the Uk, thousands of shopping trolleys are abandoned every year in car parks, by roadsides and in rivers. As the biggest trolley manufacturer in the world, German company Wanzl has a division called Trolleywise to help deal with this problem. Trolleywise have just launched a new Trolleywise app to collect repair and return trolleys

Colchester’s war memorials   In October 2017 Dr Paul Rusiecki was requested by the Colchester Civic Society to produce a survey of all the borough’s war memorials connected with the Great War, a survey that was to include photographs of them all to determine whether any required repair or refurbishment. The aim was to establish

Dave Monk, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Essex and BBC Essex presenter launched Colchester’s New Plaque Trails on Monday 5th November at a reception in Greyfriars Hotel Colchester Civic Society member, Alderman Henry Spyvee, put forward the idea to list the town plaques, drawing them to the attention of local people and tourists. The Society has

Ann Turner, our Vice chair and membership secretary is pictured here receiving a Colchester In Bloom award from the Mayor of Colchester Peter Chillingworth, in recognition of our help with the Southway Murals project – we worked in partnership with CinB on this major project.

Colchester Civic Society has received a certificate from The Mercury Theatre in acknowledgement of our adoption of of seat 22 in aid of the Mercury Rising appeal.

THE STORY OF COLCHESTER‘S ANCIENT HIGH STREET AND TIMBERED BUILDINGS. A new book, “Colchester The Historic High Street”, published by Colchester Civic Society, will be available to buy from Red Lion Books, this coming Saturday morning – 16th June. One of the authors, Dave Stenning, will be signing copies of the book between 11 and

Our AGM is at Greyfriars Hotel on Monday 11th June at 7pm. Please note the change of venue for this meeting. We are experimenting! Greyfriars has huge advantages, particularly the car parks and bus stops nearby. Much as we like St. Botolph’s Hall, several people have recently found the surrounding area challenging and have thought

The Henry and Joyce Collins website is now up and running. This gives background information about the artists and their work in their home town of Colchester. In 2017 Colchester Civic Society and Colchester in Bloom supported by a grant from Heritage Lottery Fund, undertook the restoration of the artists’ concrete murals across the town’s

Wednesday 7th March 26 sacks of rubbish plus some fly tipped stuff. Colchester Civic Society’s contribution to the Great British Spring Clean. This is the national initiative, organised by Keep Britain Tidy, to encourage individuals and groups to pick up the litter on their own doorstep.  

Listen to the report here.

Here are few photos, taken on behalf of Taylor Wimpey, of the plaques the company sponsored at Arena Place and Mersea Road.. The latter commemorates the Hyderabad and Meeannee Barracks.

Thanks to Dorian Kelly for his excellent and thoroughly entertaining portrayal of John Ball. Here are two photos from the unveiling of The John Ball Plaque last year. Thanks to Shami Chakraberti and the Bishop of Colchester Roger Morris for the unveiling.  

Heritage Open Days are running from the 7-10th September. Click the image for full details

We are now part way through the restoration of the Henry Collins and Joyce Pallot Murals in the Southway underpasses . The plaster and resin surrounds have been removed and replaced with mosaic. The mosaic panels are made off site from bespoke templates and then fitted on site. The next phase is for the concrete

A plaque to commemorate John Ball will be unveiled on Saturday 15th July 2017 at 4pm by the Bishop of Colchester and Baroness Chakrabarti CBE. The unveiling will take place on John Ball Day, which coincides with the date of John Ball’s execution in 1381. Prior to the unveiling, a recording of the new John

BLUE PLAQUE UNVEILED COMMEMORATING COLCHESTER’S FIRST WOMAN MAYOR Colchester Civic Society has just unveiled its latest blue plaque. This one, at 24 Cambridge Road commemorates Catharine Alderton, the first woman to become Mayor in Colchester. Having been elected as a Liberal councillor in 1916, she become mayor in 1923. CATHARINE ALDERTON 1869 – 1951) Catharine

Invitation to Tender for the restoration of a series of murals in Colchester’s Southway Subways. Brief for Conservation Work: Henry Collins and Joyce Pallot: Colchester Southway Murals BACKGROUND Colchester Civic Society have recently been successful in receiving a grant from the Heritage Lottery to support the restoration and interpretation of a series of concrete and

A walk with Katherine Wood – join Katherine and the team involved in developing the restoration and interpretation of Colchester’s public art murals by husband and wife team, artists Henry Collins and Joyce Pallot. The walk is organised by Colchester Civic Society and Colchester in Bloom who have recently been successful in their application to

Colchester Civic Society has been successful in its application to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for funding to support the restoration and interpretation of a series of murals by artists Henry Collins and Joyce Pallot in Colchester’s Southway Subways. The project is a collaboration with Colchester in Bloom and the organisations will work together to

Colchester Civic Society has launched it’s new Facebook page with a campaign against the bus lane at All Saints, which prevents private and most commercial vehicles turning right from High Street into Queen Street. The ban causes real issues, including U turns in Lewis Gardens, which have been filmed by Society Executive Committee member, John

The incredible saga of the John Ball commemorative plaque has, after many years, finally reached it’s conclusion. Removed from the wall of a house in John Ball Walk at the request of the resident, the plaque was put into store and then lost. After a long search by the Society, it was finally located and

Click here for the full story in the Gazette

We are pleased to announce that we have now received the list of this year’s heritage open day events. Thursday 8th September  Map Code Venue/Event  Address  Description  Times  14 William Gilberd Days of Tudor Science, Trinity Street Trinity Street, CO1 1JB Events and activities at multiple venues to celebrate the achievements of William Gilberd –

On Monday the 18th of July the first of three chartered boat trips from Flatford to Cattawade took place on the River Stour Trusts’ “Trusty II”. This heralds the long awaited return of our series of cruises on the Stour since the lock at Flatford was badly damaged.  We are delighted to report that the repairs

Links to newspaper articles about the Dr Ruth Bensusan-Butt plaque unveiling. http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/eminent_colchester_doctor_honoured_with_blue_plaque_1_4565226 http://m.gazette-news.co.uk/news/14547817.Plaque_pays_tribute_to_work_of_Colchester_s_first_female_doctor/  

A blue plaque commemorating Dr Ruth Bensusan-Butt1877-1957, was unveiled on Sunday 5th June. The plaque was erected by Colchester Civic Society near to the front door of the Minories, where Dr Ruth lived and worked from 1915 to 1957. The plaque was unveiled by Prof Simon Shorvon, Dr Ruth’s grandson, and Dr Elizabeth Hall, another

Civic Society members have been out and about photographing Colchester plaques. The Open Plaques website now have 14 Colchester plaques listed. Can you help to list more? Follow this link to see all 14. http://openplaques.org/places/gb/areas/colchester/plaques

On 11th March 2016 Councillor Theresa Higgins, Mayor of Colchester, unveiled the Ruth King Close sign. Ruth King Close was the very first street naming in which the Civic Society was involved after being accepted by Colchester Borough Council as consultees on street names for the urban part of the Borough. The Society is now

The Civic Society is delighted to report, having arranged for the extensive cleaning of the very dirty and unreadable 1967 commemorative plaque at Scheregate Steps, that the work has been completed and it looks great. Following the formation of the Colchester Civic Society in 1964, an improvements committee was set up to consider schemes to

Twenty eight members of the Society gathered at the Siege House on Saturday 16th January for a New Year Lunch. Many had not been to the restaurant for some years and were amazed by it’s transformation. The food was delicious and conversation, as usual, flowed. It was a very pleasant occasion.

The winter newsletter and part of the 2016 programme are now listed on the website.

Colchester Presents – Celebrate Heritage Town Centre Family Fun Day – Upper Castle Park and High Street 12th September 9am-5pm

Heritage Open Days 2015, 12th to 13th September. Civic Society Members will be deeply involved in Colchester’s Heritage Open Days offer this year as they have been for very many years past. This year there are even more places to visit in and around Colchester. To see the full list, click here.

Good to see that the Gazette has picked up the ‘Jacks’ article from our Newsletter. It will be interesting to know what other Colcestrians think as the Gazette has asked for comments. http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/12967660.We_want_to_make_it_happy_Jacks_again/?ref=mr&lp=2

I promised a visit to Greyfriars and I now have a date! Monday 8th June 2015 at 6pm. I have already been to see what has been happening behind the hoardings. Wow! Greyfriars, a much loved school and, later, an equally loved Adult Education Centre, has been transformed into a luxury hotel. Incredibly, the building

Colchester Borough Council has recently agreed to consult Colchester Civic Society about new street names in Colchester. One of the names to be accepted is Richard Nichols. Richard Nichols Road – off William Harris Way, Colchester, will be part of the redevelopment on military land in the Berechurch area. Like William Harris, Richard Nichols was

30 members went to the Tate Gallery to see the Late Turner exhibition, which is due to end shortly. We were treated to a lecture from one of the curators on J MW Turner and the stories behind his paintings . Afterwards we were free to look at the paintings in the exhibition. Included were

We start our 2015 visits on Friday 16th January to the ‘Late Turner Exhibition’ at The Tate Britain in London. If you wish to join us on this visit please contact Jo Edwards. You can email her via the ‘CONTACT US’ tab at the top of the main website page. This is very much a

On Sunday 30th November members met at our sponsored East Gate board on East Hill for a commemorative photograph. A 50th birthday lunch at the Minories followed.

  The Civic Society sponsored the third of a series of interpretation boards planned to interpret the history of Colchester at different sites along the Roman Wall. Our board at East Gates was unveiled on 22nd November 2014 by Tim Young, Portfolio Holder for Culture. On the following Sunday fifty members met and enjoyed a

Colchester Civic Society members will be out in force this weekend to act as stewards at many of the buildings in Colchester that will be open for Heritage Open Days.

The Colchester Civic Society is 50 years old this year! Members celebrated at a birthday party held at the Upper Bowls Pavilion in Castle Park on Saturday 14th June and then, again, at the Society’s Annual General Meeting at the Colchester Officers’ Club at the end of June. Needless to say, there was a birthday

Colchester Civic Society are pleased to announce that their blue plaque commemorating Colchester artist, Frank Daniell, will be unveiled on Tuesday 20th May 2014 at 12.30pm. The plaque will be installed on the front of the house on East Hill, where he lived for much of his life.

The finishing touches are being added to the website and it will be live this week!

New Website is almost ready to launch!