Civic Voice the National Association for Civic Societies, is calling on communities across England to nominate buildings and schemes for projects they consider make a significant contribution to the quality of their built environment, whether village, town or city.

Griff Rhys Jones, President of Civic Voice said: “It will not be the usual sort of design award where professionals give an award to the work of other professionals. Instead, the nominations will be made and supported by local communities across the country”.

The Civic Voice Community Design Award was launched in Canterbury at the AGM of Civic Voice. The awards will be distinctive in that nominations can only be made by local communities.

Nominations for projects will be considered that are examples of:
• New buildings
• Historic buildings that have been reused or refurbished
• Public realm schemes such as street works, conservation area improvements, parks, improvements and enhancements of the civic realm.

The judges will be looking for excellence in terms of:
• Quality in design and construction
• Appropriateness
• Community participation and engagement
• Promoting pride of place.

Nominations can be made by community groups and organisations including:
• Civic Societies
• Residents Associations
• Building Preservation Trusts
• Neighbourhood Forums
• Development Tusts
• Local History Societies
• Community Arts Groups
• Other community based voluntary organisations.

Freddie Gick, Chair of Civic Voice said “We are introducing the award with the aim of demonstrating that communities are prepared to accept new development – when the development responds to local needs and is of a high standard of design. The civic society movement is focused on delivering high quality places and these awards are a great way to do that while encouraging collaboration between communities and developers on a local level.”
Communities can enter online at http://www.civicvoice.org.uk/cda with a closing date of 31 March 2015

Lynne Noble a member of Buxton Civic Association has produced a brand new guide to the magnificent view from Solomon’s Temple. The 360° panorama is divided into four overlapping sections as you move clockwise round the tower. Points of interest are clearly marked with tips on how to identify them (you don’t need a compass!). Many of the features picked out help to explain the geology of the Peak District and the history of mining and quarrying around Buxton. Some of them are on the far horizon and are only visible on a really clear day. Did you know that you can see Mam Tor and Stanage Edge from Grin Low?

The guide is produced on a single sheet with two sections of the panorama on each side and can be bought flat or rolled. They are on sale at Poole’s Cavern, price £2, ready to make your next visit to Solomon’s Temple much more interesting... and more than just a view.

A section of the 360 degree view from Solomon's Temple.

Combs Moss and Kinder Scout are part of the Dark Peak. This is moorland country made of gritstone (course sandstone) and shales often with beds of peat on top. The highest parts of Kinder are about 630 metres (2000 feet) above sea level.
Grin Low is 435 metres (1426 feet) above sea level and is in the White Peak. The light grey walls and rocks around Solomon’s Temple show that this is limestone country.
Much of the White Peak is 300 to 400 metres (900 to 1300 feet) above sea level.
Buxton is one of the highest towns in England at 300 metres (nearly 1000 feet) above sea level.

The 360° panorama is divided into four sections as you move clockwise round the tower.

Try to identify the near features first then work back into the distance.
eg look at the stile in the wall on Section 1 then look directly above it and you should see the
Palace Hotel and Brown Edge TV Mast beyond that... easy.

The most distant features need perfect visibility and good eyes.

The right hand edge of each section overlaps with the left edge of the section below

Challenge… Can you spot Mam Tor and Buxton Cricket Ground?

Minninglow Hill on Section 2 is really difficult to spot!! (binoculars are a must for this one)

Peak District photographer,Phil Sproson,has produced a calendar of the Spa Town of Buxton for 2015. It encapsulates the architecturally significant town from its centre with some great views of the Crescent, the Devonshire Dome, Opera House, Old Hall Hotel and Pavilion Gardens and then outward to the surrounding countryside within a 10 minute drive. The calendar features locations such as the Cat & Fiddle, the Goyt Valley and Solomons Temple as well as a photograph of Poole's Cavern.

It is produced on high quality paper, and can be bought for £7.99 from the Poole's Cavern visitor centre.

In the next month or so Alan Walker and the BCA woodland volunteers will be out and about working on the Woodland Glades, in Grin Low,. giving them their all important annual cut back. These beautiful wild flower glades, that we have created and work hard to preserve and maintain, are becoming all the more important in the light of the recent news about the loss of much of our remaining wild flower meadows to intensive farming.

The woodland glade areas are associated with the 17th & 18th century lime burning industry on the hillside. Below each kiln is a wide area where waste limestone ash was tipped. Slowly the lime tips were colonised by lime loving species of herbaceous plants and grasses such as Northern Marsh Orchid, Burnet Saxifrage, Globe flower, Mountain Everlasting, Creeping willow and Juniper creating a unique habitat which unlike the neighbouring farm land is not grazed or fertilized by animal livestock.

The area of Grin Low was designated by the Nature Conservancy Council (now Natural England) as a site of Special Scientific Interest in 1983 recognising the Juniper as the only surviving example in Derbyshire and was re-designated by Natural England in 1981 under the Wildlife and Countryside act.

With continuing advice from Natural England it was recognised over 15 years ago that without careful management the glades would be encroached by rank species of grasses and invasive trees species such as Birch and Ash and these valuable areas could be lost.

Since then a project which was originally funded by Natural England has seen the glades annually cut using power brush cutters and the cuttings raked and removed from the glade. This is important to prevent the thin soil layer from becoming too enriched and therefore able to support invasive species.

This is a highly labour intensive time and the BCA woodland volunteer group are invaluable in assisting with the grass clearing and cutting back saplings on the glade edges.

We have now bought back eight or so glades to good condition which total around 7 acres of the 100 acres of Grin Low wood and hope to enlarge some of these areas further. Sadly funding is not currently available for this project which makes the need for volunteer help even more important so if anyone has a few hours to spare anytime in September and October please contact Alan at Poole’s Cavern visitor centre on 01298 26978.

June Noble has produced an excellent guide to the Wild Flowers of Grin Low accompanied by some wonderful photographs by Lyn. The Guide is available from Poole's Cavern Visitor Centre for £3.00.

"I knew he watched from among the foliage"

In younger days I walked the woods,
That spoke the language of birds and earth
And searched for him whose name I did not know.
Yet even then, in childhood games
I knew he watched from among the foliage,
His leaf mask smiling through
The scented blossom
Of those joyous infant years.

In the brook I paddled
Near my grandma’s cottage,
Forging up-stream in search of its source.
A waterfall I found
That tumbled into a pool,
Where trout flashed
Like silver stars
In the depths of its dark mystery.

This he showed me,
Him whose name I did not know.
This fountain of knowledge;
This secret fount of childhood dream
That seems strangely blurred now,
With the passage of two score years.

Yet still I glimpse him
In woodland glades
Or in lonely copses
That crown our hollow hills.
Now we smile in recognition:
Yet through the ferny gloom
I witness in his wise eyes
A sense of loss,
Deeper than
The void of space
And the passage of dying stars.

YOUNGER GENERATION STEPS IN

A packed AGM at Buxton Civic Association’s Visitor Centre paid tribute to retiring Board members and welcomed younger ones to take on new roles and responsibilities.

Chairman Paul Dinsdale covered a wide range of topics reflecting the great number of responsibilities currently undertaken by the Association’s special interest groups. These include the Woodlands Group, chaired by Peter Phillipson, who gave an illustrated talk on the work done on paths, stiles, walling and steps in Grin Low and Corbar as well as reporting on storm damage which cost several thousand pounds last year alone. He emphasized that trees fallen or felled from necessity, left space in the canopy allowing young saplings to regenerate, while fallen timber provides an invaluable natural habitat for insects and small animals.

Vice-Chairman Mike Monaghan spoke of the progress being maintained in sourcing good quality Fair Trade and local produce for the popular Café at the Cavern and of our aim to recycle water where appropriate. He also applauded our achievement in gaining the County Council’s coveted Environmental Quality Mark, testifying to the Association’s overall environmental awareness and initiatives. He also complimented Paula Pickering, manager of the highly successful Café at the Cavern, which has recently again been awarded the highest five star rating by Council Environmental Health officers.

The Community and Membership Group is now lead by Mike Wilde, and is becoming involved in a wide range of community initiatives and projects, as well as organizing events for members and the public, and raising awareness of the Association and its work. In this, he is ably assisted by directors Alyson Phillips, who is also responsible for the production of the Association’s excellent Newsletter, and Tim Middleton.

Both Planning and Corporate Affairs Groups were mentioned by the Chairman who detailed recent changes. Hilary Lawrence, formerly Vice-Chairman and Chair of Planning, has stepped down from those roles, and the Chairman paid tribute to her support, and her long, dedicated and enthusiastic service. Stephen Robinson, also a member of the Association’s Planning Group, has decided not to stand for re- election after many years as a director.

The meeting elected three new directors, Jonathan Davey, Owen Longden, and Brian Lawrence.

The Chairman thanked the Association’s staff, volunteer directors and committee members, and all those involved in supporting and running the Association, which was in a healthy financial position, its turnover approaching half a million, and currently employing around thirty staff.

Following the formal business of the AGM, members enjoyed refreshments, followed by an excellent and stimulating presentation by Dai Larner, Executive Director of High Peak and Staffs Moorlands Councils, on the processes involved and problems faced in the preparation of a new Local Plan.

For more information on the work of Buxton Civic Association, and how to join, please contact us on 01298 26978, or at communications@buxtoncivicassociation.org.uk

More about our bluebells

Some photographs from the afternoon.

The rain held off just long enough to enable thirty members Buxton Civic Association to undertake a guided talk and walk in Grin woods to learn how to recognise the different trees that grow there.
Under the very able guidance of Angela Wills and Mike Monaghan, the afternoon started off with a talk about the history of the woods explaining that they were planted in the late eighteenth century to hide the scars from the limestone extraction and lime burning that had gone on on Grinlow for many years.
Initially planted with Beech, there were now some 21 species of trees that could be found in the woods, and Mike and Angela provided examples of the leaves, bark and fruit of many of them to help with their identification.
During a break in the weather Angela and Mike then led a guided walk through the woods and members were able to see how many of the trees they could identify.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable and informative afternoon and everyone is looking forward to the next guided walk on 20th July which will be about the wild flowers of the glades in Grin woods.

A badger vaccination programme can help protect the wildlife population from Bovine TB

Buxton Civic Association are pleased to announce that we are working closely with Derbyshire, Wildlife Trust, Derbyshire Country Council, Badger Trust, and a number of local land owners to support the work that Derbyshire Wildlife Trust are doing to help protect wildlife from the risks of being infected by Bovine TB, by carrying out a badger vaccination programme in the High Peak and Derbyshire.

The plan is to carry out the badger vaccination programme over a period of five years, which will help to support the build up of immunity in the Derbyshire badger population and contribute to reducing the risk to the badgers and other wildlife of contracting bovine TB.

Keep an eye and an ear out for further updates on our website www.buxtoncivicassociation.org.uk, on local radio, and for more information on the work the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust are doing on Badger Vaccination go to their website at www.derbyshirewildlifetrust.org.uk.

Volunteers gathering to help with the Spring Clean organised by the Town Team

Many thanks to the Buxton Civic Association members for turning out on Saturday morning to support the Big Spring Clean organised so well by the Buxton Town Team. The Spring clean made a big impression on the town and for the town, with visitors and residents stopping to say how impressed they were at the community spirit so evident in Buxton.