A quarter of a million reasons to be grateful at the start of 2024

Buxton Civic Association is delighted to announce that they will receive support totalling £249, 990 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s ‘Resilience and Recovery’ funding stream over the next two years. This investment will enable Buxton’s leading environmental heritage charity to begin preparations for its diamond anniversary in 2027, by enhancing their volunteering, visitor, and membership programmes, giving further emphasis to developing widespread community involvement and public engagement. The money will also enable reviews of digital provision, marketing, retail, and governance, allowing the BCA team to bring in two full-time project staff to support tasks, alongside a variety of expert consultants. Much needed conservation equipment and materials will also be purchased.

David Green, who wrote the funding application shortly after joining the charity as its first Chief Executive in 2023 said, “We are very grateful to everyone at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, and all National Lottery players for their support. This money should be seen as a much-welcomed strategic investment in heritage conservation and engagement within our community.” He added, “The investment is a hugely exciting opportunity for Buxton Civic Association, and the residents of Buxton, who we are encouraging to get involved. Over the next two years we will be developing a number of new ways individuals and partner organisations will be able to help conserve our town’s heritage, maintaining Buxton as a special and popular place. We are really keen that we use this opportunity to grow our relevance to local residents, and celebrate our fantastic natural and built heritage”.


Robyn Llewellyn, Director, England, Midlands & East at The National Lottery Heritage Fund said: “Heritage has an essential role to play in making communities better places to live and supporting environmental regeneration. At The National Lottery Heritage Fund, we want to ensure that heritage is valued, cared for and sustained by everyone now and in the future. We are pleased to be able to lend our support to Buxton Civic Association with the development of their programming and conservation of their local heritage, which will be crucial for Buxton and its community."

Buxton Civic Association is unique among Civic Associations, due to the number of assets it takes direct responsibility for. These not only include SSSI listed Poole’s Cavern, but also Grinlow Wood and Corbar Wood amongst others. BCA also campaigns actively within the town for high quality environmentally sensitive developments which encourage bio-diversity, whilst publishing a number of books and journals that celebrate the heritage of the town.

In 2020, as Buxton emerged from the pandemic, BCA embraced the chance to enhance its community engagement through the "Stronger Roots" initiative, a programme aimed at inspiring individuals to harness the positive impacts on wellbeing and mental health through closer interaction with nature. The programme facilitated a diverse range of woodland activities and volunteering opportunities. The resounding success of "Stronger Roots" inspired the trustees to continue its community-focused endeavours, and this Heritage Fund investment will allow the exploration of more diverse volunteering roles and visitor programming.

Anyone interested in applying for one of the project roles this grant will support, (Volunteering Development Manager, or, Membership and Marketing Officer), or volunteering with BCA should keep an eye on Buxton Civic Association’s website and social media, which will be used to promote opportunities and disseminate updates on the project to the community. (Contact - BCA (buxtoncivicassociation.org.uk) ) BCA also welcome potential partnership working opportunities from interested individuals and organisations.

About The National Lottery Heritage Fund

As the largest dedicated funder of the UK’s heritage, The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future as set out in the strategic plan, Heritage 2033.

Over the next ten years, the Heritage Fund aims to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to bring about benefits for people, places and the natural environment.

The Heritage Fund helps protect, transform and share the things from the past that people care about, from popular museums and historic places, our natural environment and fragile species, to the languages and cultural traditions that celebrate who we are.

The Heritage Fund is passionate about heritage and committed to driving innovation and collaboration to make a positive difference to people’s lives today, while leaving a lasting legacy for future generations to enjoy.

Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use

#NationalLotteryHeritageFund

www.heritagefund.org.uk

For further information about this exciting development or images contact David Green, Chief Executive Officer, Buxton Civic Association.
E: dave.green@buxtoncivicassociation.org.uk Tel: 01298 26978

Civic Voice is the national charity for the civic movement in England. Its role is to make the places where everyone lives more attractive, enjoyable, and distinctive. It promotes civic pride and speaks up for civic societies and local communities across England. Civic Voice believes that everyone has the right to live somewhere they can be proud of and works towards enhancing the quality of life and the environment in local communities.

The organization also serves as a voice for the civic movement, which includes over a thousand local civic and amenity societies. These societies focus on voluntary and community action to improve the places where people live, work, and relax. They champion the importance of these places to decision-makers and opinion formers in various sectors. Civic societies are known for being independent and grassroots organizations that can be provocative, stubborn, forceful, inspiring, and outspoken on behalf of the places they care about.

Civic Voice also aims to build stronger, more active, and more engaged communities through its work and aspires to have a nation of active citizens³. It is a fundamental source of civic pride and plays an essential role in helping individuals and communities understand and take action to improve their lives through the places they live.

Civic Voice article

We are delighted to announce that we have been selected as a winner of the 2024 Weston Charity Awards! BCA have been awarded a team of business experts and funding to tackle social and environmental challenges.

Read the press release below

Buxton charity Buxton Civic Association awarded a team of business experts and funding to tackle social and environmental challenges

Join us for The Big Help Out

Click on this link to sign up for the volunteering session on 8th June

May's E-Newsletter

Click on this link to read the latest e-newsletter from BCA.

Dave Green, BCA CEO talks to John Philips about the reasons why BCA is seeking an alcohol licence for its Visitor Centre on Green Lane

Dave Green clarifies BCA's reasons and position on their recent application to extend their premises licence to enable them to sell alcohol from Poole's Cavern Visitor Centre.

Dave Green, BCA CEO talks to John Philips about the reasons why BCA is seeking an alcohol licence for its Visitor Centre on Green Lane

BCA's April e-newsletter

BCA April News and Views

A discovery of treasure in an unexplored passage at Buxton’s famous show cave has got everyone wondering ‘could this be the legendary outlaw Poole’s long-lost hoard?’

An exciting and historical discovery has been made at the famous Buxton limestone show cave known as Poole’s Cavern, thrusting the site into the spotlight and setting hearts racing and imaginations running wild.

News broke this morning of a supposed hidden treasure trove uncovered deep within the cavern's remote passages over the Easter weekend, sparking a frenzy of excitement among the staff and regular visitors. Could it be the legendary outlaw Poole’s long-lost hoard?

Poole was an outlaw from Staffordshire who used the cave in the early 15th century to elude the search of his pursuers, crossing into Derbyshire, beyond their county jurisdiction. He reportedly hid his booty of stolen gold coins, gemstones and jewellery in the cave. No known documentation has survived, but his legend has been passed down over the centuries and so tied to the cave that it still bears his name.

Cryptic clues

According to the reports, an unexplored tunnel was stumbled upon by a group of cave explorers who claimed to have followed a series of cryptic clues discovered after analysis of signs etched into the cavern's walls had been undertaken: photos, like that below, can be seen in the exhibition space at Poole’s Cavern Visitor Centre. Previously thought to be Victorian graffiti, the signs and scrawled signatures are now thought to date back beyond the 15th century.

Unexplored passage

After navigating through some of the upper passages in the cave, which are not normally open to the public, they stumbled upon a previously unexplored side passage. Robin Irwin who was leading the group takes up the story.

“We were surprised by the passage as it did not appear on any of the maps or diagrams that we have. The passage was small and only one person was able to enter. It was really more of an enlarged crack in the wall. We also noticed that at the end of the passage there was a sign, similar to the ones we had been analysing, etched onto the rocks”

Intrigued, the group agreed to return to the spot the next evening and brought with them some digging tools.

Wooden box

It was clear that the floor of the passage had been disturbed and, after about an hour of digging and scraping, the group hit a wooden box.

“You can only imagine our excitement.” Robin continued.

Carrying the box back to the Visitor Centre, they debated whether to open it or to seek specialist advice. In the end, excitement won the day and the box, which was in a very fragile state, was carefully opened.

Just as the legend says, a hoard of gold coins, gemstones and jewellery lay within!

Also inside, resting on top and wrapped in a wax cloth, was a document in a reasonable state of preservation. It was hard to decipher the scribbled words written on it, but it purported to be from a Solomon Poole and, from the brief fragments of legible writing, it was understood to be a record of the exploits of his father, Adam Poole, the notorious outlaw of legend.

Dave Green BCA CEO commented
“This is a fantastic find for us at Poole’s Cavern and for the town. It will fit in perfectly with our exhibition plans and the opening of the new displays next year.”

This is the first contemporaneous record found of Poole and, as such, could be considered the real treasure.

Scientific analysis

The group, after the initial excitement of hitting the jackpot subsided, began to carefully remove the items of precious treasure. Or so they thought.

Before the fragile document could be photographed, water was accidentally spilt on it and it dissolved! Confused, the group poured more water on it and it completely disappeared!
Concluding that it must have been made of rice paper or sugar paper, attentions turned to the gold coins. After careful, forensic analysis, biting one to check it was real gold, they turned out to be made of out of chocolate!

And just to top it off, the ‘jewellery’ was seemingly made out of spun caramel, the ‘gemstones’ from candied sweets and the ‘wooden box’ out of painted sugar-paste.

Either someone has been practicing for a bake-off competition, or they’ve played a prank! Honestly, who would think of such a thing on the first day of April?

Discover the real treasures for yourself

By now, the discerning reader will have realised that this is our contribution to April Fools’ Day. We hope you enjoyed our little bit of fun.

But why not come and visit us and discover the real treasures of the famous show cave for yourself.

To book tickets, go to the link below.

If a treasure hoard ever was discovered in Poole’s Cavern, one of our first ports of call would be the Buxton Museum & Art Gallery.

Sadly, it is still closed. If you would like to show your support for the museum, please sign the petition set up by Vision Buxton. Click on the link below.

Book tickets for Poole's Cavern

Sign the petition to support the reopening of Buxton Museum

Thursday April 18th at 6.30 pm Members and Staff Quiz Night

Why not join us for our members and staff for our quiz night on 18th April at 6,30 pm at the Poole's Cavern, Visitor Centre, Green Lane, SK17 9DH.

BCA members free entry, Non Members £5.

Book tickets on the Eventbrite post at the end of this post.

Book tickets on Eventbrite

High Peak Borough Council, Buxton Field Club and BCA are working together to increase the biodiversity in the Serpentine Walks

It's world rewilding day today, 20th March, so we are celebrating some of the work being done in the town to help improve the biodiversity in the town.

BCA are working to increase the biodiversity in their woods and make them better for nature