It may seen along way off but by the time Christmas and the New Year is over Civic Day will only be 5 months away.

Civic Day is a national celebration of civic pride. Its a chance for communities across the country to express their pride in the place in which they live. The first civic day was organised in 2011 by Civic Voice, it will be held again in 2015 and, it has the potential to become one of England’s most popular voluntary cultural events. The event is a unique opportunity to stimulate new interest and generate a renewed sense of civic pride for communities across the country.

Although the coordinating work is done by Civic Voice, what really makes this event happen is the fantastic effort of thousands of volunteers. Its the guided tours , the exhibitions, street parties and the competitions that help the visitors understand the area they live in just a little bit more.

BCA is planning to hold an event or a series of events to mark the day. If anyone has any suggestions drop us an email at communications@buxtoncivicassociation.org.uk.

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

Transition Buxton are coordinating a project to create a community food production and education area based at the old working greenhouses in the Serpentine off Burlington Road. Volunteers have managed to clear a lot of the invasive scrub already and Buxton Civic Association have supported them with a donation.

There is still plenty of work to be done however so if anyone is interested in volunteering, in particular to help with building raised beds, and composting areas, then there are a number of volunteer days through out the winter.

The days run from 10 til 4 and are on:

Wednesday 19th November
Wednesday 26th November
Sunday 30th November
Wednesday 3rd December
Wednesday 10th December
Wednesday 17th December

If you are interested in helping out, then check out the Transition Buxton website for more information at www.transitionbuxton.co.uk

Download minutes from the 2014 AGM

Download minutes from the 2015 AGM

Download minutes from the 2016 AGM

Download minutes from the 2017 AGM

20th November 2014 at 7.30 pm at the Poole's Cavern Visitor Centre

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.

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)

Some of the bats caught at Poole's Cavern during a recent survey by Derbyshire Bat Conservation Group.

Rather topically with Halloween just around the corner, we recently had a bat survey conducted in Poole’s Cavern by Derbyshire Bat Conservation Group. The group were hoping to record swarming activity. This involves of bats from a widespread geographic area, visiting an underground site and chasing each other in and around the entrance.
The reason why bats swarm during the autumn is not fully understood, but probably allows them to check out hibernation sites and bring males and females from a wide area together to enable mating opportunities and therefore increasing the genetic mixing between colonies.
Steve Roe, Events Manager for Derbyshire Bat Conservation Group explained that although no swarming activity had been recorded; all bats caught were male adults in breeding condition. Steve explained further that “Far more male bats are caught during swarming surveys and it may be possible that they were males checking out the site to see if any swarming was taking place or it could just be that they are using the cavern as a roosting site. It is probably a combination of both, however four species in a single night is still a great result and clearly the site is important for the local bat population.”

It is believed that the reason why more male bats tend to be found during the autumn swarming events is that once mated a female will no longer participate, where as the males will continue to swarm to increase the chance that their genes are selected by mating with more than one female.

In all ten bats were caught in total from four different species; 5 brown long-eared’s, 2 Daubenton’s, 2 Natterer’s, and 1 whiskered.

Our thanks to Derbyshire Bat Conservation Group for carrying out the survey and to Steve Roe for letting us use his photos.

CRISIS OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

CRISIS OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT, SAYS GRIFF RHYS JONES
TV PRESENTER TO LAUNCH CIVIC MOVEMENT MANIFESTO 'LOCALISM FOR REAL'
Griff Rhys Jones, campaigner and Civic Voice President will claim that there is a crisis in civic engagement when he launches the manifesto of the civic movement at its annual convention in Canterbury on Friday 24 October.

Griff will say “We face a crisis of civic engagement. This is a symptom of the frustration people feel as power is taken away from communities and they are subject to tokenistic consultation. We need to give all citizens opportunities to actively shape the future of their place and to give communities the powers they need to enable their town and city centres to prosper”.

To achieve “Localism for Real”, the Civic Voice manifesto will be calling on future Government’s to:

• Make improving the quality of the public realm in our cities, towns and villages a priority
• Give all citizens opportunities to actively shape the future of their place
• Give local communities the powers they need to enable their town and city centres to prosper

Griff will add “If the Government is serious about Localism, they have to listen to the concerns coming forward from civic groups, resident associations and local councils. The Civic Movement agree with the Government that getting the economy moving is essential, but the myriad of proposals coming forward are clearly not the answer.”

Chair of Civic Voice, Freddie Gick said: ”We believe the manifesto, “Localism for Real” puts power back into the hands of communities. We look forward to debating this with politicians and communities over the next 6 months”.

The manifesto will be available to download from the Civic Voice website on Friday 24th October.

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.

Trevor Osborne addressed a public meeting at the Octagon in the Pavilion Gardens on Wednesday evening to present an update on the Crescent Project and to take questions from members of the public. Explaining that the project had suffered delay, in part because of the understandably complex negotiations with Nestle, to ensure that their rights to extract the water were protected during the restoration and building works. The matter was resolved with the granting of a £12m indemnity to Nestle in the event of any disruption to their supply.

Main Contractors have been chosen and now the enabling works have been completed the revised plans have been submitted to the council and a decision is expected on these by November.

Mr Osborne also explained that the restoration project had lost a vital part of its funding when Government decided to abolish East Midlands Development Agency, and replace it with Local Economic Partnerships. With the abolition of EMDA went some £5m in support which it has not been possible to replace.

On the day of the meeting Mr Osborne hosted a lunch to which English Heritage and a number of key partners in Buxton were invited.

Jonathan Davey a Director of Buxton Civic Association, who attended the meeting, commented that the response from English Heritage seemed positive. “We explained that the Crescent was important not only to Buxton, but was part of the heritage of Britain.” It is understood that English Heritage will consider whether any additional heritage lottery funding with be granted by the end of September. Key to their consideration of financial support is the heritage visitor attraction experience. The strategy for this, first developed in 2006, has been rethought. New consultants have been appointed and the proposal is to have the visitor attraction element managed by a charitable trust which in turn will be supported by a number of local organisations of which Buxton Civic Association will be one.

In addition to setting the crescent in its historical context with actors in period costumes and an 18th Century heritage bedroom as the centre piece of the public visitor experience, the story of Buxton water will also be explained. The intention is to create an interactive, historical experience for visitors to the crescent.

The Heritage lottery funding is critical to the continuation of the project, and assuming everything goes according to plan the restoration will create a 79 bedroom 5 star hotel, with 6 boutique shops. A roof top swimming pool is also proposed. The Spa will be open to residents of Buxton and guests of Buxton Hotels. It is expected that the project will be completed by 2017.