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Meetings | Visits | Projects | Bollington in Bloom | Everyclick counts! | Tourism | St John's Church | Ingersley Vale | Clarence canal bridge
 St John's Church! - public meeting and establishment of a committee
Canal bridge at Clarence Mill needs your support!
Ingersley Vale Mill; Town Council meeting
Our next event - please come along!
Monday 19th May 2008
Please join us at our next meeting
Bollington Matters!
You, the members, discuss what you want to discuss!
Any time left will be filled by more historic pictures from our collection
All winter meetings are held in the Community Centre, Ovenhouse Lane, Bollington at 8.00pm.
Everyone is welcome to all our meetings - a small contribution is asked of non-members.
Finding it - Ovenhouse Lane is off Henshall Road and the Community Centre is the last building on the left at the far end. Plenty of parking. The Community Centre is almost next door to the Leisure Centre. Map.
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We provide a very interesting line up of meetings for you to participate in and enjoy!
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By searching the internet using everyclick.com you can earn cash for the Civic Society!
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Everyone is welcome to attend Civic Society meetings including non-members who will be asked to make a small voluntary contribution. This is redeemable against a subscription if you join on the night.
All members with email addresses are sent a reminder a couple of days before each meeting. If you would also like a reminder please send an email now and we will send you a memory jogger too.
The Society holds monthly meetings from September to May (but not in December) each year to provide maximum opportunities to discuss matters of direct concern to Bollington. If there is a particular subject you would like considered at a future meeting then please email the committee.
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Monday 19th May
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Bollington Matters - an Open Discussion plus photos.
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Download a programme leaflet now .
The programme of meetings from September 2008 to May 2009 will be announced in due course.
Officers and Committee
Graham Barrow was elected chairman once again at the 2007 AGM. Graham is well known for his involvement in and chairmanship of the Kerridge Ridge & Ingersley Vale Countryside & Heritage project (KRIV) and chairmanship of the Bollington Initiative Trust (BIT). At the same meeting we welcomed two new members to the committee, Sandra Edwards and Peter Skinner.
Chairman: Graham Barrow
Vice Chairman: Tim Boddington
Secretary: David Haddleton
Treasurer: Barry Matthews
Committee: Sandra Edwards, Ted Clunn, Chris Kettlety, Nicola Riley, Peter Skinner
A sub-committee chaired by Graham Hibbert is responsible to the main committee for the management of the Discovery Centre.
A further group under the leadership of Nicola Riley is responsible for the Bollington Carbon Revolution project.
We have set up a group to consider and progress the future of St John's Church. This is under the leadership of Peter Skinner. If you would like to be part of this project please send the Secretary an email indicating your interest.
Civic Society activities
Your Civic Society is involved in a number of important aspects of Bollington life:
The Future of St John's Church
The Committee have decided that a group shoud be formed with the objective of looking after the interests of the town with respect to the future of St John's Church. A page is devoted to this.
Parish Plan Review
Bollington published a Parish Plan in 2004. It is now time to review and update it. A project team has been established which met for the firat time in November 2007 and will develop itself and the plan during the first half of 2008. Several members of the Civic Society are involved in this project and our member John Pleeth is leading it. See the Parish Plan pages.
Bollington Tourism
There are concerns that tourism is not developing sufficiently well so the Civic Society is proposing to do something about it! Have a look at the page.
Bollington Carbon Revolution project
A considerable amount of interest has been shown in our article in the Summer 2006 edition of Bollington Live! regarding a possible Carbon Reduction project we held a special meeting to inaugurate a project which is now flourishing. Please look at the pages devoted to this interesting project.
The Discovery Centre Project
We have developed a Discovery Centre at Clarence Mill which opened on 14th May 2005. It is on the canal side at Clarence Mill by the great generosity of the owners Clarence Mill Properties Ltd and Ted Clunn, the Chairman and Chief Executive, We obtained grants for its development from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Cheshire Rural Recovery, Macclesfield Borough Council, Bollington Town Council and other private donors. It provides information and exhibitions designed to show the past, present and future of Bollington, its industries and its people.
The Discovery Centre houses the very popular historic picture collection which contains over 5,000 pictures of Bollington and its people going back over a century.
The 'Historic Triangle' project
We were involved in the plans to improve three streets in the Bollington Conservation Area, Water Street, High Street (part) and Palmerston Street (part). The Civic Society were part of the project team and took a keen interest in the plans. This project has it's own web page.
We are taking a closer interest in the changes that take place in the four Conservation Areas (CA) in Bollington. These are described in full on separate pages.
We were very pleased that Cllr Ken Edwards (CCC, Macclesfield West) joined the committee with the specific responsibility for Conservation Areas. One of his primary interests is in establishing a further CA at Lowerhouse and discussions have been taking place with MBC.
We are also discussing with the County Council (as Highway Authority) their compliance with Conservation Area guidelines while maintaining our roads.
Development planning
We watch planning applications, discuss them with those having an interest and make representations to Councilors and MBC planners where we wish to challenge proposals.
We are concerned about the kind of development that might take place in Ingersley Vale. The society held a very successful consultation walk in the Vale to meet the residents and discuss their concerns and preferences with them. Several developers have considered acquiring the industrial property in the Vale and subsequently withdrawn their interest. We have spent some time discussing possibilities with one of these developers but nothing has yet come of this. However, our interest remains in a partnership development and we hope that a suitable proposal will come about.
We suspect that the reality is that the site would be so expensive to clean up and develop that no developer is likely to consider it worth the trouble. This leaves us with the possibility that the vale will remain derelict. Our best hope may well be the Ridge & Vale project which has obtained more than £700,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to undertake a major project in the area (see below).
 History and heritage
A group of historians and their helpers have assembled a very large collection of photographs showing Bollington and its population through the past 140 years. They continue to research the history of the town, its industries and the people who made it what it is today. Our new Discovery Centre provides public access to the collection for the first time. We have re-published two of the well known books about Bollington and further books are planned.
The Kerridge Ridge & Ingersley Vale Countryside & Heritage Project
The Society has been involved in the historical survey which formed an early part of this project. More on this. We are also acutely interested in what development takes place in the Vale.
Bollington in Bloom
The Society organises an annual Bollington in Bloom competition to encourage better front gardens, hanging baskets and window boxes. Every home in town is automatically entered and our judges tour the streets during June and July looking for the best examples; if it is visible from the public highway then we will look it over. You could be a winner without even knowing it - but we tell you when you are so that you can come and collect your certificate!
Parish Plan
The Civic Society were deeply involved in the development of the Parish Plan under the government scheme. Bollington was the first community in Macclesfield Borough to develop such a plan.
Bollington Live!
The Civic Society is a sponsor of Bollington Live!, the village magazine published three times each year and delivered free to every home. Several of our members are also involved in the writing, editing, selling of advertising, and delivery of the magazine.
If you would like to be involved in any of these interests please email the chairman now telling me what you would like to know more about and I will introduce you to the relevant member.
Mike Braddock, MD, Slater Harrison, gave a very interesting presentation celebrating more than 70 years of Slater Harrison in Bollington (they celebrated 75 years in 2004). Check out their web page for a sound and video tour of the historic Lowerhouse Mill.
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