Monthly meeting on Monday, January 15 at 7pm Foleshill Past and Present site visit to Broad Street Community Hall And presentation by David Fry on The Foleshill We Have Lost Broad Street Windows, Broad Street, Foleshill Free for members, £2 for visitors
PLEASE NOTE DATE, TIME & VENUE
Without doubt winning the battle for City of Culture 2021 is a great achievement that we all applaud. However, as we go straight into a build-up period with events and further engagement, we in the Civic Amenity Society need to be better involved with the series of events that will feature plans for the years leading up to 2021. We need to see that the right balance is struck across the spectrum of art, music, sport, heritage, community involvement and all that it means to Coventrians. We won the bid through our successful record of diversity and work achieved by our Positive Youth Foundation (see overleaf). Our task now must be to widen the scope of the culture conversation. There are many aspects but here I will mention just a few. On the heritage front we see impressive strides taken by the Historic Coventry Trust and indeed the new St Mary’s Guildhall management of the Priory Visitor Centre. We now need to look at other assets. Perhaps our best historic asset in the city centre – the St Mary’s Guildhall. Regularly closed during the summer season and closed throughout the winter, we need to see that situation rectified with the provision of proper modern interpretative information and features for visitors and locals alike. This is fundamental to the heritage offer in the centre of our city. While we have a fine music museum, our hugely important watch museum has been largely ignored. It deserves a better profile, indeed a better entrance away from the pub yard! Another historic manufacturer, Coventry’s aircraft industry, remains on the periphery of the city and is largely forgotten about. Yet volunteers at the Midland Air Museum have created and maintained a first class operation that deserves better support. There’s a huge story here of highly skilled precision engineering. Not least the significant work of one pioneer—Sir Frank Whittle (pictured left). Then there is our ground-breaking pedestrianised Precinct. Sadly it has often been left to the whims and fancies of developers from outside the city. It’s a fine heritage asset and needs to be restored much as it was designed by Donald Gibson in the ‘Festival of Britain’ style. It needs to be recognised properly as such.
AN INVITATION On November 28 a score of CovSoc activists came together to discuss the future of the Society. The event was facilitated by Ian Harvey, the Executive
January 2018
While the Godiva Festival is now very much a free popular music event, in its original form it focussed on the history and heritage of our city through its ‘Lives and Times’ project. Perhaps there needs to be a separate event that celebrates our heritage, not only through the efforts of community groups but through the sort of pageantry we saw generations ago I see that Hull has a City Hall, the venue for numerous and varied events ranging from Godiva’s achievement the Classics Orchestral Concert series to pop concerts, comedy, conferences, exhibitions and degree ceremonies. And Coventry? A civic hall has been high on the list of facilities requested by residents for many years. Might we hope to see the Dry Sports Centre fondly known as ‘The Elephant’ converted into a concert venue? A central point that’s identified as a place for collector’s fairs, specialist exhibitions and of course concerts. Notwithstanding this, there does appear to be positive movement to restore and re-use Drapers’ Hall as A new concert venue? a classical music centre. The Society wishes the new trust well and looks forward to this vision become a reality. On the performance front I’m pleased to read about the March Shop Front Festival which will see theatre, music and dance pop up all over Coventry City Centre. But major productions by the Royal Shakespeare Company on screen in iconic locations quite frankly baffles me. We have our own authors and poets to celebrate. Have we forgotten George Eliot, Angela Brazil and Philip Larkin? We need to look back and learn from our past to achieve a more rewarding and brighter future. What better interest for the young people of our city than learning about our wonderful heritage through drama, poetry, story-writing, even re-enactment? Please turn over to read about the published programme. Keith Draper
Director of Civic Voice. We are now planning a follow-up meeting, which will take place on Wednesday January 24 at 6.30 p.m. at the Telegraph Building in Corporation Street. Would you like to get involved in planning the future of the
Coventry Society? Do you have a little time available to help? If so, then please come along to this follow up meeting. To ensure that you are included on the mailing list for this event, please email info@coventrysociety.org.uk
More news and views on our website: www.coventrysociety.org.uk