Be More CIVIC

50 years of the Beeston Civic

Hear ye! Hear ye! Good citizens of Beeston! In this the year of 2023, we invite you to join with us in celebrating 50 years of Beeston (and District) Civic Society!

So, what is the Beeston Civic Society (BCS)? What do they do? Why do we need them? Well, not unlike previously stereotyped WI groups, civic societies are often pigeonholed as stuffy and archaic, when in fact they are anything but. Actually, when you look at their track record for affecting change in the community, you are more likely to say they are quite a radical bunch. What’s more, in the absence of a town council, Beeston really does need the society to challenge developments, preserve its civic treasures and work towards making improvements for all.

Formed on April 9th 1973, to ‘protect and enhance our district’, the society was instrumental in helping to drive forward the ‘Beeston Town Centre Plan’ of 1975 to pedestrianise the original High Road, its aim to improve road safety and access to amenities. The controversial transformation was completed almost a decade later and we can well imagine the response at the time was similar that of the tram which came around 20 years later. Nevertheless, both of these developments have shaped the Beeston we know and love today, and provided opportunities for markets and public events on the paved areas, providing a focal point in the main square, and have brought more people into our ever evolving and busy suburban town.

When the 1970s skateboard boom hit the UK, the first purpose-built skatepark in Nottingham was constructed in the remains of a old cinema in Lenton in 1978, despite initial opposition from Broxtowe District Council’s Development Services Committee. BCS was in full support of the application, as they felt it would provide proper skateboarding facilities for young people in the area. More recently they have collaborated with Skate Nottingham, local councillors and schools in developing Beeston Skate Park and outreach activities to engage the youth in our community, providing funding and consultation services.

Conservation and the preservation of our heritage is large part of what the society campaigns for. According to the archives, two working parties were set up in 1977 to address both these matters. Historically, preserving our well established tree-lined streets has been of public concern and a protest article in the Nottingham Post back in 1975 concerning the ‘over-pruning’ of the row of splendid lime trees outside the equally prestigious Oban House might well have been a catalyst for one, or both, of the working parties. The committee secretary at the time Marion Wallwork, who was up in arms about the lack of respect shown for the trees as a ‘thing of beauty’ described the remaining stumps as ‘grotesque and ugly.’ Oban House is an attractive Victorian property situated within St John’s Grove Conservation Area facing St. John the Baptist Church which is a Grade II listed building. As for the house itself, the subject of a eight month fight to save it from demolition, the weight of the society’s campaign drew huge public support and their well researched counter argument to restore and extend the building, rather than replacing it with a modern development, saved the day – and Oban House.

Remember satellite dishes? The elliptical eyesores of 1980s Britain? The first dishes were huge and obtrusive, described as ‘ugliness on a plate’ and ‘hideous white saucers’, by society members concerned with