About Us
Cirencester Civic Society has a simple aim, to promote, protect and shape our wonderful town and in 2026 we will be especially proud to celebrate our 60th anniversary of fulfilling these aims.
Everything we do, helps us meet our purpose and we are very grateful for the support of our members who show their pride and interest in preserving the heritage of our wonderful market town, whilst continuing to accommodate sympathetic growth.
Cirencester Civic Society is a registered charity and is governed by trustees. All are volunteers and all work hard to ensure we continue to promote, protect and shape the town. We do this in a number of ways which you can read about below.
The Society promotes the town by:
- leading guided walks. These can be pre-booked throughout the year or, in the summer season, participants can just turn-up-and-go.
- producing leaflets showing self-guided walking tours. These are available to purchase from Corinium Museum or the Information Office at Bingham House.
- supporting initiatives and events such as Cirencester History Festival of which the Civic Society is proud to be a Founding Patron.
- Contributing articles to publications such as CirenScene
- arranging events such as visits behind the scenes of local landmarks or working in collaboration with other organisations such as CAHS and the Arts Society Corinium
- organising regular talks to raise awareness about the preservation, development and improvement of local features. These are open to members and non-members of the Society. Visitors are welcome – a donation of £3.00 per person is invited.
The Society helps protect the character of the town by:
- scrutinising and commenting on planning applications which may affect the historic or social character of the town
- showcasing historic buildings or the Cirencester connection with local people such as Edward Jenner (who discovered the smallpox vaccine in 1796) and Grace Hadow (one of the first suffragists) by placing blue plaques on buildings in the town. A Plaque Trail is shown on our plaques page.
- Commenting on Planning Policies and Strategies such as the Neighbourhood Plan and the Green Spaces Strategy in partnership with representatives from the Town and District Councils.
The Society helps shape the town by:
- celebrating thoughtful building design with our Cirencester Civic Design Awards, given to developments or refurbishments meeting good practice standards.
- awarding Civic Pride Grants to neighbourhood groups wanting to enhance their local community area
Governance
Cirencester Civic Society was launched in 1966. It became a registered charity in 1967 with a constitution which reflected the Society’s aims. This document is regularly reviewed to ensure the charity is governed effectively; the current constitution can be found via this link.
Achieving Our Aims
An executive committee of elected trustees and invited advisors meet monthly to discuss and action matters which may have an impact either on the charity or the town. Each trustee takes the lead for one specific aspect of the Society’s work but, collectively, oversee the charity’s governance.
Carole Boydell is our Chair
chair@cirencestercivicsociety.org.uk
Carole discovered Cirencester when researching retail business development opportunities 30 years ago, eventually moving here in 2007. Now Chair of Cirencester Civic Society, Carole has been involved in the Cirencester community for many years, both as a development consultant and a volunteer. As a key figure in the community she enjoys leading projects such as the annual Cirencester Community Awards as well as contributing to the local monthly magazine, Ciren Scene. She is also hugely enthusiastic about supporting several national activities, especially her role as a judge for the ESU (English Speaking Union) Public Speaking competitions, believing oracy to be a powerful tool for everyone. Prior to her appointment as Chair of Cirencester Civic Society, Carole held voluntary chairmanships of Stroud District Strategic Partnership, South Gloucestershire and Stroud FE College, and Cirencester Radio. She is also a Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society for Arts, Commerce and Manufacturing), an Academician with the Academy of Urbanism and a member of the Honourable Company of Gloucestershire.
| Role | Name | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Chair | Carole Boydell | chair@cirencestercivicsociety.org.uk |
| Treasurer | Richard Green | treasurer@cirencestercivicsociety.org.uk |
| Minutes Secretary | Anita Kay | secretary@cirencestercivicsociety.org.uk |
| Membership | Lynne Tuttle | membershipsecretary@cirencestercivicsociety.org.uk |
| Communications | Christina Ibbotson | comms@cirencestercivicsociety.org.uk |
| Programme | Peter Vujakovic | programme@cirencestercivicsociety.org.uk |
| Town Walks Coordinator | Rob Tuttle | townwalks@cirencestercivicsociety.org.uk |
| Planning Advisor | Jim Harbord | |
| Technical/AV officer | Steve Fearn | |
| District Council representative | Nick Bridges | |
| Advisors on local planning process and local government | Christine Gore, Gary Selwyn |
Cirencester Civic Society holds an Annual General Meeting (AGM) to which all members are invited and encouraged to volunteer to serve as a Trustee or to get involved in any of our projects. If you would like to know more about membership please click here.
Chair’s Newsletter
Welcome to NOVEMBER NEWS
Hello everyone,
Too early to wish everyone a merry Christmas but never out of step to say THANK YOU to all our members who supported a whole host of Civic Society events over the past few weeks.
We held a spectacular ‘welcome’ for the newest hare sculpture. Commissioned by Cirencester Civic Society, it takes its place in the heart of the town in the market place as a lasting legacy for the town. With a rousing cheer from the Town Crier and endorsement from Sarah Orr, Mayor of Cirencester, it was a great way to spend a crisp Friday morning! The photograph says it all – and we were pleased to see the hare made CirenScene and the Wilts and Glos Standard too! New hare sculpture arrives in Cirencester town centre | Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard
Celebrations continued at our Society Social at the Kings Head with an opportunity for members and guests to meet the local artist, Mike Smith, who decorated our hare, showcasing a whole host of iconic images. As well as a welcome glass of wine and some excellent conversation, we were also treated to a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of the newly refurbished building. Definitely worth a visit!
But what is missing is a name for our Civic Society Hare so we are asking members to get their thinking caps on and let us have some ideas. We will announce the new name for the new hare at our December Monthly Talks meeting.
Cirencester’s Public Arts Trail – a joint project between Cirencester Civic Society and Daniel Bingham Foundation – is taking shape, with valuable input from Cirencester College students and Laurie Plant, a local artist with lots of ideas and questions about what is art – including whether the Bowly pump is a fine example of a utility appliance or public art!
We were also very pleased to host a private viewing of the Old Station for our members. Led by Rixon Architects, we were able to see photographs and scenes of the original use of the Brunel building as well as question Jonathan Rixon about plans for the future.
Thank you to everyone who attended Cirencester History Festival during half-term week. This is the second year Cirencester Civic Society was a Patron of the festival – and the first year we hosted two of the events – the Dollar Street development and the Arts and Crafts brunch. Both were a sell-out and it was simply great to see so many of our members enjoying the talks. Another first for the Society was to support the photography competition organised by Rotary Cirencester. With the title of Historic Cirencester: a different perspective we were delighted to be invited to help judge the entries – thanks to Steve Fearn for sharing his expertise. Finalists and winners are still on display in the Bingham Gallery at time of writing so please do call in. Thank you, also, to our Town Guides who led walks around the town for many of our visitors – a welcome and valuable introduction to Cirencester.
A reminder now about this month’s Talk on Monday 17th November. Caroline Morris is presenting the topic, From Corinium to the Cotswold Tradition: the first 100 years of the Old Museum. Please note, this will be our last Monthly Talk at Ashcroft Centre because, as from December, we will be meeting at the Baptist Church on Chesterton Lane.
We are grateful to the Ashcroft Centre which has hosted our Monthly Talks for several years but, responding to members’ and visitors feedback about the ongoing challenges of ease of hearing and having a clear line of vision to the screen, the trustees of the Civic Society made the decision to change our Monthly Talks venue to the Baptist Church on Chesterton Lane.
I look forward to seeing you at the Ashcroft Centre on Monday 17th November.
With all good wishes from
Carole Boydell
Chair, Cirencester Civic Society