๐ Autumn social for Members ๐
We look forward to welcoming members to our next social in October – details to follow
The society will be hosting two of the events during the Cirencester History festival October 24th-November 2nd and tickets will be available from September 5th at cirencesterhistoryfestival.org
In July Civic Society members enjoyed a delightful historic walk around Fairford, led by Syd Flatman (Fairford History Society (FHS)). Syd, a long-time resident was able to provide a enthralling insight it people and places, including some fascinating detail on the buildings and their development through time and changes in architectural fashion. This was followed by tea and cakes in Fairfordโs wonderful Community Centre. For those who wished, a visit to the church of St Maryโs followed, led by Margaret Bishop (FHS). Margaret provided an engrossing introduction to the churchโs incredible scheme of twenty-eight late medieval stain glass windows โ one of the wonders of the region and a must to visit!
As part of the Cirencester Civic Society programme June and July include local visits. This visit was a reciprocal event, with Fairford History Society members being led on a Cirencester town walk by our brilliant Civic Society guides. We hope to repeat this type of joint event in 2026 with another town in our region. Due to constraints on numbers these are usually โmembers onlyโ events and a great reason to join the society!
Members of the Civic Society were also invited to a tour of Bingham House by the Daniel Bingham Foundation. Daniel Bingham was born in the town, and his philanthropy endowed the Bingham Library housed in the building which first opened in 1905. On opening, facilities included lending and reference libraries, with reading and smoking rooms on the ground floor and a gymnasium in the basement. Binghamโs intention was to provide โa place to study for recreation and for reasonable amusementโ For many in the town it was their only access to books.Today the Foundation supports, encourages and provides for the promotion of education in the appreciation of art, including music, and the ground floor currently exhibits artwork including contemporary pieces by local artist Laurie Plant. Further details on the foundation can be found at https://www.danielbinghamfoundation.org.uk
Members visited the ๐ฅ๐ผ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ด๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐น๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐จ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐๐ (RAU) for a ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฝ๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ and introduction to its ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐ต๐ถ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐บ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป.
The group was given a tour of the historic campus, including the famous dining hall, chapel, and tithe barn. Dr Kelly Hemmings then gave an introduction to the Universityโs historic herbarium collection of dried, pressed plants that date back to the 19th century. Our members were able to view a selection of plant specimens, which formed the basis of question and answer discussion.
Dr Kelly Hemmings said โ๐ป๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐-๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ , ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ฐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐.โ
CCS would like to express its thanks to Kelly and the RAU for hosting us.
Members of the society have the option to attend summer events such as these not open to non-members.
To join us go to the ‘about us’ page.