Our programme for 2018 got off to a flying start with Clive England’s talk on the works at Brooklands Museum.

Brooklands was the birthplace of British Motorsport and Aviation, with the construction of the circuit and its huge banked sections in 1907.  The Brooklands Flying Village followed shortly afterwards, and the site was handed over to the Royal Flying Corps in 1914. After the war, the site became the centre for road and flying races, until 1939. Aircraft factories spread over the site, until the 1980s when the museum was founded. A successful Heritage Lottery Fund application led to the Brooklands Aircraft Factory and Race Track Revival Project, relocating the historic Bellman hanger to clear the the original Finishing Straight (a Scheduled Ancient Monument). Now the museum can display aircraft from the Sopwith Camel to Concorde, and historic racing cars such as the Napier-Railton in which John Cobb set the circuit lap record of 143.44mph in 1935, which was never beaten.

Clive took us through the myriad problems of collapsing embankments, contaminated spoil heaps, asbestos washers in the transportable Bellman hanger, and meticulous review of the racetrack to determine how much concrete could be saved; all unusual aspects of the conservation of industrial sites.

Brooklands Museum Website 

Our next meeting will be on 9th January 2018 when Clive England will talk on Brooklands Birthplace of British Motorsport & Aviation

Don’t forget to vote today for your ten most influential conservation books over the last 50 years. If you have had difficulty voting on line,  further instructions and voting form can be found here:

Voting Instructions and Voting Form

We look forward to seeing you all at the meeting next Tuesday 21st November!

Richard Woolf represented ASCHB at the Civic Voice Convention and AGM in Wakefield on  20-21st October. He reported that it was a very enjoyable and productive conference, and that there was a lot of interest in ASCHB.

He took away three key issues from the conference:

• The incredible amount of selfless work done by Civic groups around the UK in managing historic environments against the odds.
• The need for acton to ensure the redraft of the NPPF in March 2018 strengthens heritage and conservation and the need, individually and collectively, to lobby the case with our MP’s.
• The nationwide view that the planning system will soon grind to a halt.

The latest Civic Voice update reports that a lack of sufficient capacity within local government is threatening effective enforcement particularly within Conservation Areas.
Visit the Civic Voice website for latest news and local initiatives.

NHIG are holding a day of practical guidance on the process of writing and understanding specifications on historic ironwork on 17th November 2017 at St Paul’s Cathedral. Tickets cost £75 (£55 students) and are available from the NHIG website Booking Details

Frances Maude of Donald Insall Associates will be talking about their work at the Temperate House, Kew Gardens, the subject of an ASCHB talk and visit earlier this year.