Whitby Civic Society News for 2011

January

In January we had another of Marjorie Thomson's excellent talks about Whitby people of the past. This time she spoke of Captain Browne Bushell who was beheaded for treason. He was famous for the number of times he changed sides during the Civil War. Marjorie brought him to life as a very brave and interesting man

February

In February we had our AGM which saw major changes of Officers. Our new Chair, Mr George Dawson, read from the constitution and commented on the ways we were acheiving those aims.He thanked the retiring Officers for all the work that they had done for the society. The new Officers are Vice chair Mrs B Bayliss, our Secretary ,Mrs D. Wort and our Treasurer, Mrs L Thompson had all been working on the committee.

We welcomed a new Member to the Committee, Mrs Wynne Jones

We discussed the next Blue Plaque and the meeting left it to the Committee to decide.

March

In March Joe Botham spoke of the extraordinary rise from poverty to riches of his ancestor Elizabeth Botham who is still held in the company's name.He also told of the geneations of later members of the family. Another fascinating talk which attracted a very large audience.
See also our Give or Take event

April

On Monday 18th April we had a most enjoyable visit to the Whitby Wizard on the West Cliff. Dag Kjelldahl gave a brief talk on how he set up a science centre in his native Norway and moved it more recently to Whitby where it is now. We were then able to try out the many science games and were suitably impressed, many of us being reluctant to leave!

May

Richard Lawton , Whitby Assistant Harbourmaster, gave the May talk to the Society and explained all the varied tasks that a harbourmaster has to do to preserve the safe working of the harbour for businesses and recreational use. Most of us were surprised at the variety of duties involved and were left with an added respect for the role

June

The June meeting was a 'Summer Treasure Hunt' at Pannett Park Museum organised by the curator, Mark Edwards. Those taking part enjoyed the challenge of hunting for the various treasures stored in the museum and prizes were awarded to the winners.

The first Civic Day on June 25th was a success with 19 people visiting the Spa well House whilst the Georgian Walk participants were kindly invited into two of the houses they were looking at.

Forty people wrote in the book in the library about things they liked or disliked about Whitby which gave us an indication of which things are worth preserving and which need changing.

July

Two local J.P.s attended our July meeting and explained the varied types of offence and the factors that needed to be considered by magistrates before coming to a fair conclusion. This was followed by the audience being presented with two imaginary crimes and having to decide what punishment was appropriate in each case and discussing our ideas A most interesting evening.

About 50 members of the public came to the Give Or Take Event on 23rd July run in conjunction with the Green Neighbourhood Challenge Group at the Salvation Army Hall. We found new homes for just over half a tonne of generously donated goods and donations of money were divided equally between St Catherine’s Hospice and the Salvation Army. Many thanks to all those who helped in any way.

September

The Heritage Open Days on 10th and 11th September were a great success with many visitors and residents having the opportunity to visit historic buildings not normally open to the public and to take part in guided walks around the town.
On Sunday 18th a survey of litter was carried out on Tate Hill Beach on behalf of the Marine Conservation Society and on Monday 19th John Lammerton gave a most interesting presentation illustrated with his own photographs taken in and around Whitby.