LATEST NEWS – FEBRUARY 2010

It may not appear so but things are moving so fast in the resurrection of Cockermouth centre that this will already be out of date by the time you read it. After the initial shock of the floods had eased and thoughts turned to the future, the Civic Trust realised that it presented a once in a lifetime opportunity to make the historic town centre better than it was before. By encouraging owners to replace damaged shopfronts with a more traditional design the area would be enhanced and would be more attractive to shoppers and visitors, all to the benefit of local traders. Consequently under the chairmanship of the Civic Trust a committee was formed with the title “Co-ordination and strategy for the refurbishment of Cockermouth’s flood damaged buildings”. This group has representation from Allerdale Borough Council ( Councillors and Officers from Building Control, Regeneration, Planning  and Conservation.), Cumbria County Council, Cockermouth Town.Council., The Chamber of Trade, the National Trust, Churches Together and local architects. Already there are encouraging signs that the shop owners are in agreement with our views with several intending to put traditional shopfronts on their properties. Grants are being made available to meet any additional costs that will be necessary.  The Prince’s Trust has produced a useful report giving advice on preserving the history of the area and will be working with the committee to achieve this. Another important aspect of the new look Main Street will be the advice which is being received from CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) who have assessed the street architecture such as signs and pavements. So everybody from both our local community and outside are working together to achieve a better town. Let’s hope that the current progress continues.
 
Our first meeting of 2010 takes place on Wednesday, 3rd February and will be a talk by Duncan Lightfoot on the role of the Cockermouth First Responders in the community. The talk on Roman Architecture at Papcastle by Frank Gieco, which was postponed due to a technical failure, will now take place on Wednesday 17th February.

The following lecture, to be held on Wednesday 3rd March, will be given by Patrick Burke from English Heritage. Patrick helped us to initiate the popular Heritage Open Days programme in Cockermouth and will present a talk entitled “Opening Doors : Making the Historic Environment Accessible to Everyone”.
The lecture evenings are held at 7.30pm in the Friends Meeting House at the top of Kirkgate. Non members are welcome to attend (small charge).

If you are interested in joining the Trust (good value at only £5.50 per year) please complete the Membership Application Form on this website or contact our Membership Secretary Barbara Barker on 01900 827093 or at any meeting.