Huddersfield Civic Society Executive Committee Meeting, March 9, 2026
The meeting was held at Westins on St Andrews Road at 7pm.
Attendees: Gideon Richards (GR), Geoff Hughes (GH), Ann Denham (AD), Howard Smith (HS), Michael Woodward (MW), Sylvia Johnson (SJ), Robert Taylor (RT), Adrian Pitts (AP), Bernard Ainsworth (BA), John Eastwood (JE),
Apologies: Amanda Boothroyd (AB), Yun Gao (YG), Andrew France (AF).
Chair Stand-in Activities
– Chair this meeting: Mike Woodward
– Volunteer Chair for future meetings: Howard (May 11), Sylvia (July 13)
– Volunteer Chair for AGM: Ann (Mar 25)
- Editors of next newsletters: Mike followed by Howard.
Minutes of the Previous Meeting (12/1/2026): Accepted as Final (proposed SJ, seconded GR).
- Action carried forward: Produce draft HCS publishing policy (Action c/f: GR + AP,YG)
Membership Report as at 6 March 2026
| Member type | Individual/U25 | Joint | Corporate | Total | Changes | |
| Totals – ALL CATEGORIES | 98 | 36 | 20 | 154 | 23 | |
| Total ACTIVE members | 96 | 36 | 20 | 152 | 21 | |
| Paid (correct amount) | 61 | 20 | 13 | 94 | 37 | |
| Paid (wrong amount) | 6 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 2 | |
| Free/Rollover | 9 | 4 | 1 | 14 | 2 | |
| New this report | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 6 | |
| Not yet paid | 20 | 6 | 6 | 32 | -20 | |
| Resigned this Year | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| Lapsed this Year | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Deleted (corrected) this year | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
- Joint Members now count as two members, not one.
- We have six new members since the last report on the 7 January. Four Individuals and two Joint, Four from the new year social, one related to paying for postage to Tuscon Arizona for A&C book, and one who joined after he sent a query via the website.
- Following reminders sent out to all non paying members at the end of January, 23 additional members paid their subscriptions, however two (only recently joined) have requested their memberships are allowed to lapse.
- Second reminders will be sent out during March and individual emails again to those continuing tom pay the wrong (old) rates.
- The practicality and cost of using an agent to administer a Direct Debit method of payment will be investigated during this year.
Interim Treasurer’s Report 2025 (GR)
– Approx £4211 in current account (before outstanding credits and debits), £16,000 in Savings Account.
– HCS 2025 accounts – follow up new potential Independent Examiner. Aiming to complete before AGM (Action: GR)
– GR presented draft 2026 budget.
– Thanks were expressed to GR for his work in producing the draft 2025 accounts and 2026 budget.
AGM Wed 25 March
- Notice of AGM emailed to HCS members on 2 March.
- President, Vice-Chair, (Interim) Treasurer, Secretary and other Trustees will be standing for re-election.
- Adrian will also stand for election. Invite Yun to stand (Action GH).
- Send updated HCS 2025 accounts and guest speaker publicity text to Secretary for circ (Action: GR).
- Circulate HCS reports, updated agenda to all members (Action: GH/HS).
Book publishing:
- Total of 29 sales since Jan 1
- Current stock as at 3 Mar: Yards 27, Buildings 229, Highfields 30, Villas 239, Tolson 386, A+C book 12
- Meeting agreed time-limited £1 price reduction offer on ‘Buildings’ book to help reduce stock
- Publicise offer on ‘Buildings’ and also ‘Villas’ and ‘Tolson’ with photos on HCS social /media (Action RT)
- Use same/similar RT photos to publicise to HCS members, eg in next newsletter (Action HS/)
Civic Voice and YHACS:
- MW and SJ among 62 attendees at 31Jan YHACS Harrogate conference: sessions + contacts worthwhile
- Circulate 2026 nomination requests for Peter Spawforth award when received (Action: GH)
- Work with Kirklees HODS group on potential ’50 objects’ project for HODs 11-20 Sept (Action: SJ)
- Consider attending next YHACS quarterly meeting in Doncaster: Sat 18 Apr (Action GR ?+others)
Planning Update:
- Request mtg with KC officers re policy on signage, murals, enforcement etc (Action: GH)
- Castle Hill – planning approval now given with officers handed decision to agree what attendees considered to be several substantial and controversial matters. Monitor case and conditions as announced and campaign accordingly (Action: GR, RT)
- 32 Meltham Road – follow up complaints with council and publicity to Andy Hirst (Action: RT/HS)
KC Officer meetings update:
- Wed 21 January 09.30 Planning meeting with Joanne Scruton and Julia Steadman by GH,RT,AP,GRhas led to re-establishment of communications. Continue communication via Julia Steadman, initially on planning and diversity matters, linking renewed contact to KC new recruits being in post (Action: GH)
- Thu 29 January 16.00 ‘Town Centre’ mtg: Joanne Tansley, Thomas Fish, Chris Duffill: MW,AD,SJ,YG also successful but, after KC officer setback on Outdoor Markets plans, little new expected in near future.
Future Events:
- Wed 11 Mar: David Griffiths on devt of Huddersfield 1900-1940. Fully booked (Action GH)
- Wed 25 Mar: Felix Kumi-Ampofo (WYCA): speaker after AGM – Chase title, description etc (Action: GR)
- Sat 10 May: Rochdale Town Hall visit. Now full at 20 places (Action SJ)
- Publicise Tue 7 July 19/00 David Griffiths Lindley Arts and Crafts houses walk (Action: GH)
- Liaise with Revd Rachel Firth re Celebrate Huddersfield event, St Peter’s,19 Sept 2026 (Action: SJ)
- Arrange dates for summer visits to Thornton village and to Portland Works, Sheffield. (Action SJ)
- In early Sept confirm Oct date with David Threlfall-Sykes – COO for HTAFC on Stadium devts (Action AF)
- Confirm HODs week (11-20 Sept) joint talk on Joseph Kaye with David Griffiths (Action: GH)
- Liaise with Liz Towns-Andrews re a November talk on Huddersfield University future plans (Action: HS)
AOB
- Meeting agreed to keep a watching brief on ‘Huddersfield Murals’ project: https://huddersfieldhub.co.uk/ambitious-arts-project-huddersfield-rising-to-set-up-stunning-mural-trail-on-buildings-across-kirklees/ (Action: HS)
- Send good pictures of Huddersfield in recent years to Andy Hirst for website photo gallery (Action: All)
- HCS website usage data now being collected. Produce monthly stats (Action: GH/Andy Hirst)
Future HCS Committee meeting dates (all 19.00 at Westin House):
11 May (Chair: Howard), 13 July (Chair: Sylvia), 14 Sept, 9 Nov.Also AGM Wed 25 Mar
The 11 May session, after a brief update on HCS finances, will primarily deal with planning future HCS activities and campaigns: Housing? Castle Hill? Infirmary? Cultural Heart? Art Gallery/Museum/Tolson? St George’s Quarter? Leeds Road corridor? Tracking S106? Biodiversity? 32 Meltham Road? Oakes School? Newsome Mill? Others? (Action HS+GH to arrange agenda)
Geoff Hughes 11 March 2026, updated as V0.2 on 7 May 2026