Civic Voice have announced new appointments for vice presidents and board chair, as Baroness Andrews, Sir Terry Farrell, Laura Sandys and former Chair, Freddie Gick have all been appointed vice-presidents of the charity.
Civic Voice writes:
Civic Voice – the national charity for the civic movement – announced on Saturday 21st October at its AGM in Chester – that Baroness Andrews, Sir Terry Farrell, Laura Sandys and former Chair, Freddie Gick have all been appointed vice-presidents of the charity.
All four appointments have been made to recognise the outstanding contribution to the civic movement by each of them.
- Baroness Andrews, former chair of English Heritage, is Civic Voice’s representative in the House of Lords and has recently spoken on behalf of the civic movement when the Housing and Planning Bill was debated in the House of Lords.
- Sir Terry Farrell is founder of the UK’s leading architectural firm, Farrells. In January 2013, Sir Terry was asked by Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and the Creative Industries to undertake a national review of architecture and the built environment. Sir Terry explained the outcomes of the Review at this year’s Civic Voice Sandys’ Lecture and highlighted the need for a strong civic movement to promote quality development. Sir Terry will support the Civic Voice Design Awards.
- Laura Sandys was formerly the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Civic Societies and was key in helping set up Civic Voice. Laura is the daughter of Lord Duncan Sandys, who established the Civic Trust in 1957. Each year the Sandys Lecture is held in his name and, fittingly, Laura speaks at each occasion. Laura Sandys will support the civic movement celebrations for 50 years of conservation areas.
- Freddie Gick is the former chair of Civic Voice after taking office in 2013. Freddie will support the civic movement for the next few year with a focus on fundraising and building support for the civic movement
Civic Voice President, Griff Rhys Jones, expressed his delight at each of the appointments. He said ‘The appointment of Baroness Andrews, Sir Terry Farrell, Laura Sandys and Freddie Gick in the role of vice-president demonstrates how far Civic Voice has come since we set up six years ago. I have been President for several years and have enjoyed my time visiting civic societies across the country. Each of these new vice-presidents is a great ambassador for communities and each of them has played a huge part in Civic Voice’s story over the past six years. It is only right they have been appointed vice-president and I look forward to working closely with each of them in the forthcoming twelve months.’
Sir Terry Farrell said ‘I am absolutely delighted to be a Vice President of Civic Voice. As a long-term supporter of Civic Voice’s work, including the Civic Voice Design Awards, playing a role in the promotion of civic pride and community-valued design, is a key principle in our ‘Place is the client’ philosophy.’
Joan Humble has been appointed Chair of Civic Voice, the national organisation for the country’s 500 civic Societies with over 75,000 individual members. She takes over from out-going chair, Freddie Gick, who stepped down at the Civic Voice Annual General Meeting after three years in post.
Current chair of Blackpool Civic Trust and a former Member of Parliament, Joan Humble has been involved in the civic movement for many years.
Speaking after her appointment she said: ‘My plan over the next three years will be to significantly raise the voice of the civic movement. People are disillusioned with politics but still want to have a voice in their local area. We want to make every civic society become part of Civic Voice and to be the place where people come together to speak about their town. I encourage all active citizens of England to join their local civic society and to help increase our collective voice.’
Following her appointment at the Civic Voice AGM, Mrs Humble set down an ambitious programme of work including:
- Civic Voice will celebrate the 50 th anniversary of conservation areas as part of its Big Conservation Conversation;
- The 2017 Sandys Lecture to be delivered by former Director General of the National Trust, Fiona Reynolds;
- A programme of parliamentary meetings focusing on housing and communities;
- The appointment of four new vice-presidents including Baroness Andrews and Sir Terry Farrell
Civic Voice’s Executive Director, Ian Harvey, said: ‘I am delighted to welcome Joan as our new chair. Her passion for the civic movement together with her skills and experiences of Parliament make her a perfect fit for the challenges that face us over the next years and I look forward to working with her as the movement progresses in exciting new directions.
‘I would also like to thank Freddie Gick for the immense contribution he has made to Civic Voice over the many years he has been involved and wish him well in the future.’
View the VP press release
View the Chair press release
