Welcome to the latest newsletter from Chelmsford Civic Society, bringing you a look back at recent achievements and a preview of what’s coming up.
In Memory of Malcolm Noble
As you may have seen from our recent mailout, it is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of our chair and dear friend, Malcolm Noble. Malcolm devoted many years to celebrating, protecting and improving our city, and through his tireless work with the Civic Society — alongside his support for numerous other charitable and community causes — he made an enduring contribution to Chelmsford that will be felt for many years to come. His passing leaves a significant void, and he will be greatly missed by all who had the privilege of knowing and working alongside him.
Malcolm was a great advocate for the role and work of the Civic Society, and we are determined to continue this important work in his memory. See his wife Sarah’s article on page 3.
Who We Are
Our aim is to stimulate public interest in, and appreciation and care of, the history, appearance and character of Chelmsford. In practice, we act as a local watchdog, event organiser and advocacy group — protecting and celebrating Chelmsford’s past while helping to secure a bright future for our city.
Recent activities and achievements:
Heritage Open Days – Our flagship programme, led by Paul McLean, is running again this summer. Last year it drew over 12,000 attendees and online viewers across 35 free events, including performances in Tindal Square, a photography display at Shire Hall, and guided tours.
This years events are announced on page 2 of this newsletter.
Events – We run regular events throughout the year designed to raise public awareness and interest in the history, appearance and character of Chelmsford, including talks by local speakers, walks that focus on local history and heritage.
Youth engagement – We have recently established a Civic Society Youth Group, led by our newest committee member Rachel Langran. This is an important addition and will bring fresh perspectives to the work of the Civic Society.
Partnerships – We work closely with groups like CRACL (which aims to improve our local waterways, led by William
July 2026
Marriage and Roy Chandler) and Culture Chelmsford (to imagine and deliver a local cultural strategy) to expand their reach and impact.
Heritage advocacy – We work behind the scenes to recognise and protect important local heritage, such as advocating for Sanford Mill’s retention under City Council ownership and finding a future home for the Bailey Bridge (a rare and important ex-military bridge that some may recall crossing on the way to the old Cater’s car park).
Shire Hall – After years of advocacy, the Society helped secure the formation of the Essex Shire Hall Trust (ESHT) to bring Shire Hall back into productive use. We are keen to see this important local heritage building brought back into use, including for the community.
Memorials – The Society has been recognising important local individuals through blue plaques. It is also exploring how to recognise the role of local groups, such as the 16th/17th-century “witches” and 14 Hanoverian soldiers who died in 1804 who came to the UK to support the British Army against the risk of a Napoleon invasion.
Remembrance events – Supporting VE Day 80 commemorations and leading a Remembrance ceremony in November 2025.
Local planning influence – Contributing feedback on planning matters such as on the Local Plans and key local planning applications.
Political advocacy – We aim to influence the local authorities in the care of the public realm, and have recently been pushing for Chelmsford to retain its city status amid local government reorganisation.
Raising Awareness of the Civic Society – We attend various events throughout the year to promote the work of Chelmsford Civic Society, and through this work our membership has continued to grow significantly over the last year.
Your Civic Society
As a member organisation, we’re always keen to spread the word about our work and events, and to hear your views on what you’d like us to focus on. We’d also love to talk to anyone interested in joining the committee that organises our activities.
Kevin Miller, Chair, Chelmsford Civic Society
Malcolm Noble - A Life By Sarah Noble Originally
The death of Malcolm ends a life of service that contributed so much to the communities he lived and worked in. Many in Chelmsford will remember his tireless work as Chair of the Civic Society, as Trustee of Changing Chelmsford and more recently Trustee of the Shire Hall Trust. However, he had a rich and varied life before he arrived in Chelmsford.
It started in his home town of Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders. The bright, ambitious young man in his late teens, encouraged by his parents, moved to London to make the most of himself and his obvious abilities.
He trained in his early twenties to get a degree, an MA and then teaching qualifications. He became a secondary school teacher of maths and history, progressing on as a Deputy Head Teacher in a tough inner city school in South London.
As a very sucessful educator he became a head teacher at a very large secondary school in Bexley, Kent. He always put his pupils interests first and often used unconventional methods to mediate between parents and authorities.
His time as a young Labour councillor on the 1960s Labour council taught him the skills of strategic thinking, delegation and translating his strong beliefs in social justice - for example, improvements in housing developed into pragmatic, practical solutions. Skills he continued to draw upon throughout his life.
After retiring as a head teacher and now living in Chelmsford, he used his energy and enthusiasm to work volutarily with teams of people in the city whose company, friendship and commitment he valued greatly.
This meant a passionate involvement in raising the profile and membership of the Civic Society, challenging authorities over the empty Shire Hall and supporting the need to develop the cultural life of the city through the many Changing Chelmsford projects.
All this as well as being a proud Scot, he was Chair of the Forces
for
In later life he was determined not to let illness define his horizons. Together, having travelled extensively all over Europe, we started to travel further affield to Japan, Jordan and Israel, China, South America, Myanmar, Uzbekistan, etc.
We also undertook long distance walking in the UK, but also long sections of the pilgrim route Camino St Frances in Northern Spain. Malcolm did this partly as a commitment to his strong Church of Scotland convictions, but mainly because he thrived on new challenges, and the walks helped him to keep as fit as he could be. Our most recent section of the Camino in 2026 was the toughest mental and physical challenge yet.
His contribution to the Chelmsford community will, I hope, be remembered for sometime to come, along with his energy, sense of humour and dedication.
He will be greatly missed.
Sarah Noble
Celebrating the end of his most recent Camino walk in Sarria
On holiday in Greece, where he sadly died
Children Scotland charity
many years, the Scots in London forum and pressure group and the Scottish Literary Festival in London.
Programme of Events
11th August @ 7pm @ Patch - Market, Mildmay and Marconi
Yvonne Lawrence
Free for members, £5 for non-members - email info@chelmsfordcivicsociety.co.uk to book
11th - 20th September 2026 - Heritage Open Days
Heritage Open Days launches today with the post on the opposite page. Remember all events are FREE. If you would like to help at the Tindal Sqaure day or at the exhibition in Shire Hall, please email us.
7th October @ 7pm @ Patch - Chelmsford through the Ages
£5 non members/ £3 members - email info@chelmsfordcivicsociety.co.uk to book
18th November @ 2pm @ Galleywood Heritage Centre - London Underground: The First 150 Years 1863-2013
£5 non members/ £3 members - email info@chelmsfordcivicsociety.co.uk to book
12th December @ 7pm The Chelmsford Club - The Secret Device Made in Chelmsford that Changed WWII and Christmas Quiz
£5 non members/ £3 FREE - email info@chelmsfordcivicsociety.co.uk to book
If you have any suggestions for future talks please email us info@chelmsfordcivicsociety,co.uk
Chelmsford Civic Society now has a Youth Group
During the last couple of months myself and the rest of the committee have been working on developing a Chelmsford Civic Society Youth Committee between the ages of 16 - 21.
I joined the committee in September 2025 and an idea of a youth committee has been in the pipeline for a long time. It was decided to have a youth committee because we felt that in order for the Chelmsford Civic Society to continue for many generations to come, it was important to to reach out to the young people of Chelmsford and for them to share their points of view on a number of issues and to work in partnership with the adult committee. We are all never too young or old to learn from one another.
I got in touch with a number of sixth forms, colleges, universities and youth groups in the local area. From that list I got correspondence from various heads of sixth forms and student unions who were keen for their students to get involved and find out more about what the Civic Society is and what we do. Amazingly a lot of the institutions I got in touch with had never heard of the Chelmsford Civic Society!
I am pleased to report that our persistence of finding young people for the Chelmsford Civic Society Youth Committee has paid off. We have 5 members who at the time of writing this piece, have had 2 meetings,
with their first being in June at the Ideas Hub - Higher Chelmer.
The first meeting was getting to know each other, discussing the things they liked about Chelmsford and what they felt could improve, ideas for future events and projects, obtaining members, how to best promote the Chelmsford Civic Society and the historical facts about various aspects of Chelmsford on social media.
The Youth Committee will be volunteering their time at the 1960s Event as part of Heritage Open Days on Saturday 12th September between 10:30am to 3:30pm. If you’re are planning on coming to the event come and say hello to them.
I want to take this opportunity to thank committee member Judy Gillies who has been a great help in supporting me at the last few Youth Committee meetings and helping me fill in the gaps of parts of the Civic Society that I have not always been 100% sure about. I’m still learning myself!
But most importantly I would like to say a big thankyou to Malcolm Noble who was a huge advocate of the Youth Committee from the beginning and was excited to see it grow. We hope to do him proud and continue the legacy of the Chelmsford Civic Society.
Review of Events
Viv Newman – Not Just a Young Woman’s War 19 May 2026
What a fascinating evening, thanks to Viv’s extensive research in painstaking detail which brought colour to the stories of these five remarkable women. Their bravery, fortitude and resilience improved the lot of others in warzones far and near, and left me feeling more than a little lily-livered. We learned of Mother Suzanne Aubert with her dirty habits, red stockings and rebellious nature, May Bradford, writing over 25,000 letters on behalf of dying and wounded soldiers, Mabel Stobart and her retreat from Serbia saving women and children, Dr Alice Hutchison, leading a war time hospital, and Lena Ashwell entertaining the troops and raising morale.
Viv is an excellent speaker, and we hope to invite her again soon. Check out her vast bibliography on the net.
Volfest 4 June 2026
Well, it didn’t really rain this year, which was a blessing! We had a very productive day, enrolling 7 new members and engaging with Councillors and members of the Society and public. Thanks to all who manned and “womanned” the stall, especially to our own Malcolm Noble, as it sadly proved to be his last public event for the Society.
Huge thanks also to CVS and Phil Chittock for organising this event so brilliantly and coming to our aid in seconds when our gazebo threatened to fly off!
Alan Pamphilon – Blue Plaque Walk 9 June 2026
Wandering round Chelmsford in the well-informed presence of Mr Pamphilon is always a joy! He has perfected the art of telling the stories behind the plaques with assurance and humour. Pertinent photos were displayed and explained, searching questions answered with ease, and the newly introduced plaques to his walk (e.g. landscape artist Alfred Bennet Bamford) were most interesting. Have a look at his work when you next visit the museum? It is such a shame that finding the funding for these little portals to Chelmsford’s history is such a challenge, but Alan has plenty in the pipeline, so watch this space.
Lindsay Whitehouse - The Sometimes-Secret History of Chelmsford Prison 9 July 2026
Oppressively hot weather nearly put pay to Lindsay’s long anticipated tour of the environs of Chelmsford Prison, but 12 of us braved the heat and were greeted with a pleasant breeze, which was a relief.
This was my fourth time hearing Lindsay talk, without notes, on the hardship, malpractice, entrepreneurship, dedication and drama that have gone on at the prison since it was finished in 1825, but I don’t tire of it!
From famous sporting and entertainment personalities to the soul-destroying treadmill, or the colourful festival atmospheric depiction of Hanging Days and the brave locals who helped to thwart a mass escape, the talk is packed with Lindsay’s well-informed take on the subjects.
Should those of you who missed the opportunity to hear it, Lindsay will inform me when the walk next scheduled, and I’ll let you know.
**IMPORTANT WARNING - MAKE SURE YOU BOOK**
Whilst we are able to inform all participants on walks and talks by email should the events have to be cancelled at short notice, if you have not booked through info@chelmsfordcivicsociety.co.uk and are just assuming there will be spaces available, you might, respectfully, land up walking or talking to yourself, and that would be a real shame.
Echoes of History 18th July
Cooler weather at last for our Annual trip to Rettendon to publicise HOD. It wasn’t particularly busy considering the extraordinary number of stalls and amount of military equipment on display in this vast site of the Living Memorial.
We hopefully established a few good contacts including the new Chair of Essex County Council and Spider-Man!
Many thanks to new members Mark and Shaun for providing transport and loads of support.
