Neston Civic Society is concerned with:
* The Local Environment.
* Planning.
* Architecture.
* Conservation.
Neston is an important historic town which has been occupied since Saxon times. A town of warm sandstone and mellow brick, with many fine historic buildings, it is a beautiful place to live, work and visit.
Particular areas of concern to the society are:
(a) Choice of windows and doors, particularly in period properties where design and materials are of great importance to the style of the house.
(b) The impact of shop fronts and advertising along the most important roads in town.
(c) The use of well chosen building materials that blend with the distinctive character of the town.
(d) Improvements in and about Neston with particular emphasis on the Conservation area.
We send our views on planning applications to Cheshire West & Chester Council (CWaC).
A newsletter is published twice yearly.
We usually have talks six times a year at Neston United Reformed Church Hall.
Recent activities
The first talk after the pandemic was another in the popular series of Neston’s Grand Designs, on May 5th 2022 at Burton Manor, when local historian Gavin Hunter talked about the history of the Manor, and architect Tony Barton described the restoration of the building.
The second was at our usual venue, the URC Community Hall, on July 21st. Cheshire West & Chester Councillors, Christine Warner (Chair of the Planning Committee, and a Neston Town Councillor), Myles Hogg (a former Chair of the Planning Committee), and Rob Charnley (Head of Planning) spoke briefly about Planning, and answered lots of questions.
On September 15th Gillian Williams gave a talk on the History of Puddington Village.
On November 17th we held our AGM. Brenda Marple was elected Chairman, Lindsey Hinks was re-elected Secretary, and Janet Griffiths was re-elected Treasurer. Celia Garvey, Michelle Johnson and Rob Ward were re-elected to the committee. After the AGM Gavin Hunter spoke about Mersey Crossings, a highly informative talk based on his research of ferries, bridges, and even planes and fording.
On January 19th, Ken Pye talked about Beastly Liverpool, an entertaining and informative talk about real and non-real animals from the Liverpool area.
Past Activities
We publish Neston Town Trail, available free in the Town Hall and Library, and on-line on the About Neston page.
We organised a petition for a Neston Parish Council, which led to Neston Town Council being established in 2009
We adopted Neston Railway Station in December 2006, organised a mural in the underpass, which won Cheshire Best Kept Station Youth Challenge Award 2008, and new graffiti-style murals in 2010.
From 2003 – 2013 we planted and looked after the plants around Neston Cross, and Neston Town Hall.
We entered Neston & Little Neston in Cheshire’s Community Pride competition: in 2007 we were runners-up, and in 2008 we won! In 2014 we were fifth out of five, with a Little Gem Award for the Bushell Fountain, and Runner Up for the website neston.org.uk in the Market Towns category. In 2019 we were runners-up in our category and won the most improved award for the whole of Cheshire. As 2019 was the last year the competition was run, the plaque is displayed in front of Neston Town Hall.
We joined with other local organisations to launch OURCH64, which asked local people in 2009 how the money coming from the new supermarket should be spent. Later we joined the Sainsbury’s S106 group, which advised CWaC on how the money should be spent.
In 2020 we installed two copies of a map of Neston Conservation Area in the Market Square.
In 2020 we installed an honour board in Neston Town Hall, listing leaders of Neston Town Council.