1946

First public meeting of the Doncaster Civic Trust was held at the Beechfield Museum & Art Gallery.

60 people heard an address by Lord Rosse, founder of the Georgian Society, who emphasised the importance of preserving important old buildings in planning schemes.

 

The name Doncaster Civic Trust was almost certainly taken from the idea of York Civic Trust, founded a few months previously.

The first elections as Doncaster Civic Trust took place the following month and C H Theobald was elected the Trust’s first Chairman. Unfortunately he resigned shortly afterwards and the Trust had no permanent Chairman for over a year.

It could easily have foundered at that point but in October 1947 C E Farran took over as Chairman. Major Farran was to be Chair for the next 22 years and he made the Trust a recognised and respected organisation. His deputy elected in 1947 was a scientist with the LNER called T Henry Turner. Turner was a man with ideas ahead of his time. He was a great advocate of public participation in planning, even well before the Planning Acts came into force.

A smoke abatement sub-committee was also formed to look into ways to reduce air pollution from smoke, involving regulations, cleaner fuels, and air purification tech.