Editor Rob Cowan Editorial Coordinator Michael Taylor, ihbceditorialboard@gmail.com Editorial Board Nigel Crowe Peter de Figueiredo (book reviews) Rebecca Madgin Fiona Newton Elizabeth Smith Gordon Sorensen Jonathan Taylor Michael Taylor (chair) Green retrofit guest commissioning editor John Edwards Cartoons by Rob Cowan Context is distributed to all members of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. © Institute of Historic Building Conservation 2017 ISSN 0958-2746 Publisher Cathedral Communications Limited, High Street, Tisbury,Wiltshire, England SP3 6HA 01747 871717 context@cathcomm.co.uk www.buildingconservation.com Non-member subscriptions toContext Context is available to corporate bodies at an annual subscription rate, including postage, of: United Kingdom £60.00 Elsewhere £90.00 Context on-line archive Past editions of Context can be viewed on the IHBC website six months after publication. The archive provides a searchable database and reference for key articles. See www.ihbc.org.uk/page55/context_archive. The views expressed in Context are not necessarily held by the IHBC or the publisher. Neither the publisher nor the IHBC shall be under any liability whatsoever in respect of contributed articles. We gratefully acknowledge the support of firms whose advertisements appear throughout this publication.While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this issue of Context is current and correct, neither the IHBC nor the publisher can be held responsible for any errors or omissions which may occur. Briefing Context themes and copy deadlines Context is published five times a year, in March, May, July, September and November. The next three themes and copy deadlines are: IHBC Annual School, September, issue 151 (17 July) Floorscape, November, issue 152 (18 September) Isle of Man, March, issue 153 (12 January) Please contact Michael Taylor at ihbceditorialboard@gmail.com to discuss any editorial submissions or for information about the Context editorial board. 2 C O N T E X T 1 5 0 : J U L Y 2 0 1 7 150 issues of Context Nigel Barker-Mills writes: Milestones are useful markers of progress and it was deemed fitting by the current editorial board that the 150th issue of Context merits a review of how far we have travelled. In providing this short and personal review I am following a well-trodden path.The last review of Context was provided by Bob Kindred in issue 100 (July 2007). He described the process of transforming what he described as a ‘kitchen-table newsletter’ into a professional institute’s journal. That first newsletter appeared in February 1983 under the editorship of John Fidler. The front cover welcomed readers with an official welcome to the Association of Conservation Officers under a cartoon and the title of Cornerstone. There were two features that have remained central to the publication to the present day: awful puns and great artwork, with both aspects reaching greater heights under its first professional editor (more of which later). Following a couple of years with volunteer editors from the ACO regions, in 1989 HallMcCartney was appointed publisher and Bob Kindred took over as editor. From the very beginning the publication was quarterly. In his decade as editor Bob Kindred, with Gus Astley (assistant editor), Jenny Pearce, Francis Biard and Peter Booth, commissioned editorial, illustrations and advertising to produce a newsletter that rapidly became eagerly awaited. It soon became a source of valuable information for what were often then described as ‘gallant’ conservation officers. Early issues tackled threats posed by new legislation, such as the 1983 Telecommunications Bill and the invention of dish aerials, while also reporting on the formation of new amenity societies and the recruitment of conservation officers to NorthWales. The newsletter became a ‘journal’ in 1989 and marked the 10th anniversary of the ACO in September 1991 with a special issue featuring some still-familiar faces on the front cover.The famous five propping up the dangerous structure were the late Gus Astley, whose memory and contribution to the ACO/IHBC is remembered with the student award; Chris Smith; John Fidler; a nonchalantlooking Mathew Saunders; and John Preston.The journal contained regular features including conference reports, Law and Practice and ‘M’Learned Friend’, in which Charles Mynors reviewed recent decisions in the courts with particular relevance to conservation. Although the journal was now a more substantial publication with colour covers, the editorial matter inside was still in black and white. It was at the Cardiff Annual School in the late 1990s that I was outrageously flattered and soft-soaped by Sarah Higgins, then vice-chair of the IHBC, who was seeking a successor to Bob Kindred as editor of Context. Before I knew it I had agreed to become editor, although in recognition of how far the journal had progressed under his stewardship, an editorial board was to be established and a professional editor appointed to develop the next phase of the publication. Context 66 (June 2000) saw the appointment of Rob Cowan as editor and a redesign notable for an increase in the number and quality of the cartoons as Rob began to make his mark. I particularly liked the cartoon with the reference to Shimizu and the character responding ‘bless you’ (Context 100, July 2007).The pop art cartoon of Eddie 18 C O N T E X T 1 0 0 : J U LY 2 0 0 7 bob kindred beyond the kitchen table Context’s lon est-serving editor reflects on more than a decade spent developing an association’s kitchen-table newsletter into a professional institute’s journal. With hindsight it may be that a single letter I received in early 1984 changed my entire experience of and career-long participation in conservation, and my nearcontinuous direct involvement with the Association of Conservation Officers and the IHBC ever since. I had not met Mike Pearce, the first chair of the ACO, when he wrote out of the blue to ask if I might be prepared to act as deputy to Context editor Jenny Birkett. I was both surprised and reluctant as I had had no previous editorial experience. I was certainly apprehensive when I attended my initial ACO committ e meeti g with established c nservation stalwarts, even though I w s soon put at ease. Publication of Context in the early days of the ACO was something of a kitchen-table operation. Today, as one of the very exclusive group with a complete set of Context, it is instructive to see how relatively quickly the journal developed fr m its humble origins. The first issue appeared in February 1983. The initial seven issues were photocopied, corner-stapled affairs of eight to ten pages, appearing intermittently. Edited by John Fidler, the newsletter circulated to a mailing list that probably did not exceed 200 souls. From August 1987 to April 1989 Context had a series of regional volunteer editors, often working in pairs. They not only coordinated the contributions, but also tried to find appropriate sponsoring advertisers to defray the costs, found local printers, and then stuffed all the mailing envelopes themselves before lugging the whole lot to the post office. This slightly shambolic production system, passing from hand to hand, could not be sustained. The first significant cha ge was the professionalism introduced through Mike Pearce’s contacts with publishers HallMcCartney in Letchworth.With an excellent freelance copy editor Jonathan David and financial help with a new computer for the editor, the new working relationship enabled a proper, regular publishing schedule to be introduced. A consistent house style was established and the process of sourcing advertising was devolved to Hall-McCartney. All this enabled the editor to edit. This production process, beginning with Co text 23 (September 1989), was maintained successfully for over a decade. Quarterly publishing of Context required a balance to be struck between a frequency that would limit production costs for a then still quite small association, andsufficientregularitytokeepmemberswell-informed of professional, technical, and political and p licy developments. This was an era when government consulted with the sector infrequently if at all, and only gradually with ACO as a body of expert opinion.There was certainly no luxury of a 12-week consultation protocol and no easy fac lity to inform members of our views or responses on the occasions when we were called to make them. It was also an era before e-mail (perhaps a mixed blessing) where Heritage Link’s excellent e-newsletter and other almost instant forms Milestones 1983 February: first issue of Context. John Fidler is editor 1987–9 Context edited by a series of regional volunteer editors 1989 Hall-McCartney appointed publisher. Bob Kindred takes over as editor 1999 Bob Kindred steps down as editor. Editorial Board formed, chaired successively by Nigel Barker (1999– 2005), Mike Brown (2005) and Fiona Newton (2006–) 2000 Rob Cowan appointed as editor 2002 Cathedral C mmunications appointed publisher 150th ISSUE
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