46 CONTEXT 175 : MARCH 2023 Notes from the chair The long haul Till, Witham pass’d, the landscape yields On left and right to widening fields, Flint church-towers sparkling in the light, Black beams and weather-boarding white, Cricket-bat willows silvery green And elmy hills with brooks between, Maltings and saltings, stack and quay And, somewhere near, the grey North Sea… From A Mind’s Journey to Diss by John Betjeman It might be stretching the imagination to describe Betjeman’s railway journey through East Anglia as a ‘long haul’, but at least it provides an evocation of moving from countryside to the North Sea coast. My theme of the long haul begins in Great Yarmouth. A number of years ago I was invited to speak at conference there, which examined the challenges in relation to the regeneration and conservation of seaside towns. I have a number of memories of the day, the most vivid of which was the achievements and ambition of the Great Yarmouth Preservation Trust. I hope that readers will have been as impressed as me by Darren Barker’s article in this issue of Context. Two aspects are of particular note. First, putting training at the heart of its projects. It increases the value of grantaided work, by not only assisting businesses and improving buildings but also providing employment for younger, disadvantaged sectors of the community. Second, its outward-looking nature. The trust’s influence and status certainly benefited from its conference, but in the longer term, its links with other similar organisations abroad are a great advertisement for conservation in East Anglia and the UK as a whole. These accolades do not come easily. It takes a great deal of work over a long time before real progress can be achieved. It really is a long haul. Darren’s work over the years has been acknowledged by the award of an MBE in 2021. Other IHBC members’ achievements have been recognised in 2023’s New Year’s honours list. Kate Dickson and Peter Aiers have been recognised for their ‘services to heritage’. That phrase could cover many aspects of conservation but it is clear that, like Darren, their richly deserved honours have not come quickly. They have been awarded for dedication and hard work over many years. I hope that readers enjoyed our IHBC 25th anniversary issue of Context (174, December 2022) as much as I did. I learned much about the quite difficult process of converting the Association of Conservation Officers into the IHBC from Mary King and Malcolm Airs, not only through their Context articles but also from our lunchtime conversation at St Pancras station. It was clear that they had put in a tremendous amount of work along with many others to steer the process through, involving extensive consultation both within and outside the ACO. They still maintain a passion for our organisation and value its strength as a multi-disciplinary institute. This was another example of the long haul paying off. In our discussions it was clear that they are both very much in support of gaining chartered status for the IHBC. As we take our first tentative steps towards that aim, I am conscious that we should be learning from the past and making sure that we take as much time as we need, not only to consult our membership, but also to engage with other professions and government departments. At this stage, as we investigate the process further, it is not clear how long the whole process will take, but persistence and patience will be the watchwords. I would also like to draw readers’ attention again to Sandy Halliday’s ‘Short history of good ideas’ in our 25th anniversary issue. It was the pick of the presentations at the Aberdeen annual school. There were many interesting and stimulating lectures in Aberdeen and many hit the mark in discussing conservation ‘on the edge’. What stood out for me in Halliday’s presentation was its all-encompassing environmental theme. It acknowledged the environmental concerns and campaigners of the second half of the 20th century and showed us how relevant they were to the present day. It was good to see that she not only covered climate change, but she put it into the
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