The BCS Executive Committee hope you all had a great Christmas, and we wish all Members and readers of the Journal a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2026.

As has been previously mentioned, this year the Journal celebrates its 50th Anniversary and as promised, all Members will receive a souvenir copy of the first Journal that was published in January 1976. Carol Emery of the Local History Group has written an extremely comprehensive and informative article on the history of the Journal which you can read on p.24 in the February 2026 issue of the Journal, and we would like to thank her for her and the groups continued support of the Civic Society.

One of a number of editors in its history was Debbie Lemay who sadly passed away on Sunday 4th January, Debbie was a staunch supporter of the Society along with her husband Brian. She served as a Councillor on the Town Council for 29 years from 1987 to 2016 and in that year, she was awarded the freedom of Buntingford for her service to the town after she decided to step down from Council Duties. When full details of her funeral are confirmed, we will publish them on our Facebook page. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family at this sad time.

We have mentioned a lot about the changes to Civic Voice which is now a voluntary organisation but still doing great work. They have published a response to the UK Governments proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework which will be the cornerstone of Planning for the coming future, no date yet for formal publication as far as can be seen. Full information will be published on our website when we have filtered the many iterations of the document/s. There is a consultation ongoing at present which ends on 10th March 2026, and we will be submitting our comments on the proposed changes to Civic Voice sometime during mid-February.

We say this every Journal issue, but if you are not a MEMBER of the Society and buy your Journal from one of our retail outlet partners, we would remind you that Society membership is £10 per annum, which includes delivery of the Journal to your door by one of our dedicated distributors. Our grateful thanks go to these distributors.

Finally, we would wish all of our readers a Happy New Year and we hope the Souvenir issue of the first Journal brings back some memories.

Graham Waite, Chairman, Buntingford Civic Society

If you have any queries about Buntingford Civic Society or issues you would like to raise, you can email the Chairman direct at chairman@buntingfordcivic.org.uk.

The February issue of the Buntingford Journal is now available from the usual retailers. The March issue will be available from the 27th February.

More information about the Buntingford Civic Society can be found here and membership forms can be found here.

This website and all the pages herein are © Buntingford Civic Society.