The  Civic Society formed in 1960 to oppose the plan of the then Council to build its Civic Centre in the middle of Mowbray Park. The founding Chairman of the Society was prominent local architect George Hawkins, but its moving spirit was Miss Dalrymple-Smith, a retired Matron and Nurse-Tutor of indomitable spirit. She and her helpers organised a random poll of the people of Sunderland, calling at every seventh house in every seventh street, and in this way produced a people's petition showing that the citizens of Sunderland did not want to lose their town Park. This forced a public enquiry, and the Enquiry Inspector found in favour of the objectors. The Civic Centre had to be built in West Park.

Since then, many well-known local people have served on the Society's Committee, among them Sir John Hall, then a young man wanting to learn about property deals. The Society has busied itself with a number of local causes:

• It campaigned to clean up Hendon beaches

• It produced a useful short guide to Sunderland, written by local historian Tom Corfe

• It completed two complete pictorial surveys of all the Listed Buildings of Sunderland. They were photographed in 1980 and 1998 by local archivist Bill Taggart. Sets of these slides can be inspected in the Local Studies Section of the Library, and they have been digitised as the Civic Society's 'Tomorrow's History' project.

• It has produced numerous responses tot he various improvement plans produced by Council planners. But it only opposes Council plans if it seems that the views and interests of the people have been lost sight of. More frequently, the Society offers a reasoned and well-argued appraisal of the plan, sometimes critical but always rational. Council planners have come to value such appraisals as being a useful form of public participation in the planning process, which otherwise is difficult to organise.

For the citizen of Sunderland, putting your views forward through a Civic Society remains the best way of making your voice heard, and of making an input into the planning process.

Please join us - contact Mr John Tumman, 15 Park Place West, Sunderland SR2 8HT.