Custom-made blue plaque marks Torbay Civic Society

Ian Handford, president of Torbay Civic Society, gives us the who, why and how each of Torbay's blue plaques was chosen - this week: The Society's Meetings Plaque

Originally unveiled and mounted at the entrance to the Redcliffe Hotel, Paignton, sometime during 2002, this smallest-ever blue plaque was fully funded by the society once it was agreed with the hotel owner that most of the events of Torbay Civic Society could now take place at the hotel while I remained chairman.

This would include committee and general member meetings plus the occasional function during the day or evening.

It obviously made sense for Pat and I to utilise the hotel being situated next door, which made any setting up or meeting guests very convenient.

Having been elected as chairman of the society in April 2001, even that annual meeting was held at the Redcliffe, where I immediately set out my plans for the 'Chairman's First 100 Days', a theme or stance I was introduced to when serving as a small business lobbyist for the Federation of Small Businesses.

In recent years, I have continued to highlight the theme, particularly if welcoming individuals to high office on the political world.

Thinking back, I have highlighted the concept to at least eight past Prime Ministers taking office, not least the last two - Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

My plans for the society back in 2001 promised members that within my first 100 days, I would ee-establish the office of past president, who would be only the second president ever elected by the society.

Mrs Ena Hocking was duly elected as she had stepped down from the role of chairman making the position available for my election.

I also stated that I would re-establish the society blue plaque scheme which for some reason had been inactive for a few years.

With nine more promises made, the main one concerned the introduction of what was to become our monthly held 'coffee mornings with a difference' which would always be held in the hotel ballroom on the last Friday of every month.

Of course, I had no idea that within my term of office the hotel would eventually be sold and even closed to social groups even after the 'lockdowns' of Covid had ended.

We knew social events were not very profitable yet for nearly 20 years we supported the hotel by bringing up to 90 people on occasions to just our coffee mornings.

These mornings involved a 'mystery object' session, a quiz and various news updates an agenda we still follow today, in the Palace Theatre at Paignton.

Other institutions like the Rotary association also lost access due to the changes. The hotel had always hoped to benefit from functions like lunches, dinners or personal engagagements organised by individual members or the institution creating an event.

With our especially made plaque in a reduced size made, this was originally erected on the entrance wall of the hotel for all to see.

The plaque stated simply 'Meetings of the local civic society are held here' and, of course, over the years all committee meetings and our annual meetings, special daytime or evenings events were all mainly held at the Redcliffe until the pandemic struck changing everything.

Local groups were immediately banned due to 'lockdowns' and this eventually saw many membership-based institutions fail. Fortunately, most of our members remained loyal and today we still retain about 60 per cent of our original membership.

Meanwhile, having been given 'notice' by Redcliffe, which was eventually sold, we were indeed fortunate to find the Palace Avenue Theatre Group of ladies who immediately offered us access to their Stage Left function room on the basis of a proper lease.

Today, we meet regularly every month for our coffee morning on the last Friday of every month when anyone can attend - member or not.

Our original small blue plaque now welcomes everyone at the side entrance to the Palace Theatre.

A special pamphlet dedicated to The Bijou Theatre, also based at the Palace Theatre in Paignton, may be obtained by sending two second class stamps plus a stamped addressed envelope to Torbay Civic Society, Suite 1, 4 Palace Avenue, Paignton TQ3 3HA