The Round Hill Society

The Round Hill Society

Read the constitution of The Round Hill Society (last updated in 2020) and see the overview below on what the RHS does.

Read the Round Hill Conservation Area Character Statement - last updated in 2005(!) though still worth quoting in response to planning applications to build on our 'green ribbons'. [Map]

Our last AGM was held at Richmond House on  3rd November 2021, when we elected the current Round Hill Society committee.

Contact details of committee members appear on the back page of The Round Hill Society's printed magazine, which comes through your letterbox every three months. 

Committee members 2021-2022 

Secretary and Newsletter
Rob Stephenson

Treasurer
Gary Jenkins

Members without portfolio

Jamie Aitchinson

Jo Alexander

Summer Dean

Stephania Rosso

Julia Valentine

Eva Wendler

Kate Wolstenholme

An overview of The Round Hill Society

The society was formed in 1999 and holds an annual get-together open to all Round Hill residents as well as organising local events such as street parties, playsafe, open gardens and carol singing.

Click on the graphics (below) for A4-sized PDFs, which can be used on noticeboards:

1. FUN EVENTS

Play Street. Between 2014 and 2019, one committee member with young children made herself responsible for organising Play Street. During these 2 hour sessions (4 times per year), other members of the committee and volunteer residents made themselves available as marshals, another committee member living in Mayo Road supplied hot and cold drinks and cakes. See 2 minutes 30 sec video of April event. See 2 minute video halloween event. PlaySafe returns in April 2022, organised now by Laura Kate.

Street Parties and picnics. At least 8 committee members were actively involved in organising The Round Hill Society's 10th Anniversary Street Party. See the task list for organising this street party. In 2016, a committee member with a large garden offered it up as the venue for a community picnic. The mayor was invited. The Round Hill Society's chair explained the formal side of the event: certificates of appreciation were handed out to children who had helped in the stencilling of pavements where uncollected dog poo was a frequent cause of concern and complaint. The next street party will be for the Queen's Jubilee on Sunday 5th June 2022.

Dog Show. The Round Hill Society has held two dog shows to date organised by a committee member who was very familiar with the format of these events. She was helped by her family as well as Round Hill residents who acted as judges. Video highlights of the dog show [8 min 30 sec]

Advent windows and Carol singing (for various charities) are among the regular events which the Round Hill Society has run most years.

2. INFORMS

Newsletter: Our printed newsletter has had five different editors and four issues per year have been delivered through every letterbox in Round Hill since February 2000. It has really acted as 'community cement' i.e. making us aware that we live in a neighbourhood with a special identity with its own residents' association The Round Hill Society. It is paramount that this continues. The best issues are those where several different members of the community contrubute. The machinery for financing it and getting it printed and delivered is currently in place.

Noticeboards: The Round Hill Society has two physical noticeboards. One located on the side of Red White and Rose in Princes Road and the other on the wall towards the north of Ashdown Road. Keys are given to those with the responsibility for changing the publicity. There are normally events to publish. In the absence of events, the A4 fliers on JUST WHAT DOES THE ROUND  HILL SOCIETY DO? can come in handy.

Website: The website was created in 2005 by professional website designer David Guest, replacing an amateur design by myself. The templates have been changed and new features have been added in response to feedback. Content is drawn from the contributions of several residents, especially those writing in The Round Hill Reporter.  Colour photos are predominant, whereas our printed newsletter is in black and white. The site features a Guide Book and can be authored from anywhere in the world by using its inbuilt text editor. This includes tools for adding enhancements, lists, tables, pictures and links. Alternatively, you can enter HTML simply as text into the input area for source code.

3. COMMENTS ON PLANS

CAG Vacancy. For most of existence, The Round Hill Society has been represented by the presence of one committee member on Brighton and Hove City Council's Conservation Advisory Group known informally as CAG. CAG meetings last up to three hours and are held every four weeks on Tuesday at 10a.m. The function of CAG is to discuss planning applications which affect conservation areas and to recommend (approval, refusal or no comment) to BHCC's planning committee. For more than a decade, Round Hill had representation at CAG. For some of that time both the chair and the secretary of the Round Hill Society acted as substitute CAG representatives. But since April 2016, we have not had a CAG representative. On several occasions, in response to significant concerns among local residents, The Round Hill Society has taken a stance on planning applications and letters of comment are then written by the Chair or Secretary. Conservation used to be a committee portfolio. Much about the planning process is documented on this website, which has its own planning section.

4. PROMOTES CIVIC PRIDE

Clean-ups. These are performed by volunteer residents and have been held in spring and autumn over the years, though Covid has caused an interruption. Clean-ups have focused on removal of overgrown vegetation, especially on and around the Cat Creep steps, at the junction of Princes Road and Mayo Road and at the NE end of Richmond Road. We have helped too in gardening at Richmond House. A frequent concern is dog mess. We have a Clean It Up stencil to highlight the problem. There is scope here for a committee portfolio (e.g. Environment) as well as a need to have good contacts within Cityclean, who collect the vegetation we have cut down.

Tree Planting, Greening projects and Pocket Parks. Our most notable event was the planting of the mountain ash tree on 30th December 2015 at the junction of Richmond Road and Mayo Road. See video of tree planting. Greening is a community concern in Round Hill where there are no public open spaces such as parks, recreation grounds or woodlands. Review the recent activities of Round Hill Green Spaces (2022). Towards a Liveable Neighbourhood.

History Trails and Blue Plaque Ceremony. One way to promote pride in Round Hill is to share the history of our conservation area, especially the Victorian era when most houses were built. The deliberate layout by the original planners, giving our densely populated area its distinctive 'green ribbons', is documented on our About Round Hill page. In the early years of The Round Hill Society, we had a Local History Group. Their productivity culminated in 2004 with the publication of the book From Rose Hill to Round Hill. In more recent years, The Round Hill Society has participated in Heritage Open Days (a September history trail event) and a committee member has represented us on the Brighton and Hove Commemorative Plaque Panel.