What’s On
Throughout the year, we offer a range of events for members and non-members. These include regular speaker evenings covering topical interests – for example we have included subjects varying from preserving the green belt to youth interests in St. Albans.
There is an Annual General Meeting when all members are invited to give their views on past and future happenings in our city.
The highlight is our Awards Evening where we celebrate best practice in current architecture and design – for both buildings and our green spaces. This is held every two years with the next one due in 2026.
Additionally, we have participated in the St Albans Residents First Weekend and Heritage Open Days, and arranged visits to other interesting and historic towns.
Upcoming Events
We are pleased to welcome the Leader of the Council to give us an update on items around the city.
(Note: the venue is the Lower Hall not the room where we usually meet)
Past Events
Join us as the Mayor opens the Tower for the 2025 season.
Come and see the new boards on the top which will be unveiled by the Mayor.
Clock Tower admission is £2 for adults
Join the Society Chair, Mary Conneely for tea, coffee and pastries, and informal chat about the Society’s priorities, activities and what you would like us to be doing. To assist with numbers, please email chair@stalbanscivicsociety.com to let us know that you’ll be there.
From Melancholy to Depressive Illness– The Treatment of Depression across the Centuries
Back in March 2023 a blue plaque was installed for Dr Nathaniel Cotton. He was an 18th-century poet and a medical doctor, who was a pioneer in the treatment of mental health, developing an early form of clinical psychology at a time when many with mental illness were being locked up in appalling institutions like the notorious ‘Bedlam’, St Mary of Bethlehem Royal Hospital, in London.
Nathaniel’s approach to mental health treatment emphasised kindness, understanding, and moral guidance rather than harsh disciplinary measures which were commonly used at the time. He advocated the humane treatment of mentally ill individuals and challenged the prevailing view that they were incurable. The event will start with a short introduction to Nathaniel by Professor Tim Boatswain, followed by the keynote speaker Florian Ruths, a Consultant Psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital in London. He is a specialist in the treatment of anxiety and depression, and an accredited trainer in Cognitive Behavioural Therapies (CBT) which is a type of talking therapy. CBT includes Mindfulness-Based approaches, all of which are innovative treatments for depression. He will explain what works nowadays for mental health problems, what we have learnt over time, and how Nathaniel Cotton taught us the empathy that modern services so desperately
This is a fund-raising event for the voluntary body Blue Plaques St Albans.
Attendees are asked to donate £10 at the door
St Albans & Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society (SAHAAS), invite us to join them for a talk by Prof. Geraint John, president emeritus of the St Albans Civic Society, about the Arts and Crafts movement of the latter part of the nineteenth century. The talk will cover an introduction to the arts and crafts movement, William Morris and other major figures and initiators and its relevance to St Albans. This is a public lecture, free to attend but please register for this event via the SAHAAS Eventbrite page.
Do you remember the proposal to build a freight terminal on the old Handley Page airfield site at Park Street? Refused by the Council but approved on appeal by the Secretary of State, it was the largest planning application the district has ever seen – almost 500 football pitches, 3000 more lorries using congested local roads each day and 4000 workers going to work by car. Its impact on the whole of the City would be enormous.
Join us on 8th May to hear how a small action group has found a way to challenge this nightmare scenario and get your friends to come as well. This is a real David and Goliath story that will be decided in the High Court later this year. Theresa Smith and Nuala Webb will talk about the action group work and you can find out more at www.savestalbans.com