C O N T E X T 1 3 0 : J U LY 2 0 1 3 49 Who has been your greatest inspiration? My Mum, who was strong, determined, kind and thoughtful. What has been your best idea? Moving down to Cornwall back in the 1980s. I had been working as a research assistant in the Manchester School of Architecture, writing a PhD thesis on Manchester commercial warehouses. Coming down to Cornwall to concentrate on the rural resurvey of listed buildings was a complete change. The first memo we received was about being careful of basking adders on mine sites. It is a move that I have never regretted. What would you like to have been if you had not become a conservationist? I would have loved to have been an accomplished artist but have never had the talent. However, I have plans for when I retire... How do you reply when at a party someone asks what you do? Usually I say I work with old buildings. I was once called ‘that so-called historic Vox pop Alyson Cooper is principal historic environment officer with Cornwall Council, managing an integrated team of conservation officers and archaeologists which include the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Historic Environment Record, a heritage-led regeneration team and a self-funded projects team. buildings expert’ by a disgruntled councillor – a label that my husband always teases me about. What is the biggest frustration in your job? Trying to be in the right place at the right time, arguing against cuts and changes that will have a huge and detrimental impact on the historic environment in Cornwall. What would you like to be doing in five years’ time? I hope at least that I will still be passionate and enthusiastic whatever I am doing. What is your favourite building? The grotto at Painshill in Surrey (see page 4). I wrote my BA dissertation on the grottoes back in the 1970s.When I first visited Painshill I had to break into the gardens and battle my way through the undergrowth. I went back a couple of years ago.What a difference! Your favourite place? We are very lucky. My sister-in-law has a beautiful house in the South of France. We visit as often as we can – sitting in the sun, eating good food and drinking wine. The sea is always a deep blue and there is always St Tropez market… Your favourite book? Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. I have loved it since my early teens. What do you do in your spare time? There never seems to be enough.We have a house with land, in the middle of nowhere. Keeping on top is a battle. However, when the sun is shining and we can sit in the fields looking at the sea it is all worth it. What organisations are you a member of? SPAB, Vernacular Architecture Group, CAMRA and various steam rally groups that my husband signs me up for. Which one issue would you particularly like the IHBC to campaign on? I am not convinced that the heritage sector is fully aware of the power that is being vested in local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) or, although at a much lesser degree, the emerging local nature partnerships (LNPs). The LEPs will, for example, directly influence the 2014–2020 EU structural and investment funds. It is imperative that, as a sector, we work together to share evidence and knowledge, and to promote the relationship between the economy and the environment.We need to be able to do this in a way that is persuasive, relevant and compelling. So much of the work that is being done at the moment is concentrating on the natural environment, possibly because it is being led by DEFRA. A recent ministerial letter to LEP chairs (12 April 2013) stated that ‘the government believes that a healthy, well-functioning natural environment is the foundation of sustained economic growth, prospering communities and personal wellbeing’. How about the role of the historic environment? Are we going to miss the boat? Painshill grotto: restoring it involved putting hundreds of thousands of gypsum crystals on a superstructure of wooden cones.
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