C O N T E X T 9 8 : M A R C H 2 0 0 7 29 organisations might put the word community in front of their title and hope that this miraculously transforms how people see them. Since the 1900s conservation and heritage specialists have effectively conditioned how people understand the past. They have used their skills and knowledge to develop, frame and manage all heritage debate, and have stressed the attributes of fabric, attribution and connoisseurship above all others, dispensing their knowledge to a passive audience. In a socially inclusive world this can not continue.The beginnings of community discourse and exploration of community value have begun to show ‘how scary local power might be’, and what the consequences might be for the specialist.What if communities value places other than those designated?What if they attach values other than the academic and testable to designated places? What if the associations have nothing to do with places but are intangible? The early experiences of community engagement are beginning to show that such work is resource hungry, particularly in terms of time. If central government can not provide sufficient resources, its own strategy could well fail. If it is to be done properly and meaningfully, and not become a mere tick box, community engagement has to be fully resourced. The conservation and heritage specialist needs to be equipped with a new range of skills such as listening, mediation and facilitation. But they have to become more self-critical. Read the legislation again: what is it really saying, who has control, whose sense of identity does it capture? Do you agonise over conservation solutions to keep other conservationists happy, or are you responding to need? The Conservation Principles provide a way into the social inclusion and community agendas. But in order for all the elements to succeed, the principles should be seen and grasped as a fantastic opportunity to revitalise a discipline that had become static and inward looking. The historian Raphael Samuel said that ‘our relationship with the past takes the form of a never-ending dialogue’ (Samuel 1998). This is the dialogue that our skills should sustain. However, be prepared for many voices, and be prepared for the past to be contested and difficult. But be prepared to be amazed and endlessly fascinated. www.brookes.ac.uk/schools/be School of the Built Environment Where better to study Historic Conservation at postgraduate level than Oxford? The Oxford MSc/Diploma in Historic Conservation is long established and highly regarded. It builds on the strengths and traditions of both Oxford Brookes University’s School of the Built Environment and the University of Oxford’s Department for Continuing Education. Covering all areas of competence identified by the IHBC, the course can be taken by full-time, part-time or mixed modes of study. For information please contact: Senior postgraduate administrator t. 01865 483684 e. [email protected] School of the Built Environment Oxford Brookes University Oxford OX3 0BP CONSERVATION AND REPAIR OF BRICK, TERRACOTTA AND FLINT MASONRY John Ashurst 19–22 Mar CONSERVATION AND REPAIR OF MASONRY RUINS John Ashurst 8–11 May CONSERVATION AND REPAIR OF PLASTERS AND RENDERS John Ashurst 29 May–1 Jun Some courses are held in collaboration with The Weald & Downland Open Air Museum. T 01243 818219 E [email protected] West Dean, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 0QZ WWW.WESTDEAN.ORG.UK Adevelopment of the former English Heritage Programme BUILDING CONSERVATION MASTERCLASSES Keith Emerick is English Heritage inspector of ancient monuments for Yorkshire and the Humber Region, chair of the Ancient Monument Inspectors Group and a member of the Conservation Principles Working Group. Members of the Cawood Garth Group (North Yorkshire) receiving training from the English Heritage Archaeological Survey Team. The group has written conservation and management plans for Cawood Castle, and employed archaeological and historic buildings consultants as it needed them. Reference Samuel, R, (1998), Island Stories: unravelling Britain, Theatres of Memory Volume II. Verso, London
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