Message from our President - Paul Millward.
Probably like you, I found myself in charge of a Civic Office, with absolutely no knowledge whatsoever about civic protocol etc, and wondered what I would do.
Also, probably like you, I did my best but was met with some ‘push back’ (I’m being diplomatic here…) from various Councillors and Civic postholders. It all came to a head when the then Lord Mayor told me “You don’t know what you’re doing” (or words to that effect…) and I wondered if I did know what I was doing. There was no network of civic offices to consult and an outdated copy of Civic Ceremonial on the window ledge. Local Government in the early 1990s was ‘another country’ compared with today.
I decided to talk to my nearest city council neighbours about how they ran their civic offices. My first visit was to see Phil O’Brien at Derby City Council and it was a revelation to me the things he was doing and the direction he wanted civic offices to go in. I then went see other city civic offices (Stoke, Bradford, Bristol Cardiff, Swansea, Newcastle and Leicester spring to mind) and each of those civic officers were interested in what others were doing.
We then created the Civic Secretaries Group in 1992 to share practice, and frankly, ‘borrow’ each others’ ideas. That group slowly grew as other civic officers heard about it and by the mid-1990s, it was no longer an exclusively ‘city’ civic group.
I had an idea that we should hold a National Conference which I, and the Civic Secretaries Group, helped to organise, with the first Conference being held in Nottingham in March 1997.
If I say so myself, it was a great success, but whilst speaking on stage, I, entirely, unscripted and without any forethought, said we should form a national civic officers’ association which was very much supported by those present.
Fast forward two years (it took me that long to get my act together) and the Civic Secretaries Group had organised the second National Conference, also in Nottingham when we launched the “National Association of Civic Officers” and agreed a constitution. The first meeting of NACO took place in the Mansion House in Bristol a few months later when we elected officers and set out to ‘educate’, ‘influence’ and ‘support’.
I know that many of you, much like I was back in the 1990s, need somewhere trusted to find information, share ideas and seek support. I’m pleased to say that NACO remains that place and we value your membership.
Paul Millward,
(Proud) President of the National Association of Civic Officers
