A SOCIETY charged with preserving the past is committed to securing its future as it celebrates its 40th anniversary.

The Witham and Countryside Society formed in 1969 to save the former home of renowned British author Dorothy L Sayers, and has gone from strength to strength.

Its members, now more than 100 strong, work with big hitters such as the Campaign for Rural England and the Essex Wildlife Trust. It has taken on major developers and been featured in a BBC documentary.

Chairman of the society, John Palombi, said it wasn’t all about the old.

He said: “We try to preserve what is best, but we are not anti anything new. If it’s going to be new, it’s got to be the best for the town as a whole rather than just the ones that want it.”

Former Witham resident Tom Henderson, who recently turned 100, and Eileen Bushell are credited with being founder members of the society, which holds talks, meetings and even visits throughout the year.

Members also recieve a monthly newsletter, edited by Sylvia Saunders, which gives an insight into anything happening within the town.

Planning matters are a key part of that newsletter and the group has a big role and input into Witham’s planning process.

Mr Palombi, who has been chairman for about ten years, said one of the society’s most notable successes during his time was working with residents to see off a controversial planning application for 37 flats on the picturesque Collingwood Road.

He said: “With the McCarthy and Stone proposal there was a lot of effort by residents and we had a lot of public meetings on the issue.

“I pressured the district council for a review of the conservation area, which we eventually got.

“We got a good response from the public inquiry, which was excellent and it showed that, working with residents, the society can make a difference.”

Mr Palombi represented the society last year as part of a BBC documentary the Planners Are Coming.

He said after he moved to Witham from London in 1971 he saw “something, somewhere, probably in the library” about Witham’s history.

He said he became a member and the rest, as they say, is history.

The society is also constantly trying to find out as much as possible about the history of the town, which means shop surveys are carried out each year, if possible, to keep tabs on what is new and what shops have been lost.

The society, and the archaeological section of Essex County Council, have also carried out an extensive cellar survey which, Mr Palombi says, is the best way to find out about the history of a building.

The findings are set to be presented in a future book.

Mr Palombi is working on his own book showing pictures of Witham in days gone alongside photographs of the same places now.

He is aiming for it to be released this Christmas.

He is also positive about Witham’s future.

He said: “We have a big Tesco and Morrisons and lots of popular local shops. The town is surviving extremely well and I’m not depressed about the state of it at all. I think there is an excellent atmosphere in the town centre.

“We get the odd broken window, but the vast majority of children are excellent and well behaved.”