Park Bench

News from around the London Parks

William Weston Moves On

ROYAL PARKS chief executive William Weston is leaving at the end of the year, after five years in the £75,000 job.

Announcing his decision, Weston commented: "When I started as chief executive, I had big plans for the Royal Parks and I believe I have delivered them. I myself wish to focus on my personal career development and another radical change of direction."

The job of chief executive to the parks is now being advertised. A spokesman said: "A successor will be sought who combines excellent commercial skills with an understanding and enthusiasm for safeguarding the unique fabric and character of the Royal Parks."

Canons Park Wins £0.9m Restoration

LB HARROW is to receive a grant of £917,700 from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards restoring historic Canons Park in Edgware.

The money has been given for restoration of listed buildings and garden walls, renovation of formal gardens - including the George V Memorial Garden - and the avenue linking the Canons mansion with St Lawrence Church. The funding will also go towards new tree planting, access improvements, preparation of a nature conservation management plan, opening up of historic views and providing park keeper and security staff cover.

Initial work in summer 2005 will focus on buildings, walls and paths, together with clearance of overgrown areas and removal of selected trees. This will be followed in the autumn by new planting of trees, shrubs and flowers.

Cllr Phil O'Dell, portfolio holder for environment on Harrow Council, said: "Canons Park is one of the jewels in the crown of Harrow's heritage. The fact it is going to be restored to its former glory is wonderful news. I would like to thank all those who have worked tirelessly to ensure this project has got the green light."

Canons Park once formed part of the estate of the 1st Duke of Chandos.

Harrow Council is engaged in a £1.3 million programme to refurbish parks and green spaces across the borough by 2006.

Horniman Gardens Are 'Best Park in SE'

HORNIMAN Gardens, surrounding the museum of the same name in southeast London, have been named 'Britain's Best Park' in South East England. The site has also retained Green Flag status.

Bryan Peachey of Briggs and Stratton UK, who sponsor the Britain's Best Parks awards, said: 'This is the second year we have run the competition. We feel it is important to encourage local authorities to maintain our public green spaces to a high standard and to recognise their importance as a centre of our communities. Horniman Gardens epitomised these values.'

The competition is also supported by The Sun and Horticulture Week.

Gardens Manager, Gordon Lucas, commented: 'We have been delighted by the recognition the gardens have received this year. I hope our visitors will continue to come back and enjoy the Horniman's beautiful landscaped green spaces, especially now that we can fly the Green Flag for yet another year.'

To Boldly Go ...

MEMBERS who have visited the Garden Barges near Tower Bridge during Open Garden Squares Weekend for the past few years, will be interested to hear that the long running legal battle to avoid eviction has concluded.

The action brought by Southwark Council finally culminated in a win for the boat people at a Public Inquiry in September. An unexpected ally was the actor Patrick Stewart (better known at Captain Jean-Luc Picard to StarTrek fans). Stewart, who owns a flat near the moorings, told the inquiry that he chose the location because he liked the liveliness and diversity of the boats.

Moorings owner and architect Nicolas Lacey told the Evening Standard afterwards, "This stressful ordeal could have been better resolved by negotiation but the council planners insisted on taking enforcement action. Thank goodness in the end the Inspector supported our case".

Talk Back

FRIENDS of Greenwich Park have paid for reinstatement of an inscription on the edge of seating on One Tree Hill. The Hill is a famous viewpoint in the Park and the verse inscribed in 1995 had been vandalised.

Gustafson Water Feature for Swiss Cottage

KATHRYN Gustafson has been selected to design a water feature at the Swiss Cottage Open Space Centre.

Gustafson is the designer of the controversial Princess Diana Memorial Fountain and another troubled water feature in Crystal Palace Park in South East London.

Labour members on Camden Council dismissed Tory opposition members' fears about the suitability and safety of the proposed design and voted to proceed with the scheme.

Work Starts at Peckham Rye

PECKHAM Rye Park (LB Southwark) closed in September for a £3.5m facelift and the Friends of the Park held a fair on the green to mark the occasion. Architects and landscapers were on hand to discuss the plans with local residents and lead a tour of the park to point out areas where changes are planned.

The first step is to dredge the lake.  Now that soil samples have shown it is not contaminated this is going ahead. The silt is being excavated and spread out to dry in the disused store yard while the bottom and sides of the lake and its feed and drainage systems are repaired.

Children's Playtime

LB RICHMOND recently embarked on an extensive programme of restoration and improvement of the children's play areas in its parks.

Work has included landscaping the former Territorial Army centre at Twickenham and the creation of a whole new play area at Rocks Lane Recreation Ground, Barnes. At Carlisle Park, Hampton, plans include providing a roundabout and adventure trail.

Befriend Raphael Park, Says Council

DAGNAM Park (see feature) is not the only LB Havering park to receive attention. The borough's Parks Service recently organised a meeting to establish a 'Friends of Raphael Park' group.

The first meeting aimed to gather ideas on how a volunteer group could help improve the park and to work towards establishing a committee.

Havering has allocated funding for improvements to the park, which is situated in Main Road in Romford, and the play site and tennis courts are due to be refurbished over the winter months. Outside railings have also been painted. For further information contact Sarah Brooks on 01708 433855 or e-mail her.

Ain't No Mountain

EVERY year a modern temporary pavilion is built by the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens.

For 2005 Gallery director Julia Peyton-Jones has commissioned a 23 metre high artificial mountain from the Dutch firm MVIDRV. The grass-covered mountain will have sloping 45 degree sides and tower above the surrounding trees. Inside will be an artificial sky. Visitors will be able to climb to the top of the mountain and to walk through at a high level and look down on the gallery.

The scheme is being sponsored by Eurex, Hare and Bovis and the Daily Telegraph and will be unveiled in 2005.

Haringey Shows Well in Green Flag Awards

LB HARINGEY featured prominently in the 2004 Green Flag Awards.

Four of the borough's parks were among 52 winners across Greater London and will be entitled to fly the coveted flags during 2005. The award is the national standard for parks and green spaces, managed by the Civic Trust in association with CABE Space.

Priory Park in Hornsey and Bruce Castle Park in Tottenham were first awarded with the Green Flag status last year and have retained it for 2005. Two new additions are Stationers' Park and Railway Fields Local Nature Reserve.

The scheme's judges were particularly impressed with the high standard of the Railway Fields Local Nature Reserve. They commented that 'on entering the magnificent Sates, the site felt intriguing and inviting. Lush vegetation blocked out noise from the surrounding streets, which made the site feel peaceful and secure'.

They went on to say that 'the whole site felt totally natural and untampered with, in a controlled and sensitive way, and the strong emphasis on developing and encouraging biodiversity is very evident'. Plus points the judges commented on in making awards included

• well laid-out entrances and signage,
• a good range of attractions, including café, artworks, play facilities and ornamental grounds
• well maintained horticultural features;
• active patrolling creating strong public reassurance;
• facilities and activities including dog bins and exercise activities.

The Corporation of London also continues to set a high standard with a strong showing this year for its Croydon open spaces: Farthing Downs, Coulsdon Common, Kenley Common and Riddlesdown have all been awarded 2004 Green Flags.

The full list of winners can be seen at http://www.greenflagaward.org.uk . There were 253 awards nationwide.

Museum of Garden History Founder Dies

It was with great sadness that we learnt of the death of the founder of the Museum of Garden History, Rosemary Nicholson. Mrs Nicholson and her husband, the late John Nicholson, founded the Museum in 1977, saved the building of St Mary-at-Lambeth from the threat of demolition, and formed the Tradescant Trust to assure the Museum’s future.

By way of some acknowledgement and recognition of this tremendous contribution to the Museum, a stone plaque on the Museum’s wall, facing the knot garden, was unveiled by the Dowager Marchioness of Salisbury, President of the Museum of Garden History, in January 2005.

Together Everyone Achieves More

Trust News from Chair BARBARA SIMMS

As a charitable trust with an educational remit, the London Parks & Gardens Trust's new mission statement reflects its primary objective of raising awareness of the value of the city's historic green spaces.

We continue to do this through study days, walks and winter lectures - the October lecture by David Marsh on commercial gardeners in London 1650-1730 was fully booked.

The Trust's journal, The London Gardener, edited with both enthusiasm and academic rigour by Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, reaches not only members but a number of university and corporate libraries at home and abroad. Next year sees the tenth issue!

London Landscapes is the public face of the Trust and, under Hazelle Jackson's editorship, has quickly become the popular newsletter for all those interested in parks and gardens throughout Greater London. It keeps its readers up to date with current issues concerning London's green open spaces and brings them news about heritage, horticulture and the environment.

It is distributed to members throughout London and the Home Counties, and also to London borough libraries, local groups, London squares residents' associations and gardens trusts nationwide.

From this issue, London Landscapes will be printed in full colour and, to increase accessibility to information on London's historic green spaces, its circulation will be wider than ever.

We need to work hard to attract sponsors to offset the additional cost of these changes. If you would like a rôle in this or even have suggestions for sponsors or advertisers, please get in touch. Thanks to Sylvie Coudret for her efforts before her return to France.

OGSW and HLF

In recent years heritage organisations have become increasingly aware of the need to develop broader audiences and to engage new groups in their activities. One of the main aims of  the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has been to encourage more people to be involved in, and make decisions about, their heritage, enabling communities 'to celebrate, look after and learn more about our diverse heritage'.

The Trust is submitting an application to the HLF to fund a project officer to consider the future format and organisation of Open Garden Squares Weekend (OGSW) that places accessibility at its the core.

If successful, the grant will enable the Trust to widen participation of historic squares and green spaces in OGSW, to develop a network of volunteers to coordinate OGSW activities at a local level and to make information on London's historic green spaces available to a wider section of the community through a range of publications.

Keep your fingers crossed for the application's success!

New Research Initiative

There are now opportunities for members to become more involved in practical research activities.

I am delighted that Kristina Taylor and Sue Marcus have been appointed volunteer Research Co-ordinators for the Trust. Both are well qualified and experienced in garden history research and will be developing and implementing a research strategy for the Trust.

Sue will be responsible for the identification of new research projects and will be involved in seeking funding for, commissioning and monitoring such projects in conjunction with the Research and Publications Subgroup.

Kristina will develop a scheme to recruit, train and organise volunteers to carry out research in London according to the Trust's needs and individual interest.

There will be a training weekend in the next few months so please indicate your interest in taking part by contacting Kristina (see the article on the home page) and become more involved in recording London's green heritage.