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Fulham Society Newsletter October 2017

Newsletter October 2017

Editors: Fiona Fowler & Maya Donelan No. 98

CHAIRMAN’S LETTER I very much look forward to seeing you at the Fulham Society’s Annual General Meeting on Monday 13 November. After we have concluded the business part, the creators of the Panorama of the Thames will talk about their project. In 1999, they restored a remarkable rare panorama of the Thames from Kew Bridge to Tower Bridge published by Samuel Leigh in 1829 and over the next few years, they photographed the same stretch of the river. It was done in response to public concern that familiar river views were rapidly changing as a result of new building developments, changes that continue as the banks of the Thames become even more desirable for luxury housing. The results can be seen on their website and in a book on the project. It is fascinating to compare the two, so do come to hear how the 1829 panorama was

made, how they went about restoring it, about Samuel Leigh and how to use the website. In this Autumn Newsletter, you will find interesting articles on the history of the Castle Club, currently under wraps as they work on repairing the structure of the building, and Lady Margaret School which is celebrating its centenary this year. As always, we bring you up to date about other planning matters as well as what is happening in the community. We also tell you something of the events – a visit to the Postcards Exhibition at Fulham Palace and to the site of the Riverside Studios - that we are planning for the winter. And we hope that those who receive the paper copy will enjoy having it in colour. Fiona Fowler

FULHAM SOCIETY ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2017

On Monday 13 November 2017 at 7.00 pm

at Lady Margaret School Parsons Green, SW6, in the Sixth Form Building. Lord Carrington, a Vice-President, will preside.

Following the meeting Jill Sanders and John Inglis of the Panorama of the Thames project will talk

about their work in recording and conserving views of the river.

This will be followed by drinks

CONTENTS CASTLE CLUB 2 PLANNING UPDATES 3 IN BRIEF 6

COMMUNITY ISSUES 7 LADY MARGARET SCHOOL 8 SOCIETY NEWS 11

FUTURE EVENTS 12 RECENT EVENTS 13 CONTACT DETAILS 14


THE CASTLE CLUB As many of you may know, there are discussions and planning applications underway to return the Castle Club to educational use. The idea is that Fulham Prep will have a senior school on the site. Fulham Prep first arrived in Fulham in 1996 when they opened a pre-prep and preparatory school in the old All Saints Church School building on Fulham High Street. In 2003 they acquired the former Star Road School on Greyhound Road and the prep school moved there. This new site will eventually house some 300 children from 13-18 years of age, with a full sixth form curriculum. The Castle Club was built in 1854-55 as a ‘ragged school’ and almshouses, the school being for the children of the estate workers of Broom House. This was a riverside house acquired in 1823 by the Right Hon Laurence Sulivan, a noted philanthropist, and his wife, Elizabeth Palmerston Sulivan, younger sister of Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston. Following his wife’s death in 1837, Sulivan built the school in her memory, naming it the ‘Elizabethan Schools’, with Frederick and Horace Francis as architects and Messrs Bird of Hammersmith as builders. The use of Elizabethan architectural details is perhaps part of the homage to her. The Francis brothers were relatively prolific architects of the time, particularly noted for their churches and use of the Italianate and late-Gothic styles. The building was featured in a November 1854 issue of The Builder and included an engraving of its principal elevation. In an eclectic Gothic revival/‘Tudorbethan’ style, it featured a dominant central tower with an oriel bay flanked by two symmetrical wings with gabled end pavilions in diapered red brick and with elaborate stone dressings to the windows and parapet. The written account described it as including ‘dwelling-houses for several inmates, central entrance-hall and two school-rooms’.

A plan of the ground floor was also included, labelled with a description of rooms. The principal entrance led up a small flight of four steps to a large entrance hall with a chimneybreast along the south wall and tripartite window facing east; ‘a room over’ was also indicated in the text. Directly north of this was a large ‘school room’ of three bays with an exterior door in the northeast corner and chimneybreast along the western wall. The elaborate Tudor-esque elevations retain much of their original character, though substantial stone and brickwork repairs were carried out in the 1970s.


The Ordnance Surveys of 1865 and 1893-4 show that residential development had encroached south of Hurlingham Road and by 1913, a number of terraces and semi-detached houses had been built around the periphery of the area. By 1916, housing was being built along the south side of Daisy Lane, Peterborough Road and the north side of Sulivan Road. Southfields Nursery (or Broom Farm) to the east of Broomhouse Lane had been there since 1711. This land was ultimately purchased by Fulham Borough Council in 1903 and opened as a public park in 1904. The landscape framework of today’s South Park retains much of its Edwardian character. Later alterations to the Castle Club are shown in a 1900 photograph providing a detailed view of the northern wing and clearly depict the original front garden wall and early landscaping. The front garden wall comprised a stone plinth and low brick elevation capped in stone, with quoined stone piers and wrought-iron panels with quatrefoil detail. An entrance gate aligned with the principal entrance of the building. The garden itself included plantings of small trees along the front near the wall as well as some shrubbery. In 1920 the building was converted for use as an open-air school for tubercular children and in keeping with its treatment programme and curriculum, the school was granted permission in 1935 to demolish two existing class shelters and erect a larger glazed ‘open air class hut’ to the rear of the building. This was a rectangular open plan area designed as an open-air learning space and as such its hipped roof incorporated a ridge vent, rooflights in wired plate glass and extended eaves, with internally-exposed timber rafters. It was built on a concrete base, with solid walls to half-height and multi-pane glazing comprising the rest, and its two entrance doors faced west. The Open-Air School eventually closed in 1960, after improved public health measures deemed open-air treatments unnecessary. The building, though structurally sound, was considered outdated and a difficult candidate for conversion, and in 1962 consent was granted for its demolition and residential redevelopment. However these plans were ultimately laid aside due to the building’s intrinsic architectural interest and instead it was adapted for use as a local youth club, reopening around 1966, with a new, taller brick wall protecting the building from the street. It continued as a youth club until 2007 since when it has either been empty or in short term residential use. The building was statutorily listed in 1970. Maya Donelan

PLANNING UPDATES Fulham Gas Works The good news is that Historic England is hoping to upgrade the listing of Gasholder 2 from Grade II to Grade II*. The gasholder was built in 1830 and is reputed to be the oldest gasholder in the world. The news on Gasholder 7 is not so good. The Fulham Society has written on various occasions in the past about our strong wish that Gasholder 7 should be preserved intact on site until the last possible moment in the hope that an enlightened and imaginative developer could see their way to keep this very important, locally listed heritage asset in place on its present site. We were delighted when the Section 106 agreement made on 5 March 2015 provided that it would not be demolished until planning permission had been granted for the comprehensive redevelopment of the Fulham Gasworks site. National Grid has now asked for revocation of this agreement on the grounds that removal of Gasholder 7 is vital to the continued works on new gas pipes on the site. The Fulham Society has had to accept, sadly, that the guide frame of No 7 cannot and will not be retained in its present location. When the gasholder is taken down, those parts which are in good condition will be safely stored until ways can be found to incorporate them into the new development. We were not impressed, however, with the ideas shown to us at our recent meeting with National Grid. They were all very insignificant: benches, small pedestal for statues, plaques attached to building and so on. We had hoped that some of the columns and lattice girders could be incorporated into the facades of the new buildings or used as free standing features in the proposed new Square.


Thames Wharf

Plans by celebrated architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, or RSHP, to demolish and rebuild its former home, Thames Wharf Studios, on Fulham's riverside have been abandoned.

In 2015 planning permission was granted for the demolition of the existing buildings and their replacement with two buildings of up to nine storeys, providing 57 homes along with restaurant and office space. The River Café, run by Richard Rogers’ wife Ruth, would have remained.

According to The Architects' Journal, landlord London & Regional are no longer willing to pay the £6.5m planning contribution agreed when planning permission was granted due to the collapse in London’s high-end apartment market. Instead the original £35m scheme has been abandoned in favour of refurbishing the existing building, now understood to be 80% let.

Permission was granted this year for a temporary change of use of parts of the building to become artists’ studios, workshops, an art gallery and education and community space, including a pizzeria to be run by Ruth Rogers. This temporary use of the building is due to last for between five and seven years.

Much of the building has now been let to Re:Centre, who will run a programme of “inspiring talks, screenings, exhibitions, classes, performances, workshops and other events within a nurturing and restful space.” A resident artist programme will host ten artists at any time in a dedicated communal workspace, and a rentable workshop area will accommodate teachers and practitioners offering classes and workshops for adults and children alike, from art to dance, yoga, music, drama and holistic living. A dedicated yoga studio will offer daily classes, and a healthy restaurant will serve light and seasonal food. Re:Centre aims “to foster a sense of community and connection, in a space that offers a chance to rest, connect, learn, create and grow. Its situation on the river, with a backdrop of the changing seasons – combined with a thoughtful and balanced programme of classes and events, offers us all a chance to rediscover a sense of true balance, and quite literally re-centre ourselves.”

Hurlingham Road The proposal to redevelop 160-64 Hurlingham Road was turned down by the Council in mid October. It was strongly opposed by some local residents who led a text book campaign against it. The Fulham Society had reservations but we did not oppose it. The site is an area on the north side of Hurlingham


Road opposite the Magnet car park, showroom and trade counter. It is a triangular shaped plot bordered by Hurlingham Road, Melbray Mews (purpose built offices, some residential) and the railway. The present building is a single story structure of approximately 1,394 sqm built to house buses in the mid 1880s. This use stopped in 1920 and it has since been used for light industry and warehousing. Some of the site was occupied by Chelsea Upholstery and some is still occupied by Charles Ivey, who service Porsches and are in the process of moving out. The Conservation Area was extended on 2nd July 2002 to include the area. The developers proposed to demolish all buildings and structures on site except for the façade to the Building of Merit (the Charles Ivey entrance), which was to be retained and to replace it with an office building of various heights, with a low building adjacent to the Hurlingham Road houses, becoming much higher as it approached the New Kings Road and the railway. It was also planned to include a restaurant for staff on the ground floor.

Hammersmith and Fulham Local Plan. The Local Plan is being finalised and will be put first to the Council’s Cabinet and then the Council as a whole for approval before it is adopted early next year. The Plan is important because it sets out the Council’s vision and policies over the next 20 years. This latest Plan (required under Government legislation) has so far taken 2 years to produce and be consulted upon at various stages. The Fulham Society is largely happy with the overall proposed Plan as it now stands. You can read the latest draft on the Council’s website www.lbhf.gov.uk/LocalPlan.

Old Fulham Broadway Station A proposed application by Agora Markets seeks a change of use of the site to enable it to be used as a contemporary food court. The design is inspired by both the original ticket hall and the more recent Union Market, both of which had a large open public area with smaller retail and related uses. The idea is that there should be a series of small independently operated kitchens and similar uses arranged around the edge of a communal seating area. It will be similar to the first floor in the Kensington Whole Foods which appears to work well. The development will provide seating for approximately 210 seats in the central area of the ticket hall with kitchen pods arranged around the edge of the building. The existing ticket hall fascia will be reused

to provide a bar. The development will be operated by Agora Markets Ltd who will oversee the day-to-day management and kitchen pod mix from the first floor offices. The building is in clear need of re-use and has been vacant for a considerable period of time. The physical changes to the premises described in the Design and Access Statement are modest and hopefully the enhancements to the listed building, as explained in the Heritage Statement, will make a positive contribution to this part of the town centre. The Fulham Society do, however, hope the former sign for Walham Green will be restored on the façade.


IN BRIEF Pop-up High Street Capco is planning a temporary, pop-up High Street in some of the boarded off properties along the Lillie Road, opposite West Brompton Station, to include 4 restaurants, the restoration of the pub, a courtyard garden and some new retail units providing essentials to the local community. They hope to have it open by Christmas. Peterborough Road The site comprises an existing office building (Alexander House, 14-16 Peterborough Road) and a residential unit (17 Peterborough Mews). 14-16 Peterborough Road is a five floor 1950s warehouse building which has been refitted as low to medium quality offices. We were pleased this was to continue as a commercial building and not be converted into yet more flats. However, we were not impressed by the design. 284-288 North End Road Governside Ltd submitted a planning application earlier this year to redevelop the Poundworld unit as a new hotel and a new ground floor retail unit. The application was withdrawn, a new architect appointed and a revised design has been prepared. The revised scheme is lower in height and the design is more sympathetic to the setting of the listed building, the former Crowther’s, next door. Chelsea Football Plans to move out of Stamford Bridge have been delayed by at least a year. The club had announced it would move out of its present stadium for three years from the end of next season, 2017/18 to allow construction work to begin. But the club has confirmed the move will not be made until the end of the following season, 2018/19, at the earliest. However, demolition of some of the ancillary buildings, such as hotels, flats and the onsite health club may begin between matches during this season. The delay is due to planning permission taking longer to achieve than originally hoped. The club is also reportedly still in discussions with Network Rail over the highly controversial proposals for decking over the adjacent West London and District railway lines. However, the

delay may make it easier for the club to decamp to the most likely venue, Wembley, for the construction period as Tottenham Hotspur are expected to move back from Wembley into their new stadium for the 18/19 season. Edith Summerskill House and Watermeadow Court We wrote about these two buildings in some detail in the last newsletter before the planning proposals were submitted. Little has altered and in its submission to the Council, the Fulham Society, although delighted with the provision of 'affordable' housing on the site, expressed concern that the height of the proposed Edith Summerskill House was considerably greater than the one it was replacing. We also had worries about the 'open' area at the base of the tower. We thought the Watermeadow Development in Townmead Road a very unimaginative and uninteresting design with an internal garden that was far too small. Tideway Tunnel A large acoustic shed, approximately 80 by 30 metres and 20 metres high, is being installed on the Tideway Tunnel site on Carnwath Road. The aim is to reduce the amount of noise, light and dust from the site disturbing local residents. During the next few weeks there will be several other activities taking place on site including continuation of river wall works at west of site; final deliveries of phase three offices, followed by office fit out; and hoarding installation (northern side). The Council granted permission for the extension of working hours to complete sheet piling works due to the restricted time periods available for works on the tidal foreshore. These will take approximately two months (Monday and Friday 08-20.00, Saturday 08 – 16.00) Fulham Palace garden Sadly the Bishops Tree sculpture is rotting. The sculpture has been reduced in height to reduce the weight and various bishops have been removed and moved to north lawn at ground level.


COMMUNITY ISSUES Community Archaeologist at Fulham Palace Fulham Palace was designated a Scheduled Monument by English Heritage (now Historic England) in 1976 and is a site of considerable historical importance. Since 1972, a number of archaeological investigations have taken place throughout the grounds and have uncovered evidence that the site was occupied during the Neolithic, Iron Age and Roman periods, long before the property was acquired by the Bishops of London in AD 704. Last June Fulham Palace appointed Alexis Haslam as its Community Archaeologist, a key role in the upcoming £3.8m restoration project, Discovering the Bishop of London’s Palace at Fulham. Over the next three years Alexis will lead a series of archaeology projects on the 13-acre site, including a community excavation of the Tudor Dovecote, interactive archaeology events, tours for the public and historic building recording during the restoration of the Tudor Quadrangle. The programme will start with a community dig in October, where it is hoped the location of the Tudor Dovecote and the earlier medieval manor house will be found. Over the course of the next three years there will be geophysical surveys and excavations in preparation for new paths and tree planting. In the final year of the project, the archaeological footprints of the medieval chapel and house, which are exposed on the Eastern lawn every summer when parch marks appear along the lines of the old buildings, will be recreated above ground. The culmination of these works will be the publication of an edited volume of essays about the history of the site and the gardens. As Alexis says, “the incredibly lengthy history of Fulham Palace is fascinating, and the forthcoming works offer a unique opportunity to discover more about settlement on the site and to engage with and relay this information to the public in an interesting and intriguing manner. With forthcoming projects, including the Dovecote Dig and building recording in the Tudor Quadrangle, there is also plenty of scope for volunteers to get involved.” Alexis will also be running the Palace’s popular Young Archaeologists’ Club (YAC) for 8-16 year olds, that encourages the next generation of archaeologists. He brings to the role of Community Archaeologist extensive experience from a successful career at Pre-Construct Archaeology (PCA) Ltd. During his 16 years with the company, he worked his way from field technician to senior archaeologist, directing numerous field excavations in London and the South East, as well as lecturing on and publishing excavation results. Alexis has previously been involved with archaeology at Fulham Palace, overseeing the Orchard Archaeological Excavation in October 2014. This community dig uncovered struck flints from the Mesolithic to Neolithic eras, fragments of early Saxon and Roman pottery and a very late Roman coin, dated from the reign of Emperor Arcadius, AD 395-408. To help fund the dig, the Fulham Palace Trust launched its first crowdfunding campaign in September to raise £15,000 in just one month. They successfully raised the money and it will be used to buy tools and materials, health and safety equipment, specialist training from professional archaeologists and resources for learning activities and public events. Tower blocks Following the horrific fire in Grenfell Tower in nearby North Kensington, Hammersmith & Fulham Council took steps to reassure people living in its high rise tower blocks. According to the Council, there are no buildings in the borough with the cladding that was added to the exterior of Grenfell Tower. LBH&F has 15 council housing blocks of 12 storeys or more. The tallest buildings are three blocks on the Edward Woods estate in White City. It launched a package of Fire Safety Plus measures following the tragedy including sprinklers in tower blocks, free replacements for faulty appliances, safety checks for every council high-rise home, restoring concierge staff and higher-standard fire assessments. Free heat detectors will also be installed during visits and all detectors and alarms will be checked.


LADY MARGARET SCHOOL Lady Margaret School in Parsons Green is celebrating its Centenary this year. The girls’ secondary school can trace its genesis from 1842 when it became the practice school for the teachers training at Whitelands College based in the Kings Road near where the Saatchi Gallery is now. In 1917, the college decided to close the school and, if it had not been for two pieces of good fortune, that might have been that. Enid Moberly Bell, a teacher at the practice school, was determined to start her own school but it was not easy to find suitable premises. By chance, she was having tea with the vicar of St Dionis and his wife who told Miss Moberly Bell that Belfield House on Parsons Green, where Theodore Roussel lived and had his studio, was for sale for £2,250. Gertrude Carver, a friend of Miss Bell’s, put up the bulk of the money. Edward Lyttelton, who had been Headmaster of Eton, and Sir Valentine Chirol, the Foreign Editor of The Times, became governors and the school opened on 18 September 1917 with 87 girls and 11 boys. The boys remained at the school until the Second World War. On 29 September the Bishop of Kensington, John Maud, celebrated the first school birthday at St Dionis and the school has followed that tradition ever since. Belfield House (formerly known as ‘Dr Isles’ Cottage’), the original school building, was built c.1800 in Queen Anne style and has a central portico with classical columns. In the late C18th and early C19th it was the home of the famous 'Mrs Jordan', the actress Dorothy Bland, who was mistress of the Duke of Clarence, later William IV. They had 10 children and lived together at Belfield House until 1811 when the King insisted his son married to produce an heir. The house then had a number of occupants but was empty for years and fell into disrepair until 1890 when the artist, Theodore Roussel, purchased it. The school takes its name from Lady Margaret Beaufort (1443 – 1509) the mother of Henry VII, hence the choice of the Tudor Rose as the school's emblem. Lady Margaret Hall, the first women’s college at Oxford University is also named after her. Miss Phillips, a member of staff and an alumna of Lady Margaret Hall, is believed to have suggested the name. Pupil numbers rose in the 1920s and it became obvious that more accommodation was needed. Sir Valentine Chirol donated two extra classrooms in 1928, now the PE office and a classroom. A golden opportunity offered itself when the house next to Belfield, Elm House, came up for sale and the house was purchased in 1937 through the generosity of Miss Anne Lupton. Elm House is a 3 storey, early 19th century house of brown brick with a slate roof. The house had a history as a school. In 1803 it had been a School for Young Gentleman until it closed in 1832 when it was once more let as a single residence. In 1890 it became the School of Discipline for Girls, a school that had been set up in 1825 by the prison reformer, Elizabeth Fry. In 1890 it dropped the “Discipline” label and in 1933 became an approved school for a few years. Henniker House was added in 1952. Three successive houses had existed on the site, the original house, known as ‘Stoutes tenement' dating from 1391, Albion House, built during the reign of William III in the late 1600s and demolished in 1830 and, Park House, erected in 1841 by Thomas Cubitt. The Fulham Board of Guardians used it to house pauper children. It was demolished in 1889 and replaced by Henniker House, named after Jane Livesey Henniker, the first woman member of the Fulham Board of Guardians.


The school has had at least three chapels. The first chapel was created by transforming the laundry at the bottom of the garden in 1920. In 1932 the chapel was removed and housed in a prefabricated building for 6 years. Then on acquiring Elm House in 1937, the small garden house was converted into a chapel. An anonymous donation meant the school chapel could be rebuilt in 1938, with two stained glass windows, depicting Lady Margaret Tudor and Bishop John Maud, made by Miss Joan Howson. Joan Howson (1885–1964) was a British stained glass artist of the Arts and Crafts movement. She trained at the Liverpool School of Art before becoming a student and apprentice to Caroline Townshend at the Glass House in Lettice Street, Fulham. They later developed a lifelong partnership creating stained glass works under the name of their company, Townshend and Howson. After Caroline's death in 1944, Joan continued to work at their house and studio in Deodar Road, Putney. The 1938 chapel no longer exists and the windows seem to have disappeared. The chapel was relocated to its current place on the first floor of Elm House when the 1938 building was pulled down to make way for the Hall and classrooms built in the 1960s and opened by HRH Princess Alexandra in 1965. It is not known what happened to the original stained glass windows. It is thought they would not have fitted the windows in the chapel's new location as they were long and narrow and presumably they were disposed of. In 1987 to mark the school's 70th birthday, parents commissioned Sasha Ward (nee Gadsby), an Old Girl and stained glass artist, to create a beautiful window, "The Tree of Life". The school continued to grow and still more building was needed and governors, parents and staff participated in a huge fundraising exercise that saw the Technology Workroom open in 1993. The following year the school increased to three forms of entry, such was the demand for places and so another building scheme was undertaken which resulted in the ten new classrooms being built on the edge of the netball courts – B Block. The expansion of the Sixth Form demanded more space and in 2010 The Olivier Centre containing the Busby Auditorium was opened, following further fundraising. An increase to four forms of entry in 2014 saw yet more building alterations – a new entrance, improved dining rooms and seven new classrooms atop the hall. A beautiful new garden to mark the Centenary, brings the story up to date. Lady Margaret School is celebrating its Centenary with a variety of events throughout the year. These

include a Birthday Party held in the school grounds on 30 September and attended by some 900 parents and Old Girls, a Thanksgiving Service in Westminster Abbey, a production of Noyes Fludde in Cadogan Hall and a Red and Black party in Fulham Palace at the end of the school year. For more information see [email protected]. The school are particularly keen to contact Old Girls who should get in touch on: [email protected]. There is also a Christmas Fair on 25th November (11 am - 3 pm) at which all are welcome if you want to see the changes and expansion at the school.

With thanks to the LMS Centenary Committee for their contributions.


Hammersmith Bridge Hammersmith Bridge will be closed to traffic during October half-term (5pm on Saturday 21 October until early morning on Friday 27 October) while essential repair works take place. Major repairs will be undertaken to the bridge in 2018 and these works are to make sure that it can continue to be used until that work can be carried out. The bridge will remain open for pedestrians. Air pollution The Council has drafted a five-year action plan on air quality for the years 2018-23. Air pollution is linked to approximately 10,000 deaths per year in this country. The report lists the things it is doing and is planning to do to improve air quality in the borough. The report is quite technical and can be seen here: https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/sites/default/files/section_attachments/hf_draft_air_quality_action_plan_2018-2023.pdf. The consultation ends on 31 October. The air quality action plan includes:

• launching the electric vehicle hiring scheme – with a year’s free membership for local people; • encouraging people to use electric vehicles by extending the network of charging bays; • fining drivers who leave their engines running unnecessarily; • becoming the leading cycle-friendly borough in London with cycle quietways, cycle storage and

cycle superhighways; • encouraging more walking by tackling congestion, traffic speeds and by providing more

greenery; • reducing fossil-fuel boilers by replacing them with ultra-low nitrogen oxide boilers and ensuring

energy plants are regulated through the planning process. Blue City Cars You may have wondered what the Bluecity cars are parked around the borough. Bluecity is an electric car club (so no exhaust emissions), a bit like borrowing a Santander cycle, where you can pick up a car from any local charging point and return to another. Club members are able to reserve a vehicle 30-minutes in advance and can leave it in one of the many bays across London, which can be found via the app.

H&F have a network of 100+ on-street electric vehicle charging points and have negotiated a year’s free membership of the club. If you live and work in H&F, you can pick up a voucher with details for the offer or you can subscribe online and use the code ‘EARLYBIRD’.

Green Flag Park Awards. Two new Hammersmith & Fulham parks, Furnivall Gardens and Wormholt Park, have been awarded Green Flag status this year, boosting the borough’s tally of world-class green spaces to 13. The Green Flag award recognises and rewards the best parks and green spaces across the country. The awards are judged by experts, who visit all the applicant sites and assess them against eight strict criteria, including horticultural standards, cleanliness, sustainability and community involvement. The sites awarded Green Flag status in Fulham are; Bishop’s Park and Fulham Palace, Hurlingham Park, South Park, Normand Park, Frank Banfield Park and Margravine Cemetery.


The Moat School There was a colourful surprise for pupils returning to Fulham's Moat School after the holidays. After a summer of works in and around the school on Bishop's Avenue off Fulham Palace Road, The Moat School was proud to unveil its latest addition. This delightful 20ft mural, depicting the area in and around the school and Fulham area - and young people enjoying it - was completed by artist Irene Messia just before the term began. The school says the mural will be a constant reminder of the vibrant environment in which the school is located and inspire pupils each day as they enter. The Moat School is an independent day school for children diagnosed with SpLDs and other associated disorders running from year 5 to year 11 and has been located on Bishop’s Avenue since 1998. This new piece reflects the energetic nature of the staff and pupils and will provide a great talking point for members of The Moat community and passers-by heading for Fulham Palace or Bishop's Park alike for years to come.

FULHAM SOCIETY NEWS

OBITUARY

Caroline Ground (27 January 1939 – 31 May 2017)

We are sad to report the death of Caroline Ground, the longest standing member of our Committee, to which she was elected in 1972. For all those years she was a hardworking and regular attender at the meetings and a great supporter of the Fulham Society. She played a very large part in the life of Fulham and her other great claim is as a Founder Member of the Daisy Trust, founded in 1981 of which she was Chairman for many years, and until her death a Trustee. We will miss her encouraging and lively interest in what goes on in Fulham.


FUTURE EVENTS Annual General Meeting The AGM will be held on Monday 13 November at 7 pm at Lady Margaret’s School 6th Form Centre. After the business part of the meeting, Jill Sanders and John Inglis will talk about the Panorama of the Thames project. The project restored a remarkable rare panorama dating from 1829, which allows comparisons to be made of the same riverside then and now. The restoration is available on the website and in the book from the project A Riverside View of Georgian London. The authors will bring some signed copies of the book if anyone would like to buy one. Both the 1829 and 2014 panoramas of the riverside between Kew Bridge and Tower Bridge are complete although the authors continue to add more information to the buildings and landmarks. They will talk about how the 1829 panorama was made and how they went about restoring it; something of the life of Samuel Leigh (the original publisher of the 1829 panorama); and how to use their website. Much of the present day panoramic photography was carried out in 2014, benchmarking this period now and for the future with a seamless photographic survey of the river landscape - just as the 1829 Panorama of the Thames is the record for its time. Panorama of the Thames is a not-for-profit community project funded by local organisations and individuals, independent of commercial influences. You can see the 1829 view at: http://www.panoramaofthethames.com/1829/guide/11-fulham or the 2014 view at: http://www.panoramaofthethames.com/pott/fulham/vill-fulham Fulham Palace through Postcards, 8 November We have arranged a Private View of this new exhibition at Fulham Palace with an introductory talk by the curator, Miranda Pokiakoff on 8th November at 2.30pm. The exhibition and talk will be open and free to Fulham Society members but it would help if you could let us know numbers. Please phone or email Maya Donelan if you would like to join us (email [email protected], tel 020 3080 0655). The Fulham Palace café will be open afterwards if you would like tea. Tour of Riverside Studios, February 2018 The Fulham Society is planning a conducted tour of the Riverside Studios next February. It will be a hard hat and boots tour for groups of 12 to see the scope of the project and the progress on site of the new Riverside Studios. The Studios are due to reopen in the middle of April next year and they appear to be on course to deliver theatre/TV studio spaces and a cinema with a dedicated foyer and screening room, a foyer and atrium area, restaurant, café brasserie and bakery, community & rehearsal space, local events & entertainment area, plus admin offices. More information about the date and time will be emailed to Members nearer the time. If any Member not on email would like to join the tour, please let Maya Donelan know so we can tell you the date in due course.

OTHER LOCAL EVENTS Fulham Opera presents Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor Sung in Italian with English Surtitles, on 7, 10, 12, 14, 17 & 19 November 2017 at St John’s Church, North End Road, Fulham, SW6 1PB. All shows start at 7:30pm. Tickets are available from: 020 7385 7634.


Music by the Bridge Talented young and often local musicians perform at All Saints Church in monthly Friday concerts Refreshments are available at the back of church. Concerts are free. There is a retiring collection to support choral scholarships at All Saints. Time: 7.15 to 8.00pm. Doors open from 6.45pm. Friday 20 October. Findlay Spence cello and friends Friday 17 November. The life of W. S. Gilbert written and narrated by Michael Hampel, Precentor of St. Paul’s Cathedral, with singers Rachel Shannon, Anna Boucher and Ian Ritchie and pianist Rachel Wheeler-Robinson.

RECENT EVENTS Summer Party The Summer Party was held on 17 July in the garden of Fulham Palace. Once again we were lucky with the weather and an excellent time was enjoyed by all including the Mayor, Councillor Michael Cartwright, and Lady Mayoress, Rosemary Pettit. During the evening the Fulham Society donated £1000 to the Fulham Palace restoration project. Thank you to all the Committee and the helpers who provided the excellent – and plentiful – food. We used Circle Wine for the wine, a family owned Fulham-based independent wine merchant. Do look at their website: http://www.circlewine.co.uk/contact.php Parsons Green Fair The Parsons Green Fair on Saturday 1 July was a great success and we are delighted to see the return of the fair after its absence last year. It is a lovely occasion and our stall looked terrific thanks to Caroline Marston. Caroline is a member of the Fulham Society committee and also runs the old established Fulham company, Marston Properties. She had found old photographs of various projects that the company had built in earlier years and blown them up to decorate the stall. They were a fascinating record of some of Fulham’s major buildings and received a lot of complimentary interest. Alma-Tadema Exhibition A number of members visited the exhibition Alma -Tadema: At Home in Antiquity at Leighton House. The exhibition includes two important works from the Cecil French Collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, owned by the LBH&F. The group was given a fascinating tour by Jane Kimber, the former Fulham archivist, who knows the Cecil French collection well.

THE FULHAM SOCIETY IS LOOKING FOR NEW COMMITTEE MEMBERS! If you have an interest in planning and in what goes on in your local community, do come and talk

to us. We would like more people to join the Committee. Currently, we also need someone to take the Minutes at the monthly meetings and more people with a knowledge of social media and

computer skills. If you are interested, please contact the Hon Secretary, Maya Donelan.


COMMITTEE VICE-PRESIDENTS Patrick Ground Q.C., Lord Carrington of Fulham,

Greg Hands MP, Andy Slaughter MP CHAIRMAN Fiona Fowler VICE-CHAIRMAN Niel Redpath HON. TREASURER Isobel Hill-Smith HON. SECRETARY Maya Donelan MBE, 1 Rosaville Road, SW6 7BN

020 3080 0655 HON.MINUTES SEC. Binky Aylmer HON. MEMBERSHIP SEC Margaret Kemp

MEMBERS

Caroline Marston, Maria Sturdy-Morton ((co-opted April 2017), Max Rankin, Victoria Snell, Anne Soutry, David Tatham OBE, Deborah Williams

CONTACT US

Address 1 Rosaville Road, SW6 7BN

Telephone 020 3080 0655

Website www.fulhamsociety.org

Email [email protected]

Twitter @fulhamsociety

newsletter - fulham society · directly north of this was a large ‘school room’ of three bays...

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