The London Forum of Amenity and Civic Societies NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2017 Society Local History Town Plan Boundaries Wimbledon AELTC and the Society Notices Awayday p3 pages 4-5 pages 6-7 page 8 Park page 9 Museum 10-11 page 12 LSWR X2 express loco No.577 with Prince of Wales Hotel behind, circa 1890 Photo courtesyPhoto SWC archive Pasture to platform – a new exhibition For three weeks from Friday 12 anecdotes, and some horrendous traffi c, it is hard to imagine the same January at the Museum of Wimbledon, accidents. Offering fascinating spot 180 years ago. In 1838 there was a must-see exhibition will tell the story insights into the changing landscape no Prince of Wales pub, there were of Wimbledon Station. Exhibition and impact of the railway on our no shops, in fact there were only curator MATTHEW HILLIER explains. town, there will also be previously two buildings within half a mile – a unpublished and undocumented small platform booking offi ce, and HOW DID WIMBLEDON station material, such as the rare image a stationmaster’s cottage. High on change from its bucolic beginnings on page 3, along with models of the hill to the north was the village in 1838 as a country halt, to the busy Wimbledon trains through the ages. of Wimbledon around its breezy suburban hub that we know today? Let me set the scene… Common, and to the far south the The new exhibition will tell the story Standing today on the pavement straggling village of Merton. Between via a series of illustrated panels that outside the Prince of Wales pub, them stood nothing but pasture reveal the early buildings and the facing Wimbledon Bridge amidst and fi elds of crops, with woods people involved, along with amusing the crush of humanity and roar of and a smattering of (continued p3) For the latest information, go to www.wimbledonsociety.org.uk, www.wimbledonmuseum.org.uk or the Facebook page. n EDITOR’S NOTE n Wimbledon Society contacts President Norman Plastow Chairman’s Chairman John Mays report Deputy Chairman Jeremy Hudson I WOULD LIKE TO highlight several issues featured in these pages which I feel are of particular importance. Hon Secretary Maureen Field First, the election for the Wimbledon & Putney [email protected] Common Conservators, on 28th February 2018. We will host a “Hustings” on 7th February, in the Hon Treasurer Corinna Edge Lower Hall at the Sacred Heart Church, Edge Hill SW19 4LU, when the candidates will make short Planning & Environment presentations of their ideas and policies, followed by Committee Secretary Liz Newman a public Question & Answer session. [email protected] In the meantime the Returning Offi cer is anxious Membership Secretary Simon Ingall to have a good selection of candidates and I hope that [email protected] members of the Society will step forward. We are all keen to increase the voting fi gures from the previous Museum Chairman Cassandra Taylor level of just over 16% of the levy-paying electorate, a tiny number considering the importance of the Local History Michael Norman Smith Common to everyone. See page 7. Second is the latest proposal from the Boundary Commission England. It is gratifying that the Subscriptions Jennifer Newman Commission has accepted virtually all our recommendations for the Wimbledon constituency, Activities/Newsletter Distribution Linda Defriez leaving the boundaries more or less as they are now. However these are proposals and I hope that members Website Asif Malik will write to the Commission supporting them. [email protected] Third is the less welcome news that Wimbledon Police Station will close. We regard this as detrimental Wimbledon Society Newsletter to Wimbledon and have made our views clear. Editorial team Unfortunately the attractions of saving £400,000+ p.a. *3>>K;44A@E in costs and a windfall from the sale of the Station of around £10m has proved too attractive for the Mayor Nigel Davies of London to resist. Further protests may be possible Monica Ellison, Asif Malik, John Mays, Iain Simpson and we are looking into this. Letters to the editor Write to Sally Gibbons c/o The Museum of Wimbledon, I turn now to Jennifer Newman’s retirement as 22 Ridgway, SW19 4QN Membership Secretary. Jennifer has served the Society Printing: The Wimbledon Print Company, most ably in a number of capacities; she was an 257 Haydons Road, SW19 8TY Executive Committee member, then a Board member for a number of years, and a very effi cient secretary to Follow us on Facebook and Twitter the Planning Committee (as it then was) followed by www.facebook.com/TheWimbledonSociety @wimsoc a stint as Membership Secretary. We are very sorry to lose Jennifer whose energy and enthusiasm inspired The name of the Wimbledon Society or that of the Museum of us all and we hope that she will resume her work and Wimbledon must never be used to promote personal activities or written work without written permission from the Society. activities with us in the not too distant future. The articles and photos in this newsletter are copyright of those Finally, I would like to wish you all the credited or, where no credit exists, of The Wimbledon Society. No part compliments of the season. Have a wonderful festive of this newsletter can be copied or reproduced without the express written permission of the copyright holder. break and a very happy and successful New Year. JOHN MAYS 2 n NEWS n After refreshments Kirk Bannister Letters Society Away Day gave a talk on Early Wimbledon, which THE SOCIETY HELD an Away Day in was following by a brief discussion Memories of matinees Wimbledon Park Hall on 4th November about Crossrail 2. Stephen Hammond Reading the article on early cinemas in which over 60 members attended. MP was asked for his views. He said Wimbledon in the September issue of The varied programme was opened that the position was unclear but it the Newsletter, I was reminded of the by John Mays who drew attention to the was possible that the project would Odeon cinema in Worple Road which closure of Wimbledon Police Station, the go ahead, perhaps on a smaller scale I used to visit as a child in the early Boundary Commission’s proposals and than previously discussed. It was not 1950s. It faced what is now Sainsbury’s. the forthcoming Conservators’ election known when there would be further My cousin and I went there to see (see Chairman’s report, p2). a matinee performance of Pygmalion, defnitive news. with Leslie Howard. We were already David Morris introduced the ‘Draft A paper had been circulated to seated when an usherette found us Plan Elements 2018-2020’ which the meeting on the subject of the in the darkened cinema and told us had been circulated. He explained Wimbledon Town Plan, outlining some to leave as the flm had an ‘A’ UK flm the thinking behind the plan and of the possible ‘wish list’ that we might rating and we should, therefore, be Sheila Dunman and Chris Goodair raise with the Council. John Mays accompanied by an adult. elaborated on the proposals from asked for views and suggestions, and a I also attended flms shown every the Museum of Wimbledon and the lively discussion ensued. Among other Saturday morning at 11 o’clock Planning & Environment Committee. A issues raised were the necessity to be especially for children. I happily spent Q&A session followed with members ready with our suggestions and plans some of my pocket money on seeing raising several issues including the whether or not Crossrail 2 proceeded, the serial called Scorpion, which was Wimbledon Society’s designated area the problems of parking, the saving of quite scary and in my view deserved of interest, the potential destruction iconic local buildings and air pollution. an ‘A’ certifcate. of Merton Hall and ways of increasing The Meeting concluded with thanks With kind regards membership numbers. to all the participants. JOHN MAYS Ewa Cobham Readers’ Letters Please write to The Newsletter Editor, c/o Wimbledon Museum, or use the As it all began: email address shown in the contacts newly discovered list. All contributions may be subject to and the earliest editing, and the Editor’s decision is fnal. known view of Wimbledon Station from 1838 Courtesy SWC archive Exhibition (continued from p1) Edwardian octogenarians recalled gentlemen’s country villas standing that it was possible from the top of in well-tended grounds. the hill to hear the booming voice of Back on our pavement, then no the first Stationmaster, Mr Bradford, more than a dusty lane, we might announcing the arrival of a train at hear the lowing of cattle, or an Wimbledon’s new station. The age of occasional traveller passing on steam had arrived. horseback as birdsong punctured ‘From Pasture to Platform – The Story the silence. Across the landscape, of Wimbledon Station’ is at the Norman shimmering in the distance were Plastow Gallery, Museum of Wimbledon, the bright lines of the newly opened 22 Ridgway, SW19 4QN from Friday 12 January to Sunday 4 February London & Southampton Railway, and is open Fridays from 12.30 to 2pm, and approaching we would see a line Saturdays from 2.30 to 5pm and Sundays of steam through the fields. from 11am to 5pm. Admission is free. 3 n LOCAL HISTORY n Newsagents no longer NEWSAGENTS CAME into being with improved literacy and the resultant demand for newspapers. Miss Frost in the High Street was one of the earliest, and Edwin Jenkins opened his shop at 73 Ridgway in 1880. In 1904 his son Norman, his successor in the business, published picture postcards of Wimbledon from his own photographers.