The Forum of Amenity and Civic Societies

NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2019 Museum News Local History Planning and Climate Change Obituary p10 Greenwatch page 3 pages 4-5 Environment p6-7 p8-9 Book Reviews p11 page 12

with tenders being sought, but is What a swell party dependent on funding. Happily, both objects were JEREMY HUDSON reports on the achieved. It was a very convivial Society’s Dinner Dance evening (there is even talk of doing it again soon!) and we managed to THE MAYOR OF MERTON, raise £4,000 by means of a silent Councillor Janice Howard was guest auction, as well as a raffle. Members of honour at our Autumn Dinner of the Society and the local business Dance on Saturday 19th October. community were extremely generous We were especially pleased that she with their donations of auction lots and her husband Andrew joined and raffle prizes. Our MP Stephen us for the event since it happened Hammond offered to host drinks to be their Wedding Anniversary! for two at the House of Commons. We presented the Mayor with a fine Baroness Hooper offered tea and a bouquet to celebrate the occasion. tour of the House of Lords. The All The event took place at the England Club donated a tennis ball Wimbledon Club in Church Road. used at this year’s Men’s Singles This proved to be an excellent venue, Final, and signed by the Champion, and the staff there could not have © Iain Simpson Novak Djokovic. Other donations done more to make us feel welcome. (Top): Mayor, Councillor Janice Howard included meals at the Hotel du Vin, We numbered about 100 all-told. The with Jeremy Hudson; (above): Society San Lorenzo and the Giggling Squid, Lounge was beautifully decorated members enjoying dinner a stay at the Rose & Crown, and with yellow roses on the tables. tickets to Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club. A prosecco reception was The object of the evening was We are immensely grateful followed by a delicious dinner two-fold. First and foremost, the to Robert Holmes & Company menu comprising salmon roulade, aim was to have a good time – a for sponsoring our event, and chicken supreme with mustard rare opportunity to socialise to everyone who helped us raise sauce and petit fours for dessert. As with fellow-members of the this excellent total through their soon as dinner was over, John Mays Society. Secondly, we planned donations, or by buying auction encouraged the whole company to raise money for the Society’s lots and raffle-tickets. Finally, to take part in a game of ‘heads twin projects: the long-awaited thanks are due to the Dinner and tails’ and presented a bottle of refurbishment of the Museum Dance committee for all their work champagne to the winner. A disco and the design of a new website to planning this event, and especially followed, with an enjoyable string replace the Society’s and Museum’s to Luz Patterson who inspired the of mainly 60s hits, to remind us of outdated websites. The latter event and drove the project with so our youth! project is now well-advanced, much energy and enthusiasm.

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 Tony Michael [email protected] Chairman’s

Chairman Jeremy Hudson view [email protected] IT WAS GOOD to meet so many Wimbledon Society Deputy Chairman John Mays members at the Commons’ Day Fair on a fine late Summer’s day in early September. The event gets bigger, and more popular, every year, yet it still manages to Hon Secretary Maureen Field retain the atmosphere of a country village fête! Another [email protected] local event which seems to be absolutely thriving is the Wimbledon Bookfest, with its galaxy of household Hon Treasurer Corinna Edge names lined up as speakers. By the time you read this [email protected] the Wimbledon International Music Festival will have come and gone and provided our local community with Planning & Environment Committee Secretary Liz Newman many hours of first-class entertainment. I congratulate [email protected] Bookfest’s Director Fiona Razvi and the Music Festival’s Director Anthony Wilkinson on these successes. Membership Secretary Simon Ingall Another notable event this Autumn has been the [email protected] Society’s Dinner Dance, about which I have written a detailed account elsewhere in these pages. Apart from Museum Chairman Jacqueline Laurence being a hugely enjoyable and memorable occasion, [email protected] it has helped us raise significant funds towards our two major projects – the long-overdue refurbishment Local History Michael Norman Smith of our Museum, and the re-design of the Society’s and Museum’s respective websites. A Refurbishment Committee has been set up to plan the former, and our Website Asif Malik [email protected] Communications Group is making quite rapid progress with the latter. A detailed brief for the new combined Wimbledon Society Newsletter website has been drawn up, and tenders are being sought. Necessarily, however, the project is dependent Editorial team upon the funds being available. We anticipate seeking Sally Gibbons [email protected] Lottery help with this. Nigel Davies Monica Ellison, Asif Malik, John Mays, Jeremy Hudson Last, but by no means least, I must congratulate Jacqueline Laurence’s Museum team, and particularly Letters to the editor Pamela Greenwood, on the success of our “Hidden Please email [email protected] or write to Sally Gibbons c/o The Museum of Treasures” art exhibition this Autumn. This was an Wimbledon, 22 Ridgway, SW19 4QN opportunity for us to display works of art normally hidden from view in the Museum’s archive. Over Printing: The Wimbledon Print Company, 257 Haydons Road, SW19 8TY 50 pictures were on show, the work of over 30 artists, of views all over Wimbledon. The exhibition Follow us on Facebook and Twitter was accompanied by a very handy Trail Map, with www.facebook.com/TheWimbledonSociety @wimsoc information about, and pinpointing the location of, those views. It is hoped that, subject to resolving any The name of the Wimbledon Society or that of the Museum of copyright issues, the best of these pictures may in due Wimbledon must never be used to promote personal activities or written work without written permission from the Society. course feature in greetings cards on sale through the The articles and photos in this newsletter are copyright of those Society. credited or, where no credit exists, of The Wimbledon Society. No part May I end by wishing all our members a Merry of this newsletter can be copied or reproduced without the express written permission of the copyright holder. Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year! JEREMY HUDSON

2 n MUSEUM NEWS n Record numbers for Hidden Treasures Exhibition

RECORD NUMBERS went to see the a trail round buildings and places be accompanied and illustrated by Museum exhibition “Hidden Treasures: featured in the Exhibition. The title also paintings and drawings from the Art & Artists in Wimbledon” on its referred to the pictures themselves, Museum’s art collection. We hope the opening weekend in October. The some of which had not been on display Exhibition will be instructive as well as guests at the private view on 10th since the year they were painted. beautiful! October, including the Mayor, seemed We have a map which illustrates delighted with the Exhibition and Mapping Merton plans for a 10mph speed limit zone in the Gallery. They enjoyed two special A new exhibition subtitled “Where do 1909, a map which shows where the temporary displays in the Museum to you think you are” scheduled for mid bombs fell in the WWII, maps which accompany the Exhibition, featuring January will showcase some of the illustrate the arrival of the railways, and objects from the Collections which had wonderful maps in our collections. everything that came with them. We never been on show before. Many of the maps are works of art hope to trace a history of the Borough The Exhibition title (“Hidden in their own right, and they will also of Merton through the maps, showing Treasures”) referred to the lives of the what happened, and, in some cases, artists, and of their subjects. Some what didn’t. We have some stories to of the artists chosen were famous, tell about wonderful plans which were many were women, and one or two never realised. were children. There were paintings These are the first of a rolling by a refugee and by a disabled artist. programme of Exhibitions, which There were civilian views of war and a we hope will eventually bring all foreigner’s view of the English rural idyll the Museum’s treasures out for their which is Wimbledon Common. The moment in the light.

accompanying Treasure Map showed wikimedia.org commons. JACQUELINE LAURENCE

Record Times 2s 6d plain and 5 shillings with lettering contains annotated newspaper in the earlier 20th century. cuttings about bombs dropped on THIS HAS BEEN a remarkable year for On a smaller scale, but no less Wimbledon. the donation of unusual records to interesting, are two Air Raid Precaution Another gift, ‘Tribute to Councillor the Museum. Those concerning living (ARP) wardens’ diaries, one covering Lady Roney J.P.’, is a book presented to people will have some restrictions for a ‘The Battle of London’ 18 August 1940 Lady Emily Roney (née Jones) (1872- while due to GDPR. Paul Featherstone –10 May 1941 and the other 15 August 1957), a Liberal councillor (1922-1935) of Ridgway Builders, which closed 1940 – 15 September 1943, both and the first woman to become Mayor in 2017, has kindly deposited their mostly about Wimbledon. They were of Wimbledon (1933-1935). She was archives and some objects, including a compiled by Lawrence Greener, born particularly interested in helping the cast iron lavatory cistern emblazoned Lorenz in 1896 in Wales, one of the six unemployed and refugees during ‘G. C. Wood & Sons 120 Kingston Road children of Franz Joseph, a German WWII. Emily Roney was among the first Wimbledon SW19’ from his great- watchmaker and jeweller from Baden. wave of Liberal women to become grandfather’s business. Such Burlington The family was naturalized in 1905. leaders in local government. The album cisterns, according to a relative, were Lawrence, a former Customs & Excise was found in Putney. officer, lived at 38 Richmond Road, The diaries and the tribute book Wimbledon during WWII. He retired were discovered during building work to Bexhill in Sussex where his diaries and donated by Ivan Doyle and Denis were discovered after his death in 1985. & Anita Bradford respectively. Thanks Lawrence mentions his wife Bernadette are also due to Adrian & Sheila Hall of and mother-in-law Mary. The diaries Battle Museum, Sussex for suggesting nicely complement a scrapbook the gift of the diaries to a fellow compiled by Kenneth Warner, and Accredited Museum.

© Museum of Wimbledon © Museum of donated by his cousin in 1991, which PAMELA GREENWOOD

3 n LOCAL HISTORY n Conversation pieces CHARLES TOASE offers three intriguing cameos from local history

Where was up in 1882; an advertisement Hogg in 1888 as a sports ground for in The Times claimed “A more the Regent Street Polytechnic; in Merton Hall? eligible building estate it would 1899 the Poly sold the land, and a IN THE September Newsletter I be impossible to find”. The first number of residential roads (known wrote about the footpaths that developers were a local builder, as the Polytechnic Estate) were go down the hill to Merton. Parts George Palmer, who built ten houses built, with one of the roads being of these paths have now become on the east side between Dundonald named Quintin Road. roads, and Merton Hall Road is one and Henfield Roads and then went of them. But where did it get its bankrupt, and Charles Tustin, who name? Where was Merton Hall? developed the west side. They both Brigade of Guards It was, in fact, a farm of over 100 used reputable architects, and Polo Club acres, stretching from what is now the houses on the east side (odd Dundonald Road down to Kingston numbers) have survived. We had an enquiry asking for the Road. The last farmer there was However, not all the land was location of the Brigade of Guards WH Dover, who by the early built on. In particular, 27 acres Polo Club. Their main ground was 1880s had only 74 acres, with five between The Chase and Kingston at Hurlingham, but they started farmhands. The estate was broken Road were purchased by Quintin using Wimbledon as an overflow in 1896. The Club took over Lake Farm, using farm buildings as stables for the polo ponies. This was between Road on the west (just opposite what is now the All England Lawn Tennis Club) and the District Railway on the east. The area is now part of the public park,

It is said he brought a fleet of Rolls Royces to carry his five wives and consorts, by whom he had an “estimated” 88 children.

just over the Wimbledon boundary, and is actually in the borough of Wandsworth. There are stories of a polo-playing maharajah visiting the Wimbledon ground, bringing his polo ponies with him. This would probably have been Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, thought to be the first man in India to own both a Rolls Royce and an aeroplane. It is said that he brought a fleet of Rolls

Charles Toase collection Charles Toase Royces to carry his five wives and Map from 1865 showing Mertonhall Farm on the Kingston Road. Lower Worple (top) is his consorts, by whom he had an now Dundonald Road. “estimated” 88 children.

4 n LOCAL HISTORY n

There were regular reports in ‘School for Young Noblemen and of 22 High Street (who later moved The Times of polo matches played in Gentlemen” was at Eagle House, to 21 Wimbledon Hill where the Wimbledon, mostly against polo gave the clock to the parish, which business finally closed in January teams from other regiments, until paid a Mr Casswell for its winding 2018 after 150 years) was paid to everything stopped after 1939. and maintenance. It stayed where put it up and add a third face. The club left both Hurlingham it was until 1890, when the clock The age of the clock may be and Wimbledon, and was later re- and turret were moved to the indicated by an inscription on the formed in Windsor. new fire station at the expense of bell – ‘Thos. Janaway 1758’. Janaway John Townsend, the chairman of had a bell foundry in Chelsea which the Wimbledon Local Board. Mr later became part of the well-known Fire station Halfhide, jeweller and clock maker Whitechapel Bell Foundry. clock In the last issue of the Newsletter there was a note about the lightning strike on the old fire station in the High Street. The date on the clock, 1890, was the year the fire station was built for the Wimbledon Local Board, but the clock itself is much older. Originally, the clock was on the Eagle House stables which were at the beginning of Lancaster

Road (pictured right). In 1829 the © Nigel Davies Rev. Thomas Lancaster, whose Lancaster Road today

n NOTES FROM AROUND THE TABLE n

A ‘Marmite’ topic rest for eccentricity. It has listed, let us know, or better Times of WT Stead, have Street numbering of houses no odd numbers at all and still, drop in to the next been of continuing is a subject frequently raised starts at No.14, going up first Friday of the month interest to the Group. by members of the Society to No. 50. Those familiar meeting. The most recent of these, and visitors to the Museum. with Merton’s Nelson Estate and in stark contrast, is Numbering is usually will know the location. It is Merton Film Studios WT Stead: Nonconformist standard, there are however Trafalgar Road which runs Clive Whichelow gave us and Newspaper Prophet many bizarre variations in parallel with Quicks Road. insider information on his by Stewart J Brown (26 our area to vex the visitor. Other anomalies new book. (See p11). This September 2019). In The Grange, for include Pepys Road which concerned local places once Rosemary Evans, example, from Southside continues across Worple used as sets for films made whose special interest to Ridgway, numbers Road to Skew Arch. Worple at Merton. To his delight is Methodism and run in sequence 1 to Road originally stopped Norman Plastow produced Non-conformism in 12 on one side of the at Arterberry Road where drawings of plans of the Wimbledon, pursued the road, continuing on the there were once fields. The original site of the Studios. colourful story of Stead opposite side with the teen border between Ridgway to his seaside retreat on numbers. Disconcertingly, and is in an Hayling Island. Rosemary’s roads are on occasions unexpected place, again WT Stead pictures showed a blue renumbered, as happened possibly related to the old The many biographies of plaque marking his house, when Ridgway Place was boundaries of farmland. legendary journalist WT Hollybush, where he stayed extended down the hill. If you find interesting Stead, notably Muckraker: from 1895 until his death One road surely beats the oddities other than those The Scandalous Life and on the Titanic in 1912.

5 n PLANNING AND THE ENVIRONMENT n

should result in a significant ‘fine’ Farewell to Joyce Pountain Another for the airport, as above. JOYCE IS A LONG-TIME Wimbledon The ‘fines’ or cost penalties that resident and member of the Heathrow accumulate would go to an Society who served as a member independently administered public of the Planning Committee for fund, and used to sound-proof many years. Consultation existing housing, build local More recently she has been a IN SEPTEMBER the Society community facilities etc. highly effective chair of “Green responded to the latest Heathrow Should the third runway be Coffee”, the monthly group that Consultation exercise, this time on approved, all necessary works, co-ordinates environmental and their expansion plans. including construction of the new green issues around the Borough. Our basic position is that runway, deviation of the M25, As a result she was nominated, Heathrow should not be extended compensation of those affected by though unsuccessfully, for this and there should be no third compulsory purchase etc, need to year’s Mayor of London’s runway. be borne by the airport owners, not Volunteering Award. As London’s principal airport, the public purse. However, should Joyce is moving back to her Heathrow is in the wrong place, any public funding be required, it native Scotland at the end of the causing overflying of dense urban should be on the basis of acquiring year and we wish her well with the areas. There should be a long-term the freehold of parts of the move and her new home there. plan to close Heathrow entirely and Heathrow site. This would be vested to develop a major new airport in in a public body and would be of the south-east, away from high value when redevelopment occurs. How to check if you are population areas, to grow in The full text of this response can in a pollution hotspot tandem with the winding-down of be viewed on the Society’s website. SCIENTISTS AT King’s College Heathrow. The site of Heathrow London have launched a website – could then be developed as a new www.addresspollution.org – where West London counterpoint to East The Rose Cottage Londoners can discover the level of London’s Canary Wharf. nitrogen dioxide for their postcode. In the short term, we recognise saga continues This is a toxic gas released when that Heathrow will continue to ROSE COTTAGE was an early 19th c. diesel, petrol and gas are burnt. operate for many years. But we house built in the grounds of Lord The legal limit is 40 micrograms suggest that the environmental Nelson’s Estate in what became of nitrogen dioxide per cubic metre effects can be mitigated by Hamilton Road. We opposed its of air (mcg/m³). The highest reported progressively ramped-up demolition a couple of years ago, levels are more than 60 mcg/m³ in regulations on permitted future believing that the building could parts of central London whilst areas noise and pollution. In particular, have a future as a community asset. on London’s green fringes can be as we advocate the setting of Sadly, that battle was lost and Rose low as 22.5 mcg/m³. progressively more onerous noise Cottage is no more. With consumers becoming standards, perhaps every five years. We have now seen plans to develop increasingly more environmentally The measuring of noise should be the site into 13 flats. We objected to aware, it is thought that areas with done by an independent body, with this as an overdevelopment: seven of high mcg/m³ ‘fines’ or cost penalties paid by the the flats would have had only a single levels will suffer airport. The airport would have the aspect, some bedrooms faced each consequential role of collecting fines from other across a narrow light well and falls in property individual airlines if it so wished. three ground floor flats had no values: and that We also advocate that the private open space. There was no this may Government should define the provision for social housing. become a driver maximum number of flights per The Council agreed that this was to encourage year (as now), plus times when no overdevelopment that failed to more effective aircraft movements are permitted, respect the Hamilton Road street action to stay to ensure that night-time flights are scene and refused to grant planning within the legal banned. Any emergency flights permission. limit.

6 n PLANNING AND THE ENVIRONMENT n

50 new water fountains for London 5G or not 5G – that is the question IN ORDER TO HELP reduce the THE PROGRESS of mobile will require more transmitters at number of single-use plastic bottles, technology delivers a generational closer intervals, closer to ground the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, advance roughly every 10 years, and level. Coordination would be announced in the summer the it is becoming increasingly essential between the main locations of fifty new water sophisticated and ‘smarter’. operators to encourage mast fountains. To increase public The rollout of 5G in the UK is sharing and so have fewer masts, or awareness, they will be in a bold already in progress with 5G duplicated road works. Without design that will be easily visible. networks operating in parts of cooperation unacceptable visual Each one is fitted with a device to London and other cities. Although degradation of the environment measure the amount of water 5G is not yet fully developed, early would occur. dispensed to demonstrate the standards were agreed in 2019. It’s There would appear to be some equivalent number of single-use intended to deliver ultrafast, prima facie evidence to question plastic bottles saved. reliable, mobile the safety of this new Four of the new fountains are in connectivity, There are four technology. There are Merton – at Station, supporting more and implications some opinions that Morden Underground Station, speedier data. New that may need insufficient testing has Underground Station applications might to be addressed been carried out to and Mitcham Town Centre. include autonomous – technology, determine health vehicles, traffic street clutter, implications, but these controls, advanced health, and matters are outside the manufacturing, privacy issues. scope of this short augmented reality, and article. smart homes. The four operators There have been some would have a huge database expressions of uncertainty relating to frequency of calls, live concerning certain aspects but in and exact location of callers, essence there are four implications collection of metadata, information for 5G that may need to be sharing and traffic analysis. These addressed. These are technology, aspects would merit review under street clutter, health and privacy digital privacy legislation. issues. At present there is no publicly 5G uses higher frequency waves available ‘plan’ for these 5G which travel shorter distances but installations in our borough. We do are more susceptible to urban not believe the borough should be blocking of signals. So 5G networks flooded by a myriad of applications with the council taking ad hoc decisions on each application. © Nigel Davies Accordingly, we have asked the The Wimbledon Society has plans for the council to hold discussions with water fountain on Parkside to be restored the four main operators to with running water understand what their plans are for the rollout of 5G infrastructure, dealing with redundant Concrete batching plant equipment, and the sharing of appeal result facilities. THE PLANNING INSPECTOR has The Council should then make upheld Merton’s refusal to allow public the results of these this development in Waterside Way, meetings, and then produce a clear which the Society had opposed on planning policy for dealing with environmental grounds. 5G applications.

7 n CLIMATE CHANGE n

Data visualisation graphic produced by Ed Hawkins (scientist), University of Reading showing the difference in global temperature from 1850 to 2018 from a mean average taken between 1951 and 1980 Climate emergency SUSANNA RIVIERE summarises some the increase in the global average and will receive Community Forum of the ways in which the Society plans temperature to below 2°C, which papers in advance of meetings, so it to co-operate with Merton Council on should avoid the worst effects of can produce a committee response. this subject. climate breakdown. Also, PEC members with specific To achieve this LBM is: expertise are giving Katie Halter IT SEEMS THAT Merton Council is • Setting up a Community Forum, direct input on these subjects. The starting to take meaningful action chaired by Councillor Tobin PEC has produced, and sent to Katie to tackle the climate emergency. In Byers, consisting of about 12 Halter, a short paper summarising July, a cross-party motion was members of the public, to meet its initial suggestions, in the hope of unanimously passed declaring a monthly until December to prompting some immediate action. Climate Emergency and pledging to consider specific areas. There will We also encourage Wimbledon become a carbon neutral Council also be a list of people not on the Society members to take part in by 2030 and a carbon neutral Forum who will be kept in touch the public consultation, which Borough by 2050. This followed with its work. closes on 9th December. The link pressure from St Helier Ward • Holding a public Consultation is given below. resident and Green Party member which is available on the LBM We hope that the Wimbledon Dr Pippa Maslin, who has several web site (see below) Society, through the PEC, can play a times publicly asked the Council to • Tendering for consultants to significant part in this initiative, make the declaration and to carry out an inventory of CO2 helping to achieve the ultimate aim achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. emissions in the Borough. of making Wimbledon a healthier Her fellow campaigners gathered • Gathering data to create fact and more pleasant place to live. over 2000 signatures for a Climate sheets which will be available on Emergency petition. the LBM web site. FOOTNOTE: Things are moving quite This follows the Mayor of • Consulting internally. rapidly in this area and may have London’s commitment in his Members of the Wimbledon changed since this article went to Environment Strategy to make Society’s Planning & Environment press. For up to date information visit London a zero carbon city by 2050, Committee (PEC) met Katie Halter, the LBM website at www.merton.gov. and the Prime Minister committing Merton’s Climate Change Officer, uk/planning-and-buildings/ to the U.K. reaching net zero carbon who is spearheading this work, in sustainability-and-climate-change emissions by 2050 as recommended early September to discuss how the The public consultation is available at: by the Committee on Climate expertise of PEC members can best https://consult.merton.gov.uk/kms/ Change. be used to assist LBM in putting elab.aspx?noip=1&Campaign To put this in context, the latest together the Action Plan and Id=740 or go to www.merton.gov.uk data from the 2019 UN Climate achieving its goals. and follow these links: Council and Action Summit shows that by We agreed a variety of ways of local democracy > Get involved > acting now we can reduce carbon achieving this. First, the PEC will Take part in consultations > Climate emissions within 12 years and hold respond through the Consultation, Emergency resident’s survey 2019

8 n CLIMATE CHANGE n Tree planting

“People who will not sustain trees will soon live in a world that will not sustain people.” (Bryce Nelson) TONY MICHAEL

agrees, and proposes local action. Photos Stock © Adobe

TREES PLAY a vital part in our The London Plan policy (8.7.2) certain is that we need to radically well-being and environment. There aims for a 10% increase in all re-think our whole approach. are some 7 million trees in London, Boroughs’ tree stocks by 2050. As a start we need to adopt a and nearly a quarter of a million in Taking likely losses into account, planning policy on development Merton. Roughly 23,000 are in our this means planting some 24,000 sites that “replacement trees need streets, 70,000 in public spaces, and new trees in Merton over the next to match the combined ages of any perhaps 140,000 in private spaces 30 years. trees that have been lost” (the and gardens. This needs a proper tree planting Society has been pressing the However, it is estimated that strategy, something that the Council Council to agree this since 2014 today more trees are lost than are agreed to in 2012, but which without success: see the design planted. Trees in streets and verges seemingly has not yet been done. guide on the Society website). are damaged by vehicles, dogs, The Council’s arboriculturalists Also, significant new tree services trenching, diseases and need to be given the resources, so planting needs to be encouraged in poor maintenance. Many trees on that they can work with local both public and private lands, and private land can be removed groups and achieve this aim. the street tree planting programme without needing approval. In new Whether a net increase of 800 very much increased. developments, simply replacing big trees each year would be sufficient So – can you suggest which of our lost trees with young stock on a ‘one- to meet the Climate Emergency ‘bare’ streets would benefit from for-one’ basis is utterly inadequate. plans is not yet clear. But what is new trees? Return of the native DAVE DAWSON recounts the the florists’ “Pearly Everlasting”. I knew Pukatea is one of a number of discovery of a rare native plant in the plant already, as pukatea, growing species of coasts and river shingle central Wimbledon in the sand flats of the Waimakariri plants now finding suitable growing estuary north of Christchurch, New conditions in neglected urban JERSEY CUDWEED has always been Zealand, in my youth. I had heard of its pavements and similar inhospitable uncommon on the mainland of Britain. discovery, ten years back, in London places. It is tough enough to withstand It was first noticed in 1690, but had Docklands by a local botanist, John extremes of drought and temperature, gone extinct in Breckland by 1930. Then Swindells, but never expected so is well adapted to the changes a few were found 20 years ago on the to see it in Wimbledon. we expect from the climate crisis. north Norfolk coast and on coastal This summer, as I helped Another such once rare species shingle at Dungeness. Because of this with some work at is the annual grass, Water bent, rarity, it is given special protection in Wimbledon which turned up on London’s schedule 8 of the Wildlife & Countryside Guild’s Drake pavements around 15 years ago and is Act 1981. Unsurprisingly, it was not House, there in now an abundant weed throughout found in the last comprehensive survey the paving in our area. It is believed to be an early of London’s flora, published in 1983. So I front of the building introduction to Britain from was surprised last summer to find a few was a flourishing southern Europe. Before its arrival plants amongst derelict crazy paving on population of pukatea. locally, it was confined to rocky the Ashburton Estate, Putney Heath. A specially protected slopes on the south coast of England It’s a white woolly biannual with species in the heart of urban and the Channel Islands. Its spread is

© Dave Dawson © Dave heads of chaffy flowers: a relative of Wimbledon! doubtless due to climate change.

9 n OBITUARY n

David’s background was in accountancy where he was affectionately known in his firm as DEAM – the initials with which he signed himself (David Edward Alban) and to be on the DEAM team was regarded by colleagues and the junior staff he led as an important career step. He took a first-class degree in PPE at University College, Oxford and in his accountancy exams came second in the whole country. His energetic approach to life was to some degree hampered by a serious attack of tuberculosis while on National Service, which left him bedridden for some months and also meant withdrawing from the more energetic of sports. He was instructed to drink Guinness to aid his recovery, so at university he formed a Guinness-drinking group – a first example, perhaps, of his Sudoku solver David, with Max future team-building skills. A great love was sailing and he DAVID MORRIS insurance, not just for the items kept a boat at Emsworth, near 1935 – 2019 displayed and stored, but also for Chichester and delighted in when they went out for exhibitions developing skills and friendships DAVID MORRIS, who died in August, (eg: in Eagle House) and on loan to aboard. was for many years a staunch other museums. With his shock of white hair he supporter of both the Wimbledon In recent years he prepared a was a familiar figure around Society and its Museum. detailed long-term forward planning Wimbledon, in Sainsbury’s as well As a member of the Museum document for the Society’s Strategy as the boardroom, and his friendly Committee he was the Portraits Group. In this he outlined various but firm approach to life will be Curator, making orderly sense of ways to move the Society forward in missed by all who knew him. the motley assembly of oils, the 21st century and to increase its The Society deeply regrets his watercolours, engravings and membership and thus its influence. passing and sends sympathy to his photographs which make up the This is still the gold standard by widow, Moira, and sons William collection. He also advised on which the Society is operating. and Richard.

n ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS n VISIT on 16 January 2020 LECTURE on VISIT on 24 March 2020 LECTURE on 2 April 2020 Explore the untold story 30 January 2020 A guided tour of the The changing seasons at of the women of Pre- An intimate glimpse headquarters of the the outstanding garden Raphaelite art. Lecture and behind the scenes of Royal Institute of British of Fittleworth House, Exhibition at the National Architects, 66 Portland presented by Mark Portrait Gallery. Booking with Sherrie Plant. Free Place, with an overview Saunders, head gardener. form with this newsletter. lecture at Emmanuel of the history of the RIBA. Free lecture at Emmanuel Church, Ridgway. Booking form with this Church, Ridgway. newsletter.

10 n BOOK REVIEWS n Christmas stocking fillers

What we did The work covers huge time Studios which were opened in 1929 in Bed: A spans – from the bedtime habits at Long Lodge in Kingston Road. Horizontal of Tutankhamen to Trump. A Clive Whichelow, a member of History reviewer, Paul Chrystal adds that our Local History Group recently Brian Fagan & the book “is so entertaining that it published Lights, Camera, Merton! a Nadia Durrani will keep you awake long into the record of the days when small Publisher night.” We agree. studios were in full swing producing (Faber £20) large numbers of low-budget films. Postcript: Sleep researcher Jim Clive makes a case for the poorly Horne, cautioning against the rated ‘B’ movie, notably Merton’s, DESPITE ITS saucy title and playful theories of Freud and Jung which he says in his Introduction jacket, this study by two maintained that dreams are nothing “were better than they needed to be” archaeologists Brian Fagan and more than ‘B’ movies that deserve to suggesting that the reason for much Nadia Durrani is a serious though be forgotten; “a surreal pastiche of of the disparagement is ignorance immensely readable exploration of what we have recently encountered since “people do not know what was the bed as a social artefact. Nadia, and thought about during produced here, or by whom”. co-author (and Wimbledon Society wakefulness”. The author of our J. Arthur Rank, no less, began his member) explains “In ten chapters second Christmas book might have a brilliant career in Merton Park we tell the history of the bed – and comment to make about that. Studios. “Not many people know everything we did in it.” that”, to use the catchphrase The book opens with “deep attributed to Michael Caine by Peter archaeology” starting with the Lights, Sellers, two huge international stars world’s oldest-known beds: 70,000 Camera, who both worked at MPS. Nor are years old, high in a rock shelter in Merton: people aware of the many others South Africa, through to the stone The Films of who plied their trade here such as beds at Skara Brae in Orkney, to Merton Park Richard Attenborough, Diana Dors, early beds found on Malta. The Studios Petula Clark, Stanley Baker to name narrative then looks at the bed’s Clive Whichelow a few from Clive’s starry list, along purpose. This was a place for sex, (Enigma with household names like John death, childbirth, storytelling, and Publishing £9.99) Thaw, Joan Littlewood, Barbara sociability as well as sleeping, a Windsor and Spike Milligan, who place for dreams; beds as IN THE EARLY days of cinema also appeared in Merton’s films. ‘cosmological platform’ linking the ‘going to the pictures’ was an event. The Studios specialised in crime living with the dead and with Not a mad dash to catch the Oscar series and are remembered for ancestors. Further chapters are nominee, but a leisurely evening of their Edgar Wallace, Scotland Yard, devoted to bedchambers as public entertainment which comprised and Scales of Justice thrillers, spaces, (Louis XIV and Winston along with the big picture, a occasionally repeated on TV or Churchill) as well as private refuges. newsreel and a second feature. found as DVDs. Despite creaky One of Nadia’s favourite chapters Keen-eyed filmgoers might have technology, the acting and plots are is ‘Strange Bedfellows’. Here the noticed that many of these ‘B’ no worse and in some cases are Great Bed of Ware illustrates that it movies were made at Merton Park superior to those of ‘unmissable’ was quite common when travelling TV offerings today. to bed-share with complete Despite creaky technology, Clive’s book should prove strangers. In terms of local history, the acting and plots indispensable for quizzers. there is also a Wimbledon/Merton are no worse and in Example in the film category: interest in so far as the book some cases are superior What was Stalin’s favourite film? mentions the bed of William Morris to those of ‘unmissable’ The Museum of Wimbledon holds in a discussion on the TV offerings today the answer. industrialisation of sleep. MONICA ELLISON

11 Greenwatch http://www.bigyellow.co.uk/Get some space in your life. Following on from her article on p8, SUSANNA RIVIERE suggests how we can all start checking our personal carbon footprint. The carbon cost of living Many people feel helpless and anxious in the face of the mounting evidence of climate emergency. However, there is plenty that individuals can do. The first step is to measure our carbon footprint precisely. This can be done with a carbon footprint

calculator, and many of these are available on the © Angela Evans-Hill Angela © internet. Two of the simplest to use are one at www. carbonindependent.org and one from the Worldwide Friends of Wimbledon and Fund For Nature at footprint.wwf.org.uk. The WWF site also shows details of the results and suggests ways Putney Commons in which your footprint can be reduced. SIMON LEE and the Conservators are delighted to The information obtained from announce the launch of the Friends of Wimbledon and doing these easy and interesting Putney Commons. calculations gives a starting point for reducing our carbon footprints in an Who are the Friends? informed and realistic way. The Friends of Wimbledon and Putney Commons brings together all of those who are connected by a passion for the Commons, for the purposes of collective celebration and fund raising.

Why Support Us? Every path, heathland, bog, stream, pond and woodland has an incalculable value that requires ongoing investment. Without skilled conservation officers, Surveyors, Valuers & Estate Agents mounted keepers and the other members of our very committed staff, our unique Commons would not be as they are today: safe, clean and preserved. That is why every contribution you make, large or small, counts. By becoming a Friend of Wimbledon and Putney Commons, you will be playing a crucial role in preserving, protecting and maintaining this unique and special place. As a Friend, you will be invited to attend special events that will provide a unique experience of the Commons. Three annual membership options are available: • Friend (Individual) £30 per annum At the heart of the community • Friend (Household – two adults and two children) We are pleased to support the Wimbledon Society £40 per annum • Benefactor £250 per annum For any questions, please contact us by email at friends@ Sales 020 8947 9833 I Lettings 020 8879 9669 wpcc.org.uk or by phone at 020 8788 7655. Alternatively, www.robertholmes.co.uk visit us at The Ranger’s Office, Manor Cottage, Windmill Road, Wimbledon SW19 5NR.

The Wimbledon Society was founded in 1903. It is a Registered Charity (No 1164261), and a company limited by guarantee (No 9818707). Annual subscription rates: Individual £15; Couple/family £20; Affiliated: £25. Membership application forms can be downloaded from the Society website or collected from the Museum. The Museum and Bookshop (020 8296 9914), 22 Ridgway, near Lingfield Road, are open from 2.30 to 5.00pm Saturday and Sunday. Admission free. Data Protection. The Wimbledon Society is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office for Data Protection Purposes as a data controller under the Data Protection Act 1998, reg no: ZA244625. All personal information supplied to the Society by members will be used solely for communication with them concerning the Society’s Membership, Governance, Events, and only matters concerning the Society. It will not be shared with any other organisation, except where there is a Statutory obligation to do so. Full details of our Privacy Policy are published on our website. 12