3/2002

In memoriam hree former members A newsletter for the Cherry Trees Residents’ Amenities Association 3/2002 of the CTRAA h a v e recently died. The Rt. Hon. Sir Patrick Russell, who was the CTRAA Chairman immediately before Willoughby Wynne, died on 25 Law change stops the dog dirt? October, aged 76. His long and ouncils across the country have been found to do very little to solve the problem with dog dirt. However, there are plans to change distinguished career at the Bar the current legislation, according to which any fines from negligent dog-owners go to the Treasury. The new law would mean that and on the Bench was mainly the fines go to the councils, which may use them to finance anti-dog fouling schemes. This may, hopefully, improve the situation. spent in his native North (he was born in Urmston, a suburb of A recent survey of councils in cent hadn’t issued any verbal Dog fouling isn’t just unsightly improve enforcement (i.e. hire Manchester, which was his main England, by the Keep Britain Tidy warnings, and 49 per cent hadn’t and irritating (especially if you more dog wardens). home for his entire life), but after group, found that a mere 754 dog issued any written warnings. happen to step in it) – it is also As it is estimated that there are A newsletter for the Cherry Trees taking Silk in 1971, he joined Residents’Amenities Association owners were prosecuted during Although more than half of the linked to a disease called toxo- almost five million owners who chambers in and thus the past three years for letting councils had the power to hand cariasis. There are 16,000 cases don’t clean up after their dogs, the Editor: Thomas Blomberg needed a London home, which their pets foul footpaths and out £50 on-the-spot fines to dog per year, and 50 of them result in potential revenue is not insignifi- Daytime: 8237 7907 became 4c Brunswick Gardens. Evenings: 7938 3775 parks. This means an average of owners who failed to clean up serious eye infections or even cant. So, if the law changes we Sir Patrick was knighted in 1980 [email protected] two cases a year per council. after their dogs, almost one third blindness. may see dog wardens in our and served as a Lord Justice of Material for future issues can be sent to: However, during the same period of these councils had never done One reason for the council’s streets almost as often as we see Flat 7, 18 Vicarage Gate, London W8 4AA these councils received 226,000 so. reluctance to go after the fouling traffic wardens – but they would PC Peter Sewell found himself surrounded by residents who wanted Appeal from 1987 until his retire- complaints about dog fouling; and It gets worse: 16 per cent of the owners could be that the income probably be more welcome… to discuss crime issues with him on the Open Day. ment in 1996, when he and his The Cherry Trees Residents’ research has found that 95 per councils admitted that they only from any foul fines currently goes wife Janie returned for good to his Amenities Association Neighbourhood Watch Open Day beloved Urmston. He continued, cent of the public regard dog dirt ever clean up dog dirt if they to the Treasury instead of the however, to be a member of the Chairman: Willoughby Wynne as unacceptable. receive complaints about it, and councils. However, there are 20mph in he Neighbourhood Wa t c h he hadn’t expected more than a 39 Brunswick Gardens,London W8 4AW The survey found that 64 per cent two-thirds of the councils have not CTRAA for several years. A lively Tel: 7727 9786 plans to reform the legislation, Open Day in Inverness dozen visitors, and thought that right-arm, in-swing bowler, he of the councils hadn’t prosecuted placed one single dog litter bin in allowing the councils to use our streets The aim of The Cherry Trees Residents’ Gardens in June was quite the Open Day definitely should be played for Urmston Cricket Club Amenities Association is to improve our any owners at all last year, 57 per the streets or on footpaths. money raised from these fines to a success. Some 60 neighbours repeated. until he was in his forties, and neighbourhood and to function as our rep- next year? came to talk with our beat officer, Shortly afterwards, unfortunately, served as president of Lancashire resentative towards the Council and other ome 60 CTRAA members authorities in matters concerning the area. he Government intends to PC Peter Sewell, and to receive Peter was transferred to another Cricket Club from 1999 to 2001. attended this year’s Nursing home and dog dirt Membership is open to all residents living Annual General Meeting cut maximum limits in information and leaflets from our department. A new beat officer, Charles Vanrenen, 26, who lived in Palace Gardens Terrace, Strathmore S residential areas from Neighbourhood Watch represen- Simon Piper, has been appointed, Gardens, Berkeley Gardens, Brunswick in the Essex Church on the hot topics at the AGM with his parents, David and 30pmh to 20 mph as part of a tative, Mariju Lee. and has recently started patrolling Heath, and three siblings at 35 Gardens, Inverness Gardens, Vi c a r a g e 25th of November. The main Gardens, Vicarage Gate, on the southern issues were the future of plan to slash speed limits Peter Sewell said afterwards that our area. Brunswick Gardens in the 1990’s, side of Kensington Mall, and on the eastern Vicarage Gate House (the across the UK, in a bid to was one of the victims in the hor- side of Kensington Church Street between reduce the number of road Vicarage Gate and Kensington Mall. empty nursing home), dog rific terror attack in Bali on 12 deaths. October. The South African family fouling, traffic and security. came to our area after having Each day nine people are killed Interested in Following the presentation of the and more than 100 are seriously spent the 80’s in A u s t r a l i a . accounts, it was decided that the Charlie’s parents eventually con- play reading? injured on British roads. £215 special fund for cherry tree has pledged to cut these figures tinued to the south of France, Marie-Jacqueline Lancaster of replacements is to be transferred by 40 per cent by 2010, and min- where they now live, whilst he Winchester Court is interested in to the general fund, as all tree moved to Sydney and from there isters believe that the best way to forming a local play reading replacements are currently paid achieve this is to review all speed to Singapore, where he became a group. She knows an experienced for by the Council. Should the computer specialist. He was one limits, starting next year. It would leader who would be willing to Council at a later date change its be the first overhaul of the system of several players in the start the project, and has found position in this matter, the tree since the 1950’s, when the traffic Singapore Cricket Club's rugby that a hall can be rented for as lit- fund can of course be reactivat- team who had flown down to Bali was a fraction of what it is today. tle as £10 for 1.5 hours. So, if ten ed. Currently, the local authorities set for a short holiday. people join up and meet once a Our local councillor, Christopher Roland Morgan, of 66 limits largely according to the month, it shouldn’t have to cost B u c k m a s t e r, gave an update speed traveled by 85 per cent of Kensington Church Street, died more than £1 per person per regarding Vicarage Gate House. vehicles on a given stretch of suddenly outside his flat on 15 meeting - plus cost of play copies, The Council is becoming very September. He had been a mem- road. According to safety experts, if they can’t be sourced at the much aware of the growing need this practice is responsible for a ber of the CTRAAfor many years; Library. for local nursing homes; a need a delightful and jaunty person, high level of accidents and a cul- Those interested can contact that is expected to increase dras- ture of speed. The new system Mariju Lee discussing security issues with neighbours Simon Agace, often sporting a button hole and Marie-Jacqueline: 11 Winchester After the meeting, Charles Shaw and others were eager to sign the tically during the next 30 years. In would mean that borough engi- François de Hennin and Ned Hetherington. straw boater. petition regarding Vicarage Gate House, which Huw Thomas (right) Court, Vicarage Gate. light of this, it is likely that the neers should set limits that reflect afterwards delivered to the Council. Council will try to ensure that the the Government’s concern over No more wailing wall site continues to be used for a Dog dirt and refuse bags on Colin Wingrove, Holland Sector high accident rates, speeding and nursing home. pavements were, as usual, popu- D e p u t y, gave a brief update its wish to encourage more peo- nverness Gardens’ western wall, which, after years of neglect, was Several parties have expressed lar subjects. It was decided that regarding the crime situation in torn down to be rebuilt, was finally finished during the summer. There ple to walk and cycle. an interest to develop a new the CTRAA will urge the Council our area, which during the last Beside cutting the maximum in was such a long pause half way through the rebuilding that many nursing home there, which makes to pass a bylaw, making it unlaw- few months has improved. residential areas to 20mph, the neighbours had begun calling it “the wailing wall”. However, during the it increasingly difficult for the own- ful for dog owners to let their dogs Before the meeting was closed, new scheme will mean that many summer the work started again and within a few weeks the wall was fin- ers, the Elizabeth Finn Trust, to foul streets and pavements or Tuggy Meyer informed about the roads can have 60mph limits low- ished, closely resembling the original wall from the late 1800’s. get a change of use approved, leave dog dirt bags in public private security initiative started ered to 40mph, or 40mph lowered You would have thought that the wall was the responsibility of the coun- and thus be able to sell the prop- places. The CTRAA committee by a group of residents in our to 30mph. cil or the resident association that owns Inverness Gardens’ beautiful erty at a much higher price to also promised to continue its area. So far, some 70 residents If this plan is implemented as out- garden, but it is actually part of the freehold of 1 Inverness Gardens, developers of luxury apartments. campaign against those who have pledged to finance a private lined, it would mean that our local which single-handedly had to pay for the costly refurbishment. After the meeting, everybody leave refuse on pavements. guard with a dog, who will patrol streets east of Church Street Most refurbishments are mainly for the benefit of the freeholder. This queued up to sign a petition, urg- The meeting was attended by parts of the Cherry Tree area and would all be limited to 20mph. one, however, must be regarded as a benefit for the neighbourhood ing the Council to do its outmost our new beat officer, PC Simon keep an eye on the properties When this would become a reality, more than the freeholder. So, on behalf of all of us who didn’t have to to ensure that the site continues P i p e r, who has just stared and cars of those who belong to nobody knows yet, but it could pay for it, we graciously thank 1 Inverness Gardens. as a nursing home. patrolling our streets. He and Sgt the scheme. happen next year. Page 2 3/2002 3/2002 Page 3

monarchs associated with the 1837 - 2002: palace. Queen Victoria took a keen interest in the pictures and exhibits, many of which concerned her reign “The Aunt Heap” has never and her image as Queen. For exam- ple, the three rooms in the southeast been as crowded as today corner of the palace, where she and her mother had lived, were filled with fter Princess Margaret’s death, many seem to think portraits and objects relating to her that Kensington Palace now stands empty. Nothing life. could be further from the truth: “the Aunt Heap” London Museum has never housed so many members of the extended In 1911-12 the State A p a r t m e n t s Royal Family as it does today. were given over to the newly found- When the young Queen Vi c t o r i a there over the years. Her most ed London Museum for the display of moved to in famous work, a marble statue of royal relics and objects relating to the 1837, the only royal family left at Queen Victoria at the time of her City of London. Queen Mary took a The Golden Jubilee Party was a huge sucess, even if it had to be held Kensington consisted of her favourite accession, stands outside the keen interest in the museum and it in St Mary Abbots’Hall instead of in the vicarage’s beautiful garden. uncle, the book collecting Prince palace. was she who managed to persuade Augustus (the Duke of Sussex) and Louise was a bit of a wild child in her that the museum could ‘be Rainy Jubilee Party and his second wife, Lady Cecilia youth. The marriage to the Marquess accommodated, at least temporarily, Underwood. Augustus, who also was had been hastily arranged because in the State Rooms at Kensington record Autumn Party a favourite of the people, known as of rumours circulating about Louise’s Palace’. The King and Queen toured the new n this country, the main “Good old Sussex”, died in 1843, and unsuitable attachments to men, in - as mentioned in the previous chap- particular her teacher at South museum on 21 March 1912, accom- unknown factor when plan- panied by Princess Mary and Prince ning any kind of outdoor ter – his death was the occasion of a Kensington Art School, the sculptor genuine display of public mourning. Sir Edgar Boehm. The marriage was George (later Duke of Kent). The activity is of course the weath- State Apartments were filled with er. His body lay in state in the palace not a success and in 1880 they and for one day the public were moved apart, although they both showcases. In the Cupola Room, for The Cherry Trees area Golden example, there was a splendid dis- Jubilee Party on Sunday 26 May allowed to pay their last respects. It continued to live at Kensington is estimated some 20,000 found their Palace. play of London silver and several was set to have taken place in the models of ships. There was also a vicarage’s large and beautiful gar- way out to the palace, which was Press scandal remarkable in a time of no cars or large collection of costume, including den under a glorious sun, but a B o e h m ’s sudden death in his public transport. Georgian court dress (in the King’s couple of days of persistent rain Before the grown-ups were ush - Fulham Road studio during a visit by The Tecks Gallery), coronation robes (in the had made the soil under the lush ered out to make room for the the Princess caused a bit of a scan- Presence Chamber) and dresses green grass so wet and soft separate children’s party, they For the next 24 years Lady Cecilia dal in 1890. The press had a field worn by Queen Victoria, Queen that a hundred pairs of were invited to particpate in lived alone in the palace (besides all day, of course, and some of its com- Alexandra and Queen Mary. shoes very quickly would a martial arts performance, the servants, of course), but in 1867, ments were rather suggestive. The Tecks in the garden; ; Princess Louise’s statue of her mother; Princess Louise herself, posing The public were first admitted to the have turned the garden where François de Hennin a few years before she died, the Louise insisted, however, that he had by another sculpture; and Princess Alice of Teck, who revealed that the palace was called “the aunt heap”. museum on 8 April 1912 and on the into something quite Duke and Duchess of Teck (the collapsed while carrying a heavy gave his all. sons, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, “Chuck and Di”. After the separation from other palaces. By the end of the first day alone 13,000 visitors passed nasty and unwelcoming Duchess was a cousin to Victoria) bust, and this was also the coroner’s and , both live and later , Diana, Princess of century the building was seriously through the State Rooms. However, for the new vicar, Father Record Autumn Party were allocated the apartments for- verdict. Princess Louise stayed in the in the palace today with their wives Wales, and the two young princes dilapidated with the brickwork decay- Kensington had never been intended Gillean Craig, to look at when The Autumn Party on Sunday 15 merly occupied by Victoria’s family. palace until she died in 1939, 91 Katharine and Marie-Christine. William and Harry continued to live ing and the woodwork infested with as a permanent home for the London he moved in a few days later. September became the largest The Tecks had four children, all of years old. In the late 1960’s, following the sep- there until her tragic death in 1997, dry rot. In 1888, an article in The Museum and in 1914 it moved to And as more rain looked likely on ever: some 160 people caused whom were born at Kensington Princess Beatrice (1857-1944), the aration from the Earl of Snowdon, which, as we all remember, turned Queen’s Homes described the State . the day anyhow, the decision was Inverness Gardens to almost Palace. Their first, Victoria Mary, was youngest of Victoria’s nine children Princess Margaret moved into the the palace into a flower shrine, visit- Apartments as ‘empty - empty, bare, quickly taken to move the party burst at its seams. Several new born on 26 May 1867 and christened and her closest companion after the Used by charities palace with her children, and lived ed by several hundred thousand dreary, and comfortless; no carpets, into the backup venue: St Mary neighbours were welcomed, at the palace by the Archbishop of death of John Brown in 1883, had When the museum left, the State there until her death in February this mourners. no curtains, no furniture of any Abbots’Hall. Although not as spa- among them Father Gillean and Canterbury. She later married the lived with her mother all her life, even Apartments were closed and during year. kind...nothing but bare walls and cious it served the purpose of the his wife Linda Hirst, and the High future King George V and as Queen after she married Prince Henry von Six households today the First World War (1914-18) they bare boards’. party: to let neighbours meet, chat Commissioner of the Seychelles, Mary took a keen interest in the Battenberg. But when Victoria died in Princess Alice now oldest After Diana’s death, Princess were used as offices by various char- and eat. Bertrand Rassool. arrangement of the palace after it 1901, Beatrice moved to Kensington In the 1970’s another of the Queen’s Margaret became the most well- Restoration itable organisations. The palace did The party for the grown-ups was The delicious titbits were as was opened to the public in 1899. In Palace, where she lived until her uncles, Prince Henry, the Duke of known resident of the Ideas for its future varied from not reopen again until 1923, the followed by a well attended chil- usual provided courtesy of 1883 the Tecks left Kensington to live death in 1944, 87 years old. G l o u c e s t e r, and his wife palace, and after her death demolition to use as a gallery or hours then being restricted to dren’s party, with a magician and Winkworths, and Tuggy Meyer in Florence. The Aunt Heap Princess Alice, moved from many seem to think that it museum. It was only Queen Sunday afternoons only; from 1926 a martial arts demonstration. supplied the tasty wine. York House to Kensington stands empty. It is, however, Victoria’s love for the palace in which they were also open on Saturdays. In Princess Louise In 1917 the enclave of royal ladies at Palace. After his death still the home (and offices) of she had grown up that saved it: in 1932 the three rooms associated Victoria’s sixth child, the newlywed Kensington increased even further, in 1974, Princess Alice six royal households: Princess April 1897, Parliament was persuad- with Queen Victoria were restored Princess Louise (1848-1939), and as Princess Helen (the Duchess of spent considerable time Alice; the present Duke and ed to pay for the restoration of the and rearranged under the direction of her husband, the Marquess of Lorne, ), the widow of Vi c t o r i a ’s at their other home, Barnwell Manor, Duchess of Gloucester; the Duke State Apartments on condition that Queen Mary. moved into A u g u s t u s ’ a p a r t m e n t s youngest son, Prince Leopold, but she moved permanently to and Duchess of Kent; the Prince and they should be opened to the public. after the death of Lady Cecilia in moved in with their daughter Bomb damage Kensington Palace in 1994, to live Princess Michael of Kent; and The restoration of the State 1873. Victoria was delighted that one Princess Alice. Alice and her hus- Bomb damage during the Second with her son and daughter-in-law, the Princess Margaret's son, Lord Linley, Apartments was carried out at great of her children should be living in her band, Prince Alexander of Te c k World War left the State Apartments present Duke and Duchess of and his family. In addition, it has speed but with much care and atten- old home and wrote to her daughter (Queen Mary’s younger brother, who badly affected, particularly the Gloucester, Prince Richard and his been suggested in the press that the tion to detail. According to Viscount after a visit: “I can’t tell you the feel- was born at the palace) made Queen’s Drawing Room and Dining Danish wife Birgitte, and their three Wessexes (Prince Edward and his Esher, the Secretary to the Office of ing it gave me to see my old Kensington Palace their permanent children. On Christmas Day 2001 Sophie) could move into Princess Works, the aim was to restore the Room. After a five-year closure, the Bedroom and the old doors - and the home. He died in 1957 and she in she celebrated her 100th birthday Margaret’s former rooms in order to decoration ‘as far as possible [to] palace was reopened on 4 June very view I knew so well - and then 1981, aged 97. It was she who and is now, following the recent save money. exactly what it was in the reign of 1949. In the following year the downstairs to the old rooms where so revealed in her memoirs that death of the Queen Mother, the old- George II’. London Museum returned to many lived - including dear Papa!” Kensington Palace was called “the Very run down est member of any royal family in the Kensington and for a quarter of a Princess Louise was one of the few Aunt Heap” within the Royal Family. Although the private apartments at Opened to the public world. century (from 1950 until its amalga- women sculptors of the 19th century In 1955, Princess Marina, the Kensington Palace continued to be The State Apartments were opened mation with the Guildhall Museum and by the age of 20 she had exhib- Duchess of Kent, widow of the Princess Diana used by members of the Royal to the public on Queen Victoria’s and its reopening in the Barbican as ited at the Royal Academy. Almost Queen’s uncle Prince George (who And, of course, in 1981 the palace Family throughout the 19th century, 80th birthday, 24 May 1899. The the Museum of London in 1976) the immediately after her arrival at died on active service in 1942), became the world famous home of the State Apartments were sadly newly restored rooms were hung museum occupied the lower floors The autumn party drew a record crowd of 160 neighbours, and Kensington she built her own studio, moved into the palace with her chil- the newlywed couple that some neglected and were used as stores with portraits and historical paintings originally converted for the Duke of Inverness Gardens almost burst at its seams. one of three that she was to use dren. She died in 1969. Her two American media flippantly called for various paintings and furnishings illustrative of the periods and the Kent.