Welcome to the new website for the Friends of Bishops Park, we hope that you as users of our Grade II Listed Park and local residents will actively participate in ensuring that the Park provides a place of fun, enjoyment and sanctuary for all.
The Friends group is made of members of the community far and wide who enjoy the Park and hope to ensure that the improvements which have been discussed and with the Heritage Lottery Fund we all benefit all park users. The Friends are working with London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s Parks Department, amenity groups and residents; we can now say that we passed the first hurdle.
The Council has accepted a development grant of £270,000 in order to develop Stage 2 of the application. The Council will be consulting with the Friends and other groups about the submission which they hope will be submitted to the Heritage Lottery people at the end of October, with a decision to be expected within 6 months. If Hammersmith & Fulham Council is successful it will be awarded a further £3.6m towards the implementation of the £6m project. The works would therefore be expected to commence towards the end of 2010.
As you can see these are very exciting times for the Friends of Bishop Park and we want your involvement, your enthusiasm and commitment to ensure that our fabulous park is restored to its once picturesque state. One very tangible way to do this is to join the Friends and have a real say in how our park is managed and developed for future generations of park lovers.
Best Wishes,
Amanda Lloyd- Harris
Chair
‘Chairman Amanda Lloyd-Harris welcomed our guest speaker Dr Todd Longstaff-Gowan. Todd is renowned for advising on a number of private and historic landscapes, including: The Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, the Crown Estates and gardens in Florence and Qatar amongst others.
Todd talked about his current project that he is working at Kensington Palace Gardens in preparation for the Queens Diamond Jubilee in 2012. He said that he has found in fascinating in meeting to try and put together a coherent plan whilst preserving the best parts of the project and removing elements of no real historical merit. He talked about the need for local communities to get involved in preserving their parks and open spaces and not to be afraid about raising concerns with the appropriate people.
Questions were taken from the floor on various issues ranging from his views on the restoration of Bishops Garden and Fulham Palace and the increased loss of green space due to increased number of planning applications in residential areas.
The night was rounded off with formal part of the Annual General Meeting and the election of Office Bearers for 2009/10.
Those elected to the Committee at the Annual General Meeting on 23rd September 2009 were:
Chair |
Amanda Lloyd-Harris |
Deputy Chair |
Roger Weston |
Treasurer |
Christopher Round |
Membership |
Edward Windsor Clive |
Minute Sec |
Howard Palmer |
|
Elizabeth Sinclair-House |
|
Vivien Heilbron |