Welcome to the Twickenham Society's Website

The Society exists to make Twickenham a better place in which to live. It seeks to stimulate public interest in, and care for, the beauty, history and character of Twickenham and its surroundings.


NEW: 12 June: "Twickenham Riverside Proposals " - a joint letter to the Richmond and Twickenham Times from the Chairs of the River Thames Society (Upper Tideway Branch), the York House Society, the Twickenham Society, and the Environment Trust for Richmond upon Thames, about the influx of new members all the societies are experiencing - downloadable here (.pdf, 2 pages, 41KB)

TWICKENHAM SOCIETY MEETINGS:

Next Twickenham Talk: the River Crane, Wed 17 June 2009, at the Twickenham Club, 7 Church Street at 7.30.

Guest speaker: Rob Gray, FORCE (Friends of the River Crane Environment)
The river Crane, beside the shot tower		The River Crane is one of the great hidden rivers in London. It winds 8.5 miles (13.6km) from Hayes, through the west London basin and empties into the Thames at Isleworth. A popular riverside park runs along most of its length through the borough - and along the Duke of Northumberland's River, a man-made offshoot. In March, the Crane Valley Park won £400,000 from the Mayor of London's fund to improve parks, after a record-breaking number of members of the public voted for it. In this special meeting for the Twickenham Society, Rob Gray, chair of Friends of the River Crane Environment (FORCE), will talk about how the organisation was set up to protect the river and its surroundings, the work it's done to date and its plans for the Crane Valley over the next few years. Meeting poster (.pdf, 1 page, 130KB) FORCE website

12 to 21 June: The Twickenham Festival There's a huge variety of activity planned, including dragon boat racing, the annual fun day on Twickenham Green, and much, much more. For full details, see the Town Centre Management Board website, or download the summary here (.pdf, 58KB, 2 pages).

Twickenham Society Activities:

HANDS Charity May Fair, Bank Holiday Monday 25 May, 2009

This year's HANDS charity fair was a tremendous success and seemed to be enjoyed by everyone who attended. Aside from a slight wobble around 10.00am the weather was spectacularly good, with blazing sunshine in the afternoon. The Twick Soc stall was constantly busy, and this year we had enough people to cope with the traffic: Doug Orchard, John Bell, Jane Smith, Pindi Tamana, Philip Morgan, Yvonne Hewett and Rodney Bennett. The swan design for the new banners was done by artist Mike Beare.

We were fortunate to have a large number of very high quality donations, and at the end of the day found that we'd brought in over £220.00. Thanks to everyone who contributed, and everyone who stopped at the stall to buy, or just to have a chat (and preferably, both). As always, Maureen Payan is to be congratulated for her flawless organising: it was a wonderful day.

Sixth Cross Road Allotments Group celebrates!

(left to right) Sixth Cross Road Allotments Chairman Alan Billany with Doug Orchard; Jackie Dungate, the Allotments Officer for LBRuT; and Nigel Cooper from the Thames Community Foundation		On Saturday, 16 May, Doug Orchard cut the ribbon opening the new clubhouse for the Sixth Cross Road Allotments. The clubhouse will be heated, with cooking facilities and a fridge, and it will give the group a social centre and place to have a hot drink in cold weather. The clubhouse has been made possible by a £5,000 grant from the Thames Community Foundation, and the Twickenham Society was pleased to add its endorsement to the application.

PAST MEETINGS: The Society's AGM, Wednesday 22 April 2009

Guest speaker: Tony McSweeney, "Hidden Twickenham"
Tony McSweeny capturing some Hidden Twickenham		The meeting at the cricket pavilion on Twickenham Green was very well attended, and we were delighted to welcome guests from several other societies. Photographer and artist Tony McSweeney gave a fascinating presentation on the quirky, interesting and strange places and things he's found in Twickenham, ranging from the fire insurance plaques that abound in the Church Street area to the loggia at Thames Eyot, the Kilmorey Mausoleum, rare manhole covers by Thomas Crapper, and an elegant bridge in the rarely-seen St Margaret's pleasure grounds, to Pope's Grotto. He finished with some examples of his own artwork. Hopefully he'll be turning his photos of the things he's found into a book, a special guide to local treasures and treats.

The AGM
Main items on the AGM's agenda were the re-election of the committee:

• Chair: Doug Orchard
• Vice Chair: John Bell
• Vice Chair: Jack Betteridge
• Treasurer and Membership Secretary: Rodney Bennett
• Secretary and Webmaster: Yvonne Hewett
• Social Secretary: Perminder Tamana
• Environment: Philip Morgan

A list of events is being developed. It will be sent to members and posted here as soon as it's firmed up.

25 March, 2009

Meeting: Twickenham Poolsite - the Council's consultation

32 members of the Society met in the Twickenham Club on 25 March, to consider the three schemes proposed by developers for the derelict poolsite. The purpose of the meeting was to solicit members' opinions on the three schemes, for the Committee to feed into the consultation process.

Paul Chadwick, Assistant Director, Property and Procurement, LBRuT, was the guest speaker, with Jon Pinkerton from Knight, Frank and Anthony Benson, Urban Practitioners. Paul introduced the three schemes and gave an overview on the way forward.

Architects Derek Plummer and Robert Bowcock, long-time Twick Soc members who have both been involved in the 28-year struggle over developing the poolsite, gave their opinions on the three schemes, and Derek Plummer give a comprehensive account of his involvement in the long and wearying process.

The three schemes being looked at are: Countryside Properties (architect Clive Chapman, who lives on Eel Pie Island and has long been involved in the riverside); Quad/Ellmer (a team of architects in Richmond, who do many high-quality, small-scale housing developments locally); and Osborne Group. See the Council website for the plans from the developers.

Following discussions, the members were asked to complete a questionnaire that would inform the Committee's report to the Council. Of the 28 valid forms received, 18 favoured development and 10 were against. Of those 10, none of the five who had joined the Society in the previous month commented on the qualitative issues such as the River Centre, the playground, parking, open space, and extra housing.

Conclusions drawn from the results of the questionnaires are:

1. A clear majority of Society members are in favour of development.

2. Countryside is a clear favourite, with Quad second. Many people registered only a first choice.

3. Members want to go ahead with the development and get on with it.

4. Though there is apprehension about the effects of the credit crunch, there is a desire to continue

5. The River Centre, the playground, and maintaining the proportion of open space are extremely important.

The next stage will be the Cabinet meeting on 27 April, when the Council will nominate their preferred developer.

Editor's note: on 27 April, the Cabinet chose to go ahead with the Countryside Properties scheme.