Cucumber sandwiches all round!
Posted: Wednesday 20th July 2016
On 20th July the HWA and the Friends of the Library co-hosted public event to mark the renovation of the Queen Victoria Jubilee Memorial and its setting at the entrance to the Library.
The Friends of Hampton Wick Library have spent months campaigning and keeping up the pressure on Richmond House Partnership and the Council to protect this historic memorial and to enhance its setting.
Watch this fabulous Alan Benns video of the event
The Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Drinking Fountain was originally built in the High Street, paid for by public subscriptions from local residents. When the trams came to Hampton Wick it was moved to a relatively obscure position near the end of Church Grove. When the Library was built, Cllr Tony Arbour arranged for it to be moved to its current position at the entrance.
Unfortunately the Memorial was placed close to a brick wall behind which a tree had been planted on RHP owned land in Jubilee Close. Over the years the tree had grown to obscure the Memorial and the brick wall was in danger of collapsing which could have led to damage or destruction of our Memorial. It should be noted that the tree wasn’t very happy encased in a too-small brick container!
Click here to see what the problem was…
One of the Friends, Mark Buckley, spotted the problem and contacted both the Council and RHP. He organised joint site meetings and eventually the tree was removed and a new wall has been built giving the Memorial enough space for a proper setting.
We decided to mark this historic event with an afternoon reception which also served to launch the Summer Wildlife in Bushy Park photography exhibition in the Library. The event was attended by more than 60 people who enjoyed fruit punch and cucumber sandwiches while listening to speeches by Cllr Tony Arbour and HWA Chair Mark Merrington. Cllr Arbour then unveiled a plaque kindly provided by Richmond Housing Partnership.