Kingston upon Thames Society Committee: March 2013

March's Committee Meeting covered the usual range of topics and while there were some debates and disagreements there were no difficult subjects and no new major topics.

Penny School

Much had been done since the last meeting, including a major piece in the Comet by June Sampson.

The Society wants to retain the school building for architectural and historical reasons. There were some mildly dissenting voices but the vote in favour of formally supporting the campaign was passed comfortably.

Market Place

Kingston Council wants to improve visibility of the Market House by moving the stalls, which means arranging them back-to-back. It is not clear whether the traders understand this or, if they do, whether they have objected to the proposal. but this is not supported by the traders as it causes problems for supply and waste.

A working market brings vitality to the town centre and we want to keep it.

The Council is currently seeking a developer for the project and the work needs to be completed by 31 March 2014 for funding reasons.

Gala Bingo

Some members of the Committee had put on their hard hats and visited the former Gala Bingo site. There was lots of damage, as expected, but some of the Art Deco original features remained.

The building is listed and some features will be resorted.The Auditorium will be retained but not sure what it will be used for yet.

The developer will build flats on top to pay for the work.

AOB

There have been several iterations of the design of the Richmond Park Visitors' Centre and George Rome Innes has been helping with this.


The Thames Landscape Strategy had held their AGM and despite some issues over finding they seem to be continuing. They had a speaker on the Royal Pageant.

Ride London will be on 3 and 4 August. 4th in Kingston. Expecting 20,000 cyclists. Good time to avoid the town.

81 Cambridge road becoming a student hostel.

We are looking to do a London walk on 7, maybe 14, August. The route will take in the British Museum, ROH, Covent Garden, Apple Shop, National Portrait Gallery. It sounds good to me.

Will will start to put a few major stories in the monthly newsletter which at the moment just advertises the next meeting.