HAG Talk: Sandycombe Lodge

Ham Amenities Group (HAG) arranges an interesting of local history talks that I would go to even if I was not involved in the group; I produced the poster on the right.

The talk on Sandycombe Lodge took us slightly away from Ham and just across the water to East Twickenham where England's most famous painter, JMW Turner, designed a house for his father and himself.

The lodge is now run by a charity, Turner’s House Trust, which aims to restore and conserve Sandycombe Lodge for the nation. I was able to visit it a couple of years ago as part of Open House London and had seen some of their work at first hand.

The talk covered the design of the house, which drew heavily on the work of Sir John Soane, the restoration work done in recent years and the life of Turner, father and son, in the house.

It was his father's main home, he walked into Central London to work!, while the artist spent most of his time away touring abroad and staying as a guest in country houses.

Little was said about Turner's paintings as there is no evidence that he did any painting there though he did several of the Arcadian Thames which had drawn him to build a house there.

The talk was detailed and fascinating and there were lots of pictures to help tell the story. I liked the little things like it was common to draw brick buildings as if they had been rendered, i.e. to not draw the details of the rows of bricks, and so it had been assumed that Sandycombe Lodge had been rendered when new (not later) but the detailed analysis of the penny struck pointing shows that it was originally bare brick.

Another minor but fascinating detail was the Sandycombe Road became Sandycoombe Road (with two 'o's) because of the confusion with another Sandycombe Road in Kew.

Little things like that kept me enthralled throughout.

Possibly due to the poster (!), the talk was very popular and there were people standing at the back with all the seats taken. I am quite happy to stand for long periods, lots of practise in bars, and gave my reserved seat up for somebody who appreciated it more.

I really enjoyed that talk and I learned a lot from it but what I enjoyed most was seeing a full room and gaining the satisfaction of knowing that HAG had arranged another great talk.

HAG talk: Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck

I had never heard of Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck, and I am not that interested in history but I am interested in the place that I live and I always find HAG talks interesting and informative so I booked a place at this one. I also did the poster.

Mary Adelaide lived 1833 to 1897, a period when the royal families married each other with great regularity. As a result she was both granddaughter of George III and grandmother of Edward VIII and George VI.

While she was never in the centre of the Royal Family she was close enough to benefit from it, she was paid under the Civil List (or that period's equivalent) and was given grace and favour houses.

She lived for several years in Cambridge Cottage on Kew Green, which is now part of Kew Gardens where it is a popular venue for weddings. She also lived in White Lodge in Richmond Park for a while so she had strong connections to Richmond. One of the many things she did locally was open the Terrace Gardens next to the river.

She became known as the People's Princess because of the things she did and she was helped in this in Victoria's almost complete absence from public life due to her mourning for Albert. Mary Adelaide was one of the most active royals at that time and was popular because of this.

She is commemorated by a monument just outside Richmond Gate, somewhere between the busy road and the brambles. This site was originally chosen after a full sized model, in wood, of the monument was tried in various locations in Richmond. Plans are being developed to restore the monument and to remodel the setting so that it can be appreciated by people passing through the gate.

HAG talk: Ham's Modern Architecture

My involvement with Ham Amenities Group (HAG) is not that much to boast of but I do get to produce the posters for the events. An upside of this is that I get to know about the talks early and can be one of the first to book.

I was very keen to hear this talk for several reasons. I am interested in Ham and in Modern Architecture so this talk could have been made for me, and in a way it was. I had heard Richard Woolf talk about local architecture before and it was that which made me suggest him as a speaker for HAG.

I did not know beforehand that Richard also does lecturing and that came though in a superbly composed and delivered presentation.

The content was both detailed and authoritative. Richard certainly knew his subject and was enthusiastic about it too. That enthusiasm had taken him all over Ham and down no-through-road, like Sheridan Road, which I thought that only I walked down (for my Ham Photos blog).

Richard hit all the right buttons for me in the talk, and I would have been delighted with it whatever opinions he had, so it was a bonus that he seemed to agree with me on almost everything and as he was the expert that was even more gratifying.

The aim of the HAG talks is to interest and inform residents in some aspect of Ham and Richard Woolf did that magnificently. We are already trying to find a way to get him to do another talk.

HAG talk: The History of Ham

There was something of a mix-up over this talk. Originally it was going to be called The History of Ham and then we (I am on the HAG Committee) agreed that we wanted the speaker to do more than one talk and that we should ask him to focus on medieval Ham in hist first one. So I did the poster accordingly. But, somehow, the message did not get to the speaker and he delivered a talk on The History of Ham instead.

The room was packed and I ended up standing against a wall so as not to be in anyone's way. I do not mind standing at all and in doing so I could see the screen clearly.

The presentation was not so easy to listen to though because the alarm went off when somebody opened a window for fresh air and despite several desperate phone calls we were unable to turn it off. A few people left because of this but that just released some chairs for other people who were standing. The room was packed.

All that sounds like a disaster and it could have been were it not for the brilliant and entertaining talk. Gordon Elsden used the old border of the parish of Ham as the basis of his story and he beat the bounds and told tales of the places that we passed as he did so. The talk was rich with information , anecdotes and pictures. It was also very well presented and I was enthralled throughout.

Many of these stories and pictures will appear in Gordon's soon to be published book Remarkable Ham - The Untold Story which he showed us a copy of prompting much interest. I will be getting a copy when it comes out and so will many other people who, like me, loved his talk.

I also hope that Gordon has enough material for a second HAG talk one day.

Visiting the Huf Haus UK Show House

The success of Peter Huf's talk to Ham Amenities Group (HAG) was such that we were invited to visit the new Huf House UK Show House in Brooklands on a day that it is not normally open to the public and Peter Huf was there to guide us around.

The talk had been very good but it was far better to see the reality and to have Peter there for two hours, with his colleague Jack Eddy Architectural Technologist and Environmental Advisor, to go into more detail about the approach and the philosophy and also to answer all the detailed questions that we had.

The wide entrance hall set the scene beautifully. It was spacious and bright and you could see right past the dining area to the garden beyond. Just behind that hedge was a busy road but we could only hear the traffic when Peter opened a window to make a point about the sound insulation.

A Huf Haus connects with its setting and this was most obvious in the master bedroom suite with its large windows and the trees almost in touching distance.

The Show House was arranged as a three bedroom house with the master bedroom taking all of one side of the upstairs (to the right) and two good bedrooms on the other side.

The dining area was double height which produced this impressive view. The dining table is a good size with eight chairs around it yet it almost looks small in the space allocated to it. No squeezing past chairs here.

The landing was far more than a corridor. There was space for a substantial wall unit along one side and sitting areas with several chairs at each end.

The Show House is on an industrial estate, The Heights, and part of it faces on to a car park. Most of the house looks the other way and on the car park side there is the kitchen and an office.

The section of wall hides the plant room. This would normally be in the basement but this house is close to a stream and is raised above normal ground level to keep it safe from flooding so a basement was out of the question.

One corner of the house had this outside area. That is the main living space on the other side of the glass wall. The river is just off to the left, as indicated by the trees.

Looking the same way but from inside shows how wonderful that living area is with its natural views and huge spaces. The dinning area is just off to the right.

Beyond the wall with the paints on is a conference room which, with the office on the other side, enables the house to function commercially. If this was a wholly domestic property then those two rooms could have been more bedrooms or something like a gym or music room.

Huf Haus is designed to make you happy with good light and views and with all the annoyances, like heat and noise, dealt with by state of the art technology. This house operates without mains gas or electricity and because it is so efficient it only need around 10 Kw to keep it going.

We spent a lot of time talking about the technology of the wood and the glass and the energy systems while also appreciating the way that the design of the house makes the most of the sun and the least of the rain. That is why it can claim to be the best house in the country.

Traditional Craftsmanship Meets High Technology to produce outstanding houses

If ever I was going to go to a talk then this was it. In Traditional Craftsmanship Meets High Technology Peter Huf told the story of the Huf Haus with a strong slant towards the house almost completing construction less than a minute away.

The talk was arranged by Ham Amenities Group (HAG) which I find myself the publicity for, This meant that I got to do the poster for the event that was on display at the library, where the talk was given, and also the community noticeboard on Ham Parade. I like to think that my publicity contributed to the room being full to overflowing with a few disappointed people left outside. They should have paid attention to the notice at the bottom of my poster recommending that people book.

I should have read my own poster too and then I would have arrived for a 7:30pm start rather than the 7:00pm I was expecting.

The plus side of being ultra-early was a seat in the front row and a chance to have a quick word with Peter Huf in which I was able to compliment him on his 1 Like No Other shirt which I had recognised from some distance.

I had seen Peter Huf talk before, way back in 2011, and expected something similar and was very pleasantly surprised about how different it was this time.

Because I had seen some of it before, and also because I was paying lots of attention to what was being said and shown, I took only a few notes. These are them.

Design the house for the plot. A Huf Haus is built around the trees and because it is made of timber it talks to them. The point of the garden is to appreciate it from the house, not from the street.

Design features like roof overhangs and automated external blinds that follow the sun help to keep the houses very comfortable to live in while providing remarkably high levels of sustainability, far more than any existing standard requires.

The heavy wooden beams (they support concrete floors) use structural protection rather than chemical protection. For example, they do not touch the ground or the concrete floors. This also stops sound travelling through the house.

The electric cables in the house are shielded (Cat 7) to prevent electromagnetic radiation leaking into the house. There were several examples like that which showed just how much care and attention Huf Haus pay to the quality of life of those living in their houses.

Planner like Huf Haus as they are built exactly to plan.

Peter said that the planning system in the UK is too democratic leading to mediocrity as bold schemes are opposed. We have had an example of this locally with the third Huf Haus being delayed by an appeal being lodged by two residents against the planning permission granted by Richmond Council. They lost the appeal but it added an unnecessary delay to a simple project that will replace a very average house with a special one.

It was a very informative and uplifting talk that prompted many questions from the (mostly) friendly audience and, just like the last time, left me wondering what I had to do to get my own Huf Haus. I've not worked out how to do that yet so I'll just have to settle for visiting them whenever I can.

You can see more about the coming of Huf Haus to Ham and Petersham on my Ham Photos Blog.

Hidden Ham

For eight years now I have been compiling the Ham Photos blog. This basically consists of me walking around the place that I live and taking photos of the things that I like.

I do a lot of walking and I take a lot of photos and so far just over 2,000 photos have been added to the blog. I once thought that I would run out of things to photograph but that is clearly not true and there are enough changes happening for me to find new interesting things.

Thanks to this blog, I was asked by the Ham Amenities Group (HAG) to do a presentation on Hidden Ham. The title was their suggestions but I liked it as it gave me a means of selecting photos. I took a wide-definition of the word "hidden" and used it to mean things that are hidden because they are out of site, in plain site but easily overlooked or are now gone.

It took me a little while to decide on the precise structure of my presentation but I liked the way that it developed, I started with a few slides explaining what a blog is, what I am trying to do with Ham Photos and the mechanics of producing it. Over the eight years I have used three cameras so far.

I then did a quick-fire run through of eighty of the photos with brief stories of why I took each one and where it was before opening it up with a quiz of twenty more photos.

One of the early photos was of these elephants and I was very surprised that several people in the room did not know about them. They were pretty well hidden but were so unusual that I just assumed that word of them had spread everywhere.

Normally the only way to see them is from the top deck of a 65 bus where they are still heavily obscured by trees but I was so desperate to get a picture of them that I held my camera above the front gate and took the picture blindly.

I picked this photo because I liked the story that went with it.

I assumed that the unusual box-like structure was part of the chimney and said so when I posted the picture. Then, much later, I got an email from the man who used to live there who explained that he had built the structure to house a water tank. I duly updated the description.

One of the nice things about running the blog is that I get emails from people who have moved away from Ham or who had family who lived here and who are delighted to find photos of the place. Usually it is the common things that they like, things like shops they used to go to, rather than the grand buildings.

This anglo-dutch sign was in the quiz and I was not surprised that nobody recognised it. The sign is quite small and is around knee-height so is very easy to miss.

I enjoyed producing and giving the presentation and I was thrilled with the reception that it got. The meeting room at Ham Library was full and there were many comments and questions as I went through the 100 photos.

I've posted the presentation on slideshare and it has had a few reads already.

I could be tempted to do something like this again. I just need to take another 2,000 photos first!

A fascinating talk on The History of Ham Riverside Lands

Ham Amenities Group (HAG) organised some talks about the area by locals for locals which I found appealing, and so did many others.

The talk on The History of Ham Riverside Lands was given by Sir David Williams, former leader of Richmond Council and a long-time local councillor. It soon became apparent in the talk that he was involved in many of the effort to protect Ham Lands and so was well placed to talk about it.

He started with a brief history of the area that had had various names, including Ham Fields and Ham Pits, before becoming Ham Lands. This started a short discussion among the audience several of whom remembered when it was market gardens or gravel pits.

The exploitation and the protection of the area has been the subject of many laws and the first one that David mentioned was the 1902 act which protected the view from Richmond Park but at the loss of some of the people's rights over the land.

The extraction of gravel started soon after and was the main use of the land for the next fifty years or so.

The last gravel pit closed in 1962. What is left is now is the little lake used by Thames Young Mariners.

As the gravel pits were closed the concrete barges that were used there were abandoned and covered up. These solid lumps of concrete now have a noticeable impact on the way that water moves through the area.

A border was established with Riverside Drive and the Wates Estate was built to the east of this. Being built on recently reclaimed land the estate has continued to suffer from subsidence problems.

The drawing above is from the promotional literature for the Wates Estate and is looking up Croft Way toward the church. The garage was still there when I moved to Ham twenty years ago but has since closed. The clean lines of the estate and the unusual shape of the church and, thankfully, unchanged.

Wates wanted to build to the west of the road too and this was the scene of the last great battle over Ham Lands. They wanted to build in three sections, shown on the map. The locals agreed to building of social housing on the first plot of 5 acres but the Council changed their mind and went for private housing instead in what is now the Locksmeade estate.

In 1979 a strong local campaign started to stop any further building. They were helped by the presence of rare orchids and birds (stone chats) on Ham Lands and eventually the campaign was successful and that section of Ham Lands has been protected.

The land to the south-east of there has housing much closer to the river as the precedence for this had been set by the Sopwith Factory.

I am not by nature a historian but I do care about Ham and this was a fascinating and very informative talk on how Ham Lands came to be and came to be protected.

The next HAG talk on Friday 20 February is Hidden Ham by Ham Photos Blogger Matthew Rees!

Ham Fair 2014

Ham Fair is one of the big annual events locally and I always go to look at all the stalls from the local societies and to buy a few treats.

This year I also played a minor role for two of those local societies.

Ham Amenities Group (HAG) always runs a children's art show and competition. This year they extended it to include photographs which I was asked to judge because of my Ham Photos blog.

Two of the categories, pets and portraits, were easy to judge with a clear winner in each but the Ham Pond category was harder as most of the children, unsurprisingly, had chosen to take pictures of the swans and their cygnets. I discounted my favourite picture (of a dramatic swan) as it did not show much of the pond and chose one that did, as well as some birds climbing out of it.

Then later in the day I took my turn on the stall for Ham United Group (HUG). That's the stall on the far left. We were showcasing the range of projects that came under the broad HUG umbrella, some of which had grown sufficiently to warrant their own stalls within the Ham cluster.

The stall's gimmick was an apple press that we used to make fresh apple juice.which was very welcome on a hot day. HUG has planted some apple trees and the aim is to grow this in to a full community orchard and the apple press will get some serious use then.

Ham Fair is one of those events that confirms, if confirmation were needed, that Ham is a distinct community and it is because of that that I like living here so much.

Ham Amenities Group AGM 2013

Ham Amenities Group (HAG) is one of the local community groups that I belong to. My main contribution is paying my annual membership fee but I do also go to their AGM when I can. This was their 34th.

Ham Fair had been a great success helped by the good weather. This is HAG's main activity and provides most of the money that it donates to local charities. £4,600 had been paid out last year to around 20 charities.

The Chair said that several things were changing and that would meaning more work for HAG. In anticipation of this subscriptions will have to go up next year to pay for the additional materials etc. They were only £3 (I paid £10) so a raise was unlikely to put anybody off from joining.

One of the changes coming was the establishment of the Neighbourhood Forum. The Chair will represent HAG on the Forum.

HAG planed to use the new community room at Ham Library for events, but not just yet.

A Grand Raffle was planned for next Summer Party, and we were encouraged to start saving things for it now!

There was a need to boost membership and a flyer being produced. I made a note to get an electronic copy so that I could promote it on this blog and elsewhere.

The Membership Secretary planned to stand down after this meeting when the members present would be paying their subscriptions for the following year.

Lady Annabel Goldsmith had agreed to be the HAG Patron.

There were 10 trees coming to Ham Street, will include a Ham apple tree, to be paid for by Waitrose.

HAG was looking to expand the range of socials, i.e. do more than coffee mornings.

After the (not very) formal part of the meeting we had an interesting talk from Paul Jacobs on the Street Pastors in Kingston.

It was a long and interesting talk and these are the main points that I noted; he said a lot more than this.

Street Pastors had been in UK for ten years, started in Hackney with 15 people, in Kingston 7 years.

The idea was copied from Kingston, Jamaica.

They had to agree protocols with the Police re dealing with illegal items, eg. drugs or weapons. The Street Pastors have to comply with the law but it is better if they take drugs off somebody and pass them to the Police than leave them with the user.

Street Pastors require 54 hours of training over 5 months. They now have 11,000 trained staff, 64 in Kingston. They have spent 17,000 people hours on the streets so far, Their average age is 60. They are all Christians.

Pastors/Angels do reduce crime. The Police can escalate some situations that the neutral Pastors can dissipate. Kingston has a safe reputation, which helps bring more people in.

Nightclubs are ok, the problem is alcohol. The Kings Tun holds 1,000 people and the night clubs hold more than this. Kingston draws people from a long way, even Wales, c5,000 on a weekend night.

The food shops are open until 3:30am then the three 24h shops get very busy.

They clear up a lot of bottles, these are potential weapons. They give out lots of information re buses etc. They are well stocked with emergency repair kits like plasters, water, bus map, flip-flops and gel, etc. Flip-flops are useful (bare feet and broken glass) and can change the conversation too, as do lollipops.

They work in 3 x 2 hour shifts from 10pm. They are always a team of 4 including a first aider. It's very loud, which makes communication difficult.

They do emergency praying, eg. to ask for an ambulance when none are free.

My view of Street Pastors is that they do a good job and they do make a difference but this is because of their early intervention and neutral attitude and not because of anything spiritual.

Ham Amenities Group AGM 2012

The Ham Amenities Group (HAG) is one of the local community organisation that I am pleased to belong to. Their regular newsletters are very informative about local matters and while I not get to any of their other events (not yet anyway) I do attend their Annual General Meetings when I can.

This year's AGM followed the usual format with a round-up of the previous year followed by a guest speaker. There were some elections along the way but they went past quickly in a chorus of "aye"s.

Round-up of the year

Strong opposition from the meeting to the proposed MUGA (Multi_use Games Area) that I supported. This is a missed opportunity that has probably been lost forever. HAD did support the 25m pool in Grey Court. Some inconsistency there.

Membership about the same at 215 members. Dead people leaving.

Latchmere House. Councils cannot afford so will go private and that means housing.
Main building likely to be lost. Is Latchmere Lodge a worrying precedent?

Garden day next Friday.Jubilee Tree Planting 11:30 Ham Common near Pond on Saturday

Looking for people under 80 to join the Committee. I might just do this, because I am not on enough committees already. Next AGM Monday 21 October 2013 (in calendar already).

Guest speaker

The speaker was from SPEAR - homeless charity. SPEAR stood for Single Person Emergency Accommodation in Richmond but this is no longer true.

Richmond is a rich part of a rich country but we have people sleeping rough. Average life expectancy of homeless man is 47, same as DRC. Rough sleeping rose steeply in London last year, including more women. Waiting list for SPEAR hostel is 6 to 10 months.

Homelessness is often caused by family breakdown, unemployment, debt, all often related. There are 70,000 children in temporary accommodation on Christmas Day last year.

SPEAR are funded by LBRUT but funding cost 11% this year.Penny Wade House is the hostel, sleeps 14. This is not emergency housing, this is their home.Waiting list growing as hard to move people on, they need to be ready and have somewhere to go.

They support people for two years after leaving as this is when most become homeless again. The main focus is skills development, helping people to survive on their own. Life skills and formal skills.

Afterwards

I hung around for the wine, nibbles and chat. Somehow during that I offered to help with their website on the grounds that I do the same for three other organisations.

Ham Amenities Group and Cows

October brings the Ham Amenities Group (HAG) AGM and once again I went to hear the local talk given after the usual business matters, like the reports from the committee, were all put safely to bed.

This year was a real treat. We were given a first-hand account of the cows on Petersham Meadow from a volunteer cow warden.

But let's begin somewhere near the beginning.

The view from Richmond Hill south across the river has been revered, painted and photographed over the centuries and is now protected by law. For most of this time the water meadows at the bottom of the hill have been home to cows.

A few years ago it all fell to pieces until a local campaign, headed by Chris Brasher, successfully established a charitable trust to take control of the meadows. Then, a year ago, management of the site was handed to the National Trust.

The National Trust recruited several volunteers to work with them as wardens and one of them (I must find out her name) gave us a very informative and entertaining talk that far outshone most talks I've seen from people who talk for a living.

Her first lesson was, Never go in to a field of cows without a stick. She had brought hers with her and showed us how to wield it to make the cows move around you.

When the cows arrive in the meadow in spring this is their first experience of outdoors for the calves and they frolic around for a couple of hours exploring every corner of the field. They are always testing the (physical) boundaries and sometimes have to be prised out of hedges.

The north-west corner is there favourite spot, but you'll have to ask them why that is.

The cows act as a group, moving across the field, coming if for the evening and choosing a corner of the barn to settle in. They obviously communicate but it is not clear how.

They learn about the routine of the helpers and anticipate the arrival of apples and the opening up of parts of the field.

People also use the field and they are a bigger problem. They bring litter, noise, children, dogs and food, none of which are appropriate in a field of cows. People have no understanding of how cows behave or of the damage they can do.

There is a battle going on in Petersham Meadows between people and cows. I'm cheering for the cows.

Ham Amenities Group and Latchmere House

Ham Amenities Group (HAG) works to preserve the character of the area and I am proud to be a member.

They manage the local Ham Fair and other such activities well and so I have not felt the need to get actively involved and am content to do my little bit for the cause by paying my annual membership fee, a very modest £3 to which I add an equally modest £2.

In return for this I get an occasional newsletter that keeps me informed about some of the goings on in Ham, particularly any major planning applications.

I also get invited to their Annual General Meeting which took place this week.

The business part of the AGM passed quickly without controversy and we were soon on to the guest speaker and the reason that I went to the meeting.

A prison officer and a chaplain had come to tell us about the work at Latchmere House, which currently serves as a resettlement prison, one of only three in the country.

We were given an interesting insight in to how the prison works to reintegrate prisoners in to society. They go there at the end of their sentence and while they are locked up overnight during the day they go out to work in real jobs earning real wages.

We heard many positive stories about the prison which were only clouded by the impending Comprehensive Spending Review that was due to hit later that week. With the Prison Service's budget slashed by around 30% it is hard to believe that Latchmere House will keep its innovative remit.

The success of HAG suggests that there might be some hope for the Big Society but the average age of the people there (I was probably the youngest person) shows that there is still a lot to do to get everybody involved.

Ham Amenities Group AGM 2008

I think that working from home has helped but for the last year or so I have been a lot more active with various local societies that I have been a member of for several years. I have been going regularly to meetings of Kingston Area Travellers Association (KATA) and of the Kingston upon Thames Society (KSoc), and I have also been to a meeting of Kingston Peace Council/CND. This week I went to my first meeting of the Ham Amenities Group (HAG).

HAG is a local community group whose most visible activity is the maintenance of the small Gate House Garden on a corner of Ham Common but they also get involved in local planning matters and in local events, such as Ham Fair.

The main part of the AGM was as boring as you would expect at these events, e.g. election of people you do not know to positions on the committee, but I did find that report on planning very interesting.

I knew about most of the applications that were mentioned (including the Russian oligarch on Ham Common who bought a large plot of land next to his mansion just for a swimming pool) but it was interesting to hear some of the history behind some of the applications, particularly from people in the room who were directly involved in them.

Once the business was out of the way we had a long talk on the Thames Landscape Strategy. Sadly this was pretty much identical to the one I saw at a KSoc earlier in the year and it left me just as depressed as it did then. I hate to see the urbanisation of the small really wild areas that we have left passed of as improvements.

It was almost 10pm by the time the talk finished and while I was slightly tempted to stay and drink wine in a room full mostly of women somewhat older than myself I made the wiser choice and came home to watch a repeat of House Season 3 on Five US.