Councillor Tony Belton’s Battersea July 2022, Newsletter (# 157)
- After the excitements and pleasures of May’s election victory, it was a pleasure to have a peaceful, stay-at-home Platinum Jubilee But
I did get to the Falcon Festival. Before the pandemic struck in 2020, the Festival had been located in Este Road as well as Providence House. That had the advantage that it allowed for sports and other rural-style events, for example, a falconry, in nearby Banana Park, as well as including the Fire Station in the festival. But condensing it, this year, to the immediate Providence House area did concentrate the occasion. The picture is of the Battersea Labour Party stall.
- On Friday 3rd my street, like many others, had
a street party. What made ours special, however, were sisters Hannah and Alice (pictured here), violinist and cellist of quite exceptional talent, who provided us with a 30-minute concert of classical and classic musical melodies. Another great feature was the dog race – what a hilarious sight! Dachsunds and terriers, competing with poodles and retrievers – after the dogs got the hang of what they were doing, it was very funny with a surprisingly close finish!
- On 11th June, I went to look-in on the Doddington Estate Garden. I had been involved with the garden, when I was Vice-Chair of
the Doddington and Rollo Community Association (DRCA) way back in the nineties, but this was the first time I had been there for years. It really is a transformation from when the DRCA was a vast, vandalised, under-ground carpark and the site of the garden simply its wind-swept barren roof. The picture is of me with some of the Garden’s organising committee set, of course, in one part of the garden.
- The month of the Jubilee was an appropriate time for me to join two special social get-togethers. One was of veterans of my old football team. We played together in the late sixties and early seventies for Witan, a team of GLC (The Greater London Council – the largest local authority in the country) employees. The second was a dinner with several college friends from Magdalen College, Oxford – strong in spirit but sadly declining in numbers!
- On Sunday, 12th June, I was off to Derby to play in the Semi-final of the national chess county championship – perhaps not quite as impressive as it sounds because it was the U1650 competition, or championship for players graded Under 1650 in national ratings. I was playing for Surrey against Lancashire in a 16-board match. I was playing at 16 against a player rated more than 200 points ahead of me. (Although I play too infrequently to maintain a credible rating) After 2.5 hours, my opponent and I settled on a draw. I was rather proud of that result, even though on subsequent analysis I could see that I was in a 100% winning position – what a pity, except that I was in such dire time straits, with only a couple of minutes left on the clock, that it was probably better and safer to offer the draw! Surrey won and went on to win the final against Warwickshire on 2nd July, but unfortunately, I was only the reserve for the final.
- On Saturday, 18th June I went to the Dedication
of Battersea Chapel Church, on the Winstanley Estate. One Rev. Thomas Horrocks was issued a licence to preach in Battersea in 1672, and in 1797, a successor Joseph Hughes, applied to become the Minister of the new Baptist Church, or Battersea Chapel, shown here.
The Chapel was badly damaged during World War 2 and replaced by the rather utilitarian building that still stands, for a few more weeks, in Pennethorne Square. When the Council decided in 2012 to “regenerate” the Winstanley Estate, planning started on rebuilding the Chapel at its new site on Grant Road. This picture shows our M.P.. Marsha de Cordova, formally opening the very modern, quite austere new church. The chapel itself, once inside, is an impressive, very open, “democratic” space.
- The following day, I went to Clapham Common Bandstand to
listen to Junction Jazz. The band has a solid base of Battersea Labour Party members and regularly plays at BLP social functions. Unfortunately, the weather became “very British” on 16th June and the audience sat and shivered unless they had come in their anoraks. Well done to the band, who despite the cold played with gusto!
- I chaired my first Planning Applications Committee on 28th There was a large 650-page agenda but not many of the 14 applications were difficult, nor indeed will many of the applications result in major changes to the Borough. One, however, was for two very large hotels, next to the U,S. Embassy, but even that application was really only details relating to earlier decisions of the committee. There were four that were contentious to the immediate neighbours but of only local significance.
- I also had the Annual Meeting of the North-East Surrey Crematorium Board on 21st June and on 29th the Transport Committee. One item of major interest was an update on the maintenance work being done on Wandsworth Bridge. It turns out that the decay and rust affecting the structure were worse than at first thought and that, therefore, the current remedial works will continue for longer than planned, but hopefully will still be completed this calendar year.
- On 25th June Penny and I went to St. Luke’s Church to hear
a Wandsworth Symphony Orchestra concert, featuring works by Brahms and Beethoven. If you didn’t know Wandsworth has a symphony orchestra and you are interested in classical music, even on only an occasional basis, like me to be frank, then going to one of their concerts is easy and approachable – they are also pretty good. One of the cellists, pictured here, is my fellow councillor Claire Gilbert, who somehow manages to fit in rehearsals and concerts with being an active councillor and full-time mother – miracle woman.
- On 29th June, I visited the newly built Springfield Hospital,
which impressive as it is has two particularly outstanding features. The first is the grand nineteenth-century listed building at the heart of the old hospital, which will be converted into flats, and the second is the large, new public park, on Burntwood Lane, which replaces the old golf course, and is provided as part of the development. The park will be opened in the coming months and will be a fantastic addition to the Borough’s amenities. Oh, and by the way, there will also be 800 new homes in the development!
- Later that day I went to a reception, at the National Theatre, marking the end of tunnelling for the massive Tideway Tunnel. You may have noticed
the road width restrictions that have been in place in York Road for the last couple of years. They have been there to cater for one of the access points to the tunnel. The tunnel itself is designed to ease the pressure on London’s essentially nineteenth-century sewerage and flood relief systems. It is 25 Km long (16 miles) and 7.2 metres (25 feet) wide and, astonishingly for a major civil engineering job during Covid, it is both on time and on budget! The guests included half a dozen direct descendants of Joseph Bazalgette himself (1819-1891), the pioneering civil engineer, who created most of London’s sewerage system. Oh, and the top of the National provides a great view of St. Paul’s and the City!
My programme for July
- The Wandsworth Conservation Area Advisory Committee is on July 2nd.
- I have the Finance Committee on 7th
- On the 15th July, there is the funeral service for my old friend and colleague, Councillor Andy Gibbons.
- On the 20th July, there will be the first business Council Meeting since May’s Borough election. This should be interesting as the new Labour-controlled Council reveals its new policies and we discover how the Tory councillors intend to oppose – constructively or destructively, belligerently or patiently?
- Off to Northumberland, lovely Alnwick to be precise, for the marriage of mutual friends over 23-24 weekend.
- The Planning Applications Committee is on July 26th.
Did you Know?
Last month, I asked, “What do you know about the long-gone Battersea Funfair? When was it opened and why? Where was it? And when and why did it close? 
How many visitors did it have?
Either no one knew or no one was interested. But for the record, it was opened for the Festival of Britain, 1951, as part of a nation-wide celebration of the end of war-time austerity. It closed in 1972 following the disastrous accident on the big dipper that resulted in the loss of five lives. In one year in the 1950’s it had some 2.5 million visitors. Just imagine what an impact that had on the park!
And this month?
Most of us know about St. John Bosco school, relatively newly opened in Surrey Lane. But who was St. John Bosco? Did he come from Battersea and if not, why does the school bear his name?
Tony Belton
Tony Belton 