Jimmy Burns - Editor Mike Bates - Production - Battersea Park

Friends of Battersea Park
R E V I E W
Issue 74
Summer 2007
£1.00 Free to members

THE REVIEW
Jimmy Burns - Editor
Mike Bates - Production
The Friends of Battersea Park
Registered Charity Number 802905
From the Editor:
Next year the Friends of Battersea Park will be celebrating their 20th anniversary.
It will be a good point at which to celebrate our achievements,
and build on them for the future.
I was among a handful of Battersea residents that back in 1988 came
together with the collective aim of doing what we could to protect and enhance
the Park as an oasis of tranquillity, natural beauty and recreation.
Over the years many things may have changed in London, but the Friends
as an organisation has remained true to its founding aims of providing a
“responsible group of people whom Wandsworth Council can consult as
representatives of Park users”.
It has not been, as it surely was never intended to be, a compliant talking
shop. It has offered constructive criticism where necessary. It has galvanised
interest in the Park on both sides of the river, and beyond these
shores. It has raised funds in order to make positive contributions to the
Park’s amenities.
It is almost twenty years since I planned and edited the first of a series
of issues of this Review as a quarterly magazine of news and comment on
the Park, a forum for members’ ideas and opinions. It is hugely exciting to
be back as editor when the membership of Friends is growing daily, in a
context of growing awareness around the world of the importance of ecological
and environmental protection and care.
If our planet is to be saved, we all have to do our bit, and action begins
on our own doorstep, nurturing the unique and generous green space in our
midst. Valerie Selby’s nature notes brings into sharp focus how fragile is
the wildlife that we all too often take for granted; Sophie Campbells’ column
identifies with feeling and insight just what it is that draws her deep
into the Park’s soul.
The best things in life may indeed be free, and the article we reproduce
by the late and hugely respected author and journalist Tom Pocock is a reminder
of how the Park over the decades has fuelled simple pleasures in all
ages and all classes. Tony Tuck takes us down an enlightening avenue of
the Park’s rich and varied history, and there are surely lessons to be learnt
from the lido that could have been but wasn’t. There is also food, exercise,
art, and humour in these pages-the kind of mix you find in the Park on a
good day.
Cover image: Enjoying the Park, by Julia Burns
2
SUMMER 2007
Events
Music at the Cafe
La Gondola al Parco cafe
13th July 7pm-9:30pm
10th August 7pm-9:30pm
24th August 7pm-9:30pm
Music in the Park
at the Bandstand
Various bands, with bar and refreshments
20th July from 6:30pm
21st/22nd from noon
Affordable Art Fair
Battersea Evolution
18th-20th October
Decorative Antiques Fair
Battersea Evolution
2nd-7th October
(see back page for details)
3rd London Tree-athlon
15th September
see www.tree-athlon.org
Contacts
General Enquiries
The Hon. Secretary
Friends of Battersea Park
7 Park Mansions
London, SW11 4HG
Letters/Contributions, see page 9
email: review@batterseapark.org
web: www.batterseapark.org
Park Office Parks Police
020 8871 7530 020 8871 7532

THE POWER STATION
Have we been here before?
Real Estate Opportunities
(REO), the new owners of the Battersea
Power Station have publicly committed
themselves to either repairing the iconic
chimneys or to provide replacement ones
before deciding what else to do with a
site that changed hands-again- last December
in a deal worth £400m.
English Heritage, which lists the condition
of the power station on their at risk
register as “very bad”, say they have received
assurances from REO about the
need for essential repair works.
The commitment was confirmed by Sarah
Banham, REO’s Development manager
during a meeting on June 12 with
Battersea residents and local community
representatives which otherwise left
most of those attending no wiser about
where the project is going in the future.
Ms Banham told those gathered that
Rafael Vinoly, the architects chosen to
map out the latest ‘masterplan’ for the
site, were hoping to draw on the advice
of an evolving team of consultants.
Some of these advisers had also worked
as consultants to the previous owners the
Hong Kong developer Parkview. However
Vinoly, the architect behind the
controversial “walkie talkie” tower is
working to a brief that includes designing
a completely new ‘masterplan’ for
the site that better responds to “today’s
market conditions.”
Below: Having fun during May Day!
PARKWATCH
So what does that mean? “Shops, offices,
housing, and leisure of some sort,”
said Ms Banham, before adding “but we
are at a very early stage.” She could have
added, as several of the attendees did,
“and we have been there before.”
No matter that the previous master plan
for the site took three years to create and
was followed by a decade of inaction.
We were assured by Ms Banham that
a new planning application would be
ready to submit to Wandsworth
Council “probably” by
June next year.
“This is an incredibly political
and sensitive site,” said
Ms Banham.
She told the meeting that
REO was developing a constructive
relationship with
English Heritage and planned
to take in the views of other
boroughs across the capital.
While REO insists that it
wants to make of the Power
Station a “truly London site”,
their strategy looks likely to
confuse still further what has
already turned into a fragmented
process of consultation
over the site, possibly sidelining
3
Mayday
even further local views.
For the record, the Jerseydomiciled
REO is controlled by
Treasury Holdings, owned by
two Irish property developers Johnny
Ronan and Richard Barrett. During the
1990’s the two’s then company Legacy
bid unsuccessfully for the Millenium
Dome after the government declared
their claims to be “undeliverable”.
Property analysts suggest that the deal
under which the site was secured by
REO offers the prospect of healthy profits
for Ronan and Barrett, regardless of
whether the site is developed or left derelict,
as it has been for so many years.
Above: An enduring view of the
Power Station?
THE rain dried up and the sun decided
to shine in Battersea Park, London for the
Art of Protest May Day Festival at Pump
House Gallery. Folk artists danced and
played May Day jigs while young and
old made costumes and danced round
the Maypole, or if they were feeling political,
made banners protesting about
things they felt strongly about or ranted
at the speakers corner. The day finished
with a huge procession around the park
led by a Jack-in-the-green decorated
with leaves and flowers, with lots of
dancing, singing and, of course, protesting
(even if it was for more cakes and
less school).

BBQ at the Zoo
Committee member Vicki Barker
writes:
THE Heap family could make a fortune
renting out Battersea Park Zoo as a
venue for weddings or corporate events.
But, for the second year running, they
have thrown it open to the Friends for
free, to help us realize our dream of creating
London’s first Winter Garden here
in the park.
Good news like this travels fast – this
year, the event was sold out well in advance,
and disappointed punters had to
be turned away at the front gate. The
two hundred lucky ticket-holders whiled
away the warm evening strolling among
the animal enclosures, to the sound of
the Latin band, Los Soneros, and occasional
wolf whistles from the Mynah
bird aviary.
For charm of venue, delight in entertainment,
range and tastiness of food and
for all-round sheer enjoyment, tickets
for the Barbecue at the Zoo have to represent
the best value in London.
Greg Lawson, manager of the ‘Evolution,
was there, rolling up his sleeves
and helping cook and serve the food
he’d donated. Various Committee members
manned the bar, the front gate and
PARKWATCH
the tombola table. (See box for more detailed
thanks.)
Of all the items donated for the occasion,
the highlight had to be a pair of
lethally high, lusciously yellow, stupendous
regency-style Vivienne Westwood
shoes – donated by the great lady, her-
Above: Adrian Koppens, Marie Louise Lomba and Friends committee
member Mary Spillane
self, after a chance meeting with Committee
Member Ruth Forrest a few days
earlier. Miss Westwood adores Battersea
Park – and when Ruth asked her if she
might have something for the silent auction,
she seems to have dug into her own
wardrobe. She also donated a signed
book.
The evening’s activities were
monitored by the meerkats, whose
initial agitation turned to curiosity
at all these humans wandering
around their home at what would
normally be, one surmises, their
bedtime. They stood on tip-toes
in little clusters, eyeing the passing
human menagerie.
In fact, the Zoo’s Jason Palmer
was heard to say he thought many
of the birds and animals, a large
4
proportion of which come from
South America, particularly enjoyed
the music!
“I cannot thank the Heap family
enough,” says Ruth Forrest, the chief
organiser. “And all of the Zoo staff, led
by Jason Palmer, were extremely helpful...
they couldn’t have been more
cheerful and kind.”
The final tally is still being prepared,
but it’s believed this year’s event raised
in excess of £3,500 for the Winter Garden
– well above last year’s total.
Below: Greg Lawson (in tie)
Oh!, and your correspondent was the
successful bidder for The Shoes. They fit
beautifully: walking in them is another
matter. La Westwood and her clientele
manage to sashay across the landscape at
those Olympian heights without a stumble.
Head held high, ankles wobbling, I
teetered precariously on my tip-toes. I
kept wondering what this reminded me
of, and then it hit me:
I looked like one of the meerkats.
Above: Vivienne Westwoods’ Shoes

PARKWATCH
A charming mid summer rehearsal
in the Park of Puccini’s
La Bohème by the Garden Opera
Company enchanted a small crowd of
park users of all ages. On a tiny stage
and with no amplification, this travelling
troupe of singers, struck the perfect
balance, providing free, quality entertainment
with minimum environmental
disruption. Peter Bridges, the GOC’s director
says his vision of an opera company
was inspired by the Spanish poet and
dramatist Federico Garcia Lorca who put
so much energy into his own travelling
theatre group La Barraca before he was
tragically murdered by Franco’s troops
during the Spanish Civil War.
Opera delight
“Although we perform mostly in gardens,
my aim is to create productions
that are adaptable enough to fit into a
wide area of social and physical environments,”
says Bridges. He and his
company, which have offices in Battersea,
should become Friends of Battersea
Park.
The Friends of Battersea Park would like to thank all those
who supported the BBQ and especially the following for their
kindness and generosity to the event:
For Wines, Beers and juices
Fullers, Chiswick Brewery; Goedhuis & Co.
Waitrose, Wandsworth Southside branch
For Flowers
Detta Phillips
For Desserts
Capitan Corelli; Deliverance; Popina,
Ransome’s Dock Restaurant
For Draw and Tombola prizes
Percol Food Brands; La Gondola al Parco;
San Genaro Pizzeria; Carluccio’s PLC;
Santa Maria del Sur, Argentine Bar and Grill;
Tigi Bed Head;
The Butcher and Grill, Parkgate Road
And, ...
Greg Lawson, Quantum Leap Events
The Heap family, for use of the Zoo
Victor Garcia and Friends,
Vivienne Westwood
Battersea Park Newsagents
Wandsworth Events Team
5
Below: The Garden Opera
Company rehearsing.
BUSES RAMPAGE
RHS Chelsea Flower Show (22-26
May) and its sponsors, Marshalls plc,
were promoting environmental responsibility
and awareness this year. However,
the excellent courtesy shuttle bus
service, which runs across the river
from Battersea Park, contradicted this
message due to a few inconsiderate bus
and coach drivers. Although in a minority,
some left their engines running
while stationary in the Park discharging
unpleasant noxious fumes at people
walking past. Also, considerable efforts
had been made by Jerry Birtles, Park
Manager, to ensure adequate headroom
for double decker buses under the trees
along the carriage ways. Despite this an
act of arbicultural vandalism was perpetrated
by the driver of the bus.
By wedging his bus every day under
the small chestnut tree at the South Gate,
he broke off years of growth on one side
of this lovely tree in just a few seconds.
The thoughtless actions of a handful of
drivers this year did much to negate the
image of an environmentally friendly
flower show as far as the Park was concerned.

Cross Rail Link
A tunnel under the Park, ventilation
shafts, tunnelling work
sites near the Peace Pagoda….
Park Manager Jerry Birtles takes a
closer look at the latest potential planning
nightmare looming over the not so
distant horizon…
THE “Cross Rail link” is the proposed
Chelsea-Hackney line which would be
an underground railway linking the Epping
branch of the Central Line to the
Wimbledon branch of the District line.
It is a long term plan unlikely to be completed
before 2025 . Put it another way,
and it is a plan that, unless strongly opposed
from an early stage, could be well
advanced before enough people have
woken up to it.
Obviously, such large scale projects
take a considerable time to complete and
so the Secretary of State for Transportation
can issue Directions under planning
legislation to protect the route against
conflicting development. This is called
“safeguarding”. In the case of the Cross
Rail link there is a safeguarding Direction,
first issued in 1991, that requires
planning authorities consult Transport
for London (TfL) when considering
planning applications which may affect
the route.
There have been numerous changes in
London’s rail network since the Direction
was first issued, some development
has affected the route, and indeed there
have been changes to the proposed route
itself. The original safeguarding Direction
is now 15 years old, out of date, and
TfL now wish to update it.
So how does this affect Battersea Park?
Although the main route heads west
via Victoria and Parsons Green, there
is a proposal to build a branch tunnel
under the park in which trains can be
reversed and stabled. Consequently
there is a proposal to safeguard a strip
of land in the park, 50m wide, running
approximately under Chelsea car
park, the lake and ending at Prince of
Wales Drive by Alexandra Gate. In
itself, the tunnel alone is unlikely to
affect the park but what would be of
concern is that there is likely to be a
need for a ventilation shaft to be built
somewhere in this strip.
PARKWATCH
Even more worrying though is a
proposal to safeguard a further part
of the park extending between North
Carriage Drive and the river and from
Chelsea car park towards the Peace
Pagoda so that the park could be used
as a tunnelling work site for up to 8
years – so that spoil from the tunnel
could be removed by river.
In itself, the safeguarding only adds
extra layers of administration and consultation
to any planning applications
for development in the park – and such
large scale development is in any case
rather unlikely. However the worrying
aspect is what these areas of the park are
possibly being “saved” for.
The Council has been consulted by TfL
on the revisions to the safeguarding
Direction and is very much opposed
to any “above ground” use of the
park for the project. It has strenuously
objected to safeguarding any area
of the park for the purposes stated.
However, subject to certain assurances,
the Council is not opposed to
the tunnel itself. In due course, TfL
will submit their safeguarding proposals
to the Secretary of State who
then may, or may not, confirm them.
Even if the revised safeguarding
Direction is imposed, the actual proposals
are a long way from coming to fruition
– and perhaps may never do so. Although
the park is not under immediate
threat, the current revision of the safeguarding
Direction does give a worrying
insight into some of the things the planners
of the Cross Rail project are considering.
It is never too early to mobilise
opinion before things get too advanced.
The Friends of Battersea Park should nip
this project in its bud.
For more details, you can check the
Cross Rail report (Paper No.07-523) in
the Council and Government/Committee
Reports pages of Wandsorth Council’s
website (www.wandsworth.gov.uk)
6
1988-2008:
20 Years in existance and
growing
THE REVIEW is the Friends
of Battersea Park’s flagship quarterly
magazine. It is written and edited by volunteers
linked by a common respect and
love for Battersea Park. The Editor’s aim
is to strive for a quality, informative read
with a sense of humour, history, and a
soul. It is a co-operative effort. Have you
an article, a letter, or piece of news you
would like to contribute? Have you an
interesting photograph? Can you draw a
decent cartoon? Can you help with distribution?
Do you want to advertise? We
are already preparing the next issue, so
get in touch now :
By email: review@batterseapark.org
By post:
The Editor,
Friends of Battersea Park Review,
51 Brynmaer Road,
London SW114EN
Above: Contemporary Hide,
see below.
Hides or Hidden
ARCHITECTURE WEEK from the
15th-24 June was on the theme ‘How
Green is our Space’, focusing on the critical
issue of sustainability and the environment.
It was marked in the Park with
some temporary Bird Hides around the
Lakeside designed and built by by six
architects and a team of students. Made
from sustainable materials in order to
highlight the need to preserve nature and
the environment, not all the Hides beautified
the Park. One was mistaken for a
men’s toilet. Another for a portakabin.
But on a weekend marking Father’s Day,
Dads could be seen with children on tow,
taking a closer look at the park’s wildlife,
courtesy of RIBA and the RSPB.

Unholy action
LARGE chunks of grass have
been mysteriously hacked out
and replaced with pieces of
wood in the sign of a swastika at the
foot of the Park’s millennium Cross. A
similar but older piece of sculpture, the
newly restored war memorial in Putney
Vale, has been covered in graffiti. At the
Peace Pagoda, the resident monk has
been periodically taunted by anonymous
thugs. That the three acts of apparent
vandalism occurred within days of each
other may be coincidental but they suggest
anti-social behaviour of a disturbing
anti-spiritual kind.
Hopefully the police-Parks and Met
will combine their operations and identify
the culprits as successfully as they
managed to deal with the Gondola Café
tormentor. In April an undercover sting
operation by police led to the conviction
of a 19-year-old man for breaking into
the café three times.
The man, Jack McQueen of Greyshott
Road, Battersea, was sentenced to 12
months probation plus a six-month curfew
preventing him from leaving his
home between 10pm and 6am. He was
PARKWATCH
also served with an anti-social behaviour
order banning him from entering Battersea
Park for the next two years.
Queenstown Safer Neighbourhood
Team’s energetic police
seargent David Cook told the
Review that McQueen’s arrest
was a cooperative effort between
police inside and outside the
Park.
The next issue of the Review
will highlight some of the hugely
constructive work Cook and local
community leaders are doing
to stop local youth from getting
into a never ending spiral of reoffending.
A scheme running
through the summer includes
football in the Park –sponsored
by Chelsea Football Cluband
other youth activities and
projects. For further information
contact Henrietta Crooker Pool,
organiser of the Battersea Summer
School on 020 70785865
7
On the subject of La Gondola
café, the Review extends a warm
welcome to the new owners and
we wish them all the best in their
aim of improving the quality of the site
and what it offers.
Below: The Cross, vandalised

Running for Life
the Ups and Downs
OVER 5,000 women of all
shapes, sizes, ages, and backround
converged on the Park on May 3
to raise more than £850,000 for Cancer
Research UK’s Race for Life. While
such events now take place around the
UK, it is in the Park that the first ‘race’
was held back in 1994, when some
600 women came together and raised
£36,000 in sponsorship.
Less than four weeks later, the men and
the boys joined in for another fun fundraising
physical, for the palliative and
neurological care provider, Sue Ryder
Care. The weather, on this very British
bank holiday weekend, was awful but
the runners-some 800 odd-ran the Beat
the Baton dressed in bright yellow ponchos
and with generous spirits. Billed as
the UK’s first 5km race set to live music
from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,
the event was judged a success by the
organisers, and was certainly enjoyed by
those taking part.
“We witnessed true Dunkirk spirit,”
enthused Anthony Inglis, Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra conductor, “There
was fabulous atmosphere on stage and
the runners certainly seemed to enjoy
themselves.” It was, he told us, the most
unusual even he had ever done –and one
of the most worthwhile.
But when does a fun run become an
open air concert? asks Friends of Bat-
PARKWATCH
tersea Park chairman Philip Wright. The
runners ran their race against the aural
backdrop of a medley of popular classical
hits which were amplified around the
park. A large sound stage, TV pantechnicon
and screen, three generators and
four mobile catering outlets were driven
on to and parked on the grassed area adjacent
to West Carriage Drive. A metal
fencing enclosure and a lunch marquee
were erected.
Due to the downpour that weekend and
sheer weight of the vehicles the grass
was compacted with deep muddy tracks
across it. In 2005 an assurance was given
in Wandsworth Council’s Battersea Park
Events Strategy paper that “Most events
are confined to the British Genius Site. A
few sporting events, fun runs and charity
bike rides are centred on the genius site
but participants then leave the Park or
run round the carriage drives.”
We hope that the justifiable desire to
raise funds for worthy causes in future
does not permit the sort of large scale
open air concerts on the grass that have
done so much damage to the green space
in Hyde Park.
New York City has banned all commercial
events from Central Park. A member
of the Friends of Central Park is quoted
as saying: “We love our Park it’s a glo-
8
bal tourist attraction and a much
needed refuge for New Yorkers.
It was not worth it for the few
bucks the city was making.”
Wandsworth Council please take note.
Above: All is not so peaceful for
the Monk, see page 7.
Below: Getting the winning
ticket at the BBQ draw

FT in the Park
PARKWATCH
Foreign correspondents past
and present from the Financial
Times gathered near the Park’s
War memorial for the newspaper’s annual
picnic on June 17. The FT’s motto
is “without fear and without favour” so it
was in that spirit that colleagues braved
appalling weather conditions, dressed
down, and shared a huge bowl of pims,
sandwiches, and gazpacho (see recipe
on page 18) prepared by the Review’s
new editor, the FT’s long-serving Jimmy
Burns (sitting while grappling with a
friend’s dog). The next day your editor
was out with the crowds along Horseguards
Parade celebrating the 25th anniversary
of the Falklands. Watching the
march-past by Falklands vets, Jimmy
remembered the war, as the FT’s man in
Buenos Aires in 1982-an experience that
produced his award-winning The Land
that Lost its Heroes (recently updated
and reprinted by Bloomsbury). After
Argentina, Jimmy came back to live in
his beloved Battersea,to carry on as an
author, journalist, and co-founder of the Above: FT foreign correspondents, past and present, gather in Park
Friends of Battersea Park.
Servicing Battersea’s printing and
stationery requirements
for over 50 years.
Printing
Digital colour copying
Binding
Stationery
341 Battersea Park Road
London SW11 4LS
Telephone 020 7622 4522
Fax 020 7498 0173
email sales@embassypress.co.uk
web www.embassypress.co.uk
9
Above: Buses and branches and boughs,
see page 5.
Did you know?
According to the Association of Football Statisticians, the
first game played under the “Football Association” rules
was on the 9th January 1864 in Battersea Park.

The Friends welcome letters
and other contributions to the
Review:
The Editor
Friends Review
51 Brynmaer Road,
London, SW11 4EN
or email review@batterseapark.org
Friends on the Web
To the Editor:
It is the on-line social-networking site
of popular choice, with tens of thousands
of Londoners joining it every day. I
thought your readers would like to know
Facebook is also home to a group of 205
Batterseans who have been using the site
to share information about restaurants,
hangouts and other attractions on a special
Battersea page. I am one of them.
I hope you will be encouraged by the
comment recently posted by a schoolteacher
and fellow Park enthusiast:
“An absolutely wonderful place. It
holds many memories from events of the
years, from memories of the now long
gone remains of the Festival of Britain
fairground, to the wonderful Easter Parades,
to the building of the Peace Pagoda
and the refurbishment which was
completed in 2004.
Having just taken a group of my pupils
to visit the park on an educational trip
I’ve found out some more of the history
and the many things that are in the park.
It would be great to see the Tree Walk
return. When I explained to my pupils
where it was they asked why had it been
taken down and I didn’t have an answer
for them. I also found out that Petula
Clark released a song called ‘Meet Me in
Battersea Park’ in 1954 in my research.”
Yours,
Jon Boone, SW11
The Editor replies: I was a one year old
when Petula first sang that song but it
has one of my favourite lyrics. “If you’re
a Londoner just like me, meet me in Battersea
Park, If you are young or you’d
like to be, meet me in Battersea Park,
We’ll stroll along by the riverside in sunshine
or after its dark. There’s music and
dancing, place for romancing, so meet
me in Battersea Park….”
LETTERS
Rediscovery
I found your name on the website for
Battersea Park. I wanted to pass on some
feedback and wondered if you could get
this to the right people as I’m sure many
are involved. including. If you could
pass it on to the senior folk in the council
too please.
Last Wednesday I was due at a buisness
meeting adjacent to Battersea Park.
Arriving early I thought I would take
a stroll in the park. To give you some
background, I moved from the Clapham
Junction area at the tender age of
three. I have two lasting memories of the
park. The first of being locked in with
my mother while still in a pushchair -
obvioulsy a story I’ve been told many
times but don’t actually know.
The second, and my last visit to the park
as a young teen, was riding the wooden
rollercoaster the year before it closed.
So as you can imagine, some years have
passed since I last visited.
On entering the park I wasn’t quite sure
what to expect. Too many places in the
city have become run down and strewn
with litter. What I found was simply a
glorious discovery. Beautiful avenues
lined with London Plane trees, fountains,
birdsong, the garden in the park... its was
simply stunning. To have such a superb
open space is outstanding; to have the
space in the middle of London is amazing
and exceptional. On returning home
I simply had to phone my mother who
had known the park so well for many of
10
her younger years and tell her
about it.
Please would you pass on my
sincere appreciation to all who
work in the park and have done such a
wonderful job. They should be rightly
proud of their achievements. And long
may they continue to look after this special
treasure.
Looking forward to a return visit.
Yours,
Chris Gummer (by email)
Below: How far back are your
memories of the Park?
Friends of Battersea Park
Committee
Philip Wright OBE
(Chairman)
Vicki Barker
Mike Bates
Claire Beasley
(Appeals Comtee)
Brian Botting
FRICS FCI Arb (rtd)
Jimmy Burns
Mark Cowne
Virginia Darbyshire
(Treasurer)
Chris Davies
Claire Elliot
Ruth Forrest
Elizabeth Hood
(Secretary)
John Johnson
Tom Maxwell
Philip Nixon
Christopher Rice
Mary Spillane

In the continuing series of Nature columns,
the Park’s Ecology Officer, Valerie
Selby, looks on, under and over the Lake
of Battersea Park.
Attila’s Diet
Four geese have just flown overhead en
route to the lake here in the park. This
year has seen a family of Greylag geese
raise young on the lake. These geese differ
from Canada geese in that they are
grey all over and have an orange beak
and legs whereas the Canada geese have
black legs, a black beak and a distinctive
black and white head.
Most domestic geese are descended
from Greylag geese and they are quite a
bold species, not afraid to walk towards
people and confront them demanding
food. Once again, I would urge you not
to succumb to this “mugging”. Bread is
NOT good for the birds digestive systems
making their organs become engorged
and fatty, which can cause them
to suffer from heart disease, liver problems
and other health complications.
Valerie Selby
Secret Dwellers
Below: It’s not a good idea to feed the Swans.
NATURE NOTES
In a natural setting they will seek out
a variety of nutritious foods such as
aquatic plants, natural grains, and invertebrates.
Bread is very low in protein,
contains additives that wildfowl aren’t
built to cope with, and it’s a very poor
substitute for natural foods.
This dietary rule applies to all the birds
on our lakes including “Attila”, the extremely
territorial male swan, and his
family. For the long-term survival of
the cygnets it is important that they learn
to identify and eat natural foods, as this
will give them a greater chance of finding
a safe and secure home.
Swans are by nature territorial and
therefore need to find a patch of water
that can support two adults and any
youngsters with enough food and shelter.
If the swans are unable to learn to
locate natural foods as cygnets, the locations
available for them to establish their
own territory are limited later on in life.
Elsewhere in the park, we have installed
some more areas of aquatic planting
in the lake. These include plants to
help pump oxygen into the water and
water lilies to help provide shade to limit
the growth of algae. In wildlife terms
not only is this the natural version of the
aerators you see bubbling at the waters
surface, it also provides an important
11
home for may invertebrates who
live and breed amongst these
submerged forests. Among
these secret park dwellers we
have damselfly nymphs that will
turn into damselflies later in the
year and a variety of water snails that
help to devour the detritus in the lake
such as fallen leaves. In the long term
these plantings should have the added
benefit of providing an attractive display
of flowers on the waters surface.
Crow Patrol
This is a very bird themed time of year.
One of the other common questions we
are getting at the moment concerns crows
“attacking” people who are going about
their usual business in parks and commons.
This is a short lived phenomenon
and, in much the way that we see Attila
being aggressive on the lake to protect
his young, the crows are protecting their
fledglings as they leave the nest. The
youngsters move out from the nest but
stay close by and are not fully independent
for 3-5 weeks. During this time the
adults will do all they can to protect them
including flying at people and sometimes
even launching at them with their feet.
The simplest thing to do is to avoid the
area – the one case we were aware of in
Battersea Park happened close to the Albert
Bridge pedestrian gate and we were
able to put notices up advising people to
avoid the area in the short term.
If you have wildlife information to
report or a query that needs answering,
Valerie Selby can be reached
Monday-Thursday,
8:30 am-5.00 pm on 8871-7019 or at
Vselby@wandsworth.gov.uk
How about Attila the swan for lunch?
(cartoon by Philip Wright OBE)

The journalist and historian
Tom Pocock died on May 7th
2007, aged 81. Tom started
work as the youngest war correspondent
of the Second World
War before his career blossomed
as a naval and foreign correspondent,
joining the Daily Mail, then moving to
the Times, and later the Daily Express,
before settling at the Evening Standard
where he spent many years as defence
correspondent and for a decade as
travel editor. His literary output included
books on Nelson and his naval contemporaries,
and more modern figures
such as the Victorian writer of adventure
novels Rider Haggard. Tom lived much
of his life near Battersea Park, on the
north bank of the River. He edited the
Chelsea Magazine, and together with his
wife Penny was hugely supportive to the
Friends of Battersea Park from its foundation
in 1988. As a tribute, we reprint
below an edited version of an article he
contributed to one of the first issues of
this Review nearly twenty years ago.
It looks so lush and drowsy on those
summer days, that it is difficult to realise
that the tranquillity of Battersea Park
cannot be taken for granted. Always, it
seems, somebody seems to know better
than those who planned it as a haven of
open air rest and recreation for Londoners,
or somebody wants to make money
out of it.
Sometimes it almost seems as if the
real owners of the Park - the people for
whom it was designed and built - have
been forgotten for the moment. It was
built for Londoners and to remember
just how deeply it is rooted in the past
life of London, it is worth looking back
IN MEMORIAM
Tom Pocock
a little. Of course, there is nobody now
who remembers the opening of the Park
by the Victorians and probably nobody
who remembers the craze for bicycling
around it in the 1890s. But some of us
can remember a very different Park
when, at a time of sharp social stratification,
it was crowded with Londoners of
every kind.
I was born in a flat overlooking the Park
in 1925 and my earliest memories are.
of being pushed around it in my pram.
In those days, middle class families of
modest means could afford a nanny for
the children, a living-in maid and probably
a daily help as well. On summer
mornings, the nannies sat on the benches
along the south side of the lake, chatting
amongst themselves and occasionally
wheeling their charges around the
pleasures of the Park. These included
the Old English Garden, which we still
have, and the Sub-tropical Garden. Near
the former was the Pheasantry, full of
bright-plumed birds, and, beside what
was called the Ladies’Lake, sleepy owls
perched in a cavern - the artificial rocks
are still to be seen - of another aviary.
As the children grew older, there was
boating on the lake in wooden skiffs -
both pairs and sculling boats, some of
them built by the Greaves boatyard at
Chelsea - and cruises in motor-boats for
a penny, one of them a remarkable craft
with its prow carved like a swan.
There were chats with the park keepers
12
- there seemed to be, and probably
were, dozens of keepers in
brown trilby hats and old men
who sat in the Park all day and
fed the birds. I can see across
more than half a century the
twinkling eyes and waxed moustaches
of Keeper Knight (late of the Guards)
and the curly beard of Mr.Lawrence, the
retired carpet-layer, who fed the pigeons
by the bandstand.
Of course, the Park was not only for the
middle classes. Sometimes in summer an
open horse-drawn carriage would sweep
around the outer drive and my nanny
would say, “Take your cap off, Tommy.
It’s the little Princesses.” And Princess
Elizabeth and the infant Princess Margaret
Rose would whirl past with their
nannies, taking the air.
Battersea Park offered almost the only
recreation available to those Battersea
families living in the cramped streets
of “the slums” to the south of Battersea
Park Road. They were brave, resilient,
friendly people and I remember my parents
being appalled by the conditions in
which they had to live and wondering
how they managed to survive and bring
up children.
On summer Sundays and Bank Holiday
they would crowd into the Park and
sit on the grass in their thousands, covering
the field: where the Festival Gardens
were later laid out. They could afford no
other entertainment but sat and talked
and played on the grass in the open air .
In this above all, Battersea Park justified
the faith of its founders.
It was a beautiful, immaculate park and
was said to be the favourite of Queen
Mary, who had an eye for gardens. Be-
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fore breakfast, my father would take me
for a walk and point out the characteristics
of the shape, bark and leaves of
different trees. In winter, there would
be walks before teatime when the sun
would be a great red ball setting in the
London murk above the lakeside elms to
an evening chorus from a massed choir
of starlings.
The war changed the Park as it changed
everything else but it still reflected the
life of London. It was taken over by airraid
shelters and allotment: for growing
vegetables. First barrage balloons were
tethered there and later rows of anti aircraft
rocket launchers were set up on the
running-track field and manned by the
Home Guard. A wooden bridge - reminiscent
of the first Battersea Bridge - was
built across the Thames at the bottom of
Royal Hospita Road in Chelsea as an
emergency crossing.
When those rockets were fired during
the “Little Blitz” of 1944, they may not
have frightened the Luftwaffe but, by
God, they frightened me. The bridge was
never used.
Peace descended on the Park at the end
of the war in more ways than one. The
guns went but the allotments remained
and, like the rest of London, it seemed
curiously empty. Occasionally, on a
winter’s night,I would make my way
through the fence by a secret route and
conduct my courting on a bench by the
moonlit lake.
Many of us remember the Festival of
Britain and the Pleasure Gardens in the
Park. In 1951, they seemed rather dashing
and I once found myself on a funfair
ride next to Noel Coward. But the smart
gloss soon tarnished and the end of that
cheerful interlude seemed to be marked
by the fatal accident of the fanciful Emmett
railway.
Since then, the Park has had its ups
and downs. There has been vandalism
and sacrosanct flower-beds and
lawns became playgrounds. Even the
once¬forbidden heights of the Cascades
were worn by scrambling feet. The Park
lost much of its magic.
With the disbanding of the Greater London
Council, which had run the Park for
the whole of London, it was taken over
by the Borough of Wandsworth. Many
13
early apprehensions proved groundless.
Indeed, many aspects have been improved
and it is now policed more effectively
than for many years. The Council
have been responsive to public opinion
and so would not countenance a plan to
build a gigantic theatre there.
But now with the creation of an immense
new “leisure complex” at the
defunct Battersea Power Station - “The
Battersea,” as it is to be called - there
are again fears that Wandsworth Council
may consider handing over parts of the
Park to private management. If this is so,
the reasoning is clear. The administration
and maintenance of the Park is expensive
and Wandsworth must foot the
bill for the pleasure it gives to Londoners
and their visitors.
Surely the solution is simple. Battersea
Park is, and always has been, for the
benefit of all London and so all London
should share the responsibility for its
upkeep. With the other parks once run
by the GLC, it should be subsidised by
all the London boroughs and not remain
a burden to just one. Then it will again
truly belong to London.
NINTH ANNUAL SCULPTURE AWARD
The winner of this year’s award is Maxine Schaffer from
the Royal College of Art Sculpture School for her work
“Buckhorn Plantain” in painted steel.
The sculpture will be unveiled and presentation of the award made at the
Millennium Arena, East Carriageway,
at 7pm on Monday 3 September.
Wine and snacks will be served from 6.30pm.
All Friends are welcome.
The award is the result of collaboration between
the Friends of Battersea Park,
the Royal College of Art Sculpture School
and Wandsworth Council.

Maximilian, ‘Max’ to his friends
,is a 27 year old criminal barrister,
Battersea resident, and
regular exerciser in the Park.
The Review’s editor, Jimmy
Burns, finds out more.
Above: Max, hanging around.
So tell me, Max, what got you into
this exercise thing?
A few years ago in a moment of madness
I joined the Territorial Army. It was
a passing malaise, I’m glad to say.
Really? Everyone I’ve ever known in
the TA-and there are one or two on
both sides of the River-loved it.
Well in my case, it happened like this.
During one of the regular bouts of
‘Phys’ that are my principal memory of
that sort-lived folly I was introduced to
the Bastard…
Please Max, this is a family mag…
No, no…. A Bastard is a fiendish exercise
that incorporates a press-up with a
squat thrust with a star jump. As a civilian
you can experience this for a small
fee by joining something called BMF
(British Military Fitness) which meets
at regular intervals in Battersea Park
during the week….
Sounds pretty tough to me…
It is. Except that for civilians the Bastard
is rechristened as ‘Oh No’.
So, you couldn’t hack it…
PARK PEOPLE
Maximilian Hardy
One of the reasons that precipitated
my departure from the TA, other than
a craven lack of moral fibre, was the
realization that one could get fit without
signing up for extended tours of the
Middle East’s worst war zones.
Any other reason?
I stopped attending BMF when I
realized that it was possible to get fit
without paying someone else for the
privilege.
I detect a thesis here…
Well, this is really the point. How many
of us have a monthly subscription to
belong to some fetid, germ-ridden,
soul destroying gym? Yet we have on
our doorstep one of the finest parks in
London with river views that at sunset
would set even the worst curmudgeon’s
spirits soaring.
I never thought of you as a contemplative….
I observe other activities that take place
in the park that are of benefit to the
mind, body, and soul.
For example…
Tai Chi enthusiasts can often be seen
reaping the rather mystifying benefits of
moving one’s body around very slowly
indeed. I have also watched yoga
classes taking place on the stone stage
to the side of the Buddha gazing beatifically
on the Thames from the Japanese
Peace Pagoda.
Come on Max, I’m sure those aren’t
the only scenes in the Park that you
observe now and again…
Well, I do reflect occasionally on the
numbers of sturdy and rather muscular
women indefinitely prolonging the
glory of their school hockey careers
or Premiership footballers manqué
deluding themselves that the astroturf
pitches are really Stamford Bridge. And
of course in the Summer there is the
cricket to be had, of varying degrees of
skill and application; often to the accompaniment
of a steel band!
I like that, Max, it shows you have
a sense of Battersea Park in all its
human diversity. But you still haven’t
14
told me what particular exercise
you’ve been converted
to…
For myself the exercise of
choice necessarily entails the
remorseless degradation of
cartilage in the joints and only running
will do the trick.
I’m a walker myself and my joints
are already degraded….
It’s not walking I compare it to. It’s the
gym. That any sentient human being
could swap a lap or two of the park on
a misty spring morning for the subterreanean
hell of the treadmill simply
offends against reason. Anybody with
even passing knowledge of the park will
have seen the circuit training course
by the athletics track which can give
for free as good a workout as the most
sophisticated machines in any gym. The
same friendly faces can be found there
every morning before breakfast and the
circuit boasts a facility no gym in the
world can rival.
I’m intrigued…
His name is Joe. He is a 78 year old
former army physical training instructor.
He does one hundred pull ups every
single day. And he does them properly
and I know because I have seen him.
Unfortunately Joe has also seen me
do pull ups. I can do ten and rarely
properly.
Below: Joe, pulling up!
A final word or two on what makes
the Park special for you…
Selling the virtues of exercising in Battersea
Park seems like selling sweets
to children to me. It’s free, it’s green,
it’s beautiful and you never know who
you might meet there. Just ask Lord
Browne.
Thanks, mate…

As a travel journalist, Sophie
Campbell has journeyed far and
wide across the globe, searching
for the idyll location. Here she
tells us what it is that draws her
back to her Battersea flat, and
out into the Park across the road…
ON South Carriage Drive, during
last summer’s heatwave, I came across
an elderly woman holding a lead. On
the other end was a Peke, three-quarters
submerged in a puddle, a coiffure
of centrally-parted honey-blonde hair
swirling lazily about him. The puddle,
in the molten heat of a globally-warmed
SW11, looked like a bonsai oasis. The
Peke looked like Jimmy Savile, or possibly
a new type of synthetic mop. ‘We
come here once a week,’ said the woman
crisply, ‘His favourite puddle. Keeps
him cool.’ They had been there for over
20 minutes.
The funny thing was they no longer
lived in Battersea. They came back for
the puddle. I like that sense of ownership
in the park; the conviction that one small
part of this most public of facilities belongs,
for a time, to you and you alone.
North of the Peke, five-a-side footballers
rampaged up and down the Astroturf
for their allotted hour, spraying sweat
in the heat. Beyond them, picnickers
colonised the fields between the cherry
avenues. Then came the cricketers – including
a pretty Indian girl in a crop-top,
tracky bottoms and a long plait – then
the dreamers in the library-quiet of the
English Garden, then the cyclists and in-
ON THE BENCH
Sophie Campbell
line skaters and kids on bikes, then the
runners and walkers, then the river.
We are bounded by the river, by luxury
flats and by daisy chains of expensive
cars, beyond which are the horrors of
London proper. Traffic. Murders. Chelsea.
No wonder we have fellow feeling.
We are so lucky not to be out there.
We are in here and we can argue with
each other instead. The pro-duck-feeders
(mainly under fives, or ducks), for
example, and the anti-duck feeders.
Pedestrians versus skaters. Skaters versus
cyclists. Skaters and cyclists versus
pedestrians. Everyone versus cars. The
people who think the little fences are
silly. The people who don’t. The dog
walkers. The contra-dog walkers. The
swearing birdwatchers (have you met
them?) and the RSPB types. The executive
joggers and the squads of 30-somethings
doing British Military Fitness. All
life is here, mildly irritated by all other
life. It is the equivalent of the beach in
Rio or Barcelona.
I think my favourite time in the park is
at night, though I never go in there. Ooh
no. Instead I go round the edge, walking
back across the bridges or from the
bus stop, staring in. In summer, you can
feel the enervated ground releasing the
heat of the day. In winter, it sweats cold,
which pours icily through the railings.
There are dim lights in there at night, and
strange rustlings, and the sort of people
that go into parks at night, and sometimes
the engines of joy-riders doing
hand-brake turns on the car park gravel,
though I haven’t heard them for a while.
The south east corner smells as rank as
zoo. Feral. Almost certainly fox.
In fact, they should do night tours of the
park. I’d sign up, if there was an armed
ranger. We might see the owl I mistook
for a mugger (it had the lousiest hoot you
have ever heard, the worst fake owl noise
ever, and I truly thought it was a signal
between people after my handbag until
my companion pointed silently up into
15
a tree. There was an owl, staring
at us with eyes ‘like twin hostile
moons’, in the words of one fine
writer. I still think it was eyeing
my bag, though). I’ve seen
a hawk in there, though I don’t
know what type, and bats, and cats. We
could have a Battersea Park Night Safari,
with a bush dinner in the café.
Increasingly, though, safari-goers will
see the lights of hundreds of new luxury
flats on Chelsea Bridge Road twinkling
along our eastern borders. By the time
you read this, the last block filling the
gap between the QVC building and the
new development may have blanked
out our last unbroken view of Battersea
Power Station. Then you will only be
able to see its familiar, lardy billiard-table
legs from north of the river, or from
the top of a bus passing the Dogs’ Home
– or of course, from the balcony of your
east-facing luxury flat in Chelsea Bridge
Wharf. Until the developers finally get
their way and knock it down anyway.
So, our isolation is complete. We are
now properly marooned, hemmed in
on all sides, and we like it that way. We
welcome visitors, it is true – especially if
they bring hard currency – but really it’s
our turf. We all own a bit of it, at certain
times and in certain ways, from the tennis
courts to the Peace Pagoda, from the
rose gardens to the café. But back off the
puddle, though. The puddle is taken.

The Battersea Society’s chairman
Tony Tuck revives memories
of the Lido project that slipped
away during the Second World
War…
THE Second World War changed many
things, nowhere more so than in Battersea
Park and its surroundings.The Geman
bombing campaign not only cleared
urban sites for redevelopment, but sadly
thwarted the aspiration of more local
planners.
One ‘nearly’ project was the Battersea
Park Lido. Planned for in 1937, deferred
in 1939, replaced in 1940 with anti-aircraft
gun emplacements and allotments
as part of the “Dig for Britain Campaign”
, only to be quietly forgotten in
1945 and abandoned without a single
sod being turned.
My appetite has been whetted to track
down the lost Lido of Battersea by a
most delightful and remarkable book
published in 2005 and recently re-printed
by a local author, Janet Smith called
“Liquid Assets – the lidos and open air
swimming pools of Britain”.The book
is the third in a series by English Heritage
called “Played in Britain” which
will focus on the architectural heritage
of British sport – on the pavilions and
clubhouses, the grandstands and swimming
pools that form an integral part of
the British landscape. More titles are in
the pipeline (see www.playedinbritain.
co.uk)
This enchanting book charts the history
of the lido from its earliest origins
in the Peerless Pool in Old Street, Fins-
MEMORY LANE
Tony Tuck
bury developed by a jeweller,
William Kemp, in 1743. This
was the first formalised public
outdoor swimming pool
built in Britain since the Romans
left in the fifth century.
Thereafter there is charted a
survey of British lidos, including
a planned floating
lido designed by Alex Lifschutz
in 1998,which was to
be moored off the South Bank
Though this never left the
drawing board, the French do
have one moored in the river
Seine opposite the Bibliotetheque
Nationale, complete
with a retractable roof.
But the ‘nearly’ Battersea Lido had
its origins in a more prosaic set of circumstances.
The former London County
Council (LCC) made its first foray into
a purpose built outdoor swimming pool
in 1906 when Wandsworth Council persuaded
the LCC to release land in Tooting
for an outdoor pool – and to get the
LCC to pay £200 a year towards running
costs. The pool was then built as part of
a scheme to provide work for local unemployed
men.
After the First World War a scatter of
outdoor pools were constructed around
London, sometimes built by unemployed
men and funded by the then
Ministry of Labour, but more often by
local agreements, where the LCC shared
running costs, but the local authority
paid for construction. At a time when
many homes lacked bathrooms and few
workers had ‘leisure time and proper
paid holidays, these open air pools were
hugely popular.
By 1931 the LCC had embarked on a
new major programme of architect designed
pools. Two LCC architects, Harry
Arnold Rowbotham and T L Smithson,
designed a series of ‘designer pools’ in
fully enclosed brick compounds with
purpose built changing rooms, first aid
facilities and integrated water filtration
systems. The style of the buildings was
very distinctive. Janet Smith describes
16
it as being “…hard to place stylistically
– being only faintly Art
Deco, yet patently Modernist in
character – and certainly never
copied anywhere outside London.”
But in July 1937 a major change in
LCC policies took place. Rather than try
to negotiate with often reluctant local
authorities to co-finance and build new
pools (some things remain constant!)
the LCC took over the entire process of
design, construction and management itself.
Not only that, but the then Leader
of the LCC, Herbert Morrison, pledged
that in future no Londoner would have
to walk further that a mile and a half
to their nearest Lido. London, he said,
would become a “City of Lidos”.
The Plan in 1937 was to build five Lidos
at Parliament Hill, Charlton, Ladywell,
Clissold Park and Battersea Park. Only
the first two were ever built. The other
three, including Battersea Park, never
left the drawing board – though the estimated
capital cost for Battersea Park
Lido had jumped from £15,000 in 1935
to £40,000 by 1937.
After the war the immediate priority for
scarce building material was for homes,
hospitals, and reconstruction. By 1951
the Festival of Britain had taken over
much of Battersea Park and the ‘nearly
Lido’ slipped from view.
Janet Smith whose book charts the fortunes
of all the real Lido’s has expressed
an interest in joining with me in seeing
if the LCC archives contain any residual
hints of what might have been in Battersea
Park. We shall see….. – hopefully, to
be continued.
All the material in this piece was drawn
from “Liquid Assets – The lidos and
open air swimming pools of Britain” by
Janet Smith and published by English
Heritage 2007
The Friends are always interested to
hear from past Park users; if you have
old photographs, post cards, or just good
memories of times in the Park please do
contact us.
The Editor,
Friends Review
51 Brynmaer Road,
London, SW11 4EN
or email review@batterseapark.org

The rejuvenated Pump House
Gallery continues to surprise
Park users with its choice of
art and design. David Firn, a
Battersea resident and Financial
Times journalist takes a look at
the summer exhibition...
Where is the Work brings together photographs
of mainly temporary site specific
works by Mathew Cornford & David
Cross for the first time in London.
The pair, who have worked together as
Cornford & Cross, since they met at St
Martins School of Art in 1987,say the
large scale photographs are not merely
records of their work, but are themselves
art.
Over two decades, they have created a
unique and provocative body of work.
Much of their work has involved sitespecific
projects for public spaces, which
responds not only to physical sites, but
also to social situations and historical
moments.
The summer exhibition at the Pump
House also features some of the artists’
unrealized projects and ‘work in
progress’.
Utopia, involved renovating a derelict
pond at Bournville and working with
the chief food scientist to dye the water
‘Cadbury’ purple.10, involved software
engineers in a beauty contest in which
contestants were judged electronically
by facial recognition software that compared
their faces to an ‘ideal of symmetry
and proportion.’
The exhibition consists of one image
from each finished project. Accompanying
text sets the context for each project
and gives the viewer an aid to understanding
the work. Mathew Cornford
says the text gives an “idea rather than
detail”.
They are hoping to provoke thought.
Their site specific work is set within a
particular context - social, political and
physical- and the images are accompanied
by text as a record of actions taken.
Each Cornford & Cross project is radically
different, in both form and intention.
The British Empire, its rise, fall and
its echoes are recurring themes in their
work which is often named after classic
tales.
She - a proposal to install an eternal
flame, next to the Maiwand Lion statue,
ART IN THE PARK
David Firn
in Reading, takes its title from Haggard’s
novel of African exploration and
sorcery. The lion itself is named after
a small village in Afghanistan, where
the local population suffered war at the
hands of foreign invaders over decades.
The flame - of eternal youth in Haggard’s
tale - fed by fossil fuel hints at
today’s geopolitical tensions over access
to gas and oil.
Eclectic and demanding this exhibition
may be, and one wonders how many
park users will really come to grips with
17
it, or even find it relevant to
their own experiences. But
some Battersea residents
might be particularly interested
in Words are not Enough,
another ‘work in progress’ with
which Cornford & Cross hope to transform
an abandoned nuclear bunker in
Camberwell, South London into a temporary
peace garden as part of Architecture
Week 2007. If nothing else, it leaves
one guessing what they might transform
Battersea Power Station into, if given a
free hand!
Cornford & Cross, Where is the Work?
At the Pump House Gallery until 5 August
2007. Open Wednesdays, Thursdays,
Sundays 11am-5pm; Fridays and
Saturdays 11am-4pm. Closed Mondays
and Tuesdays.
Below: Why Read the Classics?
Film light on reflector behind marble statue For Tra monti, Rome, Italy, 2005

THE stretch of Battersea Park
Road between Battersea Park
Station and the Latchmere, is
architecturally not the most seductive
street in the neighborhood.
But it has its delights and
no shortage of variety when it comes to
eating and drinking.
I’ve counted 42 restaurants and cafes in
the mile between Battersea Park Station
and the “Little India” tracks. Just a snapshot
will confirm that of the Chinese
variety, there are two restaurants and 5
take-aways. Then you have one Albanian,
two Thai, one Spanish, one Mexican,
and three Italian restaurants and one new
Italian deli-restaurant.
As if that was not enough, there are
three pizza parlours, two sandwich bars,
five varieties of Indian take-away, four
fried food emporia, four cafes with internet
access, and two or three good
old EnglishBreakfast/Roast Beef lunch
cafés, as well as six pub-restaurants
along the South side of the road.
There is something for every taste, and
every Park user, and the purveyors are as
varied as the food, coming from all over
Europe, the Middle East, and many parts
of Asia. I may not be a huge eater but I
like this sense of diversity reaching out
across green spaces and concrete.
So here are some tentative cheap but
cheerful recommendations Not far from
the station, there is the Chinese NewCity
restaurant: friendly and delicious.
Across the road it’s the Italian named
after the patron saint of Naples San
Gennaro: young crowd, excellent food,
genuine pizza, cheery atmosphere. The
one-time Turkish Adalar, on the corner
of Cupar Road, is in the midst of transformation
into an Albanian restaurant.
That should be interesting.
Next on my walk from east to west,
there is, do I dare mention it, Battersea’s
least best kept secret: Corelli’s . For Italian
home-style cooking and best lunchtime
neighborhood experience, there is
still nothing that comes near it!
Also in my good books is the excellent
Indian take-away Holy Cow and the two
Thais: the posh Chada and more intimate
and less expensive Dee. Nearby are The
Lighthouse (ex-Clock Tower) pub for
garden, wine list and atmosphere and
The Latchmere for a traditional pub cum
FOOD CORNER
Christine Fremantle
theatrical experience. The new Mexican
Margarita Loca is for those with cast iron
palates and a sense of fun. And Il Molino
Café for atmosphere and internet. And
I am not denigrating the 32 remaining
eateries! Chacun a son gout! Salud! &
Buen apetito!
Above: Cakes at the Friends BBQ
The Editors Choice
Seasonal Recipe
by Editor Jimmy Burns
I owe it to my Spanish mother that I’ve
been brought up believing that Mediterranean
food is not only easy to engage
with, but also delicious and healthy.
Gazpacho is a supercharged smoothie,
easily transportable in a flask or similar
container (make sure you keep it cool),
and guaranteed to provide both nourishment
and refreshment on a hot sultry
summer’s day in the park.
In the days before electricity, the name
Gazpacho was used to refer to any ingredients
that could be put together
easily and cheaply in a mortar. At its
most elemental it became a popular
dish with starving peasants and labourers
transforming a stale piece of white
bread into something worthwhile after
pounding and mixing it with water, oil,
salt, vinegar, and garlic. Long before
the tourist boom, early foreign travellers
to Spain left records of their experience
of this rustic improvised cooking.
Richard Twiss, a wealthy Englishmen
who visited Spain in the 1770’s found
that the experience of tasting gazpa-
18
cho for the first time more than
made up for the inconvenience
of having to sleep the night on a
shopkeeper’s wooden chest near
Algeciras. “This is an excellent
soup-maigre,” remarked Twiss,
“nothing can be more refreshing during
the violent heats.” The Frenchman Theophile
Gautier was less impressed, judging
gazpacho the sign of a lesser race.
“In our country,” hissed Gautier, “no dog
with the slightest breeding would deign
to put his muzzle in such a mixture.”
These days, there will be no shortage
of pretentious and loud mouthed cooks
who will insist they are licensed to own
a unique and perfect haute cuisine recipe
for Gazpacho but in so doing they have
turned their back on its very soul. For
a true Gazpacho, like all good genuine
cooking, still requires instinct and
improvisation, according to mood and
what is available. What follows should
provide terms of reference rather than
definition for a party of four.
Ingredients (preferably organic and local)):
4 slices of ageing white bread with
crusts removed and soaked in cold tap
water for ten to fifteen minutes; 1 kg of
very ripe peeled tomatoes ; 1 green pepper
cut in small pieces (you can throw in
a red pepper too if you feel like it); half
a cucumber peeled and cut in thin slices;
4 cloves of peeled and crushed garlic; 10
tbsp olive-oil (preferably extra-virgin); 3
tbsp white wine vinegar; a few drops of
tabasco; a pinch of cumin; salt and pepper.
Put the bread with its water and all the
other ingredients in a large bowl and
squeeze and stir them together with your
hands, then pour into a blender and mix,
adding water until you’ve reached the
consistency that best suits you. My preference
is for a thickish soup to which
I then add some cubes of ice. But you
can of course go for a smoother and/or
more refreshing option, pushing the
soup through a sieve and chilling further
in the fridge or freezer. For the perfect
summer tapas in the park, try throwing in
some croutons and cut up bits of boiled
egg, then follow it with some Spanish
Serrano ham, chorizo, and manchego
cheese, and a glass or two of Rioja.
Jimmy Burns’s A Literary Companion to
Spain is published by Santana Books

Below, a summary of the Friends accounts for our last financial year.
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH 2007
Incoming resources Unrestricted Restricted Total Total
funds income funds this year last year
Voluntary income
£ £ £ £
subscriptions 4,117 4,157 4,235
miscellaneous donations 773 773 392
Winter Garden donations 13,385 13,385 13,702
Maple Avenue donations 7,400 7,400
Grant for signs
Gift Aid tax refund
9,845 9,845
subscriptions/Winter Garden
Activities for generating funds
648 2,058 2,706 423
events 302 2,254 2,556 207
advertising 1,040 1,040 690
sales
Investment income
996 996 541
bank interest 906 906 697
Total incoming resources
Resources expended
Costs of generating funds
Costs of generating voluntary income
8,782 34,942 43,724 20,887
Subscriptions paid 90 90 65
Review costs 5,555 5,555 3,327
Bad debt 220 220 400
Event expenditure
Fundraising trading costs
153 153 50
Christmas cards expenses
Charitable activities
237 237 254
Winter garden 1,069 1,069 21,803
Maple Avenue
Goverance costs
7,400 7,400 0
postage 52 52 55
stationery 93 93 85
bank charges 0 0 1
Total resources expended 6,400 8,469 14,869 26,040
Net incoming/(outgoing) resources 2,382 26,473 28,855 (5,153)
Total funds brought foward 7,898 0 7,898 13,051
Total funds carried forward 10,280 26,473 36,753 7,898
BALANCE SHEET AT 31ST MARCH 2007
Unrestricted Restricted Total Total
funds income funds this year last year
£ £ £ £
Current assets
Debtors 150 0 150 0
Cash at bank and in hand 10,130 26,473 36,603 7,898
Total current assets 10,280 26,473 36,753 7,898
Creditors 0 0 0 0
Total net assets
Capital and Reserves
10,280 26,473 36,753 7,898
Net incoming/(outgoing) resources 2,382 26,473 28,855 (5,153)
Total funds brought forward 7,898 0 7,898 13,051
Total funds carried forward 10,280 26,473 36,753 7,898
19

THE DECORATIVE
ANTIQUES &
TEXTILES FAIR
Autumn Fair
October 2-7 2007
Battersea Park
London SW11
Opening times
Tuesday 2nd 12 noon-8pm
Wednesday 3rd 11am-8pm
Thursday 4th 11am-8pm
Friday 5th 11am-7pm
Saturday 6th 11am-7pm
Sunday 7th 11am-6pm
The Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair
Harvey (Management Services) Ltd.
PO Box 149, London W9 1QN
decorativefair.com