Contacts

The Teddington Society
21 Teddington Park
Teddington TW11 8BD

Contact by e-mail:
secretary@teddingtonsociety.org.uk

The Summer 2005 issue of Tidings includes the following:

• Chairman's Letter
• From the Editor
• Teddington River Festival
• AGM Report
• John Demont - appreciation
• 15 Minutes of Fame
• The "Teddington Shield"
• Boat building
• The Bells, the Bells
• London Open House
• Teddington Artists
• Diary and Events

Chairman's Letter
This is my last letter as Chairman and is being written just prior to the AGM. The four years of my Chairmanship have flown by, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I have learned so much about Teddington, mainly through the members of the Executive Committee, which has certainly enriched my life here. I again commend participation in the Groups to the members of the Society. Select the one - or more - which interests you: it will prove very rewarding.

It is difficult to pick out the highlights of my Chairmanship, as there are so many - but perhaps four stand out. They are the 30th Anniversary of the Society celebrated with a service at the Parish Church, which our founder, Adam Joseph attended; accompanying John Janzen to Buckingham Palace to receive his MBE; restoring the Christmas Lights to Teddington, which has triggered the formation of the Teddington Business Community, a much needed organisaton; and the restoration of the Victorian Jubilee Fountain in Park Road to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee.

My report to the AGM referred specifically to last year. All that remains is for me to thanks the members of the Executive Committee who do all the work, and are so diligent in ensuring that Teddington still retains its essentially unspoilt 'village' character. Finally I wish out new Chairman, Jenny Hilton, every success. We are indeed very fortunate that she has agreed to take on this role.

John Demont

From the Editor
It was good to have the opportunity, at the AGM, to express the Society's appreciation to John Demont for all the wonderful work he has done for us during the period of his Chairmanship. Probably few, apart from the Executive Committee, and of course, June Demont, really realised how much time John devoted to our cause. We wish him well in his retirement and hope that he will now have time to pursue some of his very many other interests. A tribute to John appears later in this Newsletter.

At the same time, we extend a very warm welcome to Jenny Hilton. A hard-working member of the House of Lords, Jenny nonetheless agreed to stand for election as our new Chair, and we were all delighted when she was elected at the AGM. I shall hope to run a profile of Jenny in an issue of Tidings later in the year.

Meanwhile, may I remind you all that the deadline for copy for the Autumn edition will be July 20th? As we may by then well be distracted by summer holidays, I would ask everyone to keep this date firmly in mind!

Margaret Chan

John Demont at the 2005 AGM with the
Mayor of Richmond (Councillor Pat Parsons)

John Demont: an appreciation
John took over as Chairman of the Teddington Society in 2001, following Daphne Windle into the post. A resident of Teddington for some 25 years, John was already very committed to our community, and he has worked hard to foster the interests of the Society and to promote our aim of "Helping to make Teddington even better."

John mentions in his letter some of the highlights of his time as Chairman. Probably, his success in getting the High Street and Broad Street lit up at Christmas is the one which people most readily recognise. However, John has given unstinting support to all the Society's activities: he has joined in the History Walks; come to nearly every coffee morning; has walked tirelessly up and down the High Street and Broad Street making friendly and supportive contact with local businesses; he has presented plaques for the Planning Group's commendations; supported efforts to save the North Lane Car park; has been actively involved with Civic Pride to obtain matched funding for various projects; has visited every garden opening for Teddington in Flower; has sat on the Police Consultative Community Group….and much more! John would be the first to say that he could not have done all this without the unstinting support of June. We are all grateful for her friendly and helpful presence at so many Teddington Society events - not to mention her cake-baking skills - and for allowing us to commandeer so much of John's time over the last 4 years. We wish them both well for the future.

The "Teddington Shield"

Readers may remember a request in the last issue of Tidings for information about the "Teddington Shield": a shield-shaped badge with the inscription: R.H. Porter Boat builder Teddington that David Draper of Woy Woy, Australia, had unearthed, and had donated to the Twickenham Museum. The editor has received the following response:

David Draper
David Draper lives in Blackwell Road, Woy Woy, which was built as a railhead for cargo coming out of Sydney. He has told us that the shield was found in the grounds of a house that was built in the early days of the settlement, close to a waterway and bordered by a road called Brickwharf Road, which was a major docking area for routes to and from the Pacific Ocean. This may imply that the boat to which the shield was attached was in use on the waterway.

How a small boat built by Porter in Teddington ended up in New South Wales remains something of a mystery. If anyone has any views as to how the boat might have travelled to Australia, the Historical Research Group would be pleased to hear from them.

Ken Howe