Contacts

The Teddington Society
21 Teddington Park
Teddington TW11 8BD

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

The Autumn 2005 issue of Tidings includes the following:

• Letter from the Chair
• From the Editor
• Reports from the Groups
• Profile of Jenny Hilton
• Graffiti Hotlines
• Summer Time
• Teddington in Flower
• Murder at the Savoy
• News in Brief
• Diary and Events

Letter from the Chair
This is my first letter as Chair of the Teddington Society. I have greatly enjoyed my first few weeks - getting to know some of you and discover more about Teddington. Because I had to accompany the Deputy Mayor, I had an opportunity for the first time for many years to visit other people's gardens for Teddington in Flower. These were a delight and an inspiration. I also enjoyed my brief stint helping to mind the Society's stand at the River Festival where so many families were having a lovely time on such a brilliantly sunny day.

All this additional and happy involvement in Teddington life I had anticipated. What I had not foreseen was the extent to which the Society is expected by the local newspapers and politicians to represent the views of people in Teddington as a whole. I would very much welcome observations about the extent to which we think that we represent the views of the citizens of Teddington on controversial issues such as CPZs or licensing hours. Are we indeed representative? Should we act as a pressure group and to what extent should I act as spokesperson for the Society?

Thank you very much for appointing me as Chair of the Society. I greatly look forward to many more Teddington events and hope that I can contribute something to the life of this lovely part of London.

Jenny Hilton

From the Editor
What a busy summer the Teddington Society had!! Inside the newsletter you will find coverage of the main events with which we were involved: the River Festival, the Landmark Exhibition and of course, our most successful ever Teddington in Flower. An enormous debt of gratitude is owed to Sheena Harold and her able helper, Pat Shuttleworth, for all their hard work in preparing for this event, and ensuring it all went smoothly on the day.

We are fortunate in the Teddington Society to have a number of dedicated members who willingly give up their time to help in so many different ways - but we would welcome more involvement from more people. The various Groups are always looking for more members. As Jenny Hilton has noticed, the Teddington Society is often consulted as representative of local opinion. If you would like to make your views known - get involved!

On a more practical level, there is a heartfelt plea later in this newsletter for occasional help in hefting and transporting large items such as display boards. Sheena Harold would also like to hear from anyone who would be willing to provide home-made cakes when we have Society coffee mornings.

I welcome contributions to Tidings from all our members, and would remind you that the deadline for items for the Christmas issue is October 20th.

Margaret Chan

Jenny Hilton

Profile of Jenny Hilton It's hard to imagine anyone more qualified to take over the Society's chair from John Demont than his successor, Jenny Hilton. Not only is she a long-standing resident of Teddington, but she's also a well-connected working Peer, a keen gardener, a firm defender of the environment… and, as Peter Denton discovered, you can even hear woodpeckers when you're sitting in her garden.

"They've been drilling on the oak for three days now: and that's one of the great joys of living in Teddington," she declares. "We're so fortunate to have glorious open spaces such as Bushy Park, and the wildlife is everywhere - until some new houses were built a few hundred yards away, there were foxes' lairs on open land at the bottom of the garden, and hedgehogs were frequent visitors."

But not any more. They, just like the high street butchers and fishmongers, have gone, seemingly in the name of 'progress'. The foxes have been ousted by houses, the traditional shops replaced by trendy restaurants.

"But the character of Teddington is much the same as it's always been," says Jenny - "and I have no doubt that one reason for that is the presence and influence of the Teddington Society."

Well if anyone knows anything about influence, it's Jenny Hilton - or, to give her full title, the Baroness Hilton of Eggardon.

Eggardon? "Well, Teddington would have been pretentious. But Eggardon was an important part of my childhood. It's a hill in Dorset where my grandparents had a cottage for 30 years. It's so quintessentially English and very much Hardy country - and I have a great emotional attachment to it."

But back to influence. In 1991, after a distinguished career in the Metropolitan Police where she rose to the rank of Commander, Jenny Hilton was appointed to the House of Lords where she sits on the Labour benches. There, she has been involved in important issues such as criminal justice, race relations, equal opportunities, the environment, science and technology. She is also a UK representative on the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe where, among other duties, she has witnessed the green shoots of democracy as an election monitor in the Caucasuses.

"Watching new nations embrace democracy has been an extraordinary privilege," she says, "and our work really has made a difference. We prompted two election re-runs in Azerbaijan, for example, and even though we monitor elections by invitation, governments do get upset and pay attention when we criticise."

Isn't it a long way, then, from the Caucasuses - or even the Westminster corridors of power - to the streets and parks of Teddington? "No, not at all," Jenny responds. "All the time, it's to do with issues that affect people. Take EU directives and legislation, for example. They may seem a far cry from Teddington, but they affect us all, every day of our lives, in one way or another."

As do planning regulations - an area in which the Society excels. "Yes, our Planning Group has always had a sharp eye, and quite right too. There's little space left for development now, so we have to be very choosy. These days, it's not only the look of development that matters - just as important are environmentally-friendly designs, better insulation and sustainable energy aspects. I'd personally also like to see far more low-cost housing in Teddington. That's as much a priority as good public transport and community policing."

Community policing is one of Jenny's 'big issues', and with good reason: when she was at Scotland Yard, the neighbourhood policing project was hers, and getting home beat officers back on the streets was a priority. "Today, there's a great deal going on in police relations with the public," she says. "The appointment of Community Support Officers is a great step forward, because policing has much to do with presence and deterrence." She'd also like to see improved facilities for young people - "when I was young, there were places such as youth clubs, which were widely attended. Today, parents have to pay for everything, and many can't afford to. I'd like to see local authorities being more responsible in what they provide."

Jenny Hilton speaks quietly, but firmly and persuasively. It's a quality that will stand the Society in good stead as she takes over the chair.

Ah yes, the chair! Now the thorny question: how best to describe her position from now on?

"Well I'm not a chairman - even though I have formally been addressed as 'My Lord Chairman' in the Lords! I don't much care for chairwoman, and 'madam chairman' is just ridiculous. No, 'chair' will do fine. It's a modern expression and widely accepted now."

A modern chair… for a modern Society.

Teddington in Flower beats its own record

Well, you've done it again!

Last year we raised nearly £1,000, this year we beat our own record, raising over £1,000 from the ten gardens that opened.

Our gardeners this year were: Ann Swan, Sue Ribbans, Diana and Andrew Gillespie, the Library, Alan Drake, Jenny Hilton, Jill and Paul Smith, Reg Morrison, Judith Hatton and Celia and Gary Lee-Richards. Thank you all for the years, months, weeks of hard work you've put into your gardens to make them so lovely to look at.

Deputy Mayor, Cllr Claire Head visited all 10 gardens and the Parish churchyard. Fully robed, she must have suffered in the heat, but you'd never have known it from her "sunny" demeanour.

Added attractions this year were the works of art on show at Anne's and Sue's gardens - and did you know that it is Sue Ribbans' drawings that embellish our Membership Form? Margaret English put some of her honey on sale at Elmfield Avenue and sold out in an hour! Judith Hatton's theme of the End of WW II invited you to stamp on Hitler's face as you entered her garden of herbal delights. Reg's plants were excellent value as ever.

Our 39 garden-sitters took in £1,066.10, enrolled five new members and took one renewal. Although St Mary's church was closed for redecoration, June Demont laid on cream teas in the Churchyard, and raised £200 for her charity, Home Start Richmond.

Our Corporate members did us proud: Richard Steer provided valuable legal advice in advance of the event; Squire's Garden Centre helped with plants for the Library to raffle and Haymarket Publishing printed 1,500 garden lists at their expense, so all the money could go to charity.

Thanks to everyone's generosity (time and money) the Society presented a cheque for £1,000 to the Downs Syndrome Association on 22nd July.

Sheena Harold