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The Society formed in 1985, saving from demolition, London's first public library in Great Smith Street (above right). We respond on behalf of residents and businesses to local planning applications. Our 350+ members enjoy local visits & talks of historic and other interest, social events and an archive of books, prints, plans and ephemera.

Visits & Events 2019

Our visits and events are open to all unless specified and we hope non-members will enjoy our programme and consider joining the Society. To book and read further details, please go to our Eventbrite page CLICK HERE.

If you do not wish to book online, please contact us and we will be happy to make your booking (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by post to 10 Old Pye Street, London SW1P 2DG) A full description of visits is on our Events/Visits page.

Tuesday 25th June, 6.30pm The Society's Summer Party, Grange Rochester Hotel - £14pp (Guests welcome)

Saturday 29th June, 11am 'Gems of Thorney Island' - A Guided Local Walk by Victor Keegan - £15-£20pp

Thursday 18th July, 11am Westminster Abbey Special Tour (Members Only) - £15pp

Saturday 27th July, 11am 'From Beer to the Bard' - A Guided Victoria Walk by Anthony Davis - £15-£20pp

Tuesday 6th August, 1.30pm SORRY, SOLD OUT ! Tour of the Gardens of Buckingham Palace - £15pp (Members Only)

Monday 7th October, 11am Visit to the Palace of Westminster and The Jewel Tower (Members Only) - £15pp

Sunday 27th October, 2pm Tour of Methodist Central Hall including Organ Recital - £15-£20pp (Rescheduled from 16th June)

Tuesday 12th November, 6.30pm The Society's 33rd AGM and Talk, Grange Rochester Hotel (Guests welcome)

Tuesday 10th December, 6.30pm The Society's Christmas Party and Raffle Draw, Grange Rochester Hotel - £14pp (Guests welcome)

London Plane Tree Conference - Wednesday 10th July, 2pm-5pm

City Hall, London SE1 2AA

Love London's Plane Trees ? Listen to experts, including Prof Chris Baines environmentalist and campaigner, Paul Wood author of London’s Street Trees and the recently published London is a Forest, Dr Ana Perez-Sierra, Head of Tree Health Diagnostic & Advisory Service, at Forest Research; Greg Packman of the Royal Parks and Barbara Milne, City of Westminster and London Tree Officers Association. Join a discussion on how we can protect London’s unique landscape and what action is needed to save the views for future generations.

Tickets £10 - Book in Advance, click link below:

https://conservationfoundation.co.uk/london-plane-tree-conference-2/

London Plane Tree Conference - Wednesday 10th July, 2pm-5pm

The Guards Museum, Wellington Barracks - Volunteers

We have been contacted by the museum who are seeking a number of volunteers and we think this would be an interesting opportunity for our members, and anyone living locally with some extra time, commitment and a real interest in military history.

Volunteers staff the admissions desk, introduce visitors to the museum and help with any questions they may have. They are also required (unofficially) to be experts on the local area and help with directions, transport advice, etc.

Please contact us and we will put you in touch with the museum curator. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Guards Museum, Wellington Barracks - Volunteers

Victoria Tower Gardens, poem by Elizabeth Witts

This Royal Park beside the River Thames
is an oasis full of shady trees
within the sound of Big Ben's steady chimes.

Young people have their picnics on the grass
or sit on benches by the Embankment wall
to watch the gulls and cormorants fly by.

A fountain honours anti-slavery,
the children have a playground to themselves
and visitors go back to work refreshed
by all the peace and beauty of this place.

Victoria Tower Gardens, poem by Elizabeth Witts 2019

The Victoria Tower Gardens & The National Holocaust Memorial

UPDATE! May 2019

ITS NOT TOO LATE TO RESPOND! THE PLANNING APPLICATION IS NOW WITH WCC

Amendments to the planning application have been submitted. The changes are to the entrance pavilion and courtyard, but they make no difference to the fundamental problem that we have already identified with the scheme, which is to do with planning policies, loss of green space, diminution of the children's playground etc. Our previous objections still stand.

The WCC comments page has now been swamped by brief 'support' comments enabled by an agency appointed by the government-run UKHMF. This makes it all the more important that we all make reasoned objections AGAIN !

READ OUR OBJECTION LETTER TO THE AMENDED APPLICATION - CLICK HERE

Your comments should be specific and can be made online (registration required) CLICK HERE

There is a lot of detail on the SVTG homepage, but we have identified a number of points and reference to at least two or three should be the basis of an objection. To read these points, click READ MORE below.

In the meantime, safety barriers displaying publicity were put up in Victoria Tower Gardens around holes for geophysic and tree root examinations which display the Royal Parks logo when actually the Royal Parks objected to the scale and location of the memorial plus Learning Centre!

On TV, 5 ex-prime ministers say it must be sited next to Parliament and never mention that the site chosen is a public riverside park.

READ OUR FIRST OBJECTION LETTER - CLICK HERE

WE STRONGLY SUPPORT THE SAVE VICTORIA TOWER GARDENS CAMPAIGN.

https://www.savevictoriatowergardens.co.uk/

PARK THREATENED

The Green Park Tree Walk - May 2019

With thanks to Royal Parks arboriculturist, Greg Packman, who shared his wealth of knowledge as we walked the smallest of the Royal Parks.

Due to Charles II getting caught picking flowers here for his mistress, his queen had all the flower beds removed and its current name was born. At the time of our walk, various hawthorns were in flower and Greg reminded us that we were standing on what had been the banks and marshy swamps of the river Tyburn running towards the Thames and the 'thorney island'. Suggesting these thorn bushes and trees were decendents of those in the ancient landscape.

The current design of the park dates back to 1820 when the avenues of planes were planted because of their resistance to smoke and pollution. Growing tall and straight and now in their prime, with high canopies creating a 'cathedral' effect down the avenues. Dispite the planes popularity in London, it is actually the hornbeam that is the clay loving native tree of London. We looked at a rare wild poplar, also native, that was commonly used as an area boundary marker and we learned how the female of the species was now endangered due to its drain-blocking fluffy flowers, being replaced in great numbers by hybrids. In an enclosed area, the Royal Park's Mission Invertebrate is experimenting to see if by grazing rare breed sheep once a year, the insect and wild flower populations increase.

The Green Park has many different landscapes and moods, from the wooded hills and avenues to secluded thickets of thorns, open close-cropped grassland and wild flower meadows.

Greg described the challenges his team face, juggling the landscape with risk management to keep the park safe and useable for the 15 million visitors each year.

The Green Park Tree Walk - May 2019

Visit to Bonhams Auctioneers - May 2019

Our member Colin Sheaf, Deputy Chairman of Bonhams, gave a fascinating tour of the Bond Street salerooms and we viewed the beautiful objects in the upcoming sale of Fine Chinese Art.

Colin, an international authority on Chinese art, explained how the Chinese have been creating works of art for 7,000 years - Before the Egyptians! The three categories are: That made for export to the West (a colourful pair of C18th goose terrines), that of archaeological significance (Tang horses for example) and that made for the imperial Chinese market of which we saw examples of beautiful porcelain, jadite and jade (jade having a spiritual significance). The animal carvings were chosen for their ancient symbolic meaning and the colours ranging from 'spinach' green to pure white, semi-opaque.

The highlight of the auction will be 'An exceptionally rare and large blue and white 'immortals' double-gourd vase', about 3ft high. Colin explained that with the rise in the Chinese economy over the last 20 years and the emergence of more Chinese collectors, prices are always on the up! A bowl with a green dragon embossed into the porcelain was valued between £10,000 and £15,000 but could well reach £200,000. A very special priviledge visit and many thanks to our expert guide.

Visit to Bonhams Auctioneers - May 2019

Visit to Westminster Cathedral - May 2019

Many thanks to our guides John and Bernie and to the Cardinal Archbishop for the tour of this wonderful 'modern' Cathedral on Victoria Street. Completed in 1903 in a neo-Byzantine style to be different from the Abbey and St Paul's, we were shown beautiful examples of Cosmati marble floors, Arts and Crafts carved furniture, lanterns copied from the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and of course the famous mosiacs. The views from the top of the Campanile tower were still wide reaching despite a grey day!

Visit to Westminster Cathedral - May 2019

Visit to The Speakers House - April 2019

One of the delights of being a member of the Thorney Island Society is that we visit places that are not normally open to the public. On this memorable visit we we were shown around the hallowed crimson-tinted state rooms of the Speaker of the House of Commons.

The walls are festooned with magnificent portraits of previous Speakers ranging from Lord Addington (the only one to be both Speaker and Prime Minister) to the present incumbent John Bercow who has broken with tradition by having an action/working portrait of himself in the Chair rather than a formal one in state robes.

Among the highlights were an impressive dining room and a magnificent bed which heirs to the throne have the right to sleep in before their Coronation if they so wish but which hasn’t been used since George lll, quite possibly because, as our guide discreetly pointed out, it is not ensuite. However, in the same room, a large standing mirror is used by the Queen when she dresses for the State Opening of Parliament.

These are formal state rooms in which the spirit of Pugin, who designed the interior, is apparent everywhere, though he never lived to see it for himself. The rooms can only be visited with the permission of the Speaker and his family actually live in separate accommodation upstairs. Our sincere thanks to the Speaker and his Trainbearer, our excellent guide Jim Davey.