Category Archives: Activities
New Bridge House Gardens information board
The Richmond Society’s latest interpretation board, which tells the history of Richmond Bridge and Bridge House Gardens, was inaugurated by the Mayor of Richmond upon Thames, Cllr Julia Cambridge, with the Society’s Vice Chair Louise Fluker on Monday 24 April 2023.
Photo: Nick Andrews
The board, created by Chairman Barry May, is in Bridge House Gardens beside Richmond Bridge.
Several other boards have been placed by the Society over the years, including at the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Richmond town centre, on Richmond Green, at the river end of Old Palace Lane, at the Riverside, and elsewhere.
Richmond’s Trees – celebrating Richmond’s unsung green heroes
Trees on Richmond Green, Riverside Path and Terrace Gardens – the town’s unsung green heroes – are celebrated in our new handbook and trail guide.
Richmond’s Trees: A fascinating trail of discovery gives details of 34 specimens on Richmond Green, along the Thames Path and in the hillside Terrace Gardens. It is beautifully illustrated and includes many practical, literary and scientific references. Each tree is labelled for easy identification by walkers who follow a leisurely two-mile trail.
The book was inspired by our Patron Lord Lee of Trafford. When he came to live in Richmond a few years ago he noticed that whilst the trees of Kew Gardens and Richmond Park were celebrated, those elsewhere in the town were relatively unsung.
“When I moved to Richmond from the North I was immediately struck by the magnificence and diversity of so many of our trees – what a story many of them could tell of life in Richmond over the ages and what they would have witnessed,” Lord Lee said. “However, I was surprised that there was no publication which covered these trees – yes, coverage of those in Richmond Park and in Kew Gardens, but not in Richmond itself.”
A small team of Richmond Society members was assembled – Linda Christmas, journalist and author; Patrick Eagar, professional photographer; and Nicky Wood, Chair of the Society’s Landscape and Riverside Committee. Others who contributed advice and expertise were Livi Gosling, map and trail illustrator; Tony Kirkham, former Head of the Arboretum, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Craig Ruddick, Arboricultural Manager, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames; and Patrick’s daughter Kate Wakeham, book designer. We are hugely indebted to them all.
Lord Lee and Craig Ruddick spoke about the project when the book was launched on Thursday 10 November in the presence of The Mayor of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Cllr Julia Cambridge.
The 88-page book will make a wonderful gift for anyone who loves Richmond and admires its trees. It costs £10 and is on sale at, or can be ordered from:
The Open Book, 10 King Street, Richmond TW9 1ND.
Contact: 020 8940 1802 or theopenbook@btconnect.com.
It is also available at:
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
Parade’s End Bookshop, Ham Parade
Kew Books, by Kew Station
Sheen Books, East Sheen
Daisy Home, East Twickenham
Orleans House Gallery, Twickenham
Strawberry Hill House, Twickenham
Barnes Bookshop, Barnes
Proceeds come to The Richmond Society.
Terrace jubilee plaque unveiled
Richmond upon Thames Mayor Cllr Geoff Acton with Richmond Society Chairman Barry May unveiled a plaque on Tuesday 29 March commemorating new railings installed on The Terrace, Richmond Hill by the Council with a Society donation to mark Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee.
Richmond Society Chairman Barry May with Richmond upon Thames Mayor Cllr Geoff Acton
Richmond Society Forum: Richmond’s recovery
Anita Anand chaired the forum meeting to discuss Richmond’s recovery, on Thursday 11th November 2021.
Anita Anand, Richmond Society Patron and author, broadcaster and host of the BBC’s Any Answers, moderated the discussion with:
- Ann Chapman-Daniel, Chair of Be Richmond, which represents three hundred and fifty businesses in the town
- Pamela Fleming, South Richmond Councillor
- Sarah Olney, Richmond Park MP
- Gareth Roberts, Leader, Richmond upon Thames Council
Town Centre Improvement Scheme Consultation: the Richmond Society responds
Richmond Council has produced an initial list of five mini projects to improve Richmond Town Centre. Three of these are fully funded and ready to go. The three projects are Richmond Bridge Zebra Crossing, Parkshot Road crossing and The Triangle / Hill Rise Public Realm Improvements.
The proposals can be found on the Council’s consultation provider’s website. The public consultation on them closed on 10th October 2021.
In its response to the consultation, the Richmond Society opposed the Richmond Bridge Zebra Crossing, pointing out that the Council’s original idea for improving the informal uncontrolled crossing at the roundabout would have been far better. The Society gave qualified support to the other two proposals.
Full details can be found in the Richmond Society’s response, which can be accessed at this link or by clicking on the image of the document.
Richard Deverell – the Kew Gardens Strategy published in March 2021
Richard Deverell, Director of Kew Gardens, spoke to The Richmond Society on Thursday 17th June 2021 about the Kew Gardens Strategy that was published earlier this year.
Richard is the fifteenth Director of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He has devoted his career to leading innovative and ambitious improvements to public engagement and education. For example, at the BBC he revamped the Children’s BBC channel with a mission to raise the quality of programming for children, introducing new content that would educate and engage them.
Since joining Kew, he has led the refresh of Kew’s strategy, bringing expertise from Kew’s global science into sharper focus and more actively engaging the public with contemporary science and conservation in Kew’s beautiful historic gardens.
He is a passionate advocate for the power of plants and fungi to help solve the critical challenges facing humanity in the 21st Century. He is also an official Champion for Food Forever, a global initiative that aims to secure biodiversity for the benefit of food security around the world.
You can read about the March 2021 Kew Gardens Strategy at this link.
Gaucho and the Landing Stage
Gaucho, which operates a restaurant with an outdoor area on the towpath near Richmond Bridge and the Richmond Hill conservation area, applied for planning permission to operate a seasonal restaurant on part of Richmond Landing Stage. The application envisaged Jumbrellas, an outdoor cinema and take-away service. The application was opposed by The Richmond Society and River Thames Society as well as several nearby residents, and Richmond Council’s Planning Committee rejected it in robust terms.
At the same time Gaucho applied for a licence to sell alcohol from the Landing Stage not only to diners there but also as a take-away. We opposed that too. Richmond Council’s Licensing Committee considered that there were no grounds to justify refusing the application and granted a licence (which excluded operating an outdoor cinema on the Landing Stage). Although this seems perverse, the Council’s Planning and Licensing committees operate under different statutory regimes.
You might therefore have been surprised to see that Gaucho is operating a restaurant on the Landing Stage. It is relying on the Government’s extension to permitted development rights which temporarily allows restaurants to operate for 56 days in circumstances which would otherwise require planning permission. As Gaucho now has a licence to sell alcohol on and from the Landing Stage it can operate its extended restaurant for 56 days even though it was refused planning permission.
Neighbours who opposed the planning application were concerned about additional noise and disturbance. In addition to these reasons The Richmond Society opposed it because of the encroachment on Metropolitan Open Land, the river and use of the river and increased congestion on an already crowded towpath with adverse effects which may result from greater light pollution.
For many years we have opposed extending commercial operations on the towpath, particularly that part of it which is upstream or south of Richmond Bridge. The rural and special setting must be protected, and creeping commercial encroachment will ultimately destroy that which residents and visitors alike come to enjoy. The photograph shows how the new operation on the Landing Stage impedes the view towards Richmond Bridge. The blue covers are instead of the Jumbrellas referred to in the planning application which would have been even more intrusive.
We understand that COVID has taken a significant financial toll on local businesses and that relaxing the regulations is intended to boost the hospitality sector of the economy. However this must be balanced against the detrimental effect on the local environment.
Mayor unveils Richmond Society information board
Richmond’s Mayor, Councillor Geoff Acton, in his first engagement since his re‑election to a second year in office, on Thursday unveiled an information board marking 800 years of St Mary Magdalene Church at the heart of the town.
The board, provided by The Richmond Society as a gift to the town, includes descriptions of the church’s architectural development and prominent members of its past congregations.
It is based on research by Peter Bowyer, Parish Architect; Paul Velluet, President, Richmond Local History Society; the Museum of Richmond; and members of the Rector Canon Wilma Roest’s congregation. Illustrations were created on scratch board by Caroline Church, whose work also adorns other boards placed in other parts of the town by the Society. Caroline’s late father David Church was a Chairman of the Society.
In the photo, the Mayor is seen with Society’s current Chairman Barry May.
Sir Peter Hendy – Fifty years in public transport
Sir Peter Hendy, Chair of Network Rail, spoke to The Richmond Society on Thursday 18 March 2021 about his wide ranging and continuing experience in public transport in London and the rest of the country.
Sir Peter Hendy CBE, is arguably Britain’s foremost public transport expert. He is Chair of Network Rail, and was previously Commissioner of Transport for London for nearly ten years. He is also Chair of the London Legacy Development Corporation which is developing the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. In addition, he recently published his interim report into the connectivity of the four nations of the United Kingdom, a task commissioned directly by the Prime Minister.
Sir Peter lives in Richmond and is a member of our Society. He started his career in 1975 as a London Transport graduate trainee. He is a trustee of London’s Transport Museum and of the Science Museum Group. He was knighted for services to transport and the community in 2013 following the successful operation of transport during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, having been made CBE in 2006 after the London bombings of 2005.