The following extracts are a representative selection from past newsletters:
2000
Our AGM at Elleray Hall was, as always, very well attended and it was particularly good to meet so many new members there.

Dr Owen Jones, a retired physicist who has worked for many years at the NPL, was elected as chairman. As he has lived almost next to Bushy Park with his family for most of this time and knows it very well, we are delighted that he has agreed to lead the Friends for the next three years.

Issues of concern at the moment include the problem of vandalism and graffiti in Bushy Park and we are continuing to press for effective police cover at night when most of the problems associated with drinking and vandalism occur. The budget for maintaining the park cannot sustain the cost of the growing level of destruction and recent rampages have caused thousands of pounds worth of damage.

The Friends have constantly pressed for the upgrading of the surface of the perimeter path round Bushy Park so we are pleased to see that work has now been done to make it suitable for pushchairs. We are also continuing to monitor the state of the grasslands in both parks to ensure that minimal damage is caused by events like the Flower Show.

During the past year the Friends have raised over a thousand pounds to contribute trees to the park and the Millennium Wood. A hornbeam has been planted near Teddington Gate in memory of Charles Freeman, a founder member, who designed our excellent logo and loved walking in the park. Sincere thanks to everyone who has donated money to these appeals.

PAINTING REDISCOVERED
Just over a year ago, trustees from the Bushy Park Water Gardens Trust climbed a steep dusty staircase to a storeroom in Hampton Court Palace. There, among many paintings stacked against the walls, they found a large canvas which they confirmed was a painting of the Water Gardens at Upper Lodge in Bushy Park. It had been in the Royal Collection for many decades and was catalogued as Figures in a Garden painted by ‘Anon’. It was an extraordinary find causing much excitement and was transferred to the new Painting Conservation Studio at Windsor for cleaning.

The trustees have carried out detailed research and it is now thought that it was painted in 1714 to commemorate the completion of the new cascade in the gardens. Among the many figures in the painting are the Earl of Halifax, who lived at Upper Lodge, and the future George II with his wife Caroline. The canvas is compositionally arranged to draw the viewer into the scene and gives a clear view of the cascade described by Samuel Molyneaux in 1714 as: “very beautifully dispos’d so as to fall between two fine pieces of grotto work.”

The painting was the subject of an article by landscape historian, John Harris, which appeared in Country Life in January this year and described the history of these unique gardens. Now that the cleaning of the painting has been completed, it will return to Hampton Court Palace where it will hang in the Wolsey Rooms with interpretation boards describing the painting and its discovery. It is hoped that it will be in place by the end of June.

2001
Recent heavy rains and fallen trees have caused extensive flooding of the Longford River. This has caused serious problems for park staff who are also responsible for the maintenance of the nine miles of this man-made river that falls outside Bushy Park’s boundaries. Barton Stream flooded in Bushy Park and the Hampton Hill side of the park was particularly badly affected in November and December. Pumps were used to clear the water which was some eighteen inches deep in places and covering the roads. While most of the flooding has subsided, the ground remains saturated and problems of paths lifted by the water and walls rendered unstable will have to be dealt with in the coming months.

Where the ground is water-logged, trees are particularly vulnerable to ‘wind throw’ and over fifty have been lost in recent gales: the big willow trees round Leg of Mutton pond will be especially missed. The Woodland Gardens had to be closed for two weeks because of fallen trees and routine maintenance has been neglected while staff have struggled to keep abreast of the work. The extra costs of damage and drainage have been assessed and presented to the Minister.

Friends with young children will have noticed that the Adventure Playground near Hampton Court Gate has been closed. This is the result of an inspection by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents as the impact-absorbing surface has weathered and no longer meets the required Health and Safety standards. Ray Brodie has secured funds for a new surface and play equipment which will be installed as soon as possible.

FLOODING IN BUSHY PARK
This has been the wettest year on record since 1766 with up to 56 inches of rain recorded by the Met Office. As a result, many parts of the country have suffered unprecedented flooding and Bushy Park is no exception. The rain did seem to ease off in late December and our last newsletter reported that the floods were subsiding and that the pumping operation to clear the water round Bartons Stream and the opening of drainage ditches was working. However, the park remained water-logged and the rains returned with a vengeance in January.

Owing to these extreme conditions, the Longford River burst its banks causing major flooding in the Brewhouse Fields and the Bartons Stream area. The water table is so high that rain has nowhere to drain and ponds and streams have appeared in ditches and declivities. The park is now at a level of complete saturation and it may take some weeks for water levels to drop so that repairs to paths and grassland can be undertaken.

All the sluices on the river are in order and working to capacity and as much water as can be drained into the Thames is being taken away. The Longford, a man-made waterway linking the Thames and the Colne, was constructed in the sixteenth century to feed the water gardens at Hampton Court which are at the end of its course. On its way to the palace this river flows through Bushy Park where its various branches feed the ponds and streams. The rainfall this year has been extreme and there is a limit to the amount of water that can be released to Hampton Court if the gardens there are not to be flooded. There is also a limit to the amount of water that can be prevented from entering Bushy Park as to restrict the flow would cause flooding to the houses that flank the Longford River: properties at the village of Longford have already suffered badly. Bushy Park is caught in the middle – which has led to the present mess.

In consultation with English Heritage, which is able to advise on the archaeology of the park, the park management is seeking to find a more permanent solution to the problem by opening up old drainage ditches. The constant eroding of the Royal Parks’ budget has inevitably meant that there has been less money to spend on essential works. Money for the maintenance of this river, although it stretches for miles beyond the park boundaries, comes from the budget for the Royal Parks and - as many of you will be aware - the Friends have been pressing for fair and adequate funding to cope with the backlog of structural work here and in the rest of the park.

TREE APPEAL RESULTS
Despite the cold and wet weather that invariably seems to accompany these occasions, our chairman and a number of Friends met in Bushy Park for the planting of fourteen new hawthorn trees near Hawthorn Lodge to replace those lost through storms and old age. The hawthorn is one of the original native species found in the park and it inspired the name “Bushy”. These hardy little trees with their white blossom and autumn berries and thorny branches will, we hope, help to attract insects and small birds back to the park.

The planting was most efficiently carried out by Bill Swan and his team - with the Friends lending a hand when needed. Two small boys with their mother and dog joined us and they will be able to say in years to come “I was there when those trees were planted in the year 2000”. That’s quite something to be able to tell one’s children! We can only hope that these trees will be as long -lasting and give as much pleasure as their predecessors have done.

Members of FBHP also assisted Environmental Centre staff in planting a hundred shrubs and small trees around the bird hide in the Brewhouse Meadows. The Friends had contributed £250 towards the cost of this greenery. The hide, which is now equipped with a ‘one-way mirror’ window, will allow generations of school children to observe birds at close-quarters.

Thanks to everyone whose contributions have helped to fund these valuable projects.

PROPOSED NEW ENTRANCE TO HOME PARK
Planning application 00/3256/C84 is for a new permanent entrance to Home Park from Hampton Court Road to give access to cars and Heavy Goods Vehicles. There is no guarantee that vehicles would only use these gates in the flower show period and we have opposed this application on safety grounds and because it will inevitably lead to yet another hard-surfaced road. We believe that increased intrusion from vehicles here will be to the detriment of the park.

2002
The Forum of Friends of the Royal Parks is made up of representatives of each of the Friends’ groups and meets regularly to discuss issues which affect all park users. The annual meeting with the minister responsible for the Royal Parks Agency, currently Tessa Blackstone at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, took place on 19 December. Will Weston, the Chief Executive of the Agency, also attended the meeting which began with each Friends’ group giving an account of its activities. The minister considers that the provision of green space and sports facilities for young people is an important function of the Royal Parks and the contributions that Bushy Park makes in this area were warmly received.

Forum members expressed their concerns over the forthcoming change of status of the RPA, which is to become a Non-Departmental Government Body (NDPB), and its possible effect on the level of government funding for the parks. We did not want to see increased private revenue, from sponsorships for example, offset by a reduction in support from the Treasury as this might lead to large fluctuations in funding. The current level of funding, which is already too low as a result of continual cuts, has left a backlog of essential maintenance work. Baroness Blackstone assured us that increased private income will not lead to a reduction in government funding.

Policing is a major burden on the RPA’s budget and the present understaffing of the Royal Park’s Constabulary has led to an increase in vandalism and the flouting of park regulations. We stressed that mounted police were very effective in parks. One problem is the heavy outflow of RPC recruits to better paid employment once they have completed their training with the RPC. In addition, uncertainty about the implementation of the Speed Report, which includes proposals for a merger with the Metropolitan Police, is also affecting RPC morale.

The final point made by the Forum was that there should be user representation on the new body of trustees that would replace the present advisory board of the RPA on which the Forum chairman has a seat.

Baroness Blackstone has already visited Bushy Park and has long been familiar with the inner Royal Parks. Her responsibilities already include over twenty NDPBs, many of them museums, so her statement that the change of status of the RPA will not have an adverse effect on government funding for the parks is based on ample prior experience.

THANKS TO NOELLE
No-one who has visited the Environmental Centre in Bushy Park can fail to be impressed with the quality of the programme, the facilities and the commitment of its volunteer staff. Thousands of young children have spent a day at the centre since its inception, following the nature trails and studying the life in the ponds and streams. The establishment of the centre and its successful running ever since has been almost entirely due to the dedication and enthusiasm of one woman – Noelle Leigh. With the backing of Dennis Goddard and Tony Molloy at the RPA, who worked hard to get the project up and running, Noelle and three volunteers set up the programme and classrooms ten years ago and opened the gates to the first coach-loads of schoolchildren. Since those early days, she has been an inspirational mentor to those who volunteered to be Trailblazers – giving confidence and support to new recruits. She has always been generous with her knowledge and unfailingly kind and good-humoured – whatever the problem, whatever the weather. Her mission has always been to give children a taste of what pleasure they can find in their natural environment and through that to grow into adults who will protect and conserve it. Noelle has always been modest about her achievements and said: “If I can light the spark of a love of nature in a child, it is all worthwhile”.

The Friends have always been fully supportive of this educational initiative in the Stockyard and would like to thank Noelle for the enormous amount of work she has so willingly dedicated to the park. Now that she has retired we hope that she will continue to share her expertise and love of nature with us.

LONG WATER AVENUE RESTORATION
Terry Gough, Garden and Estate Manager at Hampton Court Palace, presented his proposals for the restoration of the avenues of lime trees in Home Park at a meeting at St John’s School, Hampton Wick on 18 July attended by representatives of the Hampton Wick Association, the Teddington Society and the Friends of Bushy and Home Parks. These trees, which were planted in the late seventeenth century as part of William and Mary’s ambitious redesigning of the old Tudor palace and its grounds, form three great avenues radiating out from Wren’s Palace. Only 18 of the original trees still survive and many of those replanted are in a poor condition. Over the centuries many trees have been lost through storm damage and disease and there are now only 296 trees remaining out of 544 in the Long Water Avenue. The state of Home Park has been a cause for concern for the Friends over the past ten years as we have watched the continued decay of these magnificent avenues of trees, so there was much interest in the proposals for restoring them.

Terry Gough believes that the felling and replanting of all the limes in the Long Water avenue is now the only satisfactory option open to him. The alternative strategy - which entails leaving existing healthy trees and filling in the gaps with young trees – has not been satisfactory in this situation as the planting distance between the trees is much less than that between the horse-chestnuts in the main avenue in Bushy Park. As the trees are planted so close together, young trees are overshadowed by their mature neighbours while many have been damaged by falling boughs from neighbouring trees and trees blowing over in storms. Concerns were expressed at the meeting over the length of time it would take for the new avenue to mature; the loss of nesting sites in the old hollow trees which are so important to many of the birds in the park; the difficulty of removing the old tree roots thoroughly so that the new stock would not be impaired; and the adjustment of the planting position of new trees so that they were not set in exhausted soil.

Considerable research has gone into the drawing up of plans of the avenues and ecological and conservation issues have been taken into account. As much of the replanting in the past has not been accurate, the position of the new trees will not always coincide with those removed. In order to provide a safe haven for wildlife, the proposal is to leave the mature trees in the two outer avenues – the Ditton and Kingston Avenues - undisturbed while the trees in the Long Water Avenue and those already successfully planted in the Cross Avenue are properly established. European limes will be used in the replanting – a cross between our native small and broad-leaved limes - as it is a requirement of English Heritage that the historically correct species should be used. Sufficient stocks of the trees are today only available from Holland where they are traditionally propagated.

While there is great sadness at the felling of so many mature trees, the general feeling at the end of the meeting was of support for the current proposal as the most effective strategy to recreating these magnificent avenues for the benefit of future generations.

2003
We hope that by the time you receive this newsletter it will have stopped raining! After the stormy autumn, torrential rain over Christmas and snow in the New Year, the parks have again suffered from flooding - and even the recently improved drainage system has not been able to prevent standing water from flooding round Cobbler’s Walk.

Essential maintenance work in Bushy has been proceeding apace, with repairs to fencing and the banks of ponds. This is good to see - though we have received complaints about the damage caused as contractors’ vehicles drive over grassland, turning several grassy paths into quagmires. We have written to the Royal Parks Agency about this, pointing out that we want footpaths, not farm tracks! The RPA has responded, saying that it is aware of the problem and is seeking ways of reducing such damage without making the work prohibitively expensive.

Similarly, the ground was badly churned up in places at the Hampton Court Flower Show earlier in the year, despite the provision of metal tracking. One wonders why contractors are continually permitted to use vehicles one size larger than the roads will comfortably bear. This problem has also bedevilled events in Hyde Park in recent years, and the Forum of Friends of the Royal Parks has been pressing the RPA to limit the size of vehicles allowed into that park when negotiating with the organisers of future events.

Finally, the Friends would like to offer congratulations to Mike Fitt, Deputy Chief Executive of the RPA, who has been awarded the OBE in the New Year’s Honours List for Services to Royal Parks.

BRITISH AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES
Our September talk was by the wildlife photographer George McCarthy, returning after his successful previous talk on nature through the seasons. A similarly large audience gathered to hear about and see George’s impressive pictures of the twelve British reptiles and amphibians – three snakes, three lizards, three newts and three frogs and toads – as well as one or two foreign interlopers. Every picture told a story, from the life cycle of the newt – born with gills but transformed from eft to adult and an air-breathing life – to the sunbathing lizards and snakes.

We mourned the loss of heathland habitats, causing the confinement of the rare smooth snake now to just Hampshire, Dorset and some sites in Sussex. Snakes like these cannot close their eyes, in contrast to their lizard cousins, who can. Despite the hype, we were glad to hear that only ten people have been killed by adders in the last hundred years and the punch they pack in their two foot long bodies is fortunately rarely used. If passers by make enough noise not to surprise them, they slip away unseen and unprovoked.

Once again George left us considerably better informed and amazed by his wonderful photographs.

WORKS IN BUSHY PARK
There was criticism of the state of the Diana Fountain in the press and this has recently been cleaned, though doing so damages the stone so it cannot always be in a pristine condition. The fountains are switched off during the winter to stop the pipes (which also need repairing) from freezing.

Repairs to the perimeter wall have continued and all the fencing that can be replaced this financial year has been completed: broken slats have been replaced and wobbly slats spurred in two long sections round the Woodland Gardens. Five new vehicle gates have also been installed.

The work that has caused so much vehicle movement and damage to the grass round Heron Pond has been the replacement of the oak revetments which originally supported the banks of the boating pond and the stream linking Heron and Leg of Mutton Ponds. The banks have been capsizing and these improvements should contain the erosion; a number of ramp-ways will allow the deer to continue to enjoy their dunks in the ponds. Further work in this area has been the improvement of drainage and the construction of a short timber causeway to give access through the swampy area to the north of Heron Pond.

Drainage work has been taking place round Barton Cottage where a new ditch, crossed by wooden footbridges, has been dug to try to stop the cellar of the cottage flooding. Work here is well under way but has been hampered by the wet weather - as has the reconstruction of the tarmac path at Cobbler’s Walk that was damaged in last year’s floods.

The clear explanatory notices that have accompanied all these projects have been excellent and very well received by visitors to the park.

UPPER LODGE
At Upper Lodge the contractors have finished the building work and left the site, albeit with some making good yet to be done. Work on the restoration of the historic Water Garden has not yet started, but Donkey Corner has been re-seeded and the grass is growing well. The fence will come down once the turf is strong enough to withstand wear from deer and people. Unfortunately, recent rains have left a shallow pond in the centre of the new grass and there will have to be some re-levelling and further seeding to rectify this. We hope that this work can be done with the least possible damage and delay.

The RPA has applied for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to cover repairs to the hard fabric of Bushy Park – repairs to the walls, fences and paths for instance - which used to be covered by funding from central government. The steady erosion of this funding over the years has resulted in a huge backlog of essential repairs to be done.

It is hoped that a lottery grant will also increase the resources available for the Water Garden. This could help resolve the deadlock between the RPA and the Crown Estate over the long-term maintenance costs of the garden, a problem about which we have been complaining for some time. The return of this land to the park with public access to the Water Gardens was one of the reasons that the Friends supported the Priestmere Plan for the redevelopment of the site. We have waited patiently while the Crown Estate and Royal Parks Agency have wrangled over whose budget is to pay for what and are frustrated by the lack of progress. We are grateful for the interest shown by our local MP Vincent Cable in this connection; he has written several letters on our behalf to the parties concerned.