FAIRBRIDGE GARDEN & ARTS SOCIETYSupporting the Fairbridge Programme

of The Prince’s Trust

NEWSLETTER

www.fairbridgegardensociety.com

Issue No 74 Autumn/Winter 2015

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CONTENTS

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION 1

LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN 2

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 3

NOTICEBOARD 5

DIARY DATES 6

www.fairbridgegardensociety.comCover photograph by Vanessa Scholfield

Printed by Hot off the Press, Fulham Broadway, London SW6 1BH. www.hotoff.co.uk

Membership of Fairbridge Garden & Arts Society (FGAS) costs £25 per annum. Download a membership form from the website, www.fairbridgegardensociety.com, or ring or email the Membership Secretary Ruth Hayward on 020 8480 5060 or ruth.hayward1@gmail.com. Profits go to the Fairbridge Programme of The Prince’s Trust. The Prince’s Trust is a registered charity in England and

Wales 1079675 and in Scotland SCO 411.

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DEAR MEMbERS

Welcome back after the summer! Whatever happened to the barbecue summer we were all looking forward to? At least as September draws to a close we are enjoying an ‘Indian summer’ with some glorious sunny days and cool nights. For those of us in south-west London who have seen our box decimated by the dreaded box tree moth caterpillar, help is at hand from the RHS. Removal of the caterpillars by hand and then liberally spraying the box with a good chemical insecticide will help to contain it. Regular spraying is a must to ensure all the eggs and pupae are controlled. If you have given up on box, a good substitute, as suggested by the head gardener at Gravetye Manor, could be Phillyrea angustifolia or some of the smaller pittosporums and even yew. On a lighter note and to cheer us up in spring, it is time now to plant bulbs for a burst of colour.

As you will see from this newsletter we have some really good events planned for the autumn: not to be missed is Stephen Crisp. It has been a coup to secure the head gardener of Winfield House, the American Ambassador’s residence, to give us a virtual visit with his photographs through the seasons, because with recent tightened security it is no longer possible actually to go there. He is an entertaining speaker and with Thanksgiving and Christmas approaching, his fabulous floral decorations will be truly inspiring. To brighten up the gloomy January evenings we have a rare opportunity for exclusive access to Handel House for an evening reception, concert and tour. Very special, and with numbers strictly limited, do book your place early!

Over the summer we have been working hard to establish our new website and I am pleased to say it is coming along well. We plan to have it up and running by the end of the year. It will be more user-friendly and accessible than before and will host the newsletter, together with broader content as well as key information and a gallery for pictures. Content will evolve over time and we will have the facility for regular updates. Any ideas on what you would like to see included are always welcome.

Finally, our thanks must go to All Saints Primary School, which has very kindly allowed us to use their school hall for our Christmas Fair again this year. Please come along, bring friends and join us in supporting Fairbridge young people.

With best wishes,Vanessa ScholfieldChairman

FGAS CHRISTMAS FAIRMonday, 30 November: 6.15-8.15pm

All Saints Primary School, Bishops AvenueFulham, London SW6 6ED

Stalls, music, mulled wine, canapés and much more

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS: DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Read NOW and book immediately to be sure of your place

Thursday, 15 October: 2.30-4.30pmLIFE AND DEATH IN ROMAN LONDON - A WALK WITH DIANA KELSEY There are still places on this walk, which aims to give you an idea of the scale, geography and everyday life (and death) of 400 years of Roman London. We will see fragments of the Roman wall, the site of the forum, governor’s palace, a sacred river and of a recent excavation that has uncovered many Roman remains. Highlight of the walk is a visit to one of London’s ‘Hidden Treasures’: the remains of the Roman amphitheatre deep below street level. Starts 2.30pm. Meet outside main entrance to Museum of London. Nearest tube station, St Paul’s, then a 10-minute walk up St Martins le Grand and access via escalator to a high-level walkway. Cost: £18. To book, please email jill_marx@hotmail.com or ring Jill on 020 7736 1066 and complete the booking form within one week. Jill’s mobile on the day is 07840 206309.

Tuesday, 10 November: 6.30 for 7pm -8.30pm THE GARDENS AT WINFIELD HOUSE: LECTURE bY STEPHEN CRISP AT ALL SAINTS SCHOOL, bISHOPS AVENUE, LONDON SW6 6ED This is a rare chance for a visual tour of the gardens of the US Ambassador’s Residence at Winfield House in London. Regent’s Park was laid out by John Nash in the early 19th century, and Winfield House is on the Outer Circle on the northern side, and has splendid views over London framed by mature trees. Replacing an earlier house, this neo-Georgian house was built for Barbara Hutton in the 1930s. Stephen Crisp has been head gardener there for 28 years, and has replanted, redesigned and greatly enhanced the 12 ½ acres. His images reveal the garden throughout the seasons, starting in early spring with meandering woodland walks with hellebores and drifts of daffodils. Then there is formality in summer in the gloriously profuse rose garden and, on the other side of the house, a reflective pool and sculpture garden designed by Morgan Wheelock in 2000. In late summer the focus moves to an area with grasses, sedums, and Michaelmas daisies designed by Stephen and in autumn the many North American trees planted by visiting presidents and vice-presidents add golds and reds to the landscape. Stephen then moves inside the house with photos of exuberant floral arrangements and the fabulous table decorations he creates for grand events that sometimes include royalty and presidents. The decorations for Thanksgiving and Christmas are truly inspiring, and a brilliant source of ideas for our possibly more modest entertaining. Cost: £25. This is a donation to the Fairbridge Programme of The Prince’s Trust and will include a glass of wine and canapés as well as a donation to All Saints School. Guests welcome. To book, please email may.woods17@gmail.com or ring 020 7736 3210 and complete the booking form within one week. May’s mobile on the day is 07958 912271.

Wednesday, 18 November: 10.45 for 11amEXCLUSIVE TOUR OF APSLEY HOUSE, 149 PICCADILLY, HYDE PARK CORNER, LONDON W1J 7NTWe still have one or two places for a private guided tour of Apsley House, home of the first Duke of Wellington and familiarly known as ‘Number One, London’. The ‘Iron Duke’ lived at Apsley House after defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The house remains the London residence of the Dukes of Wellington today. Normally closed to the public at this time, our tour will include the glittering interiors highlighting the sumptuous gifts from emperors, tsars and kings to the Iron Duke. We will enter through the newly restored entrance hall, experiencing it as the Duke’s guests would have done. There are nearly 3,000 fine paintings including masterpieces from the Spanish royal collection of which three have only recently been attributed to Titian, as well as sculptures and works of art in silver and porcelain given to Britain’s greatest military hero. One highlight will be the huge banqueting table in the Waterloo Gallery, dressed beautifully to celebrate the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo. Cost: £24. To book, please email dottie@lundell.uk.net or ring 020 7731 0128 and complete the booking form within one week. Dottie’s mobile on the day is 07904 257974.

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Monday, 23 November: 6.15pm-8.30pmTHE COLLEGE OF ARMS, 130 QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, LONDON EC4V 4bTThe tour in January this year proved so popular that we are repeating it this autumn. Originally founded in 1484, the College of Arms, a handsome 17th-century red-brick building below St Paul’s and close to the Millennium Bridge, has been on the present site since 1555. Since the 1100s arms have been borne by individuals and corporate bodies as marks of identification. The 13 Heralds who make up the College maintain registers of arms, genealogies, royal licences, changes of name and flags and assist in state ceremonies. The senior Heralds, known as Kings of Arms, have been granting arms under Royal authority since the 15th century. Norroy and Ulster King of Arms, Timothy Duke, will show us from 6.30pm the main hall – the Earl Marshal’s Court – and the Waiting Room, explain the history of the building and the origins of Heralds and heraldry, and will talk about his ceremonial duties. He will then take us into the newly decorated Record Room and show us a range of heraldic and genealogical manuscripts. Afterwards, around 8pm, we will enjoy a glass of wine in his company. Meet at the front of the College at 6.15pm when the side gate in the railings will be opened. Numbers are strictly limited. Cost: £25.To book, please email willcoxjoanna@hotmail.com or ring 020 7736 5305 and complete the booking form within one week. Jo’s mobile on the day is 0787 6221062.

Monday, 30 November: 6.15-8.15pmFAIRbRIDGE GARDEN & ARTS SOCIETY CHRISTMAS FAIR, ALL SAINTS PRIMARY SCHOOL, bISHOPS AVENUE, LONDON SW6 6EDJoin in the festive spirit with mulled wine and canapés to saxophone music and stock up on gifts at a dozen stalls ranging from Christmas decorations and home-made jams and sweets to jewellery, paintings and a garden book signing, along with our popular tombola and raffle.

Thursday, 17 December: 7.30pmCAROLS FOR CHOIR AND AUDIENCE: ST SEPULCHRE’S CHURCH, HOLbORN VIADUCT, EC1A 2DQA special opportunity to hear Christmas music sung by London Concert Choir and to join in with the familiar hymns and carols. The choir, led by the music director Mark Forkgen and accompanied by the organist James Longford, is one of London’s leading amateur choirs that regularly appears at all the capital’s major concert venues – and beyond. It always dedicates a Christmas concert to a charity and this year Fairbridge Garden & Arts Society is lucky enough to be the named charity. St Sepulchre-without-Newgate is the Musicians’ Church and is located at the junction of Holborn Viaduct and Giltspur Street, opposite the Old Bailey. Nearest tube stations are St Paul’s and Farringdon and the church is almost exactly opposite the entrance to City Thameslink station. Tickets: £20, to include a glass of wine in the interval. To book, please email christine.ingram2@gmail.com, or ring 020 7731 3162 and complete the booking form within one week. As Christine will be singing in the choir, the mobile on the day will be Jo Willcox’s on 0787 6221062.

Wednesday, 20 January, 2016: 6-8.30pmHANDEL HOUSE RECEPTION, CONCERT AND TOUR, 25 bROOK STREET, LONDON W1K 4HbThis is a rare opportunity to have exclusive access to the first private home in which the great baroque composer George Frideric Handel lived in London, from 1723 until his death in 1759. It is where he composed such monumental works as Messiah, Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal Fireworks. Before 1723 he had lived in the houses of his wealthy patrons, but his income from performances of his Italian operas and his court appointment that year to the Chapel Royal enabled him to move into this fashionable area, near St James’s Palace, the artistic communities around Soho and Covent Garden, and St George’s Church, Hanover Square, which he attended as a parishioner and where he advised on the appointments of organists. Our evening starts with a drinks reception and canapés, followed by tours of the house, when we discover how the Handel House Trust restored as faithfully as possible the early Georgian interiors after raising funds to purchase the lease 15 years ago. We will then assemble for a concert of Handel’s music performed by a professional harpsicordist and singer in a recital room where the composer rehearsed his latest operas and oratorios with musicians and singers. Imagine a genius at work in this authentic, intimate space. Numbers strictly limited. Cost: £42. To book, please email ruth.hayward1@gmail.com or ring Ruth on 020 8480 5060 and complete the booking form within one week. Ruth’s mobile on the day is 07778 397851.

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Friday, 5 February, 2016: 11am-approx 2pm ‘PAINTING THE MODERN GARDEN: MONET TO MATISSE’: LECTURE AND VISIT, ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, LONDON W1J 0bD‘I perhaps owe it to flowers that I became a painter,’ Claude Monet wrote, and this major exhibition is a spectacular examination of the role of gardens in his paintings and of those of his contemporaries. Spanning the 1860s to the 1920s, the show brings together more than 120 works, including 35 by Monet and masterpieces by Klee, Nolde, Klimt and Kandinsky, not to mention Cassatt, Singer Sargent, Van Gogh, Matisse and Cézanne. Monet was a keen gardener, and the relationship between the cultivation and painting of his gardens is a focal point: on display are his horticultural books and journals, and the monumental triptych of his waterlilies at Giverny, loaned to Britain from the Musée d’Orsay for the first time. These canvases anticipate later artistic movements, which saw the Symbolists, Fauvists and German Expressionists turning gardens into an exploration of abstract colour theory and decorative design. Our lecturer will explain such contexts, before admission to the exhibition at 12.30pm. Meet at 10.45am at the foot of the staircase in the entrance hall. Cost: RA Friends £18, non-Friends £33. RA Friends are entitled to two places at £18 each because they can take a guest into the exhibition free. To book, please email christine.ingram2@gmail.com or ring Christine on 020 7731 3162 and complete the booking form within one week. Christine’s mobile on the day is 07540 615486.

It is essential that first you book your place, complete the enclosed booking form and send it with a cheque made out to FGAS or Fairbridge Garden & Arts Society to Dottie Lundell,

1 Edenhurst Avenue, London SW6 3PD, tel 020 7731 0128. If you want a receipt, please enclose a s.a.e. Tickets are not issued.

SAVE THE DATE‘bOTTICELLI REIMAGINED’ AT THE V&A - LECTURE AND EXHIbITION VISIT

March, 2016GARDENS IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE

mid-week, two-night trip in the second part of June, 2016

NOTICEbOARDCOUNTRY LIVING CHRISTMAS FAIRGet fresh inspiration for Christmas and be ahead with your shopping at the Country Living Christmas Fair at the Business Design Centre, Islington, London N1, which runs from 11-15 November. Browse and buy at the quality stalls and stock up on seasonal delicacies. Every type of decoration is available, from swags and garlands to sparkling baubles. Your ticket discount code of WClub15 entitles you to the special ticket price of £13, and is redeemable online at www.countrylivingfair.com/xmas or by ringing 0844 848 0150 (tickets on the door are £18).

EXHIbITION OF RECENT WATERCOLOURS 27-31 October

CLARE WEATHERILL AND ALISON HEHIRat Piers Feetham Gallery

475 Fulham Road, London SW6 1HL opposite the entrance to Chelsea Football Ground

www.piersfeethamgallery.com

CHRISTMAS TREESShoots & Leaves

are back selling trees in Bishops Park, Fulham from 27 November until 23 December.

For more information, contact Roz Strickland on 020 8563 7733.

‘Ai Weiwei’ until 13 December, Royal Academy of Arts. First major retrospective of the Chinese artist whose sculptures chronicle his work since 1993, when he returned to China from New York. www.royalacademy.org.uk

‘The Fabric of India’ until 10 January, 2016, V&A Museum. Part of its Festival of India, this is an extraordinary visual exploration of India’s handmade textiles of dazzling artistry. www.vam.ac.uk

‘Celts: Art and Identity’ until 31 January, 2016, British Museum. Diverse objects from the Iron Age to the present day, from shields, swords, brooches to book covers and tattoos.www.britishmuseum.org

‘Dressed by Angels’, from 2 October, Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane. 175 years of costumes from film, TV and stage, made by Angels over seven generations. www.dressedbyangels.co.uk

‘Goya: the Portraits’, 7 October-10 January, 2016, National Gallery. Fifty works, rich in technical skill and social commentary. www.nationalgallery.org.uk

‘Mademoiselle Privé’, 13 October-1 November, Saatchi Gallery. A brief, unique chance to see Coco Chanel’s haute couture designs and a re-edition of her only fine jewellery collection of 1932. www.saatchiart.com

‘The World of Charles and Ray Eames’, 21 October-14 February, 2016, Barbican Gallery. Pioneering designers of the 20th century famous for their iconic 1956 Eames lounge chair. www.barbican.org.uk

‘Alexander Calder: Performing Sculpture’, 11 November-3 April, 2016, Tate Modern. First major retrospective of the American sculptor who helped to reshape modernism. www.tate.org.uk

‘Samuel Pepys: Plague, Fire and Revolution’, 20 November-28 March, 2016. National Maritime Museum. A rich visual record of the great diarist’s life in the mid-17th century. www.rmg.co.uk

‘Artist and Empire’, 25 November-10 April, 2016, Tate Britain. An exploration of the British Empire’s impact on visual culture throughout the world. www.tate.org.uk

TEN TOP LONDON EXHIbITIONS

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Thursday, 15 OctoberRoman London walk

Tuesday, 10 NovemberLecture on the gardens of Winfield House, Regent’s Park

Wednesday, 18 NovemberTour of Apsley House

Monday, 23 NovemberVisit to the College of Arms

Monday, 30 NovemberFairbridge Garden & Arts Society Christmas Fair

Thursday, 17 DecemberLondon Concert Choir carol concert

Wednesday, 20 January 2016Reception and concert at Handel House

Friday, 5 February 2016‘Painting the Modern Garden’ lecture and visit, Royal Academy

Overleaf: on show at the Royal Academy (see details of the FGAS visit opposite),

Monet Painting in His Garden at Argenteuil, 1873, by Auguste Renoir, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT. Bequest of Anne Parrish Titzell, 1957.614.

Photo (c) Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT

Louis Comfort Tiffany, 1911, by Joaquin Sorolla, on loan from the Hispanic Society of America,

New York, NY. Photo (c) Courtesy of The Hispanic Society of America, New York

Diary Dates