A piece of Bedford Park’s artistic history has returned to the suburb after finding a home in a perfect setting within St Michael & All Angels Church. Four watercolours depicting Blenheim Road, Marlborough Crescent, Queen Anne’s Gardens and Woodstock Road were unveiled at a ceremony in the Church on 6 November. 

The paintings, completed in 1983-4, are the work of Fenja Anderson (née Gunn 1941–2020), donated by her husband Anthony to the Bedford Park Society. Fenja and Anthony lived at 33 Abinger Road from 1973–96 during which time Fenja was extremely active locally. She played a key role in the launch of the Open Gardens event, now part of the Bedford Park Festival, and wrote and illustrated Gardening in Bedford Park for the Bedford Park Society. 

Fenja worked first as a freelance fashion artist. After her history of cosmetics, The Artificial Face, was published in 1973, she started painting watercolours of street scenes and houses, many on commission. Gardening then became her main interest. 
 
She provided the illustrations for The Illustrated Garden Planter by Diana Saville, researched, wrote and illustrated Lost Gardens of Gertrude Jekyll and wrote many articles for magazines. The Andersons moved in 1996 to Bradfield in West Berkshire where Fenja designed and planted a celebrated garden, Mariners, which attracted visitors from all over the world. 

Nigel Woolner, President of the Bedford Park Society, who was responsible for finding a suitable site and arranging to hang the paintings, said: “We are delighted to have been able to find a location for these wonderful paintings in the Church at the heart of the community, which is just what Fenja would have wanted. We are very grateful to Father Kevin for agreeing to hang them in a place which displays them to great advantage and gives a new dimension to the staircase when visiting the Sacristy. The paintings can now be enjoyed by Bedford Park residents and visitors for generations to come.”  

The four watercolours, displayed on the staircase wall opposite the Sacristy, were unveiled by Anthony Anderson at a ceremony attended by members of Fenja’s and Anthony’s family together with representatives from the Bedford Park Society and St Michael & All Angels.

You can watch a recording of our online talk exploring Norman Shaw’s influence on Bedford Park’s development. The talk took place on 30 September.

To access the recording, you will need to purchase a £10 ticket.

Please contact us on: information@bedfordpark.org.uk for details of how to pay and see the recording.

Speaker: Nicholas Friend, MA (Oxon) MA (Cantab) FRSA. 

See below for details of this fascinating talk.

This year’s Betjeman Lecture took place online on Thursday 30 September at 7.30pm.

Norman Shaw, one of the most prominent and influential architects of his time, was appointed Estate Architect of Bedford Park in 1877 in the early stages of the development of its unique character. His designs — including houses, St Michael and All Angels Church and the Tabard Inn — set the tone for the estate, recognised internationally for its architectural importance.

The lecture looked at Bedford Park’s importance as a chapter in the Victorian house design revolution. Rather than offering a jumble of designs for individual houses, its architects felt their way towards an overall aesthetic for the world’s first garden suburb, which publicised itself as a Utopia for those of modest funds. 

Norman Shaw’s influence was crucial. As the designer of St Michael and All Angels Church, the Tabard Inn and Stores and several balconied and gabled houses, he set a standard for Bedford Park, which was followed by its later architects, as well as inspiring Hampstead Garden Suburb. 

Our speaker, Nicholas Friend, MA (Oxon) MA (Cantab) FRSA, explored Shaw’s work at Bedford Park in the context of his antecedents and his early dramatic houses, looking particularly at how Bedford Park’s borrowings from earlier English architecture function to please the eye, as well as representing both late Victorian and modern ways of life. 

You can read more about Nicholas below.

The talk including questions lasted approximately an hour.

Nicholas Friend MA (Oxon) MA (Cantab) FRSA

After working as Staff Tutor in art history for the extra-mural department of Cambridge University, Nicholas Friend was appointed Founder-Director of the Cambridge University Art History Summer School and continued in that post for 25 years.

Since 1986 he has also been Founder-Director of Inscape, the art history study tour society, which has taken its members into the active study of buildings and art galleries all over the world from Istanbul to New Mexico.

With Covid’s lockdown of study group travel, he currently gives extensive series of Zoom lectures on architecture, painting and the decorative arts. His interest in Bedford Park coincides with lecturing in late 19c British architecture and design for Sotheby’s Institute and elsewhere, together with his membership of the Victorian Society and William Morris Society. He chaired the latter Society’s Committee to celebrate the centenary of William Morris’ ‘News From Nowhere.’  He is an active Companion of Ruskin’s Guild of St George. 

Experimental traffic schemes

The temporary road closures affecting Chiswick and Bedford Park continue to provoke very mixed reactions from pedestrians, cyclists, motorists and local businesses. The changes included the trial road closures of Turnham Green Terrace, Devonshire Road and Fisher’s Lane.

We remain committed to working on behalf of the Society’s members and local residents to try to ensure a positive outcome from the trials, which would ideally provide improved access to Chiswick High Road, Turnham Green Terrace and Devonshire Road for cyclists and pedestrians, while at the same time minimising — to the greatest extent possible —  any adverse effect on the free flow of public transport, and commercial and private vehicles in the area.

We are concentrating our efforts on ensuring that any permanent proposals that emerge from the current temporary schemes provide for an appropriate balance of interests amongst all road users — pedestrians, cyclists, motorists and local businesses. To this end, we are building on the effective lines of communication we have established with local councillors to encourage them to work together to propose a constructive way forward for Ealing and Hounslow. We are also attempting to establish what criteria the councils are planning to use as a test for the success of the measures currently being trialled to ensure all stakeholder interests are represented, in particular those of local residents. 

Information on Hounslow’s Streetscape programme can be found on the Hounslow website.

Turnham Green Terrace and Devonshire Road reopened

When Thames Water extended their emergency works on Acton Lane into late November 2020, Hounslow Council suspended access restrictions for Turnham Green Terrace and it was then announced that this will continue. Enforcement of the restrictions and issuing of PCNs ceased and parking is once again permitted within the guidelines displayed.

Hounslow Council announced in July that Devonshire Road would re-open to through traffic from 8.00am to 5.00pm daily by the end of July. This follows consultation with residents and local businesses with the latter saying that they preferred a partial restriction of traffic, which would allow continued use of some parking space for outdoor dining.

Improving the Terrace

A report, prepared by leading transport engineers Urban Movement, suggested a range of improvements for Turnham Green Terrace — including a piazza outside Turnham Green Tube Station, more zebra crossings, public spaces and widened pavements, whilst retaining some parking, as well as through traffic.
 
The proposals are the result of a community workshop organised by group of local architects and planners. You can read the press release and full report here.  

Any comments received were included in the submission of the group’s recommendations to Hounslow Council.

Fisher’s Lane remains closed

Ealing Council have implemented the temporary closure of the Fisher’s Lane underpass to all traffic except buses, cycles and emergency vehicles.

Ealing Council consider it to be part of a strategic cycle route, intended eventually to link East Acton to Chiswick and to Cycleway 9 on the High Road. The Council have announced that the closure will be permanent.

The councils stated that a number of these changes are being introduced as Experimental Traffic Orders (therefore not requiring consultation) and that feedback will be reviewed to determine whether they should be continued beyond the trial period. If the councils decide to take any of the schemes forward on a permanent basis, they will have to launch a formal consultation at that point and residents will have an opportunity to make their views known.

Hounslow Council have announced that following the completion of an interim (3-4 months) and a final (7-8 months) review by an independent consultant into the temporary traffic schemes, all Hounslow residents will receive notification of a link to the reports. 

Feedback will be accepted up to the end of the trial and residents asked for final comments on the schemes in early January.

It’s important to continue to make your views known directly to the relevant local authority:

• To provide feedback on the Hounslow schemes, you should complete the consultation feedback form and/or email: traffic@hounslow.gov.uk   
• For further information or to make comments on the Fisher’s Lane scheme, email: COVIDtransport@ealing.gov.uk

We’ve also been asked to let you know about a local initiative — a petition organised by a resident who is concerned about a number of issues relating to the road closures. You can find details here.

Temporary Cycleway

A temporary version of the Cycleway 9 affecting the way traffic is managed between the junctions with Heathfield Terrace and Goldhawk Road is in operation.

Unlike the original plans for the segregated cycleway, there is no use of pavement space or removal of trees but the designs introduce a bi-directional cycle lane taking over existing bus lanes and restricting motor traffic to a single lane each way for much of the length of Chiswick High Road.

In addition to traffic congestion during the building of the cycle lane, there have been many comments made about the temporary scheme, including some concerns about potential safety issues for both cyclists and pedestrians, such as the complicated junctions, revised zebra crossings and bus stops, and changes to the way vehicles enter/exit side roads.

Transport for London (TfL) has stated that it remains committed to continue with the trial operation of Cycleway 9 although some changes are planned to the way the route operates and a consultation is to be held into the changes being proposed, as well as the long-term future of the scheme..

Figures released by TfL and Hounslow Council in July, which they say shows that Cycleway 9 has been a success are being strongly disputed by opponents of the scheme. You can read more on ChiswickW4.com.

Hounslow has asked for continued feedback from residents on the project.

To submit your views, including raising any safety concerns:

• Hounslow: complete the feedback form and 
• Transport for London: email streetspacelondon@tfl.gov.uk or haveyoursay@tfl.gov.uk