Park News - 79

parknews Nottingham Park Residents’ Association Newsletter

Issue 79 - July 2018

Vote 100 : The Park and the Struggle for Women’s Suffrage.

Royal Wedding Street Party Photos parknews | 1

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EDITOR’S NOTE Nottingham Park Residents’ Association (NPRA) Represents the interests of Park Residents. Membership open to all residents.

Mike Siebert, Chair msiebert@btopenworld.com Stephen Hyde stephen@hydemail.co.uk Heather Johnson-Hill heather.johnsonhill@ntlworld.com David Hill david.hill5020@live.co.uk Dan Lucas danlucas9012@gmail.com Barrie Shay barrie@bb2.home.co.uk Sarah Waites sarahgammage@uwclub.net Andrew Clark ac@blackhawkproductions.co.uk Claire Brown clairebrown948@hotmail.com Paul Hempstock editor@parknews.co.uk Philip Glazebrook philip@gradeuk.co.uk

0115 9243841 0115 9415598 0115 9417250 0115 9410963 0115 9243181 0115 9414943

0115 9502344 07747 037619 07736 857626 07974 912151

Nottingham Park Estate Ltd (NPEL) Manages the estate on behalf of residents.

Directors and sub-committees on which they serve: CS - Communications & Security, F - Finance, PG - Parking & Gas Lighting, G - Greens, PP - Planning & Property, RM - Road Maintenance, Parking & Gas Lighting, HR - Human Resources Andrew Timms, Chair (F, HR)andrewtimms@ntlworld.com Josie Tanvir (G, HR) tanvir.thepark@gmail.com Sara Gadzik (PP, G) Mike Hallam (PP, F) Christina Bates (CS, PP) cjbates.thepark@gmail.com Claire Manktelow (G) Neil Harvey (F) Sean Henry (PP) Lorna Hulme (PP, HR) Philip Lyon (F, G)

Welcome

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elcome to edition 79 of Park News. It’s been great to receive some fascinating articles from residents for this edition.

David Stewart’s piece on the women’s suffragists movement in The Park gives names and faces to those women who fought for their right to vote a hundred years ago. The Park acquired a new blue plaque this year for Albert Ball’s house on Lenton Road (see page 27). I’m not aware that any women have been recognised within the estate in the same way. In the year of Vote 100 perhaps the powers that be should think about that now that we know where these women lived.

Carolyn Greenwood has produced a wonderful history of one of the most prominent houses in The Park, Newcastle Court. It’s a striking illustration of the great wealth of historical information that is now accessible to us on the internet and in our local libraries.

Enjoy the summer!

Estate Office Team: Adam Lloyd 0115 9474273 NPEL General Manager adam@nottinghamparkestate.co.uk Lesley Ogram 0115 9474273 Senior Finance & Administration Officer lesley@nottinghamparkestate.co.uk Barbara Smith 0115 9474273 NPEL Finance & Administration Officer barbara@nottinghamparkestate.co.uk Kirsty Faulconbridge 0115 9474273 NPEL Estates Assistant kirsty@nottinghamparkestate.co.uk

The Park Conservation Trust (NPCT) A company with charitable status set up by NPEL in 1992. Administered by nine trustees nominated by the NPEL, NPRA, Nottingham Civic Society, the Victorian Society, Nottingham & Derby Society of Architects and one volunteer Park resident. Its objectives are “the preservation and conservation of the historical, architectural, constructional and landscape heritage of the Estate”.

Dan Lucas, Chair

0115 9243181

Park News published by Parkgate Media Ltd Editor - Paul Hempstock Parkgate House, 1 Peveril Drive The Park Nottingham NG7 1DE Tel. 07736 857626 www.parknews.co.uk editor@parknews.co.uk Whilst every reasonable care is taken, neither Nottingham Park Residents’ Association (NPRA) nor its agents can accept any liability for any loss or damage arising from any articles, advertisements or other items in this publication. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the NPRA. We have no connection with any other publication in Nottingham.

Cover image:- Newcastle Circus, by the Editor. parknews | 3

NPRA THE PARK ON THE INTERNET

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HE PARK ESTATE has a growing presence on the Internet. Here we list the resources available and how you can make the most of them. Anything else you come across is not connected with Nottingham Park Estate Ltd (NPEL) or the Nottingham Park Residents’ Association (NPRA).

PARKNEWS.CO.UK This is the website of the Nottingham Park Residents’ Association. Look here for details of events. Now under new management and regularly updated.

THENOTTINGHAMPARKESTATELTD.CO.UK Official website of the Nottingham Park Estate Ltd (NPEL) - the estate management company.

Look here for company news and announcements and Neighbourhood Watch information.

FACEBOOK.COM/GROUPS/NOTTINGHAMPARKESTATE The Nottingham Park Residents’ Association on Facebook. All events and news posted here. Frequently updated.

YOUTUBE.COM/USER/NOTTSPARKESTATE Videos of The Park on YouTube.

Maintained by the NPRA.

NOTTINGHAMPARKHOUSES.CO.UK A database of original houses in the estate and what we know about them. Produced by the Nottingham Park Conservation Trust.

FACEBOOK.COM/NOTTINGHAMPARKESTATE The public Facebook page of the estate maintained by the NPRA.

PARKNEIGHBOURS.ORG.UK Creative community projects from the Park Neighbours Network.

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NPRA

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NPRA

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hen you join the NPRA you get The Park Card. The card offers a range of discounts at some of Nottingham's finest restaurants and businesses, as shown below. You will save the price of NPRA membership simply by using the card a couple of times. For full terms and conditions, see the NPRA website www.parknews.co.uk/about-the-npra/the-park-card/ You can apply your Park Card 10% discount to all class purchases at Hotpod Yoga.

20% Discount on all services at Henfrey’s Salon on Friar Lane.

10% discount on food in both Hart’s Restaurant and the Park Bar.

Free annual social membership at Nottingham Squash Rackets Club for Park Card holders and a 14 day free trial of full membership.

Chino Latino is delighted to offer 15% off the total restaurant bill on presentation of at least one Park Card between four people.

Springhead Brewery are offering 10% discount on their awardwinning craft beers in bottles, cans, 17 or 35 pint boxes (great for parties or the festive season!) or 9 gallon casks to enjoy at home for Park Card holders. Call 0115 941 3187 or email richard@springhead.co.uk for orders and info. Collect from Ellington on Tattershall Drive, or delivery to your door available across The Park!

MemSaab are offering 15% off your total bill when eating in the restaurant.

The Christian Duplicating Service is pleased to offer 15% off colour copying, photocopying, laminating, business stationery, leaflets, dissertation binding.

Whitwell's are offering 10% discount on catering and all takeaway sandwiches from their shop on Alfreton Road.

Playhouse Bar and Kitchen offers 10% on food from their restaurant.

20% discount for Park Card holders at Nottingham’s The Cumin.

Kemps Jewellers 10% off any transaction for Park Card holders.

Shea Bliss Therapies are offering 15% discounts on their treatments.

Offering 10% discount (on all full price purchases) on production of the Park Card at Le Chien et Moi, 60 Derby Road.

Crafty Sparrow, Friar Lane.

10% discount to Park residents on all hair services and alternative therapies.

10% off food (when eating from the a la carte menu), for up to 6 people and not valid on the Early Bird Menu or special events at The Sanctuary.

10% off food and drink.

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Urban Escape spa and treatment rooms are offering discounts on monthly membership rates, day rates and treatments. £1 per session discount for all Park Card holders and for Park Day Club and Squash Club members (and their families) at Little Wickets.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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ir, would you please consider the following for publication.

Are you one of the residents who has been appalled by the massive over-inflation increase of 9.6% proposed for the Park Estate Rent Charge, with no obvious benefits for the residents?

This increase is not a one-off. The Park Estate Chairman proposes an increase of 30% over the next 4 years and this year’s increase is already well above that proposed by the Chairman last year.

Many elderly residents are on a fixed income and most employees, particularly those in the public sector, have to manage with below inflation salary increases. Many residents will be made significantly worse off by these increases.

vote in their favour would force the Board to acknowledge the level of opposition to the increases.

There also needs to be far greater transparency in the accounts, with easily understandable year on year comparisons and justification for increases. Normal operational expenses should be clearly separated from expenditure on major capital items and residents should be consulted on their priorities.

It is clear that one person standing in opposition will do no good. It needs an organized group to stand for election to the Board if change is to be forced through.

If you agree with us and would like to do something about it then please contact arthurhilary@gmail.com Arthur and Hilary Moore 8 Pelham Crescent

It seems to us that the Board of Directors is out of touch with the majority of residents, but many people who live in the Park are too busy to do anything. Last year there was no election for the Board as there were only enough nominations to fill the available seats.

The only way these Rent Charge increases can be stopped is for enough people to be elected to the Board who oppose above inflation charges. New Board members would not initially have a majority, but a clear

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HISTORY

A Century of Women’s Suffrage

By David S Stewart OBE D.Litt.h.c. DL ide blows our banner, and hope is waking!”

The stirring words of Ethel Smyth recall the long march toward equal parliamentary suffrage in this country and as we celebrate Vote100 this year it is perhaps time to reflect on the part played by The Park women and men in the Cause. Nottingham, long renowned for its radical independence and nonconformity, produced many who strove for the right for women to vote. Indeed, Nottingham was seen by some as a hotbed of radicalism. Writing to her niece, Lady Amberley, wife of the newly elected MP for Nottingham, in 1866, Louisa Stanley noted, “There is not so rough and brutal a lot as the Nottingham mob in all England. Well can we remember the Past – the burning the Castle – the attack upon Private Houses…”

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philosophy. They were taught French, to take an interest in public affairs, to think for themselves and “have an earnest purpose in life.” Dancing classes were organised at Bromley House Library. An active Sunday School teacher at High Pavement, Catherine was the cousin and sometime companion of Harriet Martineau, the economist and daughter in law of Rev William Turner, mentor of Mrs Gaskell. Other women who signed the petition who later lived in The Park included Mrs Sarah Loverseed of Gladstone House, Lincoln Circus, Elizabeth Westmoreland, Park Valley, and Elizabeth Cummins Key, (when married to John Jardine) 14 Newcastle Drive and then 14 Pelham Crescent. In February 1867, Mrs Turner and her friend, Miss Sunter, were once again collecting signatures for another petition.

On the other side of the road from Catherine Turner, on Park Row (not to be confused with the street, Park Row) lived the Jacoby family at Oakhill House. Moritz Jacoby, a successful Jewish lace manufacturer from Germany was a Director and President of People’s College, which sits to the rear of Oakhill House. People’s College had provided for adult female classes since 1848 and a Girls’ Department, offering a broad education, set up in 1850.

His son, John Henry Jacoby was elected a director in 1871, the same year in which the Head Mistress of the In that same year, 1866, Lady Girls Department at People’s College became secretary Amberley signed the Suffrage of the newly formed Nottingham Committee of the London Petition along with 1500 other National Society for Women’s Suffrage. Three years women. Amongst them were later, another son, born in the Park who joined the Unitarians, James Alfred Jacoby aged 22, was joint 50 women from Nottingham, secretary of the Committee with Miss Sunter, organising one of whom, Mrs Catherine the sale of tickets to the Mechanics Hall with Miss Lydia Turner, (1797-1894) lived in Becker as speaker. Later as Sir James Jacoby MP he the Park at 8, Park Terrace recalled with pride his involvement in the early days of (and later 13 Park Terrace.) female suffrage. After a lull in activities Jacoby, now a Passionate about education town councillor was supporting the suffrage meeting at for girls – she had run a girls the Co-operative Hall in 1880. school on Market Street and later at Lenton Fields, Catherine was the widow of Rev Henry Turner of the High Pavement Unitarian Chapel. She believed in a broad and TOP: Millicent Fawcett, President of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies enriching education, including botany, history and LEFT: Mrs Catherine Turner, 8 Park Terrace parknews | 9

HISTORY

Active in this new wave of activity were the Guilford sisters, Sarah and Hannah who lived at 23, Lenton Avenue. In December 1883 Hannah joined the committee of the newly formed Nottingham Women’s Suffrage Society, of which her elder sister, Mrs Ann Cowen, was Secretary. Supported by her husband, George, Ann lived nearby on the Ropewalk. These three sisters were to play a large part in extending the public role of women in Nottingham. Ann had been elected to the Nottingham School Board in 1881, although ironically her unmarried sisters, as ratepayers had voting rights which she did not! Such was the stupidity of the law. The Guilford sisters’ names appear at many suffrage meetings and in 1892, Hannah joined the School Board. Mrs Cowen, supported by the Bishops of Southwell and Nottingham, championed the cause for women to be elected to the Poor Law Boards in 1894, and her sister, Sarah was elected to the Nottingham Board.

It is clear that what The Park activists had in common, regardless of denominational allegiance or type of family business, is that they had the financial advantage which enabled them to employ household staff which gave them the time and energy to engage in political activities.

Many of the women who supported the suffrage cause, were often part of the Liberal Party and had many other interests. Two good examples of this are the Quaker Hutchinson sisters, Rachel Proctor Hutchinson of 5, Lenton Road and her elder sister Margaret Hutchinson, Kirkstall Lodge, 3 Cavendish Crescent South. Margaret, as well involved in the suffrage cause, held office in the Nottingham Women’s Liberal Association and was involved with the Nottingham Day Nursery and TOP LEFT: Miss Hannah Guilford, 23 Lenton Avenue TOP RIGHT: Miss Sarah Guilford, 23 Lenton Avenue RIGHT: Mrs Ann Cowen

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Orphanage, Nottingham Charity Organisation Society and the British Temperance League. Her sister Rachel was active at suffrage meetings in the 1880s and twenty years she was still organising ‘at homes’ to support the local branch of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).

With the death of Ann Cowen in 1894 Alice Dowson of Felixstowe House, Clumber Road West (burnt down in the 1960s) became secretary of the local branch of the NUWSS. Her mother had been a pupil of Catherine Turner and Alice belonged to the strong family of Unitarians, which included Gregs, Rathbones, Needhams, Martineaus, Hollands and Enfields. She had supported the suffrage cause since the 1870s. How she found time to be so active as the mother of 10 children by the age of 32!

She handed on the secretaryship to her daughter-in-law, Helena Dowson in 1896. Helena was the daughter of Councillor Anderson Brownsword, who had supported the suffrage movement in Nottingham. When Alice moved from The Park, Helena and her husband, solicitor, William Enfield Dowson, moved into Felixstowe House, and this became the rallying point of the Nottingham branch of the

HISTORY NUWSS. She worked closely with her sister in laws, Miss Maud Dowson and Mrs Hilda Dowson, great niece of Mrs Gaskell.

Other Park members of the NUWSS included Mrs Annie Charlotte Eberlin, 16, Park Terrace, Mrs Helen Wynne Humphreys, 1 Park Drive, Miss Lucy Ann Pemberton, Kennilworth House, Kennilworth Rd, Mr Arthur and Mrs Frances Richardson, 17 Park Valley, Mrs Kate May Snook, Castle Grove, Mrs Jessie Kentish Wright, 9 Newcastle Drive, Mrs Jessie Wilkins, 4, Clare Valley, Miss Olga Mary Walker, 3, Hollies Crescent, Miss Constance Bourne, St Ives, 4 Tattersahll Drive, Mrs Lena Dowson, Brightlands,(now Adam House) Clumber Rd East, Mrs Jane Brownsword, 15 Cavendish Crescent South, Rev. Bingley Cass, 4, Park Drive. Mrs Mary Hewison Lewenz, who lived at 7 Clumber Crescent South, when Miss Gunston, had been Hon Secretary of Nottingham Branch of the Women’s Freedom League. She had taught Swedish Gymnastics at the Boys High School during the war and taught at Nottingham University College. Her daughter, Letty, became Head Mistress of the Girls High School.

At Hardwick House, Cavendish Crescent North, lived Hon Mary Handford, daughter of Lord Belper, who on her removal to Southwell became a member of the committee the Southwell branch of the NUWSS in 1910.

Felixstowe hosted speakers such as Eleanor Rathbone, a distant relative of Helena Dowson, Edward Carpenter, as well as Mrs Bertrand Russell in 1909. Mrs Russell, (born Alys Pearsall Smith) was the daughter in law of Lady Amberley whom we have already met in this article.

Fundraising activities had support from Mrs Elizabeth Anne Watson of Burton House, Newcastle Circus, who in 1910 threw her garden open for an “effective suffrage play” entitled Lady Geraldine’s Secret”, whilst 80 children performed the scene between Titania and Oberon.

Meanwhile at Felixstowe, “hidden amongst the shrubbery was a ladies orchestra.”

The Park suffragists were those who sought to bring about change by constitutional means, petitioning Parliament and gaining support from MPs who were sympathetic to their cause. They were firmly behind the leadership of Millicent Fawcett. They were to be frustrated time and again. Nationally there were those who felt the time had come for action and in 1903 the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) was founded

by Mrs Pankhurst, the Nottingham branch forming in 1908. Their mantra was “Deeds not Words.”

Park supporters of the WSPU did include the Quakers, Mrs Catherine Hutchinson (born an Adlington from Mansfield) and her daughter, Miss Sarah Hutchinson, 5 Cavendish Crescent South. Sarah was the niece of the Misses Hutchinson, already mentioned. In 1911 Sarah and her mother hosted a “Garden at Home” at which a banner was unveiled, the work of local talent. Monies were collected for the cost of the banner, and a short play, entitled “The Englishwoman’s Home” was performed

by Mrs Pemberton Peake’s company from Leicester.

Sarah became one of the women who boycotted the 1911

Census. She went on to become Secretary of the Nottingham branch of the Friend’s League for Women’s Suffrage in 1913. At the start of the First World War when a truce had been declared by the suffrage organisations, Sarah chaired the first meeting of the Women’s Suffrage Relief Corps in 1914.

Direct action such as setting fire to Pillar Boxes did not endear the WSPU to the leaders of the NUWSS and when in 1912, Helena Dowson organised an Xmas Tree Bazaar opened by Princess Catherine Duleep Singh, speakers spoke out against the actions of the suffragettes. On 30th May 1914, Park residents awoke to the news that the Park Tennis Pavilion had been set on fire. No one was ever caught but it was assumed that from “blasphemous suffragette leaflets” found nearby that this was the work of the WSPU. With the outbreak of war, campaigning was suspended and energies were diverted into the war effort. Hannah Guilford was recognised for her efforts with Free Kitchens with an MBE in 1918, one of the first women in Nottingham to be so honoured.

As the War entered 1918 the Government finally passed the Representation of the People Act, which gave the Parliamentary vote to all men over the age of 21 and women over the age of 30 who were householders, wives of householders, occupiers of property worth £5 or graduates of Universities. It would be another ten years until women reached parity with men. The 1919 Sex Discrimination (Removal) Act, although seen by some as giving limited opportunities enabled women to become magistrates and Helena Dowson was appointed a Nottingham magistrate in 1920. In 1924 the American, Mrs Caroline Weinberg, Hardwick House, Cavendish Crescent North was appointed the first Jewish female magistrate. Alice Dowson’s granddaughter, Alix Kilroy (later Dame Alix Meynell) was the first Nottingham born Civil Servant, by public examination in 1925.

This has been a quick resume of the role played by Park women and men in the fight for Votes for women and I have listed further work. The fight was long but the resolve of these Park residents never faltered and we should be proud of them.

“Shoulder to Shoulder and Friend to Friend” For further information: No Surrender – Women’s Suffrage in Nottinghamshire – Nottingham Women’s History Group 2018 The Women’s Suffrage Movement in Britain and Ireland – A Regional Survey - Elizabeth Crawford 2006 What Grandmother Said – Alix Meynell 1998 Photos I would like to thank the ‘Manuscripts and Special Collections, the University of Nottingham’ ‘Records of High Pavement Presbyterian (Unitarian) Chapel, Nottingham. Hi P 51-2, Hi P 128, Hi P 129, Hi P 130.

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PEOPLE I couldn't linger. I needed to catch the same bus on its return trip to Birmingham. Once at number 3, I let myself in with my sister's latch key, crept past the door of the ground floor flat where the frightening landlord lived, up the stairs and IN. I found what I had been sent for, my sister's party dress, forgotten as she hurriedly packed to come home for Christmas. Heart pounding, I stuffed it into a carrier bag, exited the house silently, ran back round to Park Valley. Up The Steps two at a time. Five minutes to spare before the bus left, and I used every second of four of them in gazing rapturously over The Park again. 'I will be back' I whispered into the quiet and indifferent darkness.

Back on the bus, I sat in a dream. My sister had graduated elsewhere, but she had been at Nottingham University, and living in The Park for three months, doing a Post Graduate Teaching Diploma. Why had she not told me how wonderful it was? But enough of that. I had to plan.

Obviously, I needed to get a place at Nottingham University. There would be opposition at home. I was the fourth daughter in the family [the fourth failed attempt at a son, actually] and my parents were sad that my sisters had left for university and never returned to live in Birmingham. Only the previous weekend there had been a conversation about what a good university we had on our doorstep in Edgbaston. In the short term, my sister Vivien was going to see a lot of me in Huntington Drive.

For the long term, I had a year to plot, sulk, urge, bully and coax. This covered my skills base nicely.

OLIVIA JOSE First day at University in 1964

A LOVE AFFAIR FOR LIFE

By Olivia Jose

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he year was 1963, the month was December — a shivery, foggy December as I dismounted stiffly from the X99 bus that had brought me from Birmingham to Nottingham to visit a house in The Park. I was clutching a roughly-drawn map which would take me to 3, Huntingdon Drive, but first, my big sister had told me, I had to find the Park Steps. Easily done and I stood on the topmost step, holding on to the rail, and gazing over the beautiful houses of Park Valley, and all the roofs beyond, and it seemed, in the dusk, and the mist, with the shadowy tree tops, illuminated gently by the gas lamps below, to be floating. I was utterly bewitched. More than bewitched, I was in love. parknews | 12

A year later, I returned for an interview. University application was simple at this time. There were around 15 universities, and one applied directly to the institution.

Even better, The English Department set its own entrance paper. I sat the paper,and then had a frightening interview in which I was asked 'What made you choose Nottingham University?' I was so busy NOT saying 'So I can live in The Park, of course!' that I couldn't think of anything literary. I'm glad to say I can't remember what piece of nonsense I came out with. A fortnight later I received the offer of an unconditional place. I ripped up the applications to Birmingham University. Job done.

Shortly afterwards, another letter. A place had been reserved for me at Florence Nightingale Hall, on the campus, a Women's Hall of Residence. I was prompt in telling the Authorities that I didn't need the place, thank you, I was going to live in The Park. They were even prompter in response: It was University policy for all first year female students to live in hall. They recommended a second year as well. The age of majority was 21, remember, and the university was in loco parentis. There was no negotiation. Apparently, they looked forward to seeing me on October. My moral tutor was a Dr.Varley and he was allegedly also looking forward to meeting me.

Plotting, urging, bullying and coaxing were not options.

That just left sulking and I gave it my full attention.

Two years later, I was told by the Accommodations Officer, a Mr.Singleton, that I would be supplied with a list of accredited landlords in Beeston if I was foolish enough

PEOPLE to leave the security of life in Hall. No. There was certainly no accommodation available in The Park.

Right. I had played fair, now to play dirty.

Money was very limited. My grant was ÂŁ70 a term, which had to cover everything. But I had worked each University vacation at Typhoo Tea-Packing Factory in Deritend in Birmingham. I had saved. I copied down 5 addresses of landlords in Beeston, and formed a cunning plan: The second landlord, on Cyprus Road in Beeston, on whom I tried my sales patter, was puzzled but willing: in return for ten shillings a week he would sign my form, say I was 'living there' and take in all mail.

Now to find a flat in The Park. I found the basement flat at 7, Clumber Crescent South and oh! the joy with which I wrote that address on my Rolling Stones LP sleeves! I wasn't old enough to sign the lease but my boyfriend, Calder Jose, was 23, and the owner of the house accepted him as guarantor even though he was living in Sherwood Hall on the campus.

My year in the Park was wonderful. I walked every Road, Crescent and Drive, east, west, north, south I gazed and wondered and exulted in its beauty. I played a regular Sunday afternoon game of choosing which house I would live in when I was rich and grown up. [Yes, I am still waiting, thank you. If I had known, though, that after three years of working in London at the headquarters of ShellMex BP, circumstances [well, Calder actually] would bring me back to live in The Park, and that for the majority of my adult life I would live in the house I had chosen on my walks, and that I would finally come to rest on South Road, just round the corner from number 7, Clumber Crescent South, would I have parted with half my weekly allocation of money, to live in that basement flat for a year? Oh yes. Without hesitation.

I lived that year in a constant, low level state of anxiety. If found in breach of University Regulations, one could be refused graduation. The risk was not high, but it was there, and the name Singleton, whenever encountered over the next 50 years has caused a tremor.

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U3A Park Nottingham U3A

By Chris Colbeck

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fter 18 months since its launch Park Nottingham U3A is well and truly established in The Park Estate. It has attracted a vibrant group of retired and semi-retired people living in The Park and nearby areas. Members meet together in the community hub of The Nottingham Squash Rackets Club on Tattershall Drive. With easy free parking, disabled access and comfortable lounge area and bar the Squash Club is fully inclusive.

Attracting over 90 active members living in or near The Park the group has become a true source of friendship and learning for many of its members.

Park Nottingham U3A meets at a monthly Coffee Morning (on the third Tuesday of every month) offering a host of interesting and varied speakers and in smaller numbers in interest groups which include the following :-

MAHJONG At the squash club

Walking (long and short), Local History, Fine Dining, Book Club, Play Reading, Poetry, Table Tennis, Mahjongg, Photography, Gardening Club in The Hart's Community Garden, Computer Help, German and Early Doors Social (every Friday at 5pm in The Squash Club bar).

The Group keeps its members fully informed with a monthly newsletter and regular emailed updates. For those who cannot access the Internet we can provide a hard copy.

With membership held at just £24 per person (50 pence per week) Park Nottingham U3A offers very good value for money. Most of the smaller groups activities are either free or at a small cost if visiting an outside venue.

Recent trips have included a backstage tour of Hambleton Bakery with Tim Hart in Rutland, Lunch at Hambleton Hall, Langar Hall, Alchemilla, La Rock and visits to The Council House Nottingham, The Malt Cross, Chatsworth House, Ruddington Framework Knitters Museum, Newstead Abbey and many more.

WALKING GROUP At Wollaton Park

We are very grateful to The Nottingham Squash Rackets Club for continuing to provide such an excellent venue for the group to meet.

Information on the varied activities can be obtained by visiting the website which is :www.parknottinghamu3a.org.uk For information about membership contact members.parknottinghamu3a@gmail.com

PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP Winning entry of ‘Essence of The Park’ photography competition.

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PARK NEIGHBOURS NETWORK Park Neighbours Network

By Christine Brooke

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fter a long and hard winter we are delighted to be back in The Hart's Community Garden, providing a quiet place to sit and enjoy the tranquility of Park life. The garden is situated in the grounds of Nottingham Squash Rackets Club on Tattershall Drive.

We would like to thank Annie and her team of volunteers from Park Nottingham U3A who have included the garden's maintenance in one of their weekly activity groups - every Wednesday from 2pm.

PNN MINI-BUS SERVICE

We are also very grateful to Hart's Nottingham and FHP Living for their continuing support but most particularly to The Squash Club for giving us such a wonderful community base.

Following on from the success of last year's Free Bus we are delighted to announce that we will be reinstating it from September this year thanks to the generosity of Tim Hart of Hart's Nottingham. The mini-bus will run once a month, on the last Wednesday of each month and will leave The Squash Club at 10.45am to go across town to The Victoria Centre. It is aimed at those who find the trek across town a little difficult. At 1pm the bus will then collect from the pick up point and deliver back (dropping at several points in The Park). It will operate initially for three months from September through til the end of November. For those that would like we meet up for the last half hour for a coffee in The Victoria Centre.

HARTS COMMUNITY GARDEN At the squash club

(Just to explain to those who are new to The Park, Park Neighbours Network is a small group of volunteers who ran a year long range of community activities at Nottingham Squash Rackets Club in 2017 funded by local business support and a lottery grant. The group also brought live outdoor theatre to The Park in The Bowl of Activeace Arena. The Hart's Community Garden exhibited at The Park Garden Trail last year and has received several visits and words of support from our local MP Lilian Greenwood. PNN also introduced The University of The Third Age to The Park, now known as Park Nottingham U3A which has received very favourable local support.

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The Royal Wedding 2018

By Paul Hempstock

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beautiful day brought a last minute rush of ticket sales and in the end we had 600 guests at the street party. Between the NPRA and the Park Garden Trail, £1000 was raised for small local charities PICTURED RIGHT - SOPHIE JOHNSON-HILL AND HER PARTNER ANDREW SHIM. Andrew, an actor, starred alongside HRH Meghan Markle in the 2015 film “Antisocial” which is currebtly available on Netflix.

Photos by the editor

PROPERTY

Ugly House to Lovely House

By Paul Hempstock f all the egregious planning decisions inflicted on The Park over the years, the decision in the 1980’s to grant permission for the construction of 2 Ogle Drive in the gardens of 5 Castle Grove must surely be one of the worst.

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Constructed from cheap, modern, red bricks, at street level it resembled an industrial lock-up. On the first floor a leaky conservatory suggestive of an allottment greenhouse did much to disfigure what was already a strikingly ugly shed-like brick structure.

Chiles, Evans + Care Architects Ltd were engaged by the production company to do the design work around Mandy’s £80,000 budget.

ABOVE: 2 OGLE DRIVE BEFORE. BELOW: MANDY GRIFFITHS RIGHT: AFTER CONVERSION

The first design was highly ambitious, left not a single room of the house untouched and required moving the staircase. At £140,000 this was beyond Mandy’s reach but the second iteration, though still £20,000 more than she had hoped was approved.

So we all owe a debt of gratitude to Mandy Griffiths who saw the potential to transform the property into a stylish family home. Mandy, a midwifery sister at Queen’s Medical Centre had long wanted to live in The Park and when the property came on the market for £425,000 Mandy bargained them down to £397,000.

Work commenced in the spring of 2017 and it was soon discovered that the house’s ugliness was more than skin deep. George Clarke, presenter of the series, commented that the shoddiness of the construction of the front facade was the worst he had ever seen and was “frightening”. The roof of the garage was found to be dangerously rotten and was removed.

The main attraction was the three good-sized bedrooms, one with en-suite. But the teired gardens also offered significant scope for developing the outdoor space.

The TV crew made numerous visits to The Park over the summer to film the progress of the works and interview locals such as myself and the NPRA chair, Mike Siebert.

Initially Mandy’s ambitions were quite modest. She was intending to render the front wall, change the front door, demolish the conservatory and add an extension.

The project was eventually delivered for £117,000 and Mandy is delighted with the final results and says that she will not be moving again. She hopes to open her garden for the next garden trail once landscaping is complete.

It was Mandy’s daughter who suggested contacting one of the TV property restoration programmes but by coincidence the estate agent who had sold the property got in touch to say that the TV company, Amazing Productions, had already approached them.

Ugly House to Lovely House with George Clarke is still available on Channel 4’s on demand TV service, channel4.com

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Photos courtesy of Chiles, Evans + Care Architects Ltd

NPRA

The Pavillion Restored

The pavillion is available to hire and the costs are as follows:

£ 15 /hr Non-Members (min 2hr hiring period) £ 12 /hr Members including NPRA members (min 2hr

By Mike Siebert hiring period) £ 10 /hr Regular repeated bookings (min 2hr hiring he Pavilion is now Fully Operational. If you period) haven’t had reason to stick your head in yet and have a look, the Park Tennis Club Pavilion / NPRA £100 Non-Members daily charge 8am-10pm HQ is now completed and fully operational. Or it will be by £80 Members daily charge 8am-10pm £20 Cleaning charge (optional) the time this goes to print - that last 1% is always a devil to complete. This has very much been a joint venture, and £10/hr Additional bar hire charge (optional) is now very much a joint venue. The more it gets used, We’re running a competition for 5 photos of The Park to the more viable it becomes, and we’ve got off to an go in the 5 pre-hung frames in the NPRA / Tennis impressive start, with children’s parties, NPRA talks, a pop up restaurant, wine club meetings, regular bridge evenings, BBQ events and the occasional Royal Wedding breakfast (making use of the kitchen, bar and 65” big screen TV)

T

In between all of that, there’s a lot of tennis going on and even more meetings to organise all of the above. There is still a long term plan however, and it’s not complete yet.

The Park Tennis Club is still in fund raising mode and needs to secure a final tranche of funding to cover the costs of court resurfacing, creating a link with the neighbouring Active Ace facilities and tea rooms, and putting in the swipe card entry system. It’s only when that system is up and running that we can fully open up all these facilities for Park residents, whether or not they are members of the tennis club. True, the hope is that more footfall will result in more tennis memberships, but there’s now also a netball club, a boules club and – by the time we go to print – a croquet club on the old Bowles green.

The more activities we can encourage inside the pavilions and within the bowl in general, the more secure the future will be for this very special Park asset.

We are currently filling up the events diary faster than even we expected, but we’re still keen to consider any suggestions for further activities that residents feel would add to the mix and fit in with the community atmosphere we’re trying to build on. So please contact anyone you know who’s involved, either through the NPRA, the Tennis Club or any of the organisations already using the facilities.

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NPRA Pavilion. - We need a name for our new shared facility but you know where we mean. The best 5 photos will be chosen and printed out, and we’ll rerun the competition every year.

The only requirement, other than them being photos of The Park, and taken by yourself, is that they are square because that’s the shape of the frames that were on special offer. Continuing with the only requirements, they also need to be of a high enough resolution to print out at 450mm x 450mm and of course better than my own work, below, which the judges will be quite partial to.

Please email any attempts to impress to info@parknews.co.uk with your contact details. Good luck.

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HISTORY

A History of Newcastle Court

By Carolyn Greenwood

I

first became interested in Newcastle Court in 1967 when I was training as a nurse at Nottingham General Hospital. I 'lived in' at the Memorial Nurses Home opposite the castle and, on my days off duty, used to walk past the house on the way to my boyfriend's shared house on Lenton Avenue. A few years later, after marrying, we lived at Clumber House on Park Drive and we often walked past Newcastle Court on our way to the pub. At night, when all the lights were on, the house looked magical and we used to wonder just who lived there.

We left The Park for West Bridgford when we bought out first house. Walking through the Park with our family twenty-one years later on May Day 1994, we saw an 'Apartments for Sale' sign. We were looking for a new home and we felt that fate had taken a hand that day. We bought one of the flats, which consisted of the original principal bedrooms and dressing rooms, covering over half of the first floor, and moved in the August of that year.

After deciding to research the history of the house, my first port of call was the University of Nottingham, where I found planning applications and a brochure from when the house was auctioned in 1951 and turned into flats.

And that's as far as I got. I did discover, though, that at some time between 1951and 1994, all the fireplaces had been removed or stolen while the house was unoccupied. parknews | 22

And some of the decorative plaster mouldings did not survive either. Years later, I saw details on The Park website which inspired me to carry on researching the house's history and the interesting stories of the families who previously lived here.

The house was built in 1875 (possibly by T. Hine & Son Architects) and from then until 1891 was called 'The Elms'. The original house (the middle section, facing the large garden and majestic hedge) has had two extensions added since it was first built. The first, on the left side as you face the house from the garden, with three storeys and canted window bay, originates in the late 19th/early 20th century; the second, two-storey L-shaped flat-roofed extension, built against the original entrance at the front of the house, with canted porch and window bay plus balustrading, and facing onto Newcastle Circus, was added c1929-30.

The first occupants to live here when the house was built were the Lynam family. The 1881 census tells us that Elizabeth Lynam, a 51-year old widow, was living here with her four daughters (Laura, Amelia, Helena and Mabel) and two sons (Henry and Arthur), plus three servants (a cook, a parlour maid and a housemaid).

Elizabeth was the proprietor of the Lynam and Kidd construction company, based at Castle Works, Castle Road. They built, among other things, the cottages and boundary wall at Papplewick Pumping Station.

Elizabeth's friend and neighbour was Marriot Ogle Tarbotton, born in Leeds in 1834. He lived at 6 South Road, Newcastle Circus, and was Borough Engineer for Nottingham Corporation from 1859. He designed Trent

HISTORY Bridge which was opened in 1871 and also Papplewick Pumping Station itself He died suddenly on 14th March 1887, aged 53.

The census of 1891 shows that Elizabeth was still living here, now with three daughters (Amelia, Helena and Mabel), plus two servants. At this time too, the first threestorey extension was built on the left side of the house — possibly by Elizabeth's own building firm.

In 1897, one of her daughters, Mabel Winifred Lynam, married Robert George Hogarth who was the chief surgeon at Nottingham General Hospital from 1901-1933.

Hogarth Ward in the Jubilee Wing (still standing) was named after him — and it just so happens to have been the first ward I worked on when I started my training. He was also the Chief Medical Officer for Nottingham Forest and Notts County football clubs. Mabel and Robert only had one son and he was killed in the First World War. By the census of 1901, a new family of four, the Birkins, along with their seven servants were recorded as living here: Charles Wilfred Birkin, 35, Lace Manufacturer; Claire Lloyd Birkin (née Howe) his wife; two daughters, Winifred, 6 and Violet, 2; plus a cook, a kitchen maid, a parlour maid, two housemaids and two nurses. By the time of the next census in 1911, they had two more children, Vera and Charles Lloyd.

The father of the house, Charles Wilfred Birkin, was himself one of nine children — the fourth son of Sir Thomas Isaac Birkin (1831-1922), of Ti Birkin, one of the largest Lace Manufacturers in the world at that time. A prominent racehorse owner and breeder, he held many important positions in the city and county. In 1882, for example, he was High Sherriff and a J.P. on the City and County benches. He also served as Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire. During the first world war, he served as Colonel in the 7th Battalion The Sherwood Foresters (Robin Hoods) in France, until he was badly injured.

with the Prince continued. The relationship was common knowledge in aristocratic circles and in fact in 1927, after travelling on a train with the two of them, Winston Churchill commented "It is quite pathetic to see the Prince and Freda, his love is so obvious and undisguisable".

Violet, the second daughter of Charles and Claire Birkin, also married and in 1921 had a daughter, Belinda, known as Bindy. However, due to Violet's serious alcohol problem, she abandoned Bindy to her sister Freda's care, shortly before Freda embarked on her affair with the Prince of Wales.

In 1925, the Prince was a surprise guest at the marriage of Freda's other sister Vera (to Frank James Wriothesley Seely), which took place at St Mary's Church in the Lace Market. In 1932, Freda's father Charles died at Lamcote House. Two years later in 1934 her relationship with the Prince ended when he fell in love with Wallis Simpson.

Three years after that, in 1937, Freda married Pedro Jose Manuel Ricardo Mones, which brought her the title of Marquesa de Casa Maury. They lived in St John's Wood, London. They too went on to divorce, however, in 1954.

Freda died in 1983, aged 88.

Bindy appears to have been a wild eccentric child, being expelled from eleven schools, apparently for playing practical jokes. At the age of eighteen, she married the Conservative MP, Lord Tony Lambton. She was also a friend of Lucien Freud, who painted several portraits of

In 1912, Charles and Claire Birkin and their family moved to Lamcote House in Radcliffe on Trent, where the Prince of Wales became a regular visitor, riding with the Quorn and Belvoir Hunt. During the first world war, Claire turned this house into an auxiliary hospital for officers and it is recorded that she performed outstanding work with the Red Cross.

In1913, the eldest of the Birkin children, Winifred (b.1894 and known as Freda) married William Dudley Ward. He became the Liberal MP for Southampton. Three years later in 1918, while still FREDA DUDLEY WARD married to William, Freda Marquesa de Casa Maury became the long-standing mistress of the Prince of Wales.

Freda and William divorced in 1931 and her relationship parknews | 23

HISTORY her. She and Tony had four children; the eldest daughter, Lucinda Lambton, born in 1943, became Lady Worsthorne on marriage and went on to become a wellknown writer, photographer and broadcaster on architectural subjects.

Freda's uncles also lived in The Park: Philip Austin Birkin lived at Claremont, North Road.

Richard Leslie Birkin lived at Edale House, Clumber Road East. Major Harry (Henry) Lawrence Birkin lived at Lincoln Circus. He married Olive Isobel Russell and their son David Leslie was born in 1914. In 1943 when David was 28, he married an actress, Judy Mary Gamble and in

improving the conditions of hundreds of men who would otherwise have been permanently crippled. The treatment introduced there was utilised by the Government for some years afterwards. Jesse also took an active interest in the work of the Boys' Brigade and provided premises for a boys' club in Willoughby Street, Lenton — now called the Monty Hind Youth Club.

Monty is also commemorated, together with 183 other officers and men of the 9th Battalion Sherwood Foresters who died between July 7th and November 30th 1916 in France, at Kinoulton. Here, his father Jesse purchased Pasture Hill Farm (later re-named Vimy Ridge Farm) and set up a centre on the site to educate, train and rehabilitate orphans and the sons of ex-servicemen. At the same time, he planted an avenue of 184 Lombardy Poplars in memory of his fallen son and comrades.

Although all that remains of the farm buildings now is ruins, the avenue of trees has been re-planted in recent years.

In 1934, Monty's father Jesse Hind received a Knighthood for public service in Nottinghamshire. The census of 1939 shows that Sir Jesse and Dame Lilian were still living in the house, together with two servants. Jesse died on 4th May 1946, aged 79 and Lillian died on 15th May 1951, aged 82, leaving the equivalent of millions of pounds in today's money in her will, from which she also set up a trust called The Lady Hind Trust. Beneficiaries of the Trust over the years include the Monty Hind Youth Club

JANE BIRKIN

1946, they had their daughter Jane Mallory Birkin, who achieved fame as an actress, singer and lover of Serge Gainsbourg.

In 1912, when Charles and Claire Birkin moved to Lamcote House in Radcliffe on Trent, a new family moved into Elm House: Sir Jesse William Hind, a solicitor, older son of Mr Jesse Hind Sir (who was for many years Clerk to Nottinghamshire County Council) and older brother to Oliver Watts Hind; his wife Lilian Frances; and their son Jesse Francis Montague, known as Monty; together with a cook, parlour maid, lady's maid and housemaid.

Jesse William Hind (1866-1946) was head of the firm Wells and Hind solicitors and also a Director of several companies including Sherwood Colliery Company. Jesse and Lilian's only son Monty was killed in action in the first world war. In command of 'A' Company, Lt. 9th Bn Sherwood Foresters, he died on 27th September 1916, aged 23, defending Hessian Trench from German counter-attacks in the Battle of the Somme at Thiepval.

Like so many others, his body was never found, but he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

In his memory, Jesse founded a new hospital ward. In conjunction with the 'Masonic electrical and massage ward' at Trent Bridge Pavilion Hospital, Jesse founded and equipped the 'Monty Hind Ward' for the treatment of disabled soldiers. The ward was pioneering in terms of orthopaedic treatment and was instrumental in curing or parknews | 24

HISTORY House Library. In fact, there is a portrait of Monty Hind in his uniform hanging in the entrance hall of Bromley House.

Six months after Lilian's death, on 27th November 1951, the house was put up for auction, sold, re-named Newcastle Court and divided into flats. The Coach House was turned into a separate dwelling. A new entrance to the main house was made, looking out from the terrace over the garden; a path was laid to the front door from a gateway in the wall surrounding the garden; and a car park and garages were constructed at the bottom of the garden.

MONTY HIND Portrait at Bromley House Library

and Bromley

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HISTORY

Plaque Unveiling

By Paul Hempstock

A

long overdue blue plaque for the WW1 fighter pilot Albert Ball was unveiled at his childhood home at 43 Lenton Road this year.

The event was attended by local dignitaries, members of the Civic Society, members of the Ball family and armed forces personnel, including a well-behaved Private Derby, the Mercian Regiment’s mascot, a Swaledale Ram.

NPEL Chairman’s Report

By Andrew Timms Dear Residents This is, I think, the 10th Park News Article I have penned.

You might say that it has taken a while, but I am now in a position to set out the Board’s thoughts and plans for the Company and Park for the medium and long term.

Don’t panic! More by accident than design The Park is an incredibly democratic place and rest assured that nothing is yet set in stone and there will be ample opportunity for comment and consultation. This is designed to be a “heads-up“ for residents to say, “Hey this is the way the Board are thinking – is this the direction we want to go?”

The costs that might arise directly due to the Board’s strategy are relevant however and the Board must deliver value for money. Once I have set out what the projects look like, we will then turn to this and put it in terms of the rent charge. It’s perhaps worth setting a base point from which to start at this stage. So there are roughly 1600 “rate payer accounts”, around 100 of which are Business rate payers who pay 20% of the total as per the Act. The total rent charge is very nearly £600,000 – therefore £480,000 is paid by 1500 resident rate payer households meaning the average charge is £320 a year each – hopefully that makes sense!

If the Board did everything they wanted to, what would it then take the average rate charge to? I’ll run through the detail of the projects and then we can total it up at the end!

PROJECT 1 - IT STRATEGY

I have been saying that replacing the IT system has been Adam’s number one deliverable for some time now – someone asked me the other day when we were going to see the benefits – indeed a good question! To give some context I must go back to Adam’s predecessor, none other than Mr Barry Hill who hit upon the laudable notion of having a database for each property in the Park with all relevant information about things like covenants, where particular drains were, why certain decisions and permissions had been given and how the owners took their tea etc etc. I am not being flippant when I say it So the seven projects are: never happened - it just is a vastly more complex task than anyone ever imagined. Last year we engaged a ● IT strategy – internal systems and website company to implement the project with the view to us ● HR strategy and internal processes having such a tool and also it being interactive for ● Roads maintenance plan and funding residents. Everyone could have an account they could log ● Gas Lamps – to update or not? ● Make 7a Lenton Road into a flat or shop to rent or into - pay their bills and see details about their property.

There was also to be a great improvement in sell ● Develop our other assets (e.g the land at the end communication in that we would be able to email certain streets individually about particular issues rather than of Lenton Road called “the tip”) communications being infrequent via Mail Chimp. So ● Build an endowment fund what happened? Where is it? Well in short it’s coming and is now on track; however it is fair to say that we have I suspect that by the time I have set out the details of been somewhat unlucky in that the company we chose to each part of the plan, Park News will be a little weightier implement went through a series of different managers than recent issues! As ever it is a great thing to have and we have had a number of false dawns. They undersuch a well edited and put together magazine for our scoped the project and have struggled to deliver. Do not community and I know we all support it thoroughly! worry we have not paid them yet and we have had a Before dipping into the detail, one comment I would make proper wash up on where we are and are back on track. I predict this will go live in the next few months…subject to is something I touched upon in my last article and is of leaves on the line…. great interest to our residents of course – costs and the rate of increase in the rent charge. I know that this year we have gone for a larger increase than normal, however This is all very well but it hardly seems like an IT Strategy. Someone once said to me IT is a bit like a drug, these are simply operational matters - mainly that resurfacing roads appears to have become horrendously in that once you have had a bit you want or need more expensive. The long winter this year has not helped – for and indeed a list has emerged! example we had to bring forward the resurfacing of 1 – At the moment there are many little issues that get Peveril Drive after it started to disintegrate in the first three months of this year. As you can see from the above reported to the office however these things all have to be scoped, quoted and many spreadsheets are maintained one project is looking at how we fund the roads and pavements going forward. One piece of feedback we did to keep track of everything. Indeed, sometimes with seven miles of road, simply finding the reported issue is get was to make the explanation of the increase clearer problem enough! Imagine instead that the issue could be which is very valid and we will do in future.

Rather than go into a long diatribe about the company mission statement, purpose, our aims etc,I thought the best way to approach this is simply to set out the 7 projects that we have on the books – I make no apology that some of them are quite dry reading and others of course bordering on realms of fantasy. I thought we could start with the more day-to-day stuff and then go for the big finale!

parknews | 28

NPEL particularly on pavements. One way of solving this photographed, emailed to office with a GPS location and logged on a system, scoped, quoted and implemented. In problem would be to go to a bank and borrow money.

With interest rates currently so low we could pay this short a work flow management system is required. down over say 15 years leaving funds spare for things to be done in the year.

2 – The above is very internal however we occasionally raise our heads high enough to notice that we are What might that look like? Around £150,000 a year is essentially a service organisation and let’s face it, the website is pretty shocking and could do a great deal more now budgeted for roads and pavements. Instead of viewing that as the amount we have to spend each year, for us. One example is we should be much better at taking feedback. When you have your haircut these days what if we viewed it (or some of it) as the amount we have you get a follow up email from your hairdresser to ask you to fund of repay of a debt? to rate the experience! (Excellent thank you Mr Foster).

Let’s say we split it £50,000 to “in the year” costs and It can be hard for us to define and demonstrate £100,000 debt funding. If a road lasts 20 years then let’s performance levels if we don’t measure these things and part of this would be a set of Key Performance Indicators also be conservative and say we take a 15 year loan – at maybe 3% interest (likely better) we could probably so we can demonstrate more easily how we are doing borrow £1.2m now and do a large share of what is and learn how to do things better. needed.

There is already a budget for IT, but not enough to do all this straight away and therefore I envisage completing the Clearly we would need a detailed conversation with a bank on this to proceed (they have been initially sounded database in the next few months and then moving on to out) but at this stage I just wanted to get the concept numbers 1 and 2 above – perhaps taking number 1 as a across and that the Board may well come with a hard financial year 2019 project and number 2 the year after. proposal at some stage along these lines. There are In this way we will deliver a marked improvement in many variables – which roads? Disruption etc etc and service and processes without the need to raise the rent Adam has been tasked with drawing up a plan. charge but it will take time and not be directly visible. I am old enough to know however that it will not fall like The other aspect is that we could place the work as a that and I feel it’s prudent to put something in - say £5 a block planned contract. Placing such a large contract in year. one go would likely lead to some economies for the PROJECT 2 - HR STRATEGY contractor in that they could program out the work better For a number of years now we have outsourced as much and would save on set-up costs. as we can of this, however our current consultants are retiring, and this gives an opportunity for us to look at One element of this could then be looking at lifting the where we are with the whole area. It’s a pretty dry overall quality of what we do. We have fabulous curb subject and will probably be the least visible of all the stones but we could do more – cobbled parking bays in projects but it’s not like it is optional! We directly employ certain areas, flag paving on corners, nicer looking speed four people (This used to be seven but with the humps – giving a more Victorian theme to the look of the outsourcing of parking management to Atlas the two place. Here the Board must be careful to remain within its traffic wardens are currently supplied by them and the remit. The line between maintenance and enhancement “Lamp lighter” role is now supplied by Nurture), which is not clearly defined in our articles and rightly the Board means such ancillary functions get little attention. Adam do not have the power to commit residents’ funds to has been charged with interviewing new providers and vanity projects but the Park is Nottingham’s premium seeing what they can offer, but for example performance residential area and as such our common areas and appraisal is still very ad hoc. This will be on going and is environment should be a cut above and if we agree that is unlikely to lead to increase in the rates. the way we want to go then we can do. Anything seriously over the top could be something the Park PROJECT 3 - THE ROADS Conservation Trust could help with (more on the Trust There was talk at the last half-year meeting of giving the later).

Estate roads a general lift. Many of the things we do are very long lasting - for example the resurfacing on Lenton Would this then lead to an increase in rates? Hard to say Road will last twenty years and yet we paid for it in one but if you ignored any economies of scale then there year. The approach has been to do a little each year would be an interest cost which is not currently there – on “Forth Bridge style” – so over a period all the roads get my hugely crude numbers that would be £11 a year each done and then we start again at the other end. Each road ratepayer. is separately tendered for, though often it goes to the PROJECT 4 - GAS LAMPS same contractor. Some years ago a full plan was compiled and a report drawn up that showed the full cost The Estate has 226 gas lamps. These give out a low of the program and resurfacing cycle. Because of this, level of light and actually I understand they were originally the Board set up a fund so that we were collecting more not lamps at all but more what were called “way markers.” than we were actually spending to save up for the really Each lamp has a clockwork timer in it which when wound big ticket items when they came. This works ok but there up keeps it going for two weeks. The issues with the is a lot more work we would like to do now if we could – lamps are numerous yet they have their strong followers parknews | 29

NPEL and it is part of the heritage of the Park. I should also highlight that the Council give us a grant of £50,000 a year toward the running costs since we effectively pay for street lighting as part of our Council tax.

The downsides to the lamps are mainly the issues low lighting levels causes (security), their reliability (the clocks go wrong), the fact being gas in strong wind the pilots blow out and since they have to have a pilot light burning all the time in them they are highly energy inefficient. So when we heard about a project by a company called Site Designs in Malvern restoring such lamps, installing an electronic ignition, so no need for a pilot light, sensors so that they go off and on when needed and directional reflectors in them to improve the light we were all over it.

It sounded great.

We commissioned a trial which saw 14 lamps being replaced on Lenton Road and after much teething trouble it seems they broadly do what they say. One big plus for me is that while they do light up the path between the lamps more, they don’t actually appear to change the character of the light much. We are not however rushing to do much more of this at the moment for a number of reasons.

Firstly with the outsourcing of the lamp winding and maintenance to our contractors the old lamps are running much better (this was cost neutral as we did not replace our lamp lighter when he left) so there is not so much urgency to the issue. Secondly Site Designs are a very small operation and seem to have many other priorities.

Interestingly they have recently invented a gas lamp which runs on dog poo! I simply don’t know what to say no doubt we will have one at Peveril Garden!

For this to progress we would also need to have a conversation with the Council as, if the gas bill reduced, they would benefit so they might contribute to the project.

Long term of course there may be pressure to phase out such energy inefficient lamps but for now we will continue as we are. I would say it has fallen down our priority list for now.

be a viable project. This however has not been costed out yet and I am not sure how well the building itself will lend itself to being a shop. There is some local interest in progressing this and we intend therefore to investigate the shop project further to see if it has legs. It would be a great amenity if it happened but either way we should not just let the asset lie there dormant and slowly falling to bits – something needs to be done.

Again cost neutral to the Estate and needs pushing forward. Lastly I did consider selling the asset but I really don’t think we can assess that yet – also to sell or acquire any asset we have to ask the members and I personally feel it is part of the Estate’s heritage.

PROJECT 6 - DEVELOP THE TIP SITE The Company owns a large piece of land at the far end of Lenton road which is currently used to as a tip for leaves and not much else. We have been told that with planning permission it could be worth a significant sum of money.

To find out and properly apply for planning would cost £30,000.

Firstly in order to spend ratepayers’ money on this I must ask the question is this within the remit of the Board. My view is it certainly is as we are custodians of the assets of the company, however since the only purpose of getting planning would be to sell it, then it would make sense to ask the members if we should do this.

We might have to think about how any tax to pay was dealt with (I won’t go into detail here but I can think of a couple of ways this might be dealt with tax efficiently – no guarantees!). Also we would then have to pay to dispose of the leaves elsewhere but actually this isn’t a huge cost and do not forget that if houses were built there those houses would pay the Park rate so again cost neutral.

Just one caveat to all this. The land is somewhat on a slope and the costs of this have not been quantified so it may be worth less than we think, and we will only find this out when we go through the process.

The planning costs would be around £16 a household (£30,000 at 80% divided by 1500) and as such my When the Estate road design was laid out, a purpose built proposal would be to do this in the financial year 2019 office was constructed with accommodation for the Estate and start with the roads projects etc the following year. manager to live in a small house next door. For many What would we use the money for? Well that is project 7. years this was inhabited by Peter the lamplighter and also contained his work shop. The main office is still PROJECT 7 – AN ENDOWMENT FUND used, but the other half is now basically uninhabitable.

We need to invest in The Park. Why, you might ask?

There are two proposals: Heritage, community, keeping up with the rest of the world. If we want the Estate to be Nottingham’s premier 1 – Convert it to a small two bedroom house and rent it residential area (with house price values to match) we out. have to develop it physically and also its amenities and 2 – Turn it into a community village shop – maybe serve community. coffees in the garden?

PROJECT 5 - 7A LENTON ROAD – THE ESTATE OFFICE

The proposal for renovating the house has been fully costed at around £115,000 and we could go to the bank tomorrow and borrow this money. The loan would be repaid from the rent. In terms of using it as a village shop I can see that there would be considerable interest in this.

There is excellent footfall along Lenton Road and it might parknews | 30

The more amenities there are for residents here the greater our community becomes. I have to say I greatly admire all those who get involved and make the most of what we have, but we need to be thinking about how we could have and do more for all groups who live in the Park.

NPEL I’ll use the example of the playground. Look at somewhere like West Bridgford or Wollaton Park – amazing facilities for families – and hence lots of young families living there. Two or three years ago Active Ace were going to provide the space in front of the restored pavilion/coffee shop but even then it would have been difficult as who would have paid for the equipment, maintenance etc? The NPEL has no such financial remit to commit such funds – we are a maintenance company or are we? In our Articles of Association (the rules which govern the company) it is clear that the Directors of the Park Company can do anything which they reasonably think is for the benefit of The Park as a whole; so why don’t they? The answer is that the company must spend its money on a very limited set of parameters around maintenance….but what if there was some money?

My answer would be that the elected Board of Directors could fulfil their remit which to me is to provide a Trustee’s oversight of the day to day operation of the company (as now) and to think strategically about The Park’s future and year on year make small enhancements to the amenities and community.

At the moment we have few formal mechanisms to do so.

The NPRA does a great job (well done on the Street Party and to them again delivering a great event) and the Park Conservation Trust has limited funds and a remit around conservation rather than development (also to them great job in supporting the Tennis Pavilion refurb – it’s a gem and it would not have happened without funds from the Trust) but if there was a sum available which could be used each year and we used those ten brains (Board directors) we could achieve a lot.

I am talking here about putting the mechanisms in place – the ideas will come later! So if we had a capital sum – say from the sale of some land as above – and this was invested and delivered an income then that might work?

My intention would be to form a charitable fund for this purpose with Trustees mirroring the elected Board. We might also think much more widely and think about how we could develop other income to keep building the fund?

My view would be that it could easily develop such an income sources for the fund by doing three things:

term residents would want to see the Park continue to improve and develop 3 – The Trust should engage where it can in funds raising activities. I personally will run the Robin Hood Half Marathon this year for the Trust – every little bit counts!

It may be that donors would want donations go to specific designated funds which could be arranged. While it might seem like small beer now if we start to think like this now, in the medium to long term we will get ourselves into a very good position where we might be able to take advantage of significant opportunities – I know it is unlikely but if some land came up for sale where we could put a playground in 5-10 years’ time…… and we had been saving up we would be in a position to buy it and take advantage of the opportunity rather than perhaps missing out.

CONCLUSION So in summary, looking to the future we wish to move the IT forward, sort out some internals, make the most of our assets and over time bring the environment and amenities up to a standard befitting Nottingham’s premier residential area.

Also, I said we would put this in some context of costs and hopefully it can be seen that while the Board are thinking about doing more we are also thinking about how these things might be more efficiently funded. I know I have used a number of example figures £5, £11, £16 etc but at this stage I don’t think we can say if we did all of this the average rate charge will be £336.42p but it does give some parameters so people can see that our approach is cost conscious.

I can’t quite remember the Chinese proverb accurately “Man who waits for roast duck to fly in mouth waits very, very long time.” My point is that while some of these things will take a long time to do, we have to start somewhere and try our best to pull it together! Let’s get the ball rolling and see where it heads Wishing you all a splendid summer!

Love and hugs Andrew

1 – We could ask all residents to make a donation,voluntarily, to the Trust when paying their rent charge. It is my intention to build this facility into the Company’s new computer and accounts system so that such monies could be collected through the same direct debit. When logged into their account, people could choose to pay for example the rent charge plus 10% maybe £30 a year each. You can but ask and it allows those who want to contribute to do so while those who just want the basic services to remain at that level.

2 – We should get the idea out there that the Trust is open to bequests and donations. I am sure many long parknews | 31

PERSONAL FINANCE

Mind your step

By Bradley Legrand, Carter Legrand Wealth Strategies Ltd LIFETIME ALLOWANCE BREACHES COST PENSION SAVERS £110 MILLION IN A SINGLE YEAR.

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ax charges for breaching the lifetime allowance (LTA) on pension savings have nearly tripled over two years as successive cuts to the allowance have taken hold. Figures obtained through a Freedom of Information investigation show that the tax collected jumped from £40 million in 2014/15 to £110 million in 2016/17. The number of people caught out more than doubled from 1,020 to 2,410 over the same period.1

But despite the chorus of criticism, the government has shown no sign of abolishing this potentially costly pensions trap.

PREVENTATIVE MEASURES

CEILING TAX The LTA is an overall limit on the amount you can take from your pension schemes over your lifetime – whether lump sums or retirement income – without triggering an extra tax charge. It applies to all your pension schemes, including your personal pensions and any final salary pension schemes you belong to, but excludes your State Pension. Those who breach the LTA are hit with a potential tax charge of 55% on the amount that exceeds the limit.

If you are at risk of breaching the LTA, then you may wish to stop making pension contributions and look at alternative ways to fund retirement.

The rules, reliefs and allowances often change, meaning getting good advice is crucial. Indeed, it would be wrong to rush into making any decisions without first seeking advice from a financial expert as the best solution could vary widely depending on your circumstances.

“If you have significant sums in pensions and believe you have a lifetime allowance problem, then this is where The LTA was set at £1.8 million in 2010/11, but successive governments had whittled it down to £1 million taking professional advice can really add value.” says Ian Price, divisional director at St. James’s Place.

by April 2017. Today the limit stands at £1.03 million and is set to rise in line with inflation in future years.

“Only by seeking financial advice you will have the reassurance of knowing that you have explored all your Despite the recent rise, there has still been a 43% cut in the LTA over the past eight years. Consequently, swathes options and are maximising reliefs and allowances, while of investors are now in range, particularly those who have minimising any potential future tax bill,” says Price. built up significant pensions through a combination of a The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be high salary and long service. Many doctors, head directly linked to the performance of the funds selected teachers, civil servants and middle managers – to give a and may fall as well as rise. You may get back less than few examples – are affected. the amount invested.

There are growing calls for the LTA to be abolished, given The levels and bases of taxation, and reliefs from that the total amount that can be invested into a pension taxation, can change at any time and are dependent on each year – including contributions from employers – is already limited to £40,000, and much less in some cases, individual circumstances. via the annual allowance. Dr Ros Altmann, who served 1 Old Mutual Wealth, 2018 under David Cameron as Minister of State for Pensions, has even labelled it "illogical".

Carter Legrand Wealth Strategies Ltd represents only St. “If annual contributions are capped, then arbitrarily limiting James’s Place Wealth Management plc (with is the total fund that can be built up over the years amounts authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the to a penalty on good investment performance. It goes Group’s wealth management products and services, more against the whole ethos of long-term investing,” says the details of which are set out on the Group’s website at former minister. www.sjp.co.uk/products.

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ADVERTISMENT

PEOPLE Susan Morgan-Hallam MBE

By Paul Hempstock ongratulations to Susan Morgan-Hallam who was made an MBE in the 2018 Queen's New Years honours. This appointment is in recognition of Susan's contributions to entrepreneurship and innovation, and her lifetime work in digital marketing.

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The awarding of an MBE recognises Susan’s national and international reputation for digital excellence. Prince Charles, on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen, presented Susan with her MBE at Buckingham Palace on 6 June Susan is an enthusiastic and inspirational leader in the digital field. Her pragmatic and infectious passion for making businesses successful on the internet has been shared with thousands of businesses across the UK and internationally. Her thought leadership benefits a wide range of businesses, from multinationals to startups.

Her innovative approach to digital marketing benefits not only the business community, but extends as well to her own agency, Hallam Internet, which she founded in 2000.

Now employing more than 50 people, Hallam has experienced rapid expansion and growth, and are already looking to recruit 9 new team members in 2018.

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