LONDON'S
NEWEST
PLAYGROUNDS:
OPENING
CEREMONIES
Members
of the
London
County
Council
and
of the
metropolitan
Borough
Councils
of South
London
were
busy
on Saturday
afternoon
dedicating
new
lungs
to London.At
two
o'clock
Mr.
John
Piggott,
Chairman
of the
Parks
and
Open
Spaces
Committee
of the
County
Council,
opened
the
extension
of Brockwell
Park,
and
at four
o'clock
Lieutenant-Colonel
Rotton,
representing
Clapham
on the
County
Council,
opened
the
riverside
park
at Wandsworth.
With
the
character
of these
latest
acquisitions
and
the
particulars
of the
purchase
"Daily
News"
readers
are
already
familiar.
Overnight
Nature
had
washed
the
park
with
copious
tears,
and
the
scene
was
everywhere
painted
in vivid
colours.
Fluttering
pennons
waved
a welcome
to the
brilliantly-striped
marquee,
where
the
speeches
were
all
in terms
of appreciative
congratulation.
In
declaring
the
extension
open,
Mr Piggott
mentioned
that
when
the
County
Council
came
into
existence
there
were
only
40 open
spaces
under
their
control;
now
there
were
102,
and
the
acreage
had
been
increased
from
2,656
to 4,027.
Cricket
pitches
had
been
increased
from
147
to 382,
and
football
pitches
from
12 to
180.
Resolutions
of thanks
to the
County
Council
and
to the
other
authorities
contributing
having
been
passed,
members
of the
County
Council,
including
Lord
Monkswell,
the
Vice
Chairman,
drove
to Wandsworth,
skirting
Clapham
and
Wandsworth
Commons
on the
way.
On arrival
at the
new
park
they
were
met
by the
Mayor
and
Corporation
wearing
their
robes
of office,
and
were
received
with
ceremonial
courtesy.
It was
quite
a picturesque
procession
- the
Mayor
in scarlet,
the
Aldermen
in purple,
and
the
Councillors
in green.
The
ceremony
here
took
place
on the
bandstand,
which
was
inadequate
to the
demands
made
upon
it,
and
eventually
the
green-gowned
Councillors
had
to content
themselves
with
seats
in the
enclosure,
where
during
this
interval
the
band
had
commenced
to play
Elgar's
"Pomp
and
Circumstance"
with
singular
fitness.
The
little
park
was
swarming
with
visitors,
who
seemed
less
intersted
in the
speeches
than
in asserting
possession
of their
riverside
pleasaunce,
which
is immediately
opposite
the
grounds
of the
Hurlingham
Club.
It is
really
a reclamation,
for
in the
centuries
that
are
past
the
villagers
of Wandsworth
held
the
spot
which
our
artist
has
depicted
as communal
property,
and
many
were
the
quarrels
which
occurred
with
the
people
of Putney
as the
result
of cattle
trespass.
The
Daily
News,
1903 |
