This category includes projects within the park, such as improvements and so forth.
The Committee of the Friends of Pinner Village Gardens presented their Annual Report for the financial year 2022/23 at the Annual General Meeting in July 2023.
The Annual Report continues the style introduced with the Spring 2023 newsletter.
The 8-page document aims to provide an easy-to-read, illustrated snap-shot of the work of the Friends.
All Friends and visitors are invited to join representatives of Harrow Council, Thames 21, Harrow Go Green and the Newton Farm School at a meeting over Zoom on Tuesday 16 November at 6:30 pm. The meeting will be to discuss how to go about tackling the climate and nature emergencies, but at a local level within Harrow. These issues will be on the minds of many in the community with the ongoing discussions at COP26 in Glasgow.
At FoPVG we take these issues very seriously and have worked for many years to balance the competing interests of nature projects in our park. We are very fortunate in FoPVG to have Simon Braidman on our Committee, who is also one of the co-founders of Harrow Nature Heroes is also the site manager and one of the wardens for Stanmore Common Local Nature Reserve. If you have any ideas on how best we can work to achieve the collective goals within the climate and nature work within our area, please do get in touch via our contact form here.
Recent visitors to the park may have seen works started near the entrance leading onto Rayners Lane/Marsh Road. This is part of the improvements to the grassy “roundabout” in the middle of the path. The area was previously used as the location for the park sign, which the Friends have since had moved to outside the park.
This location will feature a raised bed within a low stone wall. This is with the intention of mirroring the 1930’s design already in place at the entrance leading from Whittington Way. It will feature new planting and flowers, and a series of raised sculptural elements reminiscent of wild clematis seed heads. These are metal and sprayed with a coating that will encourage them to rust so as to bring additional colour to the area.
As always, a lot of thanks to all those involved in this project. Including both those who have generated the funds, and those volunteers who are completing the work on behalf of the Friends. This is part of an overall plan to bring Pinner Village Gardens in line with the Green Flag Award. Further information can be seen on that Award here.
Other larger-scale park improvements have also been proposed at the Hereford Gardens entrance, which can be seen here.
Visitors to Pinner Village Gardens will be familiar with the work conducted by the Friends and their volunteers to make the entrances to the park as welcoming as possible. This has seen overhauls of the planting and layouts at the Whittington Way, Rayners Lane/Marsh Road and the Compton Rise entrances. However, there is an as-yet untouched entrance, which leads from Hereford Gardens into the park next to the tennis courts adjacent to the playground.
An overhaul of the Hereford Gardens entrance has been proposed, and we would like to hear your feedback. So please take a look at the designs below, and let us know by responding via this form.
Concept: Plants with fragrance for people, and plants suited to bees and other pollinators to benefit all.
Aims:
The areas under consideration today to some 140 –190 square metres and their dimensions are:
Additional planting under the trees immediately to the right in the park after entering, and around the adjacent bench, will be considered at a later stage.
These plans will see the relocation of two existing Amelanchier trees and the addition of the following:
Shrubs:
Ferns:
Groundcover (multiples of all):
Hardy Perennials & Bienuals:
Bulbs (autumn planting for spring flowering):
With thanks to the Facebook Group “Harrow – Old Views“, we recently discovered a photograph of the rose circle near the Whittington Way entrance which was taken in 1976. This is the only photograph we have of the old Elm Trees that used to stand in Pinner Village Gardens, as they were removed the following year because of Dutch Elm Disease.
Another thing to note is the absence of Compton Copse, which was subsequently added to the western edge of the ridge and furrow field. With modern technology, you can directly compare the photograph below, with that of the park at the moment. Simply use the scroller on the image from left to right to take a look at the differences in the park across more than four decades.
We’re pleased to announce the completion of our new mural in Pinner Village Gardens by local artist Sarah, who had previously created several variants on a similar theme that members of Friends of Pinner Village Gardens were able to vote upon last year.
Incorporating the existing ivy to frame the work, the mural uses an Art Deco style font, in keeping with the 1930’s origins of the park. It is located to the right of the path as you enter the park from the entrance on the corner of Marsh Road/Rayners Lane.
