October saw a capacity audience in Naturescope for a talk by local historian Philip Boys who treated us to a captivating evening of historical anecdotes illustrated by a series of maps. The earliest to feature Wandsworth Common was the one in the picture, by Rocque, dated 1746. Subsequent maps show the impact of the sale of parcels of land by Earl Spencer in the 1850s and the increased amounts of housing at the edges of the Common, including a row of prefabs along Bolingbroke and Bellevue Roads after the war. This was the first event organised by our heritage group which has met monthly since January. Our most recent meetings have been buzzing with ideas, including an environmental and botanical history of the Common, interpretation boards to illustrate key moments in the Common’s history, an oral history project to capture the memories of long-standing residents, and even a History of Wandsworth Common book. Get in touch if you’re interested in joining in any of this fascinating research.

Earlier in the month we marked UK Fungus Day with a fascinating walk around the Common with Fabrice Boltho of the South London Botanical Institute. He enthused our band of foragers by finding fungi of all colours, shapes and sizes, and made us realise just how much biodiversity there is on the Common if only you have eyes to see.

Now that the new Management Plan for the Common has been published, work has started on some early priorities, with meetings of the joint WBC/Enable/MAC/Friends steering groups on interpretation/education and installing a drinking fountain to cut down the use of plastic bottles. We’re also pleased to announce that All Star tennis have installed recycling facilities by the tennis courts, a similar system to the long-standing scheme operated by Skylark. This marks a small but important step to getting more recycling on the Common. The Friends committee continued its discussion of the year ahead and heard that over half its members had attended at least one of the many events we’ve organised since our May 2018 launch. Increasing educational outreach is a key objective going forward. Let us know any ideas you have for future events.