Friends co-chairs Julia Bott and Richard Fox were honoured to receive a Civic Award from the Mayor of Wandsworth for their work running the Friends of Wandsworth Common. This annual ceremony pays tribute to the many volunteers in Wandsworth who do incredible work behind-the-scenes. “It was very humbling to hear about the amazing work of the 50 nominees and eight award winners represented at the event”.

The award was for FoWC’s work supporting the local environment of Wandsworth Common - regular litter pics; highlighting the need for recycling facilities and drinking fountains, now actioned with the installation of recycling bins and two drinking fountains; the provision of eco-friendly swan and duck food; the raising of environmental awareness through regular nature-focussed walks and talks for our over 600 members; and working with Enable to improve the Common’s biodiversity, including the planting of over 50 trees and a mini-forest this year.

Not surprisingly, FoWC played a major part in the Council’s Climate Change Festival, including a zoom talk by Sally Uren, CEO of Forum for the Future, entitled ‘Time to Act: What we can all do’ available here. We also had a stall at the main festival event, one of many we’ve had in the run-up to Christmas.

These stalls, as well as selling our book and promoting our mission, also continue our outreach efforts, particularly to local schools. A member of our Heritage group spoke at a second school assembly (Finton House) about our work.

The month also saw our AGM. Annabel Osborn gave a Q&A about her new role as Parks Operations Manager at Enable, Julia and Richard gave their review of the year and our committee was refreshed with a mixture of old and new faces. You’ll see a picture in next month’s round up. If you missed the AGM there’s a recording here.

We wish all our members and followers a Merry Christmas if we don’t see you before then.