July was the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Wandsworth Common Act, and several events were held to mark the occasion. The anniversary of the signing on July 31 saw us leading a walk to celebrate the wide range of biodiversity on the Common and what was being done to protect and enhance it. The previous day saw a heritage walk taking in several heritage landmarks – the RVPB, the windmill, the site of the Black Sea under Spencer Park, the Fitzugh Estate and the Scope – all of them featuring in our book ‘The Wandsworth Common Story’.

The heritage walk started from the Wandsworth Council green plaque to John Charles Buckmaster, the man who led the campaign to save the Common which culminated in 1871 with the Act itself. The plaque was unveiled by the Mayor on July 12 with the ceremony bringing together JCB’s ancestors – his great-great grandson Viscount Adrian Buckmaster and other relatives – and people and organisations who have played a part or currently work to keep the Common looking wonderful. The remarks made by Viscount Buckmaster and Richard Fox, co-chair of the Friends, and a short video of the unveiling are posted in our history blog. After a toast to John Buckmaster, a 150th birthday cake baked by the Skylark café was cut by the Mayor.

Before the ceremony, the Mayor and Viscount Buckmaster were presented with a lovely booklet prepared by children from Dolphin School Year 4, following a visit to Dolphin by one of our Heritage Group to talk about the book and the anniversary. It marked the first fruits of our efforts this year to engage with local schools. As term ended, another outreach event was two days of volunteering activities for Emanuel School Year 10, organised and overseen by the Friends, including butterfly recording, mapping of desire lines on the Scope, litter picking and a footfall survey.

Earlier in the month Stephen Midlane repeated his popular ‘Twixt the Taverns’ heritage walk between the Hope and the County Arms. After three of the walks we still have people on the wait list.