Greg IK McNeill: Hackney open-spaces

Trees face the axe

Fri, 24 Feb 2006 21:44:18 GMT

Nice people from shitty organisation move into the firing line.

"NATURE lovers are up in arms over the felling of trees as part of a major restoration project at a Hackney church..."

(Via Hackney Gazette Trees face the axe: .)

Give us your land

Thu, 24 Nov 2005 23:26:27 GMT

"THE 2012 Olympics came a step closer this week as businesses and landowners in Hackney were issued with compulsory purchase orders..."

(Via Hackney Gazette Give us your land: .)

The Stage Online :: News :: Hackney Empire threatens Sadler's chances of new chief executive

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 23:42:45 GMT

"Sadler,s Wells has been warned it could struggle to attract a new chief executive because of the emergence of the refurbished Hackney Empire as a favourite with both audiences and performers.

Current incumbent Jean-Luc Choplin, who announced his resignation from Sadler%u2019s Wells in January after less than one year in the post, will take up a new position at Paris%u2019 Chatelet Theatre in 2006. However, one senior opera source warned that since the reopened Hackney Empire was likely to develop into a serious rival before Choplin%u2019s successor was found"

(Via The Stage Online :: News :: Hackney Empire threatens Sadler's chances of new chief executive: .)

A stroll in the park for ranger Sarah

Thu, 17 Nov 2005 09:13:38 GMT

"ONE of New York's most experienced park rangers swapped Central Park for Mile End Park when she shared some of her expertise. Head ranger Sarah Aucoin came to Tower Hamlets to share ideas and experience with park-keepers in Mile End. She was joined by he"

(Via Tower Hamlets Recorder A stroll in the park for ranger Sarah: .)

Landmark trees for the chop

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 11:33:53 GMT

"A LANDMARK avenue of much-loved trees in Epping Forest is to be felled."

(Via This Is Local London :: Top Stories Landmark trees for the chop: .)

Autumn Tree Wheelcycle tour of some of Hackney's special trees

Sat, 05 Nov 2005 14:29:40 GMT

SUNDAY 6 NOV 2005 - Autumn Tree Wheelcycle tour of some of Hackney's special trees in autumn colours SNC, Western Rec, Clapton Sq, St. John's, Millfields, Springfield meet (with bikes) 10:30 on Stoke Newington Common (between Brooke Rd and Stoke Newington Common [Road]) (Russell Miller, Tree Musketeers)

Autumn Events in Abney Park

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 21:16:08 GMT

Please come to the visitors centre at Stoke Newington High St, N16. All activities are free, however, donations are gratefully accepted. For info please call The Abney Park Trust on 0207 275 7557.

Volunteering

Every Wednesday and Friday 9.30-3.30pm.
Help us care for trees, remove knotweed, maintain woodchip paths and other conservation projects to improve the site.

Guided Walks

General History Walk.Sunday 25th Sept 2pm - A guided walk and talk with history of the site and some interesting people buried in Abney Park.
Fungal Foray-Saturday 29th October at 2pm - An interesting guided walk, led by a specialist, looking at the fungus in Abney.
Remembrance Sunday 13th November at 2pm - Meet at the visitors centre at Stoke Newington High St and join in a walk around Abney Park looking at the commonwealth war graves and the war memorial and hearing stories of our war heroes.

Children's Half-Term Workshops

Please meet at the Environmental classroom-Stoke Newington High St.
Seeds of Stokey - Tuesday 25th October at 2pm - Come and follow the seed trail in the Park and create an exploding seed pod.
Migration Madness -Thursday 27th October at 2pm - Make your own window silhouette, wild bird feeder and study the journeys of migratory species around the world.

Mary Wollstonecraft lives on Newington Greem

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 20:45:21 GMT

"21 September (7pm) 22-24 September (7pm & 8.30pm) TO BOOK CALL: 020 7269 1606 (Monday-Friday, 10am-6pm) Fragments & Monuments present Wollstonecraft Live!"

(Via hackneycommunitynews at Yahoo! Groups Mary Wollstonecraft lives on Newington Greem: .)

Gardeners losing the plot

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 22:59:13 GMT

"A campaign has been launched to save scores of Hackney allotments which face being bulldozed to make way for the London Olympics in 2012..."

(Via Hackney Gazette Gardeners losing the plot: .)

Hackney Gazette

Wed, 31 Aug 2005 21:07:10 GMT

"RESIDENTS living in a conservation area have been left shocked and appalled after contractors replacing the footpath 'butchered' their beautiful, tree-lined street. Contractors employed by Hackney Council, the very people who implement conservation areas, have allowed the workers to dig up, remove and destroy several trees along Middleton Road in Dalston.

Trees in the borough are protected by the council and anyone who causes wilful damage, or destruction of trees, without the council's permission, can face a prosecution or fine for criminal damage.FOR THE FULL STORY SEE THIS WEEK'S GAZETTE AVAILABLE FROM THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 1."

(Via Hackney Gazette, Tree fellers, 31 August 2005 : .)

Hogweed may halt Olympic work

Wed, 31 Aug 2005 10:17:15 GMT

"WORK on the Olympic sites could be snarled up when builders try to get to the root of a mammoth problem."

(Via This Is Local London :: Top Stories Hogweed may halt Olympic work: .)

Crocodile river rumours

Fri, 29 Jul 2005 09:16:42 GMT

"IS there a crocodile in the River Lea? Do we have our very own Lea Monster?"

(Via This Is Local London :: Top Stories Crocodile river rumours: .)

Travellers in Olympic limbo

Wed, 13 Jul 2005 22:14:24 GMT

"Travellers who will be forced from their Hackney Wick campsite by the Olympics say they are living in limbo because promises haven t been honoured to relocate them..."

(Via Hackney Gazette Travellers in Olympic limbo: .)

Green Flag award for Clissold Park

Wed, 13 Jul 2005 08:51:07 GMT

It has just been announced by The Civic Trust that Clissold Park has won a much-coveted Green Flag Award, the first ever for Hackney. The Green Flag scheme has been running nationally for nearly ten years now, and the standards are pretty high, so congratulations to Mark White and his staff at Clissold Park for winning a Green Flag on their first try. Community involvement is one of the Green Flag criteria, so we assume that the work of the Clissold Park User Group, with its re-designed website, also helped impress the judges.

Gosh their old site must have been shite."

(Via clissoldpark News Green Flag award for Clissold Park: .)

Decision to hold 2012 Olympics in London

Tue, 12 Jul 2005 11:09:14 GMT

From the Hackney Marsh User Group newsletter

"The immediate impact is that Arena Field will soon be lost to Olympics precinct- a high fence and road for heavy vehicles moving contaminated soil will run close to Lee Navigation. Businesses, bus garages, travellers site and Church along Waterden Road will be moved as area is turned into a massive building site. Open land and allotments on east bank of River Lea will be turned into sports venues. White Hart Field (open space between A12 and Ruckholt Road) and a large chunk of East Marsh (both Common Land and Metropolitan Open Space) and trees along Ruckholt Road will soon be lost under a huge land bridge. In spite of questions asked through GLA member, London 2012 have given no information about what land will be provided as exchange land for the loss of this Common Land. Walk on September 4th walk will go round these areas soon to be lost as public open space."

British tennis - your fault, not the LTA's

Sun, 03 Jul 2005 21:10:54 GMT

"These pages recently drew attention to the LTA's Inner City Challenge that took place in Clissold Park, Hackney, last month. "

(Via The Observer | Sport | British tennis - your fault, not the LTA's: .)

Capital Ring hits Barnet snag

Sun, 03 Jul 2005 11:51:51 GMT

"It has been a decade in the making, spans a 78-mile ring around London, and was set to be unveiled this summer."

(Via This Is Local London :: Top Stories Capital Ring hits Barnet snag: .)

Lidos Yahoo Group: a poem for Victoria Park Lido (now deceased)

Tue, 28 Jun 2005 09:42:45 GMT

The Lido

More than just a place to swim or lark This municipal Atlantis in the park, Mid-modern, Art-Deco, mismatch, Yet still pleasing to the eye, A roofless watery hole in the ground Not quite square but almost round.

Through clattering turnstile to the changing room Complete with doorless cubicle and bleachy gloom, There's no avoiding the chlorine footbath On hurried tiptoe the great divide you cross, Into the sunlit liquid wonderland, Just like a beach without the sand.

With warm hard concrete under your back A radio somewhere plays a familiar track. As you look up, and the sun beats down And the highboard leans and reaches, You realise the Lido's great work of art; Dive into the canvas of which you are part.

(Via Yahoo! Groups : lidos Messages : Message 782 of 784: .)

BBC NEWS | Health | Tackling child obesity the green way

Sun, 12 Jun 2005 08:48:04 GMT

"Getting children to change their eating behaviour and exercise levels is notoriously difficult.

But a new project is encouraging overweight children to gain the self-confidence to start making changes by building a better environment for others.

Deep in the wilds of Hackney, in a little corner of a piece of reclaimed wasteland, five overweight 11-year-olds are getting stuck into a project to build some nesting boxes for the local population of bats. It is a far cry from the image of couch potato children who do no exercise."

(Via BBC NEWS | Health | Tackling child obesity the green way: .)

Cemetery will need £5million to survive

Wed, 08 Jun 2005 00:07:36 GMT

Cemetery will need £5million to survive: "HIGHGATE cemetery bosses say they need £5million to safeguard the future of one of London s prime tourist attractions. The looming crisis has been caused by a lack of volunteers willing to look after the grade II listed cemetery, famous as the burial plac"

(Via Ham and High Express.)

Conservation area under threat at Abney Park

Thu, 02 Jun 2005 17:20:37 GMT

Conservation area under threat at Abney Park: "

'AN INNER CITY SANCTUARY UNDER THREAT your signature can help protect it
The London Borough of Hackney is about to violate its own guidelines for preserving the tranquillity of Abney Park, the historic garden cemetery, now urban woodland, which is the heart of Stoke Newington's Conservation Area. In contravention of their own policies, planners are recommending approval of a multi-storey school building. The controversy is not over the principle of a school, but its excessive scale and insensitive design. It will be a massive over-development of its site, and will shatter the peace of this sanctuary, which has few parallels in any inner-city area of England.'
(Via Listria and Martaban Residents assoc..)

Reminds us of, many years ago of a Hackney conservation officer who assisted a factory-owner in punching a window right through it's wall into the cemetery, ooh the stories we could tell, the cemetery was secured from the council by local people to end the systematic theft of memorials and neglect of the cemetery by the council staff charged with maintaining it.."

(Via Clissold Leisure Users' News.)

summer's coming

Mon, 21 Mar 2005 09:24:04 GMT

Wonderful and very welcome beautiful weather hit Stoke Newington over the weekend and everyone that had felt trapped in their homes over the winter months went to the park to play tennis, football or drums, and walk, cycle, skate, and have a fine old time in the warm sunshine. The park was bursting at the seams with people and the bins overflowed so that people tidily piled their garbage against them. Cafe and park staff were everywhere picking up litter.

Stoke Newington's first tree to come into leaf every year once again delivered its leaves to us and in a week or two the small horse chestnut will look like a large green pom-pom in the park signalling that summer is on the way.

(from Clissold Park website)

Date of next Users' Group meeting

Fri, 18 Mar 2005 09:36:09 GMT

Date of next Users' Group meeting: "

Next general meeting, Saturday May 7th 2005 Clissold Park House 11.00 am - 12 noon in the Red Room in café

[LINK for minutes of last meeting]"

(Via clissoldpark News.)

"Sport Hackney" to be launched

Sun, 13 Mar 2005 13:15:04 GMT

To celebrate the setting up of a new voice for local sport, Sport Hackney will hold a draw to give away 20 vouchers worth £200 of sports coaching equipment for groups signing up to become members. Sport Hackney is the Sports Council for the Borough and this will be its first meeting - Wednesday March 16th between 6:30pm and 8pm, Room 103 in Hackney Town Hall. The purpose of this body will be to act as the voice for voluntary sport (and physical activity) in the Borough, to run a small grants programme, to elect representatives onto the Hackney Sports and Physical Activity Forum and to lobby the Council on issues of concern to the sporting community.

Hackney Sports and Physical Activity Forum has arranged this meeting for anybody involved in the delivery of Sport/Physical Activities in Hackney. In order to be eligible for the prize draw please bring with you some documentation relating to your club (such as a copy of your constitution/set of rules, a club handbook, list of members, affiliation to your National Governing Body etc.) when you come to the meeting.

If you would like to come please confirm your attendance with Lawrie Baker, Hackney Voluntary Action, 92 Dalston Lane, LONDON E8 1NG 020 7241 4443 x32 or email lawriebaker@hackneyvoluntaryaction.org.uk

(Via Clissold Leisure Users' News.)

Nature in the City

Thu, 25 Nov 2004 14:58:05 GMT

Saturday 27th November
10.30 12.30
Ages: 5+

Its time to get excited about trees and plants! Come and celebrate the start of National Tree Week at the Building Exploratory

This year's National Tree Week takes place across the country from 24th November to 5th December. From walks to talks to story telling and tree dressing, the start of the tree planting season celebrates the diversity of life everywhere.

On Saturday November 27 the Building Exploratory are offering a creative family workshop that's celebrates trees and other natural materials: in the city! Because city life doesn't have to be all concrete, steel and glass parks and gardens are just as vital and important to our urban environments as buildings.

Using our imaginations, plus wood, straw, stone, and other organic materials, you the chance to make a 2D design of a building.

Please note this free workshop will allow visitors to browse the Building Exploratory's unique exhibition, but pre-booking is advised.

To book please call 020 7275 8555 or mail@buildingexploratory.org.uk

"What I appreciate is the interactive nature of the exhibits great for kids, interesting for adults"
Hackney Parent "It's fun it's learning, but it's still fun!"
Hackney student