News

Just before Christmas, Kate Hoey MP unveiled the new plaque to Henry and Millicent Fawcett, who were such generous benefactors of the Park when it was established.

It is situated by the mulberry tree on the central grassy area near to the tennis courts and Café.

Lucy Haugh, a talented young stone engraver, working in Burgess Park, made the plaque and we are very grateful to the South London Fawcett Group for sponsoring this plaque with the Friends.

At the same occasion, we were delighted to welcome Cllr Sally Prentice, Lambeth Council Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, to the Park to officially raise Vauxhall Park’s sixth Green Flag.

We are pleased that a team from Community Payback have been working in the Park every Monday in recent weeks to take over from the residents of Graham House who were unable to finish the painting of the railings around the dog area.

We hope that our four-legged friends will soon be enjoying a very smart new exercise area.

We are very grateful to the Community Payback team for their hard work and enthusiasm.

Following the community lavender harvest at the end of the summer, a car boot full of Vauxhall lavender was taken down to Carshalton Lavender Fields where Laurie Rudham kindly allowed us to use his bespoke distillery to produce over 10 litres of lavender oil.

The oil can be bought through Ruth the Lavender Lady who is at the South Lambeth Market on the second Saturday of every month. It is richly aromatic and distinctly different from the other lavender oils so do try it out. Perfect for ironing out the stresses of inner city living!

The lavender garden, which was planted to mark the Centenary of the Vauxhall Motor Company in 2003 is now in need of replanting. The Friends hope to make this a project for 2014 to propagate new plants from the existing ones and extend the life of this highly popular feature of the park. If you are interested in taking part please call 07901 855887.

A very generous local resident has recently sponsored the installation of a human (or “analemmatic“) sundial in the middle of the lavender garden.

It is set to GMT so, on a sunny day, go and stand on the correct month, as marked on the central stone, and see if your shadow gives an accurate time reading (in summer, your shadow will be a hour ahead!).

We are delighted by this fascinating addition to the park and are very grateful to the Wells family for their inspired idea.

We are extremely grateful to Tommy Candler and Alan Plaistowe who planned, sourced and paid for the new planting of the Pergola in the lavender garden area. A carefully chosen range of roses and wisteria will, before long, restore the Pergola to its former glory.

We look forward to the air being filled with the scent of these beautiful roses.

After many years of being knocked by passing vehicles, the base around the fountain was in a terrible state. As it seemed unlikely that there would ever be money from the Council’s budget to repair the damage, the Friends of Vauxhall Park decided to use the reserves they have built up from the many kind donations from their members for the job. Continue reading “Friends restore fountain base”

In 1884, in an act of great generosity which we are still enjoying today, Henry and Millicent Fawcett gave their house and garden on The Lawn (which was approximately where the path parallel to the South Lambeth Road is) so that a Park could be established for the residents of Vauxhall. Continue reading “Millicent Fawcett plaque to be renewed”

Now that we no longer have adequate maintenance in the Park, the local community have stepped up to fill in the gaps left by the Parks team caused by severe cuts to the budget of the Parks Department. Continue reading “Volunteering in the park”