The website continues to be updated with improvements to layout (such as use of tabs on some new pages), usability, and of course, plenty of new material.  We mentioned the new guide recently, it’s been renamed more accurately the Website & Accessibility Guide, and updated.  Accessibility improvements include the elimination of the last few recalcitrant contrast errors and one or two missing screen-reader tags. 

There have been a couple of significant content additions recently, plus this year’s unfortunate necessity, the previously announced daily-updating H&F Covid-19 graph at the top of the Home Page.

Capability Brown Statue

Awards Map snapshot – click to visit the interactive version

Firstly, we’ve subsumed the content of the  original Capability Brown Statue website, created as part of the project led by former committee member Richard Jackson. It now has a permanent home in the history section.  There are photos of some of his landscapes, a section describing the project, the history and development of the statue itself, with a video of the unveiling, links to our news stories during the project, and for the record, a list of benefactors, of which this Society was one. 

Also noteworthy is the news that there’s a fundraising effort for a riverside sculpture of Virginia Woolf in Richmond, by the same sculptor, Laury Dizengremel.

Each history page now has a set of pictorial/excerpt links to the other history pages at its foot, or in the sidebar, and each page has seen a little TLC too. The history sidebar also now appears on our home page.

Secondly, ‘Lockdown 2’ has provided the time to complete of a longstanding project to map all Awards and Nominations since the start of the scheme in 1990. In reconfirming the postcodes and/or exact locations of all 133 records, some information was updated, and a photo or two refreshed. Click on the map image to explore the area interactively – each colour-coded map pin identifies the type of award and what we know about it, provides a link to a picture if available, and to the relevant year’s Awards page.  Perhaps we’ll create some local walks based on it – watch this space!

In Lockdown 2, we continue to post updates on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and add diary entries of interest to members. Please follow us on these platforms if you have an account, and keep an eye on the diary which is updated with new events at least weekly.

The statue was finally unveiled at a ceremony on a glorious afternoon on 24th May in front of an invited audience. Unfortunately the original Guest of Honour Sir Roy Strong was unable to attend due to ill health but the organisers were delighted that Gilly Drummond, Chairman of the Capability Brown Festival Celebrations 2016 was able to take his place, together with Cllr Michael Cartwright in his role as Mayor. Gilly is also Chairman of the English Heritage Historic Parks and Gardens Panel and President of the Association of Gardens Trusts.

The Leader of the Council Stephen Cowan, MP Andy Slaughter and the sculptor Laury Dizengremel were also in attendance. Celebrations continued in the Blue Boat Pub nearby.

Capability Brown Statue unveiling

Hammersmith Society Committee: Capability Brown Statue

Capability Brown Statue unveiling – Richard Jackson

Capability Brown Statue unveiling

Capability Brown Statue unveiling

The location of the statue is on the newly adopted riverside walk at Distillery Wharf, but unfortunately the statue has been removed temporarily to rectify a slight wobble, but will be returned in about two weeks.

Congratulations especially to our Committee Member Richard Jackson for making the project happen, raising the necessary funds and overcoming so many obstacles along the way.

Following the success of this statue, it seems that plans are now afoot for another statue to commemorate William Morris. Watch this space!

Our Committee member Richard Jackson has long been campaigning for a statue of Brown who lived on Hammersmith Mall for 13 years at the height of his career. He moved here to be near the numerous tree and plant nurseries in the area. 2016 is the 300th Anniversary of his birth. It seems others around the country are equally keen on the project. Richard writes “Following the three television programmes ‘Titchmarsh on Brown’ (More 4) which featured Hammersmith and the rediscovered drawings of an unbuilt landscape in the Belvoir Castle archive, we were contacted by Laury Dizengremel, the Artist-in-Residence at Belvoir Castle who is offering to erect a lifesize realistic statue to Brown in a public place, paid for by public subscription. This dovetails in with our proposals perfectly.

The eminent landscape historian, John Phibbs, had recommended Hammersmith to her as a suitable site. With the enthusiastic support of the Leader of the Council, Cllr. Stephen Cowan, we have started to sound out local amenity societies with a view to finding an appropriate site . . .  This is a project whose time has come. . .”

It understood that several Mall sites are being considered but it seems unfortunately there is still some local opposition to the project.

For more information on Capability Brown, visit www.capabilitybrown.org