The Latymer Upper Recital Hall

The delayed 2025 Awards Evening and AGM was held on Monday 9th February 2026, in the recital hall at Latymer Upper School, King Street, W6 9LR.

Due to recent boundary changes, we now have two MP’s serving our area, and we were delighted that both Andy Slaughter MP and Rupa Huq MP were able to attend, along with our patron, the Mayor of Hammersmith & Fulham who presented the awards to the winners in amongst our substantial member audience.

The 2024 AGM minutes and 2024-5 accounts were formally approved first in the AGM process, followed by committee elections according to the agenda. The relevant AGM documents are attached at the foot of this page.

Commitee Elections

A couple of long-serving committee members stood down this year, and Richard Farthing stood down as chairman after his 3 year term, according to the constitution. Nominees for the committee, including new chairman Angela Clarke, were elected as outlined in the agenda. We were delighted that four further members volunteered to serve on the committee, and their details are being added to the contacts page. We still have a vacancy for the role of Hon. Secretary – please contact the chairman if you are interested in helping the committee in this role, or in any other way.

Awards

Nominations 2025

Vice-Chairman Richard Winterton reviewed this year’s excellent crop of nominations in detail, and the Mayor, Cllr Sharon Holder subsequently presented the Awards. The narrative, with details of the winning projects, can be found on the Awards page.

Vice-chairman Richard Winterton introduces the awards

Afsaneh Sladen of HCGA accepts Nancye Goulden Award for King St. rain gardens

Afsaneh Sladen of HCGA with the Mayor

The Mayor reads the acceptance from LBHF councillors for the Nancye Goulden Award

New Timber Yard Award Winners: Orla Murray of Thackeray Estates, Sam Langtree & Fiona of Frost Architects

Environment Award Winners for The New Timber Yard

(AGM Photos: Anne Farthing. Click for larger versions)

Guest Speaker

Hywel Pratley Presentation – William Morris statue

Hywel Pratley with sculpture

This year, our guest speaker was local sculptor Hywel Pratley. He gave a detailed talk about his various past projects, including the 7ft tall bronze of Queen Elizabeth II. He showed a video of the ‘lost-wax’ process used to create these magnificent sculptures, which is included below. 

William Morris Statue Proposal

He then surprised and delighted us by proposing a new life-size sculpture of William Morris, which he suggested could be installed somewhere along the Upper Mall. He suggested locations, and showed the maquette build he’s already worked up to support the proposal. Further details can be seen in his slides, by clicking on the image adjacent.

Overview of Chairman’s Annual Report

Outgoing Chairman Richard Farthing presented highlights of the annual report, choosing to focus on a few of the significant  developments already appearing or likely to appear in Hammersmith in the next few years. The list included:

• New developments coming to Hammersmith:
  • Olympia & Town Hall opening this year
  • 66 Hammersmith Road
  • Imperial (North of Westfield)
  • RMH: Boiler House addition 
  • Landmark House (PBSA / Resi?)
  • 2 Queen Caroline St (PBSA ?)
  • LBHF smaller projects (The Grange…)
  • Building on School Land – Phoenix, Avonmore, Flora?

He then discussed some of the governmental and planning matters affecting or likely to affect our local environment:

• Permitted development (PD) – conversion to potentially poor quality flats with few amenities – particularly along Hammersmith Road, where many older and smaller offices are no longer rentable, especially with the appearance of better alternatives in the new Olympia.
• The bridge, now closed to public transport and other vehicles for over 2500 days, recent proposals in the media, and the Task Force.
• The many planning system changes from central government, perhaps hindering rather than helping development, particularly in housing, with the possible unintended consequences of the encouragement of PD.
• The next London Plan – densification – and Hammersmith’s Local Plan.
• Uses of AI to help manage huge planning applications such as Earls Court, and tools such as Anitrender for a more realistic view of developments in our actual climate.
• Examples of human scale architecture.

There followed a short Q&A, with a lively discussion about Hammersmith Bridge.

AGM Documents

 Agenda
Approved Minutes of the 2024 AGM
Approved accounts 2024-2025
Chairman’s report 2024-2025