Read our Autumn 2015 Bulletin including news about:

• Our national Design Award from Civic Voice
• Mitcham Heritage Day on 19th September
• New unsightly bollards on
• Proposals for new flats on the Kwik Fit site
• Latest news on the Burn Bullock

MCGCH Bulletin Autumn 2015

Mitcham Cricket Green is in the vanguard of an exciting new initiative to have London recognised as a National Park City.

Did you know that 47% of London’s land surface is green?

We live in a remarkable city and we all know how important the open spaces of Mitcham are to our local quality of life. Where would we be without Mitcham Common, Three King’s Piece, Cranmer Green or network of small open spaces and private gardens that make up our neighbourhood?

This story is repeated London-wide and Cricket Green is one of the first wards in London to back its declaration as a National Park City.

Look out for the special newspaper which is being circulated widely and find out more on how to declare you support from the website www.nationalparkcity.london.

A growing number of London boroughs have already supported the initiative, including Sutton and Kingston and it is backed by many ward councillors in Merton. We are now pressing Merton Council to give its support.

The founder of the initiative – Dan Raven-Ellison – will be speaking at the Vestry Hall in Cricket Green on October 17th at Wandle Futures – a workshop being organised by Wandle Valley Forum. let us know if you want more information.

We are delighted to be organising Mitcham Heritage Day on 19th September 2015.

You can enjoy a range of free walks, exhibitions, tours and visits to buildings and open spaces in and around Mitcham Cricket Green. Many of the buildings are not usually open to the public so it is a great opportunity to learn more about the area.

Refreshments are available at many of the locations.

Walks, tours and exhibitions:

• 10.00 to 10.45 The Canons guided tour. Booking required – 020 8640 3333.
• 10.00 to 1.00 Vestry Hall photographic exhibition. No booking.
• 11.00 to 11.45 Vestry Hall guided tour. Booking required – 020 8640 3333.
• 12.30 to 1.30 Parish Churchyard guided tour. No booking. Meet at front porch.
• 2.30 to 3.30 Cricket Green heritage walk. No booking. Meet at cricket pavilion.
• 11.00 and 3.00 Parish Church cemetery mortuary chapel open. No booking.

Open buildings:

• 10.30 to 4.30 Mitcham Cricket Pavilion
• 10.30 to 4.30 Mitcham Parish Church
• 10.30 to 4.30 Mitcham Methodist Church
• 10.00 to 1.00 Vestry Hall (with photographic exhibition)

There are more details about the open buildings, walks and tours on our flyer. Download the Mitcham Heritage Day 19 September 2015 details as a PDF for high quality printing, or click the image below to see a larger version on screen.

Bring your friends and family!

Our Community on the Green event held on 29 July was a great success.

We were delighted to welcome lots of local people who wanted to learn more about our work and celebrate Cricket Green.

Highlights of the evening were:

• An excellent speech by Mayor of Merton David Chung
• The opportunity to view our recent national Civic Voice Design Award – for our Lottery funded work on three listed local landmarks
• Presentation of cheques to Mitcham Cricket Club by both Miitcham Cricket Green Community & Heritage and Mitcham Society following our annual joint golf day earlier in the year
• A guided walk round Mitcham Cricket Green
• Cricket was played by young members of Mitcham Cricket Club

There was a spot of rain during the event, but as you will see from one of the photos below, one of our members took charge of ensuring pools didn’t form on our gazebo!

The Kwik Fit site on London Road has been empty for some time.

An old planning permission for flats on the site has lapsed, and a new owner has been consulting on a new planning permission.

The plan as it currently stands is for 22 flats above 280 square metres of commercial space on the ground floor.

We have put forward some comments on the scheme.

Our comments on the Kwik Fit site redevelopment 360 – 364 London Road

In due course the developer will decide whether to take the scheme forward as a planning application.

The artists drawings from a booklet made available at the recent public consultation event gives a view of the development from several angles – and give a very good idea of the effect it would have on the local area.

We were delighted when we learned earlier this month that we’d been shortlisted for the prestigious Civic Voice 2015 Design Awards.

Only 12 projects throughout England were shortlisted for an award. We were in the Public Realm category – and were shortlisted alongside three other projects.

We were shortlisted for our Cleaning Local Landmarks project.

Joyce Bellamy and Sandra Vogel attended the awards ceremony on 17th July at Central Hall Westminster, where Civic Voice president Griff Rhys Jones presented the awards.

We didn’t win the category – but we came away with a Highly Commended award. This is what the judges said about our project:

“An imaginative community led scheme to restore three historic local landmarks; a milestone, a memorial stone and a horse trough which have all played a part in the story of Mitcham. Local heritage is preserved, celebrated and brought meaningfully to life by and for local people, inspiring a new generation to learn about and appreciate how the present is firmly rooted in the past. A model of how to involve volunteers in heritage and how small interventions can cumulatively make a huge difference.”

Everyone who played a part in this project has a share in the award – well done to us all!

Civic Voice has published a commemorative booklet about the awards with information about all the entrants.