Autumn certainly seems to have started early this year – writes our Chair, Mike Hildesley – and while there is evidence of climate change all around us, this year we have been blessed with plentiful rain rather than searing heat, much as we might have liked less rain and a few more days of good sunshine!

Mega Rains! Monday 23rd Sept was a record setting day – with 57mm of rain recorded locally in a period of about 2 hours in the early morning: the result was that the depth/flow gauge on the Beverley Brook at Wimbledon Common was 1mm higher than the previous all time recorded high (from 1987). The Wandle topped its banks, and we were perhaps lucky in Barnes that the storm did not last longer, since with high tide at 7.30am the capacity to hold the rainwater in the brook was stretched towards its limit. The newly dug reedbeds played their part, with the water rising about a foot – a case in these circumstances of ‘every little helps’.

The intensity of the storm (back in 2000 I was told to plan a soakaway on 25mm in 24 hours for 2 days running, not 57mm in 2 hours), flashiness of the brook, and challenge of tidal lock, mean we all need to think about the changes we can make at property and street level to ‘slow the flow’ and reduce the strain on our drains and watercourses. Sewers will be better able to cope if we all think about reducing water usage during severe storms – again, maybe we were lucky this latest storm was before most people had woken up!

But enough of the weather — let’s celebrate! It is ten years since we incorporated and we think that merits a party. We all hope we will see you at the Autumn Fayre on 19th! We certainly have a lot to celebrate and enjoy – with huge advances across conservation, biodiversity, community engagement, growing, outdoor learning and wellbeing: in ten years our membership has grown eightfold, volunteering hours topped 8,000 last year and our staff will soon be 10 strong. As part of our celebrations there will be the opportunity to learn more about the progress we are making with:

• Vine Road Project – the Architects and Planning team have assembled more detail to take into a further round or Pre-Application discussion, which we hope will mean we can soon press on with the Full Application: the Master Plan considered two years ago has been fleshed out a bit more: the fundamentals are as before but we are also addressing climate change and flood resilience in the designs.
• Community BlueScapes – the community is getting more involved and the next two years will see a lot of action: as well as ongoing awareness raising, there are and will be more opportunities to undertake big and small resilience projects at property, street and community levels.
• Biodiversity and Conservation – across six sites, Barnes Common, Leg o’ Mutton, Vine Road, Beverley Brook as well as specific work at East Sheen and Palewell – with increasing evidence of the importance of these urban sites as custodians of biodiversity: for instance, just in the field of saproxylic invertebrates, surveys at three of these sites have established the populations are of national significance. Urban conservation may prove to be a vital part of rolling back the depredations of modern living and intensive agriculture (important as that is to our food supplies).
• Growing – despite the weather it has been another productive year of growing – and a second polytunnel will soon be constructed.
• Lifelong Outdoor Learning – the range of formal and informal learning associated with our activities continues to expand, with more walks and talks than ever, more schools engaged, more DoE students, support for teacher training, citizen science, research….

In other news: we have been told that the Barnes Station Access-for-All work will be complete , and the work site cleared, by mid-December. We will assess the impact after that, especially due to the extended period of disruption. We have some funding set aside for restoration and will be looking to see where and how biodiversity can be optimised so the meadow not only regains its former glory but continues to improve for years to come.

Photo by Andrew Wilson.