Unveiling of Wallace Sculpture

After months of hard work and planning, the sculpture commemorating Alfred Russel Wallace was finally unveiled on 18 October 2014 to a crowd of up to a hundred people outside Hertford Theatre. 

Dr George Beccaloni, curator of orthopteroidea and the Wallace Collection at the Museum of Natural History, welcomed this acknowledgement of Wallace, who was a world famous scientist at his death in 1913 but whose reputation had since been eclipsed by that of Darwin.

Local sculptor Rodney Munday told us that he had “welcomed the opportunity to give something back to Hertford”, and how he had been inspired to include a bird of paradise in his portrait sculpture of Wallace, which is now attached to the theatre wall.

The Society’s chairman Terry Betts thanked all those who had contributed to the project. These included Hertford Civic Society, East Herts Council and Hertford Town Council for the funding and our vice-chairman Malcolm Ramsay who organised the competition and public consultation which led to the selection of the design. Music was provided on the day by the Richard Hale School Band. 

Wallace (1823-1913), who 'discovered' evolution alongside Charles Darwin, was brought up and educated in Hertford.

Bircherley Green Re-development Proposals

At the end of August Wrenbridge held a public consultation on their proposals for a major re-development by erecting information boards in Bircherley Green and answering queries from passers by. Some of our members also made comments to our Chairman Terry Betts by email and these, anonymised, are available on our main website, along with the information supplied by Wrenbridge.

UNVEILING OF STATUE

The public unveiling of the sculpture of Alfred Russel Wallace, on an exterior wall of Hertford Theatre, will take place at 15.15 on Saturday 18 October. 

Dr George Beccaloni will make the main speech, while the sculptor Rodney Munday will also say a few words. 

Wallace (1823-1913), who 'discovered' evolution alongside Charles Darwin, was brought up and educated in Hertford.

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the Hertford Civic Society will be held on Wednesday, 30 April at 8.00 pm in the Hall of the Church of the Immaculate Conception and St Joseph, St John’s Street, Hertford.

AGENDA

                                              1. Minutes of the AGM held on 17 April 2013
                                              2. Report of the Committee for 2013
                                              3. Hon Treasurer’s Report and Accounts
                                              4. Election of Officers
                                              5. Election of Members of the Committee
                                              6. Any Other Business

The current Officers and Committee are listed on p6-7 of the Spring 2014 Society Newsletter which is available for download from our website. All retire annually. The Constitution provides for up to 16 Committee members in addition to four Officers. Nominations for elections of Officers and Members of the Committee should be made in writing to the Chairman, Terry Betts, supported by a seconder and with the written consent of the nominee. Nominations for election as an Officer must be made at least seven days before the AGM, but nomination for election of Members of the Committee will be accepted at the meeting.

Refreshments will be served after the business has been concluded.

BRINGING WALLACE BACK TO HERTFORD

Hertford cherishes Alfred Russel Wallace. In the persistently wet winter of 2013-14, Hertford Theatre has twice been filled by capacity crowds intent on learning more about the man who, alongside Charles Darwin, ‘discovered’ evolution. Keith Marshall sponsored the staging of a one-man play about Wallace, and then a few weeks later Hertford Museum presented an evening of lectures about a great scientist who grew up and went to school here in Hertford. At the first of these events, in November, the news was broken, to enthusiastic cheers, that the sculpture competition to celebrate Wallace had been won by local artist Rodney Munday. Currently, the Civic Society has applied for planning permission, so that the design now shown here can be installed on the exterior wall of Hertford Theatre facing towards Old Cross.

Rodney Munday’s original proposal, developed last year, includes some interesting reflections: “Creating a visual image of a character from the past is, for me, akin to writing a biographical novel. Research is essential, for in order to produce something of enduring value, one needs to come to terms with personality as well as appearance.” This led him not simply to suggest a portrait bust, nor to portray him as yet another Victorian traveller – with such classic accoutrements as butterfly nets or collecting boxes. Inspired by his reading of both Wallace’s autobiography and his classic Malay Archipelago travel book, Rodney Munday came up with a more interesting and visually attractive idea. This featured Wallace holding a bird of paradise. “The bird is based on the image which forms the frontispiece of Malay Archipelago, and its form is reflected in the image of Wallace, giving those sorts of visual references which set up internal rhythms analogous to rhyme and rhythm in poetry, at the same time saying more about the man and his work than can be said in a simple portrait. Evolutionary theory had been in the air for some time before Darwin and Wallace, and it is more than coincidence that they had the same revolutionary idea at the same time. Philosophical and scientific ideas are frequently ‘in the air’ at certain periods, ready to be snatched from it by those extraordinarily perceptive people we sometimes refer to as geniuses. Wallace reaching out and grasping the bird of paradise which so enthralled him, can therefore be seen as symbolic of his greater achievement.”

In reality, the design (shown below) shows Wallace reaching out for the bird of paradise rather than physically grasping it. This is because Rodney Munday, continuing to reflect on his composition, and also prompted by sharing his initial design with others, decided that having the bird as a separate entity, as if just about to be grasped, was a more dramatic sculpture, involving two parts rather than just one. Indeed, it leaves open the question of whether the bird is necessarily going to be caught at all.

It is too soon to say for sure when the finished work will be unveiled, but one possible date currently under discussion is Saturday 31 May. Whether or not that is the actual date, it gives some sense of the possible timescale for the conclusion of a project conceived by the Civic Society and then supported by both the Town and District Councils – the latter being particularly crucial, as it not only contributed substantially towards the cost but also provided the wall space or setting for the sculpture, at Hertford Theatre.

And if meanwhile you want to learn more about Wallace, do try reading The Malay Archipelago, which has never gone out of print. His interests were exceptionally wide-ranging. The customs of the peoples who he depended on, and their languages, were just as interesting to him as the fauna and flora or the geography and the geology, all of which he studied so carefully. He even foresaw how global economic development would lead to precisely the environmental difficulties that we now struggle to address. Buy your own copy; request it from your local library; or try it electronically, for instance via online books 

(onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu).

CELEBRATING THE CENTENARY OF HERTFORD’S HISTORIC PAGEANT

A hundred years ago, during Spring 1914, Hertford was gripped with Pageant fever. This event will be marked in June 2014 by the publication of a book called Hertford’s Grand Pageant 1914. It has been written in association with Hertford Museum by Philip Sheail, a Museum Friend and Volunteer.

Some 600 people took part in the Pageant while many more were engaged in making costumes and props. It was held in the grounds of Hertford Castle every afternoon during the week of June 29 1914, just a few weeks before the outbreak of the First World War.

The Pageant celebrated the founding of the town in the year 914 by the Saxon King Edward the Elder. At that time it was quite the fashion for historic towns in England to celebrate their millenary and most of them did so by staging a pageant which depicted key moments in the town’s history. In Hertford’s case it included the famous Synod of 673, the founding of the town by Edward the Elder, the Siege of Hertford Castle during the reign of King John, the dissolution of Hertford Priory during the reign of Henry VIII and the royal visit to the castle by Elizabeth I in 1561.

A programme for the launch and publication of Hertford’s Grand Pageant 1914 has been drawn up by Philip Sheail and Jean Riddell. They intend to launch the book at St John’s Hall, Hertford (behind All Saints’ Church) on Sunday, 1 June 2014, between 3pm and 6pm. Much of the music used in the Pageant was composed specially for the occasion by James Gregory, organist and choirmaster at All Saints’ Church. The launch will include a performance of this music by the Mimram Singers. This will be the first time the music has been heard since 1914. 

All the profits from the sale of the book will be donated to Hertford Museum.

Philip Sheail

THE GIBBERD GARDEN

Sir Frederick Gibberd, planner for Harlow New Town and art collector, lived near Harlow Mill and created a seven acre garden described by wine and garden writer Hugh Johnson as “first and foremost an entertainment ... It is landscape as theatre.” Apart from the plants and landscaping, the garden also contains around eighty pieces of sculpture, ceramics and pieces of architectural salvage.

It is open on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons and Bank Holiday Mondays from 30 March and will be hosting special events and cultural tours throughout the summer. 

More information at

www.thegibberdgarden.co.uk

CELEBRATING WALLACE AT HIS CENTENARY

Sculpture competition: final outcome

Thanks to an initiative by Hertford Civic Society, East Herts Council and Hertford Town Council, Hertford will now be getting its own sculpture celebrating Wallace. 

A full open competition was held this summer, with a prize or fee of up to ten thousand pounds.

The final winner is a local sculptor, Rodney Munday, who is based in Much Hadham

http://www.rodneymunday-sculptor.co.uk

His sculpture will be installed on the wall at Hertford Theatre later this Spring. See the current Newsletter for more details.

Annual General Meeting

Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the Hertford Civic Society will be held on Wednesday April 17 at 8.00 pm in the Hall of the Church of the Immaculate Conception and St Joseph, St John’s Street, Hertford.

AGENDA

1. Minutes of the AGM held on April 11 2012
2. Report of the Committee for 2012
3. Hon Treasurer’s Report and Accounts
4. Election of Officers
5. Election of Members of the Committee
6. Any Other Business

The current Officers and Committee are listed on pp6-7 of our newsletter which is available to download from our web site. All retire annually. The Constitution provides for up to 16 Committee members in addition to four Officers. Nominations for elections of Officers and Members of the Committee should be made in writing to the Chairman, Terry Betts, supported by a seconder and with the written consent of the nominee. Nominations for election as an Officer must be made at least seven days before the AGM, but nomination for election of Members of the Committee will be accepted at the Meeting.

Refreshments will be served after the business has been concluded and then Peter Norman will bring us up to date on the District Plan.

HCC is looking to set up a liaison group to represent local people’s interest in Panshanger Park and its Orangery. If you would be interested, please come to the AGM or contact Terry Betts

HARTHAM ART PROJECT

Seven local artists are competing to have their work placed at the western entrance to Hartham using up to £10,000 from the Section 106 money received from Sainsbury’s under the terms of their planning permission. 

 

The brief devised by East Herts Council was to design an artwork that showed innovation and originality, while also having reference to Hertford’s local environment and history. 

 

The seven contenders are: 

 

Angela Godfrey – four stainless steel screens 150cm high mounted on a brick plinth and depicting the four rivers, the brewery and Hartham with its wildlife, walks and sports. 

 

Lee Simmons – a sculptural bench consisting of one horizontal and two vertical interlocking discs cut to suggest the annual growth rings of a tree, made of Cor-ten steel which would weather to shades of brown and orange.

 

Sarah Bracey – a 3m high four-sided arched brick structure with moulded concrete panels depicting urban and rural aspects of Hertford. 

 

Sarah Dilley – a sculpture resembling parts of a mill wheel, made of steel which will weather to shades of brown resembling wood.

 

Leiselle Bristow and Karen Murphy – a cut-metal and kiln-fired glass see-through screen in the form of an ammonite spiral, rising to 2m at the centre and depicting the work of Alfred Russel Wallace on evolution and details of the history of Hertford. The installation would include a rill and a seat and be paved with the bottoms of McMullen’s beer bottles.

 

Maxine King – a 5m high steel rabbit weathered to brown, the title ‘Hops’ being a reference to the brewery, the historic function of the Warren and the installation’s proximity to the children’s play area.

 

C. Parfitt – a ‘woodhenge’ in the form of a circle of wooden posts up to 24m across with information on astronomical observations and calculation of time and geographical direction. 

 

The artists’ submissions were on display in Hertford Theatre during the last week in July and members of the public were invited to comment and to vote for their favourite designs. The final decision will be made by the local arts forum the East Herts Centre for Excellence and Innovation in the Arts and will be announced in the autumn

Strategic Land Availability Assessment (SLAA)

East Herts District Council has been assessing the suitability of sites suggested by developers. The SLAA takes into consideration factors such as access, industrial contamination and flood risk, but inclusion of a site within the SLAA does not mean that EHC is recommending development, only that they believe development there is possible. 

 

The chief sites (with maximum numbers in brackets) are:  

 

National Grid Site/Norbury Woodyard, Mead Lane (300)

 Dicker Mill (50)

Land west of Marshgate Drive (182)

Land south of Mead Lane (100)

Former Police Station, Ware Road (126)

Caxton Hill industrial estate (256)

Hertford Fire Station & HQ (40)

Bentley House, Pegs Lane (24)

Royal Mail Delivery Office, Greencoats (18)

Braziers Field (18)

Former Dolphin car park, Mill Road (14)

Chambers Street (18)

Waters Garage, North Road (14)

Bluecoats Avenue (12)

Elburt Wurlings, Pegs Lane (10)

West Street allotments (10)

 

These, along with some other smaller sites, have all been previously developed, with the exception of Braziers Field and West Street allotments.

PLANNING MATTERS - 64 Bullocks Lane

The proposal was to add a side extension and a front porch. We endorsed the representations about the porch made to the Council by Richard Henderson, a long-standing member of the Society, who carried out research some years ago into the work of the architect Louis Moore. Moore was responsible for this and a number of other houses in Hertford. The Council’s conservation officer agreed with Richard that the building is a fine example of Moore’s style combining Arts and Crafts with Scandinavian influences, and that the proposed porch would have been too large; indeed the officer was highly critical of the design of the proposed extension too.

 

The application was refused.

PLANNING MATTERS - Madford Retail Park

An application was made for some minor physical changes to the building now occupied by Wickes. As is usual on retail parks, there are conditions on the original permission for the building which restrict the types of goods that can be sold, in the interests of protecting the town centre. There have been recent examples in other parts of the country where developers have obtained permission for minor alterations to an existing building and then claimed that, as the new permission makes no mention of the pre-existing conditions, they no longer apply and the building may be used to sell any type of goods. 

 

We urged the Council to guard against this by reimposing the previous conditions when granting the new permission. 

 

They did not take our advice.

PLANNING MATTERS - Panshanger Quarry

Lafarge have applied to amend the details and phasing of the remaining work at Panshanger. They no longer intend to excavate any land to the south of the A414, which will enable quarrying and restoration of the site to be completed by 2020 instead of 2031 as provided for in the existing permission. But not working land to the south of the road apparently means that material will have to be imported from elsewhere to help with the restoration of the areas already worked.

We made a number of points to the County Council, who are responsible for deciding this application. We welcomed both the earlier completion date and the reduction in area though we urged that, in return for being allowed to import material, the terms of Lafarge’s overall permission should be changed to ensure that they cannot change their minds in future and revert to the original date and area. We did not object to the principle of importing inert fill material, but the history of bringing in such material to quarries around Hertford is not encouraging. All sorts of rubbish including asbestos, clay and huge lumps of hardcore have been dumped, sometimes in excessive quantities. We therefore urged the County to tighten up the wording of the relevant condition and insist on compliance with details of finished levels and landform.

The application also seeks approval of a plan showing public paths following restoration of the land. There is a need for a clear east-west route from Hertford and Hertingfordbury to Welwyn Garden City that could be used as an alternative to the B1000 by walkers and cyclists, but the proposed pattern of routes fails to achieve this because one section would be a footpath only. We asked for a clear route available to both walkers and cyclists. We also questioned why the proposed new paths are to be permissive, rather than dedicated as public rights of way in perpetuity, since the right to use a permissive path can be withdrawn at any time by the landowner.

At the time of writing the application had not been decided.

PLANNING MATTERS - Redevelopment Grehan’s Yard

We criticised the orientation of the terraced houses proposed for this site. They will back on to the gardens of the existing houses in Molewood Road, so that vehicle access, and the parking of vehicles, will be on the Beane Marsh side. As the Marsh forms the town end of one of Hertford’s green fingers, and is therefore worthy of special consideration when dealing with planning applications on its boundary, we suggested that it would be beneficial both to the appearance of the green finger and to the occupants of the new houses if the development were turned round so that the gardens faced the Marsh. However the officers took the opposite view, concluding that the proposed orientation would provide for a better frontage and outlook by keeping the residential gardens and their associated domestic paraphernalia contained. The application was approved.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the Hertford Civic Society will be held on Wednesday April 11th at 8.00pm in the Hall of the Church of the Immaculate Conception and St Joseph, St John’s Street, Hertford.

AGENDA

1. Minutes of the AGM held on April 6th 2011
2. Report of the Committee for 2011
3. Hon Treasurer’s Report and Accounts
4. Election of Officers
5. Election of Members of the Committee
6. Any Other Business

The current Officers and Committee are listed in the Spring Newsletter. All retire annually. The Constitution provides for there to be up to 16 Committee Members in addition to four Officers.

Nominations for election of Officers and Members of the Committee should be made in writing to the Chairman, Linda Haysey, supported by a seconder and with the written consent of the nominee.

Nominations for election as an Officer must be made at least seven days before the Meeting, but nominations for election of Members of the Committee will be accepted at the Meeting.

Refreshments will be served after the business has been concluded.

PLANNING MATTERS - Former Old Cross Library

An application was made by a firm of interior designers to change the use of the building from D1 (non-residential institutions) to B1 Business (a) Office. The design firm, who plan to re-locate from Enfield, have indicated that they intend to leave the external appearance of the former library unchanged. We felt that the proposal would enable a familiar and valued building to go on contributing to the Hertford townscape, and again no comment was made.

PLANNING MATTERS - Baker Street Car Park

Fourteen bedsits for vulnerable young people are proposed, together with associated offices and training facilities. Although the appearance of the new building could be improved, and some public parking will be lost, the scheme will make good use of a neglected and under-used site near the town centre. No comments were submitted to the Council.

PLANNING MATTERS - Waterford Hamel

This is the name given by the developers, Lafarge, to a proposal for 11 houses on the site of some workshops in Sacombe Road associated with the former gravel workings at Waterford Heath. The architect has incorporated state-of-the-art techniques for meeting The Code for Sustainable Homes Level 6 (Zero carbon), and the houses have associated allotments to provide an element of self sufficiency. It is claimed that this scheme would be a model for development elsewhere, as it would be the first in the country to pull together all the means of meeting the future housing standards necessary to achieve planned CO2 reductions. However, the land is in the Green Belt. The applicant accepts that under current guidance the proposal is inappropriate in such a location, but argues that because of its unique design features, and because the present unattractive old buildings would be removed, the circumstances are so special that approval should be granted.

We submitted an objection on the grounds that a Green Belt location is not necessary for this trial of building techniques, which could be conducted anywhere and would probably be more meaningful in an urban setting. We also suggested that, whilst certain structures have to be accepted in support of mineral extraction in the Green Belt, that is not a good argument for their replacement, once the mineral workings are exhausted, by new permanent buildings. We asked that if the District Council nevertheless decide to grant permission, they should require Lafarge to sign a binding legal agreement precluding residential development on any of their other land at Waterford. We are concerned that permission on this site might otherwise be the 'thin end of the wedge'.

Local Development Framework

This autumn the District Council has started a strategic land availability assessment (SLAA). Its purpose is to identify land that could be developed for either housing, employment or leisure purposes. A list of sites was circulated for comment to interested parties and comprised sites submitted by owners and developers in response to the ‘call for sites’ last year and sites identified in a survey by consultants. This initiative is part of the preparation of the core strategy which will lie at the centre of the Local Development Framework. Next Spring the Council will publish a list for public consultation of those sites selected from the SLAA process. The public’s principal interest will be in those sites where the large amount of housing needed in the District could be accommodated. Throughout the Council has emphasised that these sites will be identified as where development could be undertaken, not should be undertaken. In our submission we supported further redevelopment in the Mead Lane area along Marshgate Drive and bordering the Navigation, development of the surplus land at the Post Office sorting office, redevelopment of Castle Mead Gardens and development on the top half of the former Christ’s Hospital playing field in Mangrove Road. We opposed sites involving expansion of the town’s boundaries into the Green Belt or the Green Fingers, and proposals for using existing employment land for housing.