THE FRIENDS OF

CANNIZARO PARK

LETTERS TO THE CHAIRMAN

Do you have strong opinions about Cannizaro Park? If so, send us your views and we will be happy to publish them on the site to stimulate wider discussions. Write to the Chairman at the address below or email the Editor at tony.matthews@blueyonder.co.uk

Dear Chairman

I am a writer and teacher living in Galway on the west coast of Ireland. In the early autumn of 2007 I spent time in Wimbledon when my wife was a patient in Parkside Hospital. She then had to recuperate in a convalescent home as she was not allowed to travel for some time after her operation.

One of the great comforts to us both during that very difficult time was the beauty and special atmosphere we both found in Cannizaro Park. We first visited the park hours before her serious operation and I revisited it alone every day during my stay while my wife slowly regained her strength. She says she held the image of the lovely colours and the beauty of the trees in her head during her recovery days and I told her of my walks there and of the peace I was finding in that lovely sanctuary.

At the time we knew nobody in the area although I subsequently made one or two good friends there and we return occasionally. When I came to write what is now my third collection of poems something of this time found its way into my work.

Gerard Hanberry

AT CANNIZARO PARK
(Reproduced from the book "At Grattan Road" by kind permission of the author and Salmon Publishing)

South London, a working Monday,
nobody about this concealed park,
only a trembling fragility of light and insects,
the musky scent of earth and sap. So silent,
the great metropolis seemed very far way.

I find a suntrapped bench, bleached white,
for want of stain. My eyelids heavy
even though my heart is in my mouth.
They would be about it now,
the surgeon and his crew.

Take yourself off to the Common,
the kindly Sister in HDU advised.
We've got your mobile number if needs be.
A city full of strangers,
a sunny September afternoon.

Grey squirrels came to scratch about my bench,
I watched their frenzied capers up and down the trunks,
bushy-tailed, elegant, out along the limbs
like costumed dancers at the Moulin Rouge.
Mischievous yet indifferent, about a business all their own.

When this is all behind us my love,
I will take you here in sunshine to this very bench
and celebrate those cloistered shadows,
that ancient willow, the perfect eucalyptus,
this banquet of colours through the trees.

Time to return. I pass the little pond once again,
the monkish heron stoic in the corner by some reeds.
Now up ahead the hospital, just as I had left it.
Soon there will be news,
with any luck, it will be good.

In the clear skies off to the west
the silver gleam of Boeings lining up,
descending into Heathrow one by one,
bellies level and steady, almost miraculous,
everything perfectly under control.

Gerard Hanberry

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Tony

I'm writing about the Italian Garden's future. I've never been able to understand why plays and concerts were allowed there. Surely the area much closer to the pond is the obvious place for these and to think that development/improvement work is now 'on hold' because the private sector MIGHT want to use it again is madness. The sooner Merton decides once and for all that the Italian Garden will NOT be used again the better. Then improvement works can be planned and the other area prepared for future productions AND provided with the necessary provision for those with disabilities. 

All the best

Gordon Macniven

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Hi
 

I love the Park and the fact that you are trying to keep the history alive. In the 1960s my Nan was one of the residents at Cannizaro when it was an old folks home! A little bit of history that surprises people when the Park comes up in conversation. I’m sure it comes as no surprise that many still don’t know it even exists - one of London’s hidden gems.

My Nan was a bit of a ‘card’ as they used to say and when she moved into the house she started to call herself Lady Philpot!

Cheers – keep up the good work.
 

Richard Philpot

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Dear Sirs
 
 I am writing to congratulate you on your success over the years in restoring and maintaining Cannizaro Park. I discovered the park in 2004 when I was married at the Cannizaro House Hotel. The gardens made a beautiful backdrop to the day and all our guests enjoyed them. Several commented on the lovely gardens afterwards. My husband and I have enjoyed the gardens on many occasions since then and enjoy taking our family there on nice days. We have also been to the festival many times and I was dismayed to read that it will be cancelled again this year.
 
Jane Leahy

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Dear Chairman, 

On reading rather belatedly in the Wimbledon Society Newsletter of the proposed restoration of Cannizaro Park if funds can be found, I wonder if this might include the removal of the horrendous brick and concrete structures that were erected I think about 20 years ago in the Kitchen garden and beyond.
 

The balustrades, crudely cast in concrete, are a particular eyesore. Though only in my teens at the time I remember being horrified by this ambitious but tasteless and misplaced project. Around that time the remains of the Edwardian greenhouses were demolished - surely their restoration would have been a better use of funds.
 

I feel their reinstatement and the restoration of the walled, I imagine kitchen, garden would be a great addition, as has been the case at Heligan, and would quite possibly prove the focal point and main attraction. The inspirational and educative potential, historically and horticulturally could also add weight to a Lottery appeal.

Perhaps the hotel could make use of the produce and in return help with the finances! Help may also be found from television production companies who could cover such a project with the added benefit of publicity. 
 

The restoration of the whole garden would be given added dimension by emphasizing historical aspects in design, plant varieties, techniques and social context and would help extend its attraction well beyond its current mainly local appeal.
 

Yours sincerely
Neil Mason  

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