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The
Greater London Council came into being by Act of Parliament in 1963
and was an amalgamation of the former London County Council area with
newly created outer London Boroughs. Many of the parks and woods in
outer London were already administered by the LCC and the GLC
inherited many of their traditions.
In 1971
a Dog Handlers course was set up at Crystal Palace with the idea that
Keepers would patrol the parks and deal with anti-social behaviour.
John Lebeau from Hainault Forest was one of the first group to qualify
as a dog handler. A few years later Vic George qualified with his dog
Eddie, which was superseded by Luther. All Keepers had brown uniforms
with lapel badges. The dog section wore peaked caps with a special cap
badge. Other keepers had a plain cap badge.
This
was the keepers public face when on patrol. More practical clothes
were worn for maintenance work.
Keepers
were trained in the Byelaws which were prominently posted in all parks
and open spaces. Each Keeper was issued with a book containing the
byelaws and issued with a Warrant Book which gave them the authority
to ensure that the byelaws were complied with.
Animals
from other Parks had their winter quarters at Hainault and it was not
unusual to see Ponies and Llamas in the fields, and the early concept
of a city farm had its beginnings here. Keeper Horace (Wally) Drury is pictured
with the Welsh ponies in 1964. He is wearing a homburg hat and
sporting a uniform, collar and tie.
Pictured casually dressed is Ronald Kipps,
Superintendent (Class 1a) of Hainault Forest. Promoted in 1969 his
previous post was Tooting Common. One of his first jobs was to set up
Country Park status for Hainault Forest. The GLC were keen to set up
Country Parks at Trent Park and Hainault following the Countryside Act
of 1968. Government grants of up to 75% of the costs were available
through the Countryside Commission. In an interview at the time he
looked back on 35 years of service in the Parks Department and
explained that the most important thing about the work was that he
felt he was performing a useful service, which in the main, people
appreciated. Job satisfaction and the fact that it was a healthy open
air life had made him feel that all the hard work over the years had
been worthwhile. He recalled that on one occasion one of the ponies
gave birth to a foal at 5.30am and provided an instant biology lesson
for the school camp inmates who had been roused to watch the event.
One of
the first jobs that the GLC carried out at Hainault was the
establishment of a tree nursery to provide trees for the London and
local roadsides. Many different species were planted in rows and grown
on to be replanted later in suburbia as mature trees using Newman's
Transplanting machine. With the demise of the GLC the area became
overgrown but today many interesting mature non-woodland trees can be
found there. Eleven football pitches and six cricket tables were
provided. The 2 hockey pitches available on the grassland
area were by 1969
underused and soon abandoned.
The old farmhouse was demolished and changing rooms were built on the
site and opened in 1969. Regular cross country runs were
held. Many fun events were organised including a Soap Box Derby in
1972 sponsored by the Ilford Recorder. The GLC were also responsible
for the Golf Course. Rivalry between the Parks staff was often settled by a
game of golf at Hainault. In 1965 Hainault Forest keepers beat
Beckenham Place Park 10½ wins to 8½ wins.
In an
attempt to maintain the ancient hornbeam pollards that Hainault Forest
is famous for, pollarding was carried out on selected trees in an area
around Lambourne Well in the winter of 1983/4. Some were totally
lopped at the crown and others had one branch left on. At the time
this was the correct procedure, and the following spring of 1984
luxuriant growth was produced. But such is the shock to the system
that in most cases this treatment introduced disease and hastened the
death of the trees. The hurricane of 1987 laid many low. It is now
known that only a very small percentage survive repollarding. Today
the Woodland Trust are starting the process again by pollarding young
trees. |
