Our annual residents meeting was held on 25th March at the Montpeliano restaurant, with light refreshments being provided.
Highlights:
Next year’s meeting will be in March 2014.
Attached: AGM Minutes 25.3.13
Our annual residents meeting was held on 26th March at the Montpeliano restaurant, with light refreshments being provided.
Highlights:
Next year’s meeting will be in March 2013.
Attached: AGM Minutes 26.3.12
I recently came into possession of our ‘archives’ : three large cardboard boxes with the name of a well known legal firm emblazoned on the side. At first I viewed it as a burden but when I opened them and began to read I was delighted by the stories they tell.
The Montpelier Square Garden Committee was founded sometime after the Garden Square Act of 1863… our earliest document dates from 1867. We have an almost unbroken line of minutes and reports from that dim past to today. Covered in spidery handwriting for the most part and difficult to read, the original minutes book is now cushioned by acid-free tissue and only emerges on special occasions.
The archives are important because they show us how valuable the Square Garden was to the earlier residents, helping us to understand where the garden has come from and what it could become. We can see how things have changed and how the same concerns (noise, litter, garden design) arise again and again and how the earlier people handled them.
I want the archives to be more readily available to those who are interested in them so I have begun to scan the documents and you can find them online at
Here is a summary of the items discussed at our Autumn meeting:
We’re winners! Montpelier Square has placed in the top three in the annual Garden Square competition. Our exact position (Gold, Silver or Bronze) will be announced at the prize giving on November 2nd at the Guildhall. Our gardening team and Lady Marshall have every right to feel a glow of pride as we were competing against 50 other squares. We’re hoping to improve on our third place showing in 2006.
The annual budget for extra planting is to be increased to £2000 from £1500 in order to bring some Autumn colour to the garden. Our finest time is always Spring and we are hoping to extend colour and interest further through the gardening year with this additional planting.
Westminster City Council have requested that we plant two additional London Plane trees on the North side of the garden. The London Plane is a magnificent tree and they help define some of the best avenues in London but their sheer size can overwhelm a small space like Montpelier Square so Westminster have acquiesced to our suggestion of planting an Elm instead. They still want one Plane but a compromise has been reached. To this end we are looking to plant a Princeton elm this autumn, somewhere on the NE corner of the square.