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July 24 1984.
The Philip Noel-Baker Peace Garden
London Borough of Islington Recreation Services Department
Official Opening of the
PHILIP NOEL-BAKER PEACE GARDEN
By Lord Fenner Brockway
24th July 1984
Order of Events
Welcome by Jan Whelan, Vice Chair of Recreation Committee.
Unveiling of Commemorative Plaque by Lord Fenner Brockway.
Guests are invited to enter the garden and assemble on the circular lawn.
Alex Farrell, Chair of Recreation Committee, will ask for silence in memory of the dead of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Janet Henfrey will read “Season’s Greetings” by Helen Hawley and an extract from the address to
the United Nations given by Lord Noel-Baker on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of
Franklin D. Roosevelt, June 16th 1982.
Msr. Bruce Kent will give a short address.
Closing remarks by Alex Farrell.
Refreshments in the Marquee (courtesy of M.J.Cagney (Civil Engineering) Limited).
The Philip Noel-Baker Peace Garden
A major feature of the new Elthorne Park is the walled garden which is to be dedicated to the cause of Peace in the memory of Philip Noel-Baker. It is hoped that the Garden will evoke a response of peaceful contemplation and rest and is, therefore, in the tradition of the great English Gardens such as Sissinghurst and Hidcote.
Within a strong architectural framework the planting follows the style of the Cottage garden and such great gardeners as Wiliam Robison, Gertrude Jeckyll, Vita Sackville-West and Margery Fish.
Throughout the garden symbols of Peace have been introduced such as the wrought iron gates, including a flight of doves with a border of olive branches. On entering though the North gate, to the left is the White Garden, although at present the planting includes a range of summer flowering annuals to give the garden a finished appearance in its first year. Eventually, as the planting matures, these will be removed to leave only flowers of white with the palest shades of blue and pink. The central tree is a Weeping Silver Pear (Pyrus salicifolia pendula).
To the right of the gate is the scented garden. This contains a raised bed to make scented foliage easily accessible to the hand of the blind and disabled. Numerous plants are included for the scent of flowers and leaves, from the pungent Rue (Ruta graveolens) to the sweetly aromatic Southernwood (Artemesia abrotanum).
Directly ahead is the pool and bog garden. Water wells up in the upper pool and cascades over a waterfall where the current is stilled by a weir to flow into a reflecting pool. The bog garden will eventually create a lush green edge where water-loving plants can grow. Nearby, three Tupelo trees (Nyssa Sylvatica) have been planted to reflect their splendid Autumn tints in the still water.
At the centre of the gardens is a simple circle of grass with a plaque commemorating the dead of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. A Yew hedge will provide a dark background to the beds of white ‘Iceberg’ roses in the Summer and to the five Autumn Cherries (Prunus subhertella ‘Automnalis’) which produce delicate pale pink flowers in all but the hardest weather from November to March. The whole combining in a scene of classical simplicity and repose as a contrast to the more luxurious informal planting.
To the right of the lawn is the pergola and shrub rose border. A range of climbing plants, Wisteria, climbing roses, Clematis and the Golden Hop (Humulus Tupulus ‘Aureus’) which when fully grown will create a tunnel of vegetation. Nearby, shrub roses Cecile Brunner, Nevada and Ballerina are underplanted with Catmint (Neteta Mussinii) and Pinks. Walking beneath the pergola to the south0west corner of the garden, you will find a group of Himalayan Birch (Betula Jacquemontii) which are underplanted with a group of our native wild flowers Woodruff (Asperula odorata), the Male Fern (Dryopteris felix-mas) and the Gladwyn Iris (Iris foetidissima).
The long borders to the south of the Yew hedge have been planted to a colour scheme of Gertrude Jeckyll’s (this may bot be immediately obvious due to the temporary annulas).
From one end blues pass to whites and pale lemon to yellow, orange and red – again through white and lemon to the purples and magentas. The intention is to provide colour throughout the year by a means of a range of shrubs and herbaceous plants. A specimen of the Dove Tree (Davidia involucrate) will eventually produce its white bracts which, from a distance, look like a flock of doves perched in the tree.
Philip Noel-Baker 1889 – 1982
Philip Noel-Baker was born in November 1889. His father, J. Allen Baker, was the Liberal Member of Parliament for East Finsbury. After a distinguished academic record at King’s College Cambridge he was appointed Vice-president of Ruskin College in 1914. During the First World War he volunteered for the friends Ambulance Unit (his Quaker principles made him an active pacifist) and went to France as its first Commandant.
Philip Noel-Baker’s interest in the League of Nations began to take shape soon after the end of the War. He was personal assistant to Lord Robert Cecil at the Versailles Peace Conference, and in the League of Nations section of the British Peace Delegation, later becoming principal assistant to Sir Eric Drummond, first Secretary-General of the League.
During the Labour Government of 1924 he was closely associated with Arthur Henderson in preparing the Protocol which expressed the socialist approach to international relations. After a period as Sir Ernest Cassell Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics, he won Coventry for Labour in the 1929 election and was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary. In 1930 he was a member of the British delegation to the tenth assembly of the League of Nations. In 1932 – 1933 he was principal assistant to the President of the Disarmament Conference in Geneva.
In 1936 he won a by-election at Derby and was returned to Parliament on a strong policy of support for the League of Nations and general disarmament. (He continued to represent Derby in Parliament until 1970). During the Second World War he served in the Coalition Government as Parliamentory Secretary to the Ministry of Transport.
In 1945 he was appointed Minister of State by Clement Attlee, a post which gave full scope to his abilities as an expert on world affairs. He was subsequently appointed as Minister of Commonwealth Relations and finally became Minister of Fuel and Power before the fall of the Labour Government. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1959 and created a Life Peer in 1977.
Lord Fenner Brockway
Lord Brockway’s distinguished career stretches back to the beginning of this century when he jointed the staff of the “Examiner” and subsequently “Labour Leader”. His pacifist principles led to periods of imprisonment during the First World War. Between 1923 and 1928 he was Chairman of the “No More War Movement” and the “War Resisters International”. In the 1929 – 1931 Labour Government he was M.P. for Leyton and during the 1930’s he was a leading campaigner against the rise of Fascism in Germany and a strong advocate of independence for the British Colonies (especially the movement for Indian independence).
Lord Fenner Brockway was the Labour Member of Parliament for Eton and Slough from 1950 and was made a Life Peer in 1964.
Facts and Figures
Size of Elthorne Park : 6.3 acres
Cost of Construction : £912,000
Main Contractor : M.J. Cagney (Civil Engineering) Ltd.
| Recreation Committee 1984 - 5 Alex Farrell (Chair) |
Jan Whelan (Vice-Chair) |
Councillors D. Aitchison A. Bell P. Broadbent C. Chapman A. Clinton P. Hayes |
T. Herbert G. Lambillion L. Oliver B. Rogers D. Sawyer D. Yorath |
Co-Opted Members G. Adkins F. Calcott T Haynes J. Higgins |
I. Jentle P. Matthews J. Swinson J. Walmsley |
Director of Recreation Services : P.M. Aldis
Borough Engineer : R.F. Woodhead, M.A., B.Sc., C.Eng., F.R.I.C.S., M.I.C.E., F.I.Mun.E.
Chief Parks Officer : P. Bonsall
Supervising Engineer : D.A. Whyman, Dip.C.E., M.Sc., C.Eng., M.I.C.E., M.I.H.T.
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