EastSheenMatters

If you have been down to the woods today you won’t have seen the bears having a picnic, you’ll have seen that big areas of Palewell Common wood have been laid bare. There are piles of felled trees lying on their sides, dry and stacked.

If you are anything like me, you’ll have been shocked to see this violation of nature. Call me an old-fashioned romantic but for the past 22 years, since moving here, I’ve taken a daily walk through our woods, revelling in the secrecy and mystery of a woodland on our doorstep. It’s much reduced now and for me, it’s become painful to see. It used to mean so much to me and to many others, I’m sure. Taking the central path towards Richmond Park, I couldn’t see, on either side of me, where the wood ended and I could pretend to myself that it stretched on indefinitely.

Like so many local residents I was sensitive to the privilege of living in London but able to walk in a place where no buildings or streets were visible around me. I’d gaze through thick greenery and watch bluetits and robins fly up to branches and squirrels scurry into thickets, secure in the knowledge that they could hide from me there.

No more. One side of that central path is significantly felled now, the wall where it ends is in clear view and so are the houses that back onto it. Its privacy has been laid bare. The landscape has been altered, reminding me and perhaps you, of how easy it is to feel powerless and bewildered that in a big area now, 80 years of woodland can quickly be exposed, lying dead on the ground.

This ‘biodiversity’ project is managed by Richmond Council. When the work of cutting started, I observed small notices appearing. They talked about allowing light, to encourage flora and fauna and a wider variety of vegetation to grow.

Attending a Friends of Palewell Common meeting last week, I learned that the council has designated this big area of felled woodland to be reshaped into a ‘glade’. It will only remain a glade if it is permanently suppressed. Nature left to its own devices would trigger ‘succession’ until trees once again reclaimed the space.

To keep it an open glade, the council’s contractors will implement continuous intervention to prevent any new tree saplings growing, in areas where “it has been decided” to keep it clear. In short, this isn’t a temporary clearing; it is a permanent reduction of East Sheen’s local tree canopy. It’s a major clearance and change of the landscape.

My main point in writing this, is to see what is possible now that this work has reached the point that it has. Speaking for myself and several other local residents I’ve talked to, I would like to see our woodland allowed to recover and regrow, in its own natural way. I would like Nature, in its own wisdom, to regenerate.

If more reason was needed, we are all aware of the threat of climate change, largely caused by deforestation. In alarmingly soaring temperatures, surely we need to plant trees, not cut them down. In the big picture, loss of trees is releasing massive amounts of stored carbon into the atmosphere. It severely disrupts global rainfall patterns and regional temperatures.

Contributed by Rebecca Miller

EastSheenMatters comments: Meanwhile Community Bluescapes operating primarily in Barnes, a DEFRA funded partnership of the Council, Barnes Common Limited and WWT held a most informative ‘Fair’ at OSO Arts Centre on Saturday (see post on 3 June 2026) to inform local residents about their plans to improve flooding resilience in the area. (More to follow on the Vine Road Recreation Ground Project.)

After a scintillating and highly regarded performance at All Saints on Sunday evening for the Free Ukraine Concert, Basil Alter returned to East Sheen at Christ Church on Friday evening accompanied by Julian Chan on piano.

In another fine perfomance they played Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 1, Brahms Violin Sonata No. 2, Korngold Much Ado about Nothing Suite and Richard Strauss Violin Sonata in E Major , Op 18

AND for the final concert of the Christ Church Summer Series see the Consort Concert on 26 June.

Music will include renaissance part-song/church music and 20th Century english part-song.

A real showcase of small choral ensemble excellence!

Please find below the ticket link for the concert on 26 June. 

https://www.ticketsource.com/christchurch-east-sheen/t-mjeqogm

Meeting of the EAST SHEEN POLICE LIAISON GROUP to be held at East Sheen Baptist Church, Temple Sheen Road on Wednesday 24 June 2026 at 7.00 p.m.

An important occasion to learn more about the Centre and its work in Richmond Park, especially for SEND children.

MCC played an enjoyable and entertainiing chess match against LiftRP on Thursday. MCC put out a strong team of four comprising three regulars at Mortlake Hall, Russell Campbell, Peter Stanford and Richard White, and Alan Palmer, a ringer who is President of the London Chess Club League.

The school fielded ten players who were probably a little shocked to face the skills demonstrated by a team of over 60s. But they also showed good analytical skills on which to build their match play. We look forward to a return match in the autumn.

And tomorrow Mortlake Community Chess (MCC) plays a match against LIFTRPA at the school at 2pm on Thursday 18 June 2026. New recruits who may not have been able to get to sessions at Mortlake Hall are welcome to be part of the team.

You read it first on East Sheen Matters. See post 29/03/2026 and several subsequently.

But now much wider BBC overage on Thursday London News.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce95j84y387o

After a scintillating and highly regarded performance at All Saints on Sunday evening for the Free Ukraine Concert, Basil Alter returned to East Sheen at Christ Church on Friday evening accompanied by Julian Chan on piano.

In another fine perfomance they played Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 1, Brahms Violin Sonata No. 2, Korngold Much Ado about Nothing Suite and Richard Strauss Violin Sonata in E Major , Op 18

AND for the final concert of the Christ Church Summer Series see the Consort Concert on 26 June.

Music will include renaissance part-song/church music and 20th Century english part-song.

A real showcase of small choral ensemble excellence!

Please find below the ticket link for the concert on 26 June. 

https://www.ticketsource.com/christchurch-east-sheen/t-mjeqogm

MCC played an enjoyable and entertainiing chess match against LiftRP on Thursday. MCC put out a strong team of four comprising three regulars at Mortlake Hall, Russell Campbell, Peter Stanford and Richard White, and Alan Palmer, a ringer who is President of the London Chess Club League.

The school fielded ten players who were probably a little shocked to face the skills demonstrated by a team of over 60s. But they also showed good analytical skills on which to build their match play. We look forward to a return match in the autumn.

And tomorrow Mortlake Community Chess (MCC) plays a match against LIFTRPA at the school at 2pm on Thursday 18 June 2026. New recruits who may not have been able to get to sessions at Mortlake Hall are welcome to be part of the team.