Chair’s update, November 2025
Remembrance Sunday is one of our most important events of the year. Thank you to those who were able to attend. As in previous years it takes place in the open air at the war memorial with an informal gathering. The two minute's silence is marked at 11am with the Last Post played by Steve Pretty. Deputy Mayor Cllr Anntoinette Bramble gave an address commemorating sacrifice, freedom and Hackney's diversity. And the Morris Folk Choir sang a perfect mix of memorial songs and peace songs. I think it is both a very important and very memorable event. We also hold a small collection and we raised just over £130 for War Child.
The remainder of Sunday showed the range of Trust activities. In the afternoon we had a brilliant talk from Norma Clarke, chaired by Ken Worpole, about Anna Barbauld and her legacy. I suspect like many others my knowledge of Barbauld was limited to the bus stop on Albion Road. It was a very engaging and enlightening talk. There is a summary article by Norma on the first page of the November issue of the Literary Review. In the evening we screened a showing of Nosferatu backed by live soundtrack in partnership with Enchanted Cinema. This is part of our fundraising event programme which helps create income to continue the Trust's work. More detail on forthcoming events is below.
To note the Trust's work for the year, on the evening of 27 November we will be hosting the Annual General Meeting in the Delph Room on site. It will be the first AGM in person since 2019 so we hope that we get a good attendance. It is part of our transparent governance that, as a registered charity, we publish our annual report and accounts and host an AGM. If you want to come along you can register here.
As noted in recent announcements we have a lot of work underway to refresh the way the Trust is run. As part of this we are looking to recruit new Trustees. We are extremely dependent on Trustee and volunteer time. Rather than formal applications we are going to meet those who make expressions of interest so that we minimise any hurdles. What we after is people who care, who are reliable and who have something to offer. More information here. You may also note that the Trust's website is undergoing a bit of a refresh; stage one has been completed with more to come to make it more user friendly and updated.
One thing we want to take a close look at is the recently published Hackney Council's Woodland and Ecological Plan. It is welcome that this has been published after many months in production. The question is whether it will be turned into action to protect and preserve the rare ecology of Abney Park, Hackney's first nature reserve. We will work with the council to push for that outcome.
Thank you for your support and if you want to help keep the Trust viable then you can donate here.