Tucked away in a hidden corner of south Camden, London, is a unique cemetery turned public park named St. George's Gardens. It serves the Bloomsbury neighborhood, and every year its Friends organization, affiliated to the Kings Cross-Brunswick Neighborhood Association, holds a garden party for local residents. This year's fete, held a day after the proper St. George's Day on April 23rd featured an elaborate series of amusements for adults and children alike.
Garden Party Entertainment
For those who had come without a picnic basket, the Friends offered soft drinks and cakes for a small donation near the Gardens' entrance. Passing beyond into the old cemetery found all park bench seats taken and many families and couples stretched out on blankets or the dry grass on the first summer-like day of the year, ready to take in the sights and sounds.
The New Esperance Morris Dancers, one of the many burgeoning female Morris dance groups, gave energetic performances of several Cotswold pieces, including stick dances, all to the tunes of a solo concertina. In interview, one of the dancers, commented that the all-male Morris Ring, which does not allow female dancers, is having trouble recruiting new talent; but the Morris Federation (previously all women but now accepting of men) is growing. This year, the New Esperance group accepted four new dancers, and they will soon, according to Alison, be told to buy black trainers (the essential dance shoes) as an indication that they will imminently be bestowed their ankle bells as full-fledged and trained members of the troupe.
As the dancers finished, attention shifted to a small red-and-white striped pergola erected next to Euterpe, a terracotta statue of the Muse of Instrumental Music, added to the Gardens in 1961. Children, gathered beneath the spreading London plane tree, cheered as hand puppets appeared in the pergola's window. This was Uncle Vic's Punch and Judy show. When the puppet play finished, Jebb the Juggler took over to entertain the kiddies, while a Chinese Dragon Dance and a martial arts display were also promised. At the opposite end of the Gardens, Pete Watson and his Marama Caffe Band played Django Reinhardt-esque jazz to the delight of the audience.
British Neighborhood Associations
The Kings Cross-Brunswick Neighbourhood Association (KCBNA) was established in 1980, became a charity in 1990 and is now a limited company with elected officials. It is one of hundreds of such associations formed around the UK, many of them very recently. The Friends of St. George's Gardens, a KCBNA affiliate, was founded in 1994 through a concern about "deterioration and vandalism" in the Grade II Listed Gardens and the lack of a permanent gardener. The Friends helped the borough of Camden win lottery funding in 1997 to restore the Gardens to their former glory, a project finished in 2001. Nearly 230 neighbors now belong to the Friends, including several corporate members of nearby businesses.
The annual St. George's Day Event is the culmination of the calendrical cycle, while the rest of the year is spent on activities "to ensure that the Gardens remain the pleasant and safe 'outdoor sitting room' that their Victorian designers envisaged". Backing onto Coram's Fields, which adjoin Brunswick and Mecklenburgh Squares, the Gardens participate in the London Open Garden Squares Weekend. This year the weekend will be held on 12-13 June, but St. George's Gardens are well appreciated by residents year-round. More information on the Gardens — including everything from history to events, photos and drawings, poems and YouTube video, planning applications and articles — can be found on the Friends' website.
(Quotations and information are from the Friends subscription pamphlet.)
Gina Barnes - A retired academic of anthropology, archaeology, geology, and Japanese Studies, with other avid interests....
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