Barts Great Hall Under Threat
Without improvements to the disabled access, fire escapes, catering and toilets the superb 18th century Gibbs Barts Great Hall is at risk of decline, deterioration and decay. It will be unable to meet statutory requirements necessary for it to become a financially self-supporting Heritage Site, managed by a separate body, so preserving this unique cultural, medical, aesthetic and historical site.
The plans by the renowned architect Michael Hopkins for a Barts heritage quarter which have been approved by the City of London are threatened by a current application by the Trust to build a new Maggie’s Centre building abutting the Great Hall.
Construction of this building would prevent the Hopkins’ plans for essential improvements to the North Wing. The Hopkins plan also includes essential improvements of the storage conditions for the archive collections and their display.
I am not at all against Barts developing its cancer services-indeed a Macmillan Cancer Advice Unit is named after my late wife Dr Vicky Clement-Jones there- but the current plans for the Maggie's Centre are entirely inappropriate in the current form and I have laid an objection to these plans.
The only access for the disabled would thereafter only be through catering facilities at the West end of the Great Hall and very inconvenient access for them to toilets.
The Hopkins plans allow the building of a suitably designed Maggie's nearby.
Approval of the Maggie plans would mean that an opportunity to restore the Great Hall to its former symmetry and to modernise it's facilities to make it viable for future use and upkeep will be lost.
See the Friends of the Great Hall site for further info.
Celebrating the Moyne/Broughton Expeditions of 1934-36
Project Walkabout held a reception in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association room next to Westminster Hall to celebrate the expeditions to the South Pacific undertaken by Walter Guinness, Lord Moyne and by my great Aunt Vera Delves Broughton.
Walter wrote about them in the book Walkabout and it was illustrated by Vera's photographs.
Project Walkabout is a charity set up by the grandchildren of Walter and Vera , Diana Moores and Lavinia Verney respectively, with the objective of preserving the film taken at that time by Arthur, Viscount Elvedon, another member of the Guinness family.
This is their website. http://projectwalkaboutdotorg.wordpress.com/lady-broughton/
The reception featured photographs taken by Vera and clips of some of the restored footage courtesy of Susanne Hammacher of the Royal Anthropological Institute.One of the aims of the reception was to raise funds to restore the remaining footage (another 5 reels on top of the 2 being currently restored).
Professor Nick Stanley of the British Museum who is an expert on aspects of PNG culture spoke as did HE Winnie Kiap the PNG High Commissioner. The evening was rounded off by Richard Graham MP, until recently the PPS to Hugo Swire the Minister for the Commonwealth.
I presented a copy of Walkabout to the High Commissioner signed by all the descendants of Walter and Vera present.
The Independent has launched a Christmas campaign with Space for Giants to raise funds for its vital anti poaching work.
This could be transformational both in Northern Kenya and other parts of Africa where the elephant is under major threat from ivory poachers. See this editorial from the Independent
Amol Rajan: The Independent : Saturday 30 November 2013
We need your help to protect elephants from the ivory trade
This newspaper shall be raising money to help combat that trade, and promote conservation in Africa
Last night, in the gilded surroundings of the Attlee Room in the House of Lords, we hosted a gathering in aid of our Christmas campaign, which this year runs in conjunction with a wonderful charity called Space for Giants, which does extraordinary work in protecting elephants threatened by the ivory trade.
I should say that I have a particular fondness for elephants, having spent a little time with them in India, the country of my birth. For Hindus – even lapsed ones – Ganesha, with an elephant head, is the god of knowledge. These deeply intelligent mammals have come under constant attack in Africa. In 2011, more African elephants were killed than in any other year.
This newspaper shall be raising money to help combat that trade, and promote conservation in Africa. So there’ll be plenty of fascinating campaign coverage next week.
Twitter: @amolrajan
Rock and Film the House 2014 are launched!
Along with rock stars, Brian May and Bruce Dickinson and distinguished film producer Lord Putnam Mike Weatherley MP launched the fourth Rock the House and the third Film the House together this week at a party on the Commons terrace. The former is designed to raise awareness of intellectual property rights and live music through a nation-wide competition to find the best unsigned talent the country has to offer and the latter is to celebrate the creative work of UK film makers. 450 MPs took part in Rock the House alone last year.