Events

Members and guests foregathered to watch the daily inspection of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment before they rode out to mount guard in Whitehall. We were all very impressed to learn that six hours of preparation goes into the immaculate turnout of each horse and rider. After a welcoming coffee, kindly hosted by the Commanding Officer Lt. Colonel James Gaselee in the Officer’s Mess, and an introductory talk on the ceremonial and operational roles of the two regiments, the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals, our well-informed guides showed us round the Barracks. We visited the forge, the saddlers’ and the store where the ceremonial uniforms, swords and immense silver kettle drums are kept, weighing an impressive 35 kilos each. No wonder the drum horses have to be so sturdy! The drum horses themselves were magnificent, and we met three of them relaxing in their looseboxes, as well as the black and grey cavalry horses, both veterans and the newly-arrived remounts who are just starting their training. It was a most enjoyable visit which gave us all a fascinating insight into the history and hard work behind the scenes at Hyde Park Barracks.

Rising waste production, diminishing landfill capacity and increasing regulation in the late 1980s led to the adoption of the “proximity principle” that sought to find ways of taking responsibility for dealing with waste locally, thereby minimising unnecessary transportation out of London.

Built under a design and construct contract with Martin Engineering Systems Limited, the plant was commissioned in 1993 and opened officially by HRH The Prince of Wales in 1994, operating initially as an electricity-only generating plant.

It was not until 2014 that a five-kilometre hot water network was completed to link the plant’s surplus heat to 3000 homes in Southwark’s social housing estates. Use of heat has doubled the plant’s operating efficiency to around 45%. The biodegradable element of waste cuts carbon emissions by some 700,000 tonnes annually, qualifying the plant as a “recovery” rather than a “disposal” operation under EU guidelines.

The plant consumes some 440 thousand tonnes of waste per annum delivering 11K volts through its two connections into the 132K electricity transmission grid. During its life the plant has burnt some 10 million tonnes of waste

Even though most of us hadn’t played before it was still great fun as no one minded making fools of themselves. Fortunately the sun shone as we enjoyed large jugs of Pimm’s and plentiful refreshments. Everyone had a good time socialising with neighbours and their friends. We plan to hold more fun events in future.

Seat to seven successive generations of the Stanhope family and sited at animportant historical crossroads, the estate has a history stretching back almost 800 years, however the house itself is a rather more modern creation. Built to designs attributed to Inigo Jones (confirmed recently upon the discovery of one remaining portion of arch work found recently in a lower ground rear corridor), projections were later built to the east and west and pavilions built either side. Much restorative and remedial work has been done to the outside of the building over successive generations to achieve the house we have today.

They use a combination of mechanical and biological processes to segregate recyclable materials. Organic biodegradable components are broken down by a composting-like process to create fuel for energy recovery which is sent to their nearby Energy Recovery Facility.