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Marlborough Sports Garden in Southwark is a crucial space for Londoners. Looking to raise £5m for an inspiring development, why should the City get involved?
Hyacinthe Loyson, a French preacher from the mid 1800s, is described by historians as one of the early users of a phrase that continues to be recited today.
“Good people plant trees the shade of which they will never sit under,” he said.
The small passage, actually often cited as an Indian proverb, evokes imagery of the vast forests of England, the Sycamore Gap Tree (former) and sacred planted parks of the capital.
It is a reminder that we as Londoners have a responsibility to the city in which we occupy – both for work and pleasure – and the preservation of our rare green spaces.
Just over a century ago the Marlborough Sports Garden, of the Bankside Open Spaces Trust, was gifted to the people of Southwark by the Duchess of Marlborough, Consuelo Vanderbilt-Balsan, who decreed that “surplus land from an insanitary area between Borough High Street and Red Cross Street should be used as a recreation ground”.
Ten decades on the sports garden remains crucial to the local community south of the river, and the City of London just across the river.
It is used by local schools, and a community where 91 per cent of homes and flats have no private garden.
City firms, too, use the area for team building and lunches.
City gem
But this crucial space, one of few remaining in such close proximity to the City of London, needs a Square Mile shaped boost.
Architects Cullinan Studio have drawn up a plan to rejuvenate Marlborough Sports Garden, adding in a pavilion and facilities the area have long been crying out for.
At a cost of at least £5m it is no cheap feat, but it is one we in the City should challenge ourselves to aid.
Spaces like Marlborough Sports Garden represent an opportunity for the City to give back to the communities that were here long before the skyscrapers and magabuilds of the Square Mile.
What is £5m to an area of the capital that contributes £97bn in economic output annually? 0.005 per cent, to be precise.
Andrea Sullivan, head of social and environment group at Bank of America, tells City AM: “We have had the pleasure of partnering with Bankside Open Spaces Trust for the last ten years.
“Our teams relish the chance to take part, finding a small space of green calm in a bustling capital city has proven hugely popular with our employees.”
Added Keystone Law partner Ed John: “Keystone Law has been supporting Bankside Open Spaces Trust’s green space and community work through pro bono work for many years now.
“There are huge benefits to our employees’ sense of community engagement and connection to their local environment.”
An easy win for the capital
The point is this: we take our London recreational spaces for granted. We use them when they’re convenient and miss them when they’re gone.
Marlborough Sports Garden is not going anywhere, thanks to Consuelo Vanderbilt-Balsan and her foresight.
But the Square Mile has the opportunity to make a difference, improve facilities and have a lasting impact on the local community – more of an impact than a number of ESG initiatives and associated pointless peacocking has, anyway.
So next time you’re enjoying your lunch in one of London’s rare green spaces, don’t take it for granted; places like the Marlborough Sports Garden are the underpinning lifeblood of the capital.
And it is on us, business and the wider community to ensure they thrive, develop and continue to provide us with small areas of joy in this concrete jungle we call home.
