Our Brent River Park celebrates 50 years and remembers visionary pioneer, Luke FitzHerbert
Brent Meadow photo credit: Derek Pratt
On Sunday 29th June, our Brent River Park charity, with the support of Ealing Council, will be holding an event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the park. The date marks exactly 50 years since the Brent River Park was inaugurated by our founder, Luke FitzHerbert and the then Mayor of Ealing, Cllr. John Johnston, on 29th June 1975. That date was also a Sunday and the celebration will recreate some of the ‘unplugged’, nature-based and joyful atmosphere and events from the time, including Morris dancers, a maypole and a variety of art and food stalls.
Mayor of Ealing, Cllr John Johnston and Luke FitzHerbert plant the first Brent River Park sign post outside St Mary’s Church on Churchfields (29th June 1975, photo credit Colin Miell)
Our charity warmly invites you to come along to Churchfields Recreation Ground on Sunday 29th June, 12pm – 5pm to join a celebration of the past and look to the next 50 Years of the Brent River Park.
A family-friendly programme of free ‘Brent River Park, Urban Countryside’ events will take place throughout the afternoon. A series of walks and talks will explore the park’s rich history and encourage curiosity and care towards all the amazing wildlife that calls our park home. For those feeling creative there will be art and writing sessions inspired by the nature and landscape. For the more energetic, there will be a social morning run following the river. This date also marks the 25th birthday of the Millenium Maze which will be celebrated with children’s activities and a Mad Hatter Storyteller. The full programme details will be published on the Brent River Park website in the coming weeks as well as being clearly marked on the day.
A series of three new history boards will be erected throughout the park, the first of which will be unveiled on Churchfields Recreation Ground on the day, telling the story of our park’s creation and the founder of the Brent River Park charity, Luke FitzHerbert.
Today, our Brent River Park looks as if it has always been here but in the early 1970s, things were very different. The idea of connecting these abandoned and misused green spaces together into a large, multi-habitat, single park along the River Brent was the radical vision of Luke FitzHerbert. Luke was a former Irish Guardsman, a lover of the outdoors and a history teacher at Brentside High School. He gathered a group of like-minded people and formed a volunteer team, the Brent River & Canal Society, which was registered as a charity in September 1973.
Luke wrote a piece for the Ealing Gazette in June 1974 outlining the society’s vision to “turn neglected riverbanks into a green ribbon of parkland”. He described how rusting chain-link fences blocked many potential footpaths. Long Wood and the Wharncliffe Viaduct were fenced off and inaccessible. Large sections of Elthorne Park and Perivale Park were fly-tipped. It should be possible, Luke argued, to walk from Hanger Lane to the Thames by following footpaths through this new connected park following the flow of the River Brent.
Eventually after much campaigning and negotiation, Ealing Council approved the plan and the Brent River Park was formally inaugurated on 29th June 1975 to great celebration.
Luke FitzHerbert leads a walk on the newly opened Brent River Park footpath through Brent Meadow (29th June 1975, photo credit BRP archive)
The park was then expanded until, in 1986, the pathway under the Wharncliffe Viaduct was opened, realising Luke’s vision of a connected park between Hanger Hill and the Great West Road. Appropriately, a section of the Brent River Park path running alongside Ealing Hospital was named FitzHerbert Walk. To celebrate the 50 years, 50 new way markers are to replace the original ones, once again clearly marking the entire route of Luke’s Brent River Park Walk.
Luke FitzHerbert and Mayor of Ealing, Cllr Norman Pointing, at the opening of ‘FitzHerbert Walk’, named in honour of Luke, that runs alongside Ealing Hospital. (8th May 1983, photo credit BRP archive)
Tragically, in 2007, Luke and Kay were struck by a speeding car while walking to their moored boat. Luke was killed and Kay suffered life-changing injuries. Tributes poured in, including two obituaries in The Guardian, describing Luke as ‘a hero of the voluntary sector.’ Luke’s legacy endures, not only in his hugely successful campaign to bring the Brent River Park to life but also in the world of charities where he had a second influential career with the National Council for Voluntary Organisations and the Directory of Social Change.
Recently, our Brent River Park charity has successfully campaigned for Local Nature Reserve designation for Warren Farm Nature Reserve and surrounding meadows, which is currently in progress, and we are working to improve the health of the river through the Clean Up the River Brent (CURB) campaign. Our 50thanniversary will also see the launch of a fundraiser for some ambitious initiatives to bring further improvements to the park and river, continuing Luke’s legacy. Further details will be announced closer to the event.
Please spread the word and share this short video giving some of the history and details of the event.
We look forward to seeing you on the day!
Brent River Park 50th Anniversary Details:
Location: Churchfields Recreation Ground, Hanwell, London, W7 3BN.
Date: Sunday 29th June
Time: 12pm – 5pm
Nearest Train: Hanwell Station on the Elizabeth Line.
To become a FREE member of the Brent River Park / Brent River and Canal Society charity, stay up-to-date and find out more about the Brent River Park, please visit our membership page and follow @BrentRiverPark on Twitter / X, BlueSky and Instagram. Thank you!