What we have done

Since 1929, when the Association was founded by a group of residents who initially called themselves the Woodridings Association, their aim was to cope with the flooding from the Woodridings Brook and resist the surge of development in Hatch End.

In 1932 we became The Hatch End Association and have kept an eye on developments ever since, resisting those which didn’t enhance the character of Hatch End which was known for its spacious, green and leafy setting. It is still sylvan but not quite so spacious! We have been successful in resisting several major planning applications that would have been detrimental to the openness of the Green Belt which surrounds us.

From 1988 we campaigned relentlessly for 20 years for a flood alleviation scheme for Hatch End to rid the area of Hatch End and Pinner from flash floods from the River Pinn and the Woodridings Brook which have caused havoc over the years. This campaign culminated in the last phase of a scheme launched by Harrow Council and the Environment Agency on Oxhey Lane Farm in 2009.

In the 1930s we successfully campaigned for a primary school in Hatch End and Grimsdyke School opened in 1939. To celebrate the school’s 50th anniversary in 1989 we gave them a bird bath for their garden. Recently we promoted a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee writing competition with the school.

Over the years, we have funded the planting of various specimen trees. Most recently an oak tree at the entrance to Pinner Park Farm and two evergreen oaks on the access road to the Arts Centre/ Morrison’s complex. We sponsored a willow tree to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 on land near the new River Pinn and the swimming pool.

We have sponsored many seats, some in Hatch End Broadway and some in memory of past members, such as the Guggenheim seat by the children’s play area near the swimming pool. The children’s play area was funded by money from the Safeway/Morrison’s development. We had a say in how the money was spent and this included not only the play area but also the repaired Milne Feild sign and extra lighting in the Arts Centre car park.

We are represented on the Harrow Heritage Trust (HHT) and have funded three of the HHT signs: one on Hatch End’s Grade ll Listed station building; one on Letchford House in Headstone Lane, Hatch End’s oldest 17C farmhouse building; and one on the spot where Isabella Beeton’s villa stood. Redeveloped, it is now Hatchett’s restaurant. Mrs Beeton wrote her famous book of household management in the five years she lived here. The Trust has funded other signs on Grims Ditch and Elliott Hall, the focus of the Arts Centre.

In the millennium year the Association chaired the Millennium Committee and chose the Hatch End Triathlon as its contribution. It now continues every May as the Harrow and Hatch End Triathlon and attracts competitors from Douai, Harrow’s twin town in France, as well as many regulars from home.