Achievements of the Teddington Society over the years

The Society’s achievements over its 40-plus years are many and varied, and it is not possible to be comprehensive. A glance at the Group pages will give a flavour of ways in which the Society enhances residents’ lives. Here is a taste of some of our other successes.

Perhaps the Society’s most visible achievement is the hanging baskets which brighten the whole town. Less visibly, we have helped to upgrade the children’s playground in Wades Lane, and contributed to the hydraulic stage lift at the Landmark Arts Centre

One of our first successes came in 1977, when to commemorate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, we raised money to establish Jubilee Gardens at the end of the High Street; and in 2002 and 2012 we restored the Jubilee fountain in Park Road.

Our Directory of Buildings of Townscape Merit (BTMs) and Listed Buildings is an extraordinary historical resource.

We have been instrumental in improving the safety of Teddington’s roads – for instance, our design for a very safe staggered zebra crossing on the railway bridge was adopted, and the ‘family friendly’ cycle routes which we identified have been included on the Borough’s cycle route maps.

We have been responsible for several spin-off organisations: the Friends of Bushy & Home Parks, for instance, began as part of the Teddington Society, as did the Teddington & Hampton Wick Voluntary Care Group. We support the initiatives of TW11, the Teddington Town website, and Totally Locally, the showcase for Teddington’s independent businesses. We help them all to add value to our community.

Also of huge importance to Teddington’s retailers has been our campaign to reduce yellow lining on corners (subsequently adopted across the Borough), which created hundreds of extra parking spaces, together with our achievement in introducing free turnover parking spaces in specific places – a policy now expanded and enhanced.

The annual Village Fair is organised by the Society; we supply Christmas food parcels in liaison with the Council; and, of course, we organise the annual Teddington in Flower event.