We are the East Twickenham Centennial Group, created in 2014 to commemorate the First World War Belgian Refugees in Twickenham and Richmond. We now have over 100 members, with Helen Baker as Chair and Su Bonfanti as Secretary.
Since 2014 we have:
* followed up our story in Richmond and Belgium
* traced and spoken with Belgian Refugee descendants
* given talks to local history societies, museums, and to the Richmond Literature Festival
* won publicity for our Belgian story in the press and on TV
* created a concept for the memorial, secured consents, and located a qualified craftsman (Kristoffel Boudens from Bruges)
* joined Year 2 pupils at Orleans Primary School (direct descendant of the school for 1914-18 Belgian children), helping inspire them to write a poetic message for our Belgian memorial.
* arranged a celebration of our Belgian community for people of all ages in Richmond and Twickenham, joined by Belgian refugee descendants and other interested people from across Britain, Europe and the wider world.
* set up the Richmond & Twickenham Belgian Refugee Memorial on East Twickenham Riverside, and arranged the unveiling by the Belgian Ambassador and the Mayor of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.
* published a full account of our Belgian refugee community in a special issue of a respected academic journal, later re-published in book form.
( Christophe Declercq & Helen Baker, "The Pelabon Munitions Works and the Belgian Village on the Thames" in: Jacqueline Jenkinson, editor, Belgian Refugees in First World War Britain, 2019, Routledge)
How We Fit In
East Twickenham Centennial Group (us!) is part of an overall network of neighbourhood groups called "East Twickenham Village". This name is a bit confusing so we sometimes call it the "East Twickenham Village Group".
In 2014-2018, two very active groups within ETV were the East Twickenham Traders Association and the Friends of Cambridge Gardens. The Traders Association is still promoting local shops and businesses. FOCG (now sadly dissolved) worked to improve our two local parks, Cambridge and Warren Gardens, and also put on community events.
Both these parks were part of the Pelabon Factory lands in 1914 and Warren Gardens (as it is now) ran all along the frontage of the factory building which later became Richmond Ice Rink. The Belgian Refugee Memorial now stands just by the River Thames in the centre of Warren Gardens.
Both FOCG and the Traders Association were active partners with ETCG in the original East Twickenham Belgian Refugee Project. The Project, led by ETCG, had four aims:-
*fundraising, to make the celebration and memorial happen
*research, to learn more about the Belgian community
*designing and commissioning the Belgian Refugee Memorial
*organising the major commemoration in 2017 when the memorial was unveiled.