Formal notice of AGM of Friends of the Scrubs on 18 September 2025, 6.30pm at Brickfields Hall W12 0HN

The Friends of the Scrubs

Registered Charity No. 1187120

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the fifth Annual General Meeting of

The Friends of the Scrubs (registered charity no. 1187120)

will be held at Brickfields Hall, Shinfield Street, London W12 0HN

At 6.30pm on Thursday 18th September 2025

AGENDA

1.         Apologies

2.         Approval of minutes of AGM held on the 25th June 2024 (attached)

3.         Trustees’ Annual Report 2024/25 including the Financial Report (attached)

4.         Retirement and Election of Trustees:

As required under the Constitution one third of the existing trustees must retire at each AGM. With nine trustees, three trustees are stepping down: Stephen Waley Cohen (chair of the Trustees and one of our two representatives of the Friends on Wormwood Scrubs Charitable Trust); Smita Dave (treasurer) and Carmel McLoughlin (secretary).

All three retiring trustees are offering themselves for re-election (Appendix 1 attached has their short bios). No other nominations for election as trustees were received by the Secretary by the closing date for nominations.

5.         Any questions for the trustees. 

6.         Any questions for WSCT Manager, Osama El-Amin who will attend the AGM

1st September 2025                                                                                       Carmel McLoughlin

Secretary

All Friends are warmly invited to stay after the formal business for refreshments and informal chat. Please do stay.

Appendix 1

Short Bios of the three trustees standing for election:

Stephen Waley-Cohen (Chair)

I have walked on the Scrubs several times most weeks for the past 42 years. I enjoy the openness, the inclusive feeling of random encounters with friendly strangers, the unregulated freedom to meander and roam on this wild (for central London) ancient Common, with voluntary respect for sensitive areas. I have been on the Friends’ Committee, and now a Trustee, for 12 years, Chair for 8 years, and also represented the Friends on the Wormwood Scrubs Charitable Trust Committee for the past 7 years.

It is a privilege to work, entirely voluntarily, on behalf of the Friends and for the benefit of the Scrubs. My contributions have mostly been by quiet, sometimes tedious, work in meetings which have helped keep the Scrubs as we love it, and have often prevented worse incursions by parkification, HS2, OPDC and others who don’t really care about the Scrubs, while encouraging LBHF to improve the ways they meet their WSCT responsibilities, while continuing to fight any over development plans for Linford Christie Stadium or anywhere else inappropriate. My professional career was in financial journalism and publishing, and then theatre ownership and management, and in theatrical and environmental charities, including as President of the Society of London Theatre and as Chair of the drama school RADA.

Smita Dave (Treasurer)

I have lived in W12, near the Scrubs, for over 35 years. I run and walk there frequently. I joined FoWWS when Groundworks came to the fore well over a decade ago, to add my voice for the protection of the Scrubs, to retain the wilderness and to ensure there was a vision for its long term future. I enjoy the openness with big skies, tall grasses in the common especially in the autumn, birdsong and different habitats as well as the excited sounds of people, young and old at various games and matches. The woods in the summer bring welcome shade. The Scrubs amazingly accommodates many different users. The pressure on it will grow with development all round and my aim, shared by many, is to keep it more wild than tamed in this dense urban environment.

I have been a committee member since 2014, and my efforts on a voluntary basis, with others, have been largely to prevent or mitigate unwelcome incursions into the Scrubs from various proposals. Have attended many workshops and meetings in connection with OPDC and LCS, as well as meetings with LBHF to lobby for a more community focused development of LCS. Have been involved in the FoWWS response to the masterplan, engaging with consultants and LBHF to ensure the Scrubs, whilst protecting bio diversity, was not carved up and we can still enjoy the wilderness and views. I am currently a trustee and the treasurer of FoWWs as well as an architect and a partner at a small West London practice.

Carmel McLoughlin (Secretary)

Although I had lived in the area for a number of years, I was unaware of the Scrubs until I was introduced to it when my children’s primary school held their annual Summer Sports Days in LCS and played football and cricket on the Scrubs. Having originally come to London from Ireland, the Scrubs was a welcome taste of the wildlife and nature I had left behind. Over the years since then I have grown to appreciate the Scrubs more. The sheer vastness of the open space is unparalleled in West London.  With the proliferation of new buildings in the area it is becoming more important than ever to preserve this precious area of open space. It needs to be protected for future generations.  I am a vocal proponent of the Scrubs and I encourage others to discover its charms.

I became a member of the Friends of Wormwood Scrubs committee in 2016 and took on the role of secretary of the committee prior to its registration as a charity in 2019 and have continued in the role of secretary, being the contact with the Charity Commission to ensure our governance is properly maintained - including the Annual General Meeting, Trustees’ meetings as well as preparing the agenda and Minutes whilst actively participating in the discussions and activities undertaken by Friends’ trustees all on a voluntary basis. I will continue to work for the Scrubs to retain its ‘more wild than tamed’ character and for the LCS to be used for wide community sports use. I was a parent governor of my children’s school and chair of the Finance Committee. I am a solicitor and have worked in local government.