Villagers are campaigning for funds to help restore their medieval ‘ducking’ pond at Havering-atte-Bower while still busy organising festive events for children like hunting out Easter eggs.
The spirit of the Easter Bunny was said to be lurking in nearby Havering Country Park, while members of Havering-atte-Bower Conservation Society were getting ready to restore the Village Green to its historic grandeur.
Forty children joined the traditional Easter egg hunt through the park this year, staged by the society with a Mad Hatter’s tea party. The youngsters turned up as Mad Hatters, White Rabbits, Alice and Knaves of Hearts to enjoy cakes, fizzy drinks and Easter eggs donated by well-wishing staff at the Tesco store at Gallows Corner.
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The Havering-atte-Bower society was formed 20 years ago to preserve the history of the village and support its community.
Projects have included installing a defibrillator, running weekly coffee mornings and setting up a ‘Tommy’ silhouette of a First World War soldier on the green.
Restoring the village pond, known as the ’ducking pond’, is the current project for 2024.
“We are in the process of a bid to get a grant to help,” the society’s Jenny Gwinn explains. “The restoration will make the pond a central feature of the village and preserve its historical legacy, as well as enhance wildlife habitat.”
The country park's giant redwood trees were recently been featured on BBC News and in the Recorder.
The BBC report said scientists found that the giant redwoods in the UK, including the ones in Havering, were growing at a similar rate as their natives in California.
The society organised a series of history walks last year, linked to the once-grand royal palaces in the area.
The society also has a ‘Horseman Sunday’ on its calendar, a service blessing horses for the part they played in the First World War of 1914-18, held annually on the Village Green.
Some 50 horses and riders take part, one of the very few places in Britain that continue the tradition more than a century on.
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