Wembley Park 1829 auction particulars now available online

 Guest post by local historian Philip Grant in a personal capacity

 

It is almost a year since I wrote about “Wembley Park for sale! (in 1829)”, sharing with you the news that details of what the Wembley Park mansion and its surrounding estate were like nearly 200 years ago had come to light. An original document, about an auction sale in June 1829 by Mr Christie, had been brought to my attention (through a comment on a previous “Wembley Matters” local history article) by the person cataloguing a collection at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

 

In my November 2022 guest post, I was able to paint a picture of what life for the wealthy “Squire” John Gray and his family had been like at Wembley Park in late Georgian / Regency times. At the end of the piece, I wrote that ‘a full facsimile copy of the Wembley Park auction Particulars, with an introductory note’ would be available online ‘in the near future’.

 

 

The opening section of the 1829 auction Particulars.

 

Because of problems at both Brent Archives and IT at the Civic Centre, it has taken longer than expected to put the facsimile copy online! If you would like to read this historic document about Wembley Park in full, it is now available here.

 

Philip Grant.

Kensal Rise Library back on the market after failed auction

Kensal Rise Library is back on the market after failing to meet the £1.25m reserve price at auction last year LINK

Guide Auction Price of £1,150,000 For Kensal Rise Library

Further news is coming in regarding the sale of Kensal Rise Library by Andrew Gillick. The building has appeared on Zoopla LINK for auction on December 17th. It has a guide price of £1,150,000.

This gives very little time for Friends of Kensal Rise Library or any other community interest group to make up their minds and enter a bid.  As there is supposed to be a six week initial moratorium before sale to allow an organisation to signal their intention to bid for an Asset of Community Value the question arises as to when Brent Council were first informed by Gillick of his intention to sell.

Bids open for Eurostar tickets sale to support community library

In honour of the rather fabulous Preston Community Library nestled in the doorway of our old one, Preston Library Campaign  have 4 single Eurostar tickets up for auction (That's either 2 x returns or 4 x one way if you fancy staying where you are!)

Bids start at £200  – e-mail bids to:

bunce.linsell@virgin.net or  text to 07905 846483

Let your friends know and let the bidding begin!

NB: 1 week will be needed to transfer the tickets to the winner's name. The campaign will  contact the winner for further details.

In addition to Paris, Brussels, Lille Eurostar now have a special service in the summer. It is a direct train to Avignon on Saturdays, leaving St Pancras at 7.17am the return leaving Avignon at 16.27.  The last direct train from Avignon is on the 8th September.