by Diana Smith
Our beautifully restored 17th century historic house, nestling in the north-west corner of Valentines Park, is run by Volunteers on Open Days every Sunday and Monday throughout the year, with free entry 10.30-4pm. We enjoy welcome visitors and imparting what we have learnt about the mansion’s history.
There are always openings for new people to join this friendly team. If you think this would be right for you and you have some spare time on Sundays or Mondays we would love to hear from you. Call in on any Open Day, contact us here or email hiringvalentines@visionrcl.co.uk mentioning The Friends of Valentines Mansion.
I first visited Valentines Park in the 1980s when I moved to the Borough but only discovered Redbridge’s Valentines Park, Mansion and Historic Gardens in 2002 when our family moved to a house just around the corner, when I was still a busy full-time teacher. We joined the recently formed Friends of Valentines Mansion straightaway and enjoyed supporting the local charity’s campaign to preserve the house as an asset for the community rather than see it bought up and developed as a pub.
I became involved in helping put on various musical and dramatic performances as part of activities to raise money for The Friends towards the eventual Heritage Lottery funded restoration project, completed in 2009.
It was only when I retired from teaching in 2013 that I had the time to become more fully involved as a Volunteer. I also became more involved as a Trustee of The Friends, enjoying delving into and adding to the detailed research conducted by local historian Georgina Green FRHistS and continuing to help organise events for members and the general public. It is a privilege to be able to access the archives and to share as much of that knowledge as possible.
Volunteer Eleanor Bloom in the Victorian Kitchen, handling items on the kitchen range which was the first ever major restoration project funded by the Friends of Valentines Mansion.
There is a well-established Schools Programme focussing on the Victorian period, during the time Sarah Ingleby lived here, but there is so much more to discover about earlier periods of history through the stories of the other families who lived here.
Built in 1696 for Elizabeth Tillotson, widow of John Tillotson Archbishop of Canterbury, the house offers many fascinating echoes of the past. But did you know she was closely related to Oliver Cromwell? Full details can be found on The Friends’ website www.valentines.org.uk with links on Twitter @FOVM4. There is support for new Volunteers and plenty of information online to learn about the succession of families who lived in Valentine House.
Free ticket?
First correct answer to the above “Odd One Out” wins a free ticket to The Friends’ Christmas event on 13th December, a lovely evening of music and Christmas atmosphere!
Thirty years ago if you’d been able to peer through the shuttered windows, you would have seen little evidence of the building’s former glamour as a family home: you might have spied ugly fluorescent tube strip lighting, peeling wallpaper and other debris from its mid 20th Century time as council offices. But since the restoration was completed, the mansion is now run by Vision RCL who manage it as a Wedding Venue, arrange Ceremonies and Events and organise the Volunteers.
The Friends continue to run our own projects and events to enhance the value of the building to the community. Our current project focuses on the period 1754-1788 when Charles Raymond of the East India Company lived here with his wife and three daughters.
We are devising more hands-on children’s activities for the room and there will soon be some additions to the walls!
As a Registered Charity, much fundraising has gone on over a 22-year period, with thousands of pounds spent on items for the house, such as this lady’s bookcase.
If you visit now, you will see many additions to the bookcase shelves, to reflect the writings and interests of Charles Raymond’s daughter Sophia (1753-1802), quite possibly influenced by the well-known literary hostess Frances Evelyn “Fanny” Boscawen, a member of The Blue Stockings Society. Fanny was the step-daughter of close family member Bridget Raymond and the Blue Stockings was an informal women’s social and educational movement in England in the mid-18th century, an alternative to the “vice” and “passion” of gambling which was often the main form of entertainment at higher society parties. (1881, The New York Times). “Instead however, of following the fashion, Mrs. Montagu and a few friends Mrs. Boscawen and Mrs. Vesey resolved to make a stand against the universal tyranny of a custom which absorbed the life and leisure of the rich to the exclusion of all intellectual enjoyment… and to found a society in which conversation should supersede cards.”
A visit to The Raymond Room at Valentines will tell you more about Sophia and her father.
Please Contact Us if you’d like to find out more, become a Volunteer on Open Days, to join The Friends as a member or maybe even as a Trustee. We are looking for a new Membership Secretary. Could this suit you? We can offer opportunities to work alongside existing trustees and are very keen to welcome new people to be part of the future of this wonderful building.
There are opportunities for dressing up, though it is not compulsory!
Diana Smith
Friends Of Valentines Mansion 