Frieze Sculptures in Regent's Park

On Sunday 20th September, four of us met for tea / coffee at Pret's near Great Portland Street Station ahead of the planned 11.00am start time.  Peter and Annick joined us in the park.  It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, it was pleasantly warm and the blue sky enhanced some of our photos.  

The Frieze Sculptures - an annual event that is London's largest free display of outdoor art - are dotted around The English Garden in Regent's Park; this year there are 15 works of art on display.  

As always, we visited every piece : an impressively tall black palm tree made from scrap steel and tyres discarded by the roadside, giant metallic claws forming an arch on the grass, angel wings surrounded by (and connected by hoses to) 4 pieces that looked like sci-fi toilets but were somehow linked to racing cars, a loincloth-wearing warrior figure with shells for nipples and a face on one side that looked like a child's drawing and a face on the other side engraved onto a piece of sheet metal, a blue door lying on the ground adjacent to a staircase going down into the soil, a beautiful oval honeycomb formed of cut-out metal pieces bolted together which apparently draws on cosmic geometry, hollow bronze arms (well, that's what they looked like to me) holding a lovely piece of white quartz, flat metal sheets carved with Indian figures and images which was beautiful - the more you looked at it, the more figures, heads and images you saw - an arched, weathered corrugated iron 'worm' emerging from and going back into the ground (which Trevor gamely managed to mimic) and three tall 3D printed columns of differing styles with one looking very Aztec and another having shiny stones glued on to it.  We also followed the instructions on the plinths, embedded in the ground, of three linked pieces and posed as 'Possibilities for a Sculpture', so all six of us can claim to be walking pieces of art now.  

We spent about an hour and a half looking at all the sculptures, critiquing and admiring the different pieces. Similar to last year, the descriptions were mostly intelligible, with no long, multi-syllable words requiring a Google search to understand, although I'm not convinced "humanity's yearning for wholeness and the power - and the fragility - of collective ideals" applies to us all.  

Continuing with a walk through the rose garden and around the boating lake, most of us went to the Wetherspoons pub by Baker Street Station for a leisurely lunch before heading to the tube station. 

Jill S, 20th September 2026

 

Eye by Conrad ShawcrossMetanoia by Ivana Bašić'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

   

 

The Sun Bathes Its Friends and Neighbours by Tarini SethiMace by Matyáš Chochola

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Wyrm by Catriona RobertsonThe Sun Bathes Its Friends and Neighbours by Tarini Sethi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Photos by Jill S. and Madeleine

Chipping Ongar to Greensted Church 

After a long spell of dry weather, it was with some surprise that we had a wet day for our 5 mile walk, though the forecast thunderstorms didn’t materialise.

Eight of us met near Chipping Ongar Library on 29th August, having travelled in two cars. We headed left out of the car park and followed the High Road down to the Two Brewers junction, then turned right up Greensted Road where just before the school there is a footpath which runs alongside the school. Following this we arrived at a field. The directions were to follow a path parallel to the telegraph poles across the field. On the recce a month or so previous this was a clear footpath, however the combination of recent ploughing and rain meant this wasn’t a viable option, but we were able to follow a path to the left of the field, then right between the field and a hedgerow to arrive at the required bridge. With several other fields having been ploughed the paths at the edges seemed somewhat narrower than I remembered and we also got our boots rather caked in mud at various times which made it heavy going. We spotted a red kite at one point and in the woods heard a robin.

The footpaths circled round to join up with the Essex Way to get to the beautiful log church of St Andrew in Greensted where we stopped for lunch and a browse inside the church.

We then carried on along the Essex Way back to Chipping Ongar where we found a nice café for a warming cuppa and a well earned slice of cake.

Despite the rain it was an enjoyable walk with good company.  Richard. 30th August 2026

An Evening at Kew Gardens

On Sunday 23rd August 2026 eight Efoggers met at Kew at the unusually late start time of 4pm, carrying on the proud EFOG tradition of finding a teashop near to the meeting place. In this case Starbucks was the lucky recipient of our tea and cake (and loo) orders.

We were visiting Kew Gardens, to have an evening wander and to see the Henry Moore sculptures which are spaced around the park.  I had heard the sculptures were big, so assumed they'd be easy to spot - but finding them all (I didn't) took some navigating - big thanks to the map readers!

The sculptures were impressive, and were shown to their best in the setting of Kew Gardens, which was almost peaceful if you managed to tune out the aeroplanes heading for Heathrow.

We were lucky with the weather, especially given the recent heatwaves  -  sunny but not too hot, and luckier still with the ease of the journeys there and back, especially as there the usual weekend closures going on.  Less lucky with the eateries, which were getting ready to close, but did have the  odd sandwich to be found - and all in all it was a very nice outing. 

Thank you to everyone who came  - I could get a taste for lazy mornings and late starts to EFOG events!

Louise,  31st August 2026 

The group by the Palm House, Kew Gardens'Large Reclining Figure', 1984, Henry Moore

'A Tree viewed through a Hole', 2026, EFOG Member'Not Quite as Large Reclining Figure', 2026, EFOG member

'Two Piece Recling Figure', 1960, Henry Moore'Double Oval', 1966, by Henry Moore

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos by Louise, Cathy and Trevor

Roding Riverside Walk

A not-so-hot-as-it-has-been Saturday August 1st, 2026, and Trevor had advised a 10.30am departure from Redbridge Station for a riverside walk in my local area.

As this walk would be in familiar territory along a familiar river and familiarly near home – if not family – I decided that I would ignore complaints from my ankles and join the group. A simple bus ride to Wanstead was followed by a not-at-all simple descent down the 99 stairs at Wanstead Station to the platform, which is 29 metres below the surface. It would have been fine if I had been coming out of the station, because the escalator was working in the up-mode, but not down.

Anyway, it was nice to get off the train at Redbridge at almost the exact point at which Trevor was sitting in the cool, as we were early and there is not much shade up top and outside.

We met some others off subsequent trains heading eastwards. There were a lot of trains heading eastwards even in the short time we were sitting there, so there would doubtless be a large collection at Hainault, as there seemed few coming back.

There are only 39 steps to the surface at Redbridge Station ('Only 39 Steps' could make a good title for a book?), so that was alright, and we emerged into the sunshine and warmth of the above ground.,Some more EFOG members were basking in the sunshine there, ready for the walk, so we had a total of 12 ready for the adventure.

At precisely 10.30, or maybe a little later, we were led off – having missed the bus to Stanstead which we had not intended to take anyway. Using a pedestrian tunnel to cross the Redbridge Roundabout system (any other means is foolish) we soon entered onto the unpaved foot-and-cycle path that – after paralleling the northbound A406 for a while – leads to the famous River Roding. Trevor confused at least one northerner who was with us and unfamiliar with local rivers, geography, or Trevor's and my senses of reality, by saying that it was actually the source of the Thames.

The riverside walk by the Roding at this point is realistic as a fact, but the fact is not really supported visually, ‘cos it’s difficult to know that it is even there. It’s to do with intervening vegetation. I bored almost everybody by pointing out at one point (where we actually could see the river) that across the river was Wanstead Park. Most of the group – if not all – knew that, but what perhaps most did not know was that behind us was also Wanstead Park. This is a small area called Whiskers Island, which is not really an island and for some anomalous reason is part of the park, even though it is on the ‘wrong’ bank. A bit like North Woolwich being in Kent until it was moved.

We did have a lovely view of the Roding from the bridge that does cross it, where lots of flowery and sedgy vegetation has been allowed to grow in and by the river. Butterflies and damselflies enhanced the view, and a couple of group photos were taken to prove that we’d been there.

I kept quiet about the glories and historical relevance of ‘The Old Sewage Works’ that we passed through before entering Wanstead Park proper. If I had been leading the walk people would have been bored silly long before halfway through.

We admired a corner of the Ornamental Waters - which is a silly name because it is now waterless - then continued our journey through Wanstead Park, walking along the north side of Perch Pond. At the east end of Perch Pond, near the tea hut, we had a quick look for Roman tesserae at a spot where I have found them in previous (but non-Roman) times. This is near where it is believed a Roman villa was situated (back in Roman times). We didn’t find any tesserae, so we continued the walk.

Leaving the nearby tea hut until later, we walked the length of the Heronry Pond and had a look at the Shoulder of Mutton Pond – which is the first in the succession of lakes that form the water features of Wanstead Park. At least we did see a couple of Herons there. We returned to the tea hut, having mostly circumnavigated Heronry Pond – where we didn’t see any Herons but did see a duck with a single (late) duckling, the rest of her brood likely having been eaten by Black-backed Gulls.

The tea hut, of course, proved popular with the group, and we sat at various tables and benches to avail ourselves of refreshments. On such a fine day – not really too hot considering what we have been through recently – it was a bit of a surprise to me that there were so few other people around. It is often so busy – the tea hut being open 365 days a year, and very reasonably priced.

Trevor’s plan was to continue around more of the park, and then on to Wanstead Station, but my ankles were complaining a bit and to keep them quiet I left the group there to walk home – home being more that side of the park than Wanstead.

Thanks you Trevor, for leading the walk, and thanks to the rest of the walkers for the company.

Paul Ferris,  1st August 2026

---

River Roding and Wanstead Park

The first day of August 2026, and it’s a very local walk, from Redbridge Station to Wanstead. Arriving early, I sought shelter from the sun by waiting down on the platform, in the cool rather than in the sunshine outside. Having met with some of group on the platform we ventured outside into the light to meet the others.

There were 12 of us in all, and after applying sun-cream as needed, we headed off towards the roundabout, before turning down a road beside the A406 exit slip road and turning right down a track to meet up with the River Roding. We then turned left to walk along the river bank, with the river on our right and the trees providing some welcome shade.

After about a mile or so, we crossed over the river, pausing on the bridge for photos, before turning right to enter Wanstead Park. 

We then walked around two of the ponds in the park, stopping at one of them, where it is thought that there was once a Roman villa. Evidence of this seems to have been the discovery of relics including bits of Roman mosaic, pottery, ring pulls and coins dated 20 B.C. But to my mind the clincher is that it’s near to the tea hut, so Julius and his friends wouldn’t have to walk far for a tea and cakes (or teaus and cakeius as it would have been called in those days!).

Anyway, after walking around the two ponds, pausing at Shoulder of Mutton Pond - where Richard spotted a couple of herons - we arrived back at the tea hut, where we met Ian and had some much deserved refreshments. Afterwards, Paul headed off while we continued back to the River Roding and walked along the other bank of the river, following it round with the sad looking dried out Ornamental Water (or lack of) on our left. We passed the spots where you can access the river, when it’s not too high, before taking the slope up the hill to Warren Road, from where we followed the roads to Wanstead Station.

The walk had been about 5 miles long and mostly in the shade to avoid the most intense of the sun’s heat and we had kept fairly cool on another hot day. Well done to everyone for coming and making it an enjoyable wander.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trev Eley, 3rd August 2026