Identity area
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Authorized form of name
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
In October 1949 the London County Council approved an agreement by which 37 acres of Battersea Park were to be used as Festival Gardens and Fun Fair in connection with the Festival of Britain 1951. The Gardens were to be managed by a limited liability company and the Council was to be represented on the Board of Directors. The company had to rely for capital on loans from the Treasury (maximum £570,000) and from the Council (maximum £200,000). It was guaranteed that the maximum possible loss to the Council would be £40,000.
Attractions included a water-garden, fountains, Tree-Walk (wooden walkways suspended in branches), the Guiness Clock, the Far Tottering and Oyster Creek Branch Railway (a miniature railway), a dance pavilion, and fun fair rides including the Sky Wheel, Water Splash, Bubble-Bounce and a rollercoaster called 'The Big Dipper'. The intention of the Gardens was to recreate the eighteenth century pleasure garden such as those at Vauxhall.
The original Board of Directors for the Festival Gardens Company was appointed by the Festival of Britain Council. The Chairman was Sir Henry French who had been Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Food, and had later worked in the public entertainment world as Director General of the Film Producers' Association. The final Board had only four civil servants from the Festival of Britain Office. In addition there were three representatives of the London County Council, the Chairman of London Transport, one (later three), members of the amusement industry, an eminent horticulturist and a representative of the entertainments world.
Under the Festival Pleasure Gardens Act, 1952, the Council had the right to ask the Minister of Works to exercise his power to discontinue the Gardens after the 1953 season and this was done. In November 1953 the Council agreed that it would accept a transfer of the fixed assets of Festival Gardens, Ltd., together with a payment of £100,000 (subject to adjustment if necessary in respect of the disposal of Festival Gardens Pier) in discharge of the company's liability for the reinstatement of the park. The records of the company were handed over in 1954 and were kept intact until March 1962 when all vouchers, duplicates, and so on were destroyed.