Friends of Tooting Common’s Fun Dog Show on 9 June was a very enjoyable and well-attended event.  Over 300 people came, and 136 dogs were entered for the classes. Both these numbers were higher than in previous recent years.  Most dogs were entered for more than 1 of the 10 classes.   There were particularly large numbers entered for the ‘prettiest bitch’, ‘most handsome dog’, and ‘best puppy’ classes.  

There was again an excellent array of dogs of all shapes and sizes including male and female, puppies, veterans, rescue dogs, those with waggy tails, and very good fancy dress and best tricks. There were also classes for junior handlers to let them demonstrate their skills.  

We were glad to be joined by representatives of Streatham Hill Vets, the Parks Police, Wandsworth Council Animal Welfare Team, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, the Dogs of Tooting Common Facebook Group, Pawpadour Dog Grooming Studio and Bailey’s Canine Kitchen.   We are grateful for their support and for their involvement in judging some of the classes. 

We were also very pleased to welcome Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP, and the Mayor of Wandsworth Sana Jafri.    We are very grateful to them for attending, and for judging several of the classes.  

The winners of the classes were:  

– Most handsome dog: Loki
– Junior handler (up to 8 years old): Morag 
– Best puppy: Loki
– Young handler (8-16 years old):  Ralph
– Prettiest bitch: Merlin
– Best veteran:  Bobby 
– Best trick: Brandy
– Best rescue dog: Tara
– Dog with the waggiest tail:  TJ 

A full list of winners is here: 

Many thanks to everyone who came, and particularly to everyone who entered their dog in the Show.   And especial thanks to all involved in running the Show – Leonie, Anna, Elaine, Yvonne, Chris, Debbie, Tove, Harriet, Liv, Simon and Toma.

Sunday 29 September – Litter pick. Meet at the cafe at 11am

Tuesday 8 October – Litter pick. Meet at the cafe at 11am

Sunday 13 October – Litter pick. Meet at the cafe at 11am

Sunday 13 October – Autumn Plant walk, led by Roy Vickery. Meet at the Dr Johnson Ave car park at 2.30pm

Tuesday 22 October – Litter pick. Meet at the cafe at 11am

Sunday 27 October – Litter pick. Meet at the cafe at 11am

Sunday 27 October – Pumpkin Parade. 4-5pm by the cafe

Friends of Tooting Common carries out fortnightly litter picks on the Common. The next pick will be on Sunday 29 September, starting at 11am at the cafe on the Common. Please bring a pair of sturdy gloves.

Friends of Tooting Common run monthly bat walks during the spring, summer and autumn. We plan to hold a bat walk in October – date to follow soon.

Photo competition for July to September 2024

Friends of Tooting Common are running a photo competition for the months of July to September 2024. Please send photos for this by Monday 30 September, to fotcinformation@gmail.com, and entitle the email ‘FOTC photo competition’.

Entry to the competition is free, and open to everyone. The arrangements for our photo competitions are:

– The photo can be of any aspect of Tooting Common, particularly one which brings out its distinctive character

– It can include people, but for any close-up photos the permission of the people concerned should be obtained. Any photos including
children should be from a distance and not identify faces.

– Photo(s) submitted for the competition are then in the “public domain” and may be used publicly

– No-one can submit more than 5 photos for any competition

The prize is a shopping/entertainment gift voucher for £30 (or cash equivalent) and a copy of a hand-drawn map of Tooting Common by a local artist. Please do join the competition!

Photo competition for April to June 2024

Our photo competition for the months of April to June 2024 was won by Anneli for this excellent photo of the log-lined path through the ‘sanctuary’ area by the lake.

Congratulations to Anneli!

There were though a number of very good photos entered, and the choice of winner was not an easy one.  A link to all the photos is here:   FotcPhotoAprJune2024

A number of people post photos of the Common on the FoTC Facebook group, particularly of trees and plants.

We (FOTC) draw these together every few months and post them here. The most recent set of photos is here: 

FB posts Jan to Mar 2021

We hope these photos help celebrate the Common, particularly for people who aren’t often able to get out onto it.

Many thanks to all of the photographers, and particularly to Roy (Vickery) for his very informative posts, and for sharing his botanical expertise with us.  Many thanks also to Eamonn (Richardson) for drawing these photos together.

Some photos for previous months are:

FB posts Nov -Dec 2020

FOTC September-November 2020

FOTC, august-september2020

FOTC JULY-AUGUST 2020

FOTC-June-July-2020

FOTC-May/June2020

 FOTC April/May 2020

We hope this will provide a longer-term record of how the Common looks at different times.

Alongside circulating these photos, we also run regular photo competitions for the Common. (See separate blog post on this.)

Friends of Tooting Common are concerned at the volume of litter on the Common.  Litter collection by the Council’s contractor has improved in recent years, but litter remains a problem. We also arrange our own volunteer litter picks. 

It is also very important that people take litter home with them, and certainly do not to leave it lying out on the Common.  Littering the Common is selfish, and spoils the Common – which is a really excellent greenspace, available to everybody – for everyone else.

There has been very considerable wear and damage to a number of parts of the Common as a result of heavy usage, particularly during summer 2020. These problems have been exacerbated recently by waterlogging, resulting in a number of large muddy areas. FOTC have raised these issues of concern with Enable (who manage the Common on the Council’s behalf), while recognising that these and other problems on the Common may not have easy short-term solutions.

There have been some general concerns about dog and puppy thefts in London, and also some reports recently of people acting suspiciously in some other greenspaces in Wandsworth – eg asking dog owners about their dogs, and/or taking photos of the dogs. There have been no reported incidents of concern on Tooting Common, which is re-assuring. However dog owners using Tooting Common may want to be generally aware of these reports, and to be vigilant to eg anyone asking questions about their dog(s).

Also, if you know of any actual theft, or see someone acting suspiciously, please report it to the police on 101, so that any incidents can be logged and acted on.