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RENT
CEREMONY 1994
 The
Trust’s 5th anniversary celebrations were held on a warm,
sunny day, April 25 1994. The Rent Ceremony took place in the morning
The day ended with a party for 200 in the London Transport Museum.
Here Geoff Holland OBE, the Trust’s Chairman talks to the
crowds in front of Russell Chambers in the Piazza. The “rents”
- twenty five posies of flowers and twenty five red apples - are
packed into the wicker baskets on the old fruit barrow in front
of the microphones. The Trust was four years in arrears!
John Hegley, brilliant comic poet (left centre, with his dog glove
puppet) started his career in the I980s busking with The Popticians
in the Piazza. On the Trust’s behalf he gave a rousing, good-humoured
performance carrying on the centuries-old tradition of street theatre
in Covent Garden. As he inserted his hand into the glove puppet
- a curious sackcloth creature - he turned to Jenny Bianco, the
Lord Mayor of Westminster (far right) and said “Don’t
do this to your dog at home!”
In the Piazza, Peter Moore, the Town Crier, compares notes with
Geoffrey Holland, OBE, Chairman of the Covent Garden Area Trust.
Just behind are some of the Trustees dressed in costumes lent by
the Royal Opera House. The Floral Hall in the background has since
been removed and replaced by the new arcaded Royal Opera House building.
The “rents” were shown off by Covent Garden’s
buskers - Becky Jade, Kate Norbury, John & Gary, Mart Ricardo and
The Great Dave - who juggled the apples and bunches of flowers up
in the air. The beautiful posies arranged by Patti de Clifford were
generously donated by the Covent Garden Market Authority. The red
apples, a type called Roundway Magnum Bonhums (first exhibited at
the Royal Horticultural Society in 1864) were provided by Crapes
Fruit Farm in Essex.
 The
posies of flowers and red apples - the Trust’s “rent”
payments - were presented for the Trust by Jane Bautista, Noriko
Proett and friends from the cast of Miss Saigon, to Caroline Burton,
Investment Director of Guardian Properties (freehold owners of The
Protected Lands including Covent Garden Market).
Covent Garden
Area Trust
13 New Row, Covent Garden, London WC2N 4LF
Tel: 020 7497 9245
Fax: 020 7240 2405
Registered Charity no. 299874
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