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45set alight (possibly by mischievous children), but they continued to meet by the charred stump and used it as a notice board and viewed it as a symbol of the right of the people to assemble. It was the forerunner of Speaker%u2019s Corner, established in 1872 when an Act of Parliament allowed public speaking in the northeast corner of Hyde Park. People could talk about anything and say what they liked, provided they did not use indecent or obscene languageThe mosaic was unveiled in 2000 by a left-wing politician, Tony Benn, father of the present Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn. It appears to have replaced an oak tree unsuccessfully planted on the spot in 1977 by the then Prime Minister, James Callaghan. (However there are several healthy young oak trees to the north and west nearby, including a very large-leafed Hungarian oak.)Walk south from the Reformers%u2019 Tree, towards the porticoed public conveniences (1900s), in front of which is the Year of the Child drinking fountain.YEAR OF THE CHILD DRINKING FOUNTAIN In 1981 180,000 children attended a huge party on the Parade Ground to mark the International Year of the Child and 25th anniversary of the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child. This fountain was designed by Theo Crosby and erected that year as a tribute to park staff.North of the public conveniences is the Look Out Education Centre, a former police observation post and kennels.Retrace your steps to the Reformers%u2019 Tree, then turn left down the slope to the Old Police Station. OLD POLICE STATIONIt was completed in 1902 on the site of an earlier barracks and is in Queen Anne Style; today it houses the Royal Parks Headquarters. (The Royal Parks also use the cottage and store-yard to the left and Ranger%u2019s Lodge below, which dates from 1832. At the bottom of the hill on Serpentine Road is Serpentine Lodge, which is recorded in 1830.) MEMORIAL TO POLICE RESERVE CONSTABLE JACK AVERY On the left side of the facade of the Old Police Station a plaque was erected in 2007 to commemorate a police officer based here, who was knifed to death in the Park in July 1940 when he questioned a man he believed to be a spy making drawings of anti-aircraft guns. The assailant was convicted of manslaughter and jailed for 15 years. Leaving the Old Police Station to your left (and New Lodge over to your right %u2013 it was built for the Head Gardener in 1877) and continuing down the slope (past the police horse stables and Magazine Cottage (1861-1862), both on the left), you will see over to your right a path leading to the fenced-in Park Central Nurseries or Super Nursery. Take the path and turn left at the nurseries, following the railings to the Hudson memorial. HUDSON MEMORIAL BIRD SANCTUARY This wildlife sanctuary centres round a carved stone memorial commemorating the 19th century writer and naturalist, William Hudson (1841-1922). He helped to establish the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and campaigned for wild areas in parks, at a time when the fashion was to keep everything within them neat and tidy.The carving, by Sir Jacob Epstein (also responsible, 45 years later, for the Rush of Green statue at