Posted on

Try one of the triple smoked hams from Luckhurst’s in West Ealing

Triple smoked hams are a  bit of a strange topic for a blog entry but I hope it will be of interest to some of our readers as they are just fantastic.

We buy a lot of our meat from Luckhurst’s in Melbourne Avenue and I’ve seen these dark-coloured hams hanging up for some years but never gave them much thought. This Christmas however, and with a bit of prompting from my wife, we decided to find out what they are as they seem very popular. Talking to Tony Luckhurst I found out that they are triple smoked hams and come from a specialist supplier in north London. Not surprisingly they take some time to prepare and a whole one will cost around £40 and a half around £20.

So, having found out what they are, we ordered a half one for Christmas. I got some advice from Tony on cooking it and did a bit more research and decided to boil it for half the time and then bake it in the oven for the other half. We had it for dinner one evening just after Christmas and it was by far and away the best ham I’ve ever eaten. It was tasty and moist. It hadn’t dried out at all despite being cooked for about 4 hours. We bought another one yesterday and it was just as good. It does smell a bit like kippers when you take it out of the wrapping but I thoroughly recommend it.

In terms of cooking, I cut off the skin but left as much of the fat as possible. Then I scored the fat and managed to find a large enough saucepan and covered the ham in water and brought it to the boil. I then drained off the water and put in clean water and brought it to the boil again and simmered it for half the necessary cooking time – about 90mins/2hrs depending on size. After this I took it out and put molasses (or treacle) over the scored side, out it in a roasting tin and covered it with foil and in to a moderate oven (160C) to finish and took off the foil for the last half hour. I’m sure there are lots of other ways to cook it but this works well for us.

I know it’s a bit of a treat but if you have a special occasion it’s well worth it and cold ham is still good to eat afterwards so it will all get used.

Do let us know what you think if you try it.

 

 

Posted on

Free laid-back jazz at OPEN Ealing this Friday lunchtime

Fran Clark FFM JanCome to OPEN and celebrate the new year with some laid-back yet groovy soul and jazz music! Local established singer and songwriter Fran Clark will be teaming up with Pete Clark on Friday 6 January 2012 from 12.30- 1.30pm to perform at the next First Friday Music.

Fran frequently performs locally including featuring at Brentford Festival and is celebrated for her jazzy mellow vibe and emotional strength of her vocals. With her first album “To Fly” received excellent reviews from online and local radio stations, Fran is in her final recording stage of her second album and many of her original songs will be featured in this performance.

The performance will be held in the OPEN gallery on the second floor. A light lunch and refreshments will be available in the self-service café.

This performance is admission free.

Posted on

Local people to plan the centres of Ealing and West Ealing

According to the new Localism Act local people will soon be able to assemble a Neighbourhood Forum of 21 people or more who will discuss and propose the design of their local area. Save Ealing Centre (SEC), an alliance of 25 residents’ and community groups, has proposed the setting up of two Neighbourhood Forums – one for Ealing centre and one for West Ealingcentre. As part of these initiatives in 2011, SEC sought funding from national government, which if successful would amount to £40,000. We’ll hear soon whether this bid has been successful.

Neighbourhood Forums are required to be made up of a representative group of local stakeholders. I expect residents’ groups, community groups, businesses, faith groups, educational establishments and infrastructure providers to attend and contribute to these forum meetings.

These forum meetings are likely to be a breath of fresh air as they are likely to be the first such regular meetings in modern times at which local people/traders/service providers will be asked about how they want their town centres to be preserved, re-used and /or ‘developed’. These will be difficult discussions in which trade-offs between different needs – like quality of life, culture, healthcare, education, law and order, business and housing – will have to be thrashed out.

Unsurprisingly there are whole ‘rafts’ of planning legislation which the forums will have to wrestle with. At national level we have the newly proposed NationalPlanning PolicyFramework. At regional level we have the new version of The London Plan. At town level we have Ealing Council’s draft Local Development Framework Core Strategy (LDF CS). National government will decide whether it wants to accept Ealing’s LDF CS in early 2012.

All these planning policies contain a presumption in favour of property development, which seems somewhat out of place in a country with massive debts, a depressed construction industry and with no prospects of any significant economic growth for years to come. However it appears that no major political party wants to adopt a common sense policy of making the best use of what we’ve got.

The Localism Act will become fully enabled by April 2012. Neighbourhood Forums have a lifetime of five years. To find out more about Neighbourhood Forums and the Localism Bill you’ll find a useful briefing at www.urbanforum.org.uk/briefings/localism-act-briefing. To track progress of these Ealing Neighbourhood Forum  initiatives see SEC’s web site at www.saveealingscentre.com and West Ealing Neighbours’ web site at www.westealingneighbours.org.uk.

 

Eric Leach

3 January 2012

Posted on

WEN public meeting about plans to make Lido Junction safer on Tuesday 6th December at OPEN Ealing 7.30pm

West Ealing Neighbours is holding a public meeting on Tuesday 6th December at OPEN Ealing as part of the public consultation about the Council’s planned changes to the Lido Junction. The changes include an all-red stop phase to allow pedestrians to cross all four arms in safety.

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make crucial pedestrian safety changes at this notorious junction. Please do come along to hear the details of the Council’s plans and why there are some concerns about the possible impact on north-south traffic flow.  Stopping parking on the eastern side of Drayton Green Road makes sense and is as we suggested but the proposed introduction of a loading bay and five stop-and-shop parking bays on the west side of Drayton Green Road seems entirely counter-productive and likely to cause delays for northbound traffic. Whatismore, the shops in Drayton Green Road do not want a loading bay so it’s not at all clear why one is proposed. We can ask why at our meeting but if you are unable to make it on the 6th do please think carefully about these two elements and object if you feel they are likley to cause delays to traffic in Drayton Green Road.

The meeting is at OPEN Ealing, 113 Uxbridge Road – opposite the fire station and on the corner with Culmington Road.

Posted on

This week’s gigs at Ealing’s historic blues club

I have a bit of a personal interest in this post. My taste in music was heavily influenced by my brother who is five years older than me. He was a teenager living in London from mid-1964 onwards and he was an avid fan of blues music so was always going to the Marquee Club , Eel Pie Island and many other clubs and venues, though not The Ealing Club as he told me its heyday was over by 1964. So, Ealing’s central role in the development of British blues music in the early 1960s was indirectly crucial to my musical education. Alistair who is raising funds for a blue plaque to mark the role of The Ealing Club has dropped in to OPEN a couple of times to promote his special fund-raising blues nights at the club and I hope he succeeds with his efforts to get greater recognition of the role played by Alexis Korner and The Ealing Club. I couldn’t get to any of the previous blues nights in the summer so I hope this time I can manage to get along to one of the nights. Details of the three nights are below.

(You can listen to a BBC Radio 6 programme about Alexis Korner and his contribution to British music which talks about The Ealing Club at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b008tt3x/Alexis_Korner_Rhythm_and_Blues_Champion_Juvenile_Delinquent/ )

 

The Ealing Club Blue Plaque Gigs

To raise the final funds for the Ealing Club plaque, we have managed to put together three nights of music, featuring many musicians who realise the importance of the venue and are offering their time and input to help celebrate it.

The club, now called The Red Room, is diagonally opposite the station by the set of stairs that goes down to the footpath that brings you out on the Uxbridge Road almost opposite the entrance to the Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre.

(The photo shows Ealing Broadway station in the 1960s looking across to The Ealing Club.)

22nd November:

The Hubcaps –
Blues Covers and Original Material, with a very accomplished Harmonica Player at the helm.

The Bolaji Blues Band –
Searing Blues Guitar will be on offer from this local band, who are rapidly sealing a reputation for their interpretation, of well known blues classics.

Brace Yourself –
Following their brushes with Banksy in their former guise as Exit through the Gift Shop, this band entertained and went down a storm at their last Ealing Club Fringe performance. Guitar covers of 70′s/80′s 90′s classics.

23rd November:

Live music on Wednesday, will have a tinge of Jazz with the band Fallen Heroes, who ave already graced the Liverpool Jazz Festival and Ronnie Scotts. Cyril Davies may not have approved of the brass section but maybe Alexis would have given it a go.

The night will be hosted by Swamprock Dj’s Carol Lateman and Nigel Bewley. Sure to be lively, upbeat and of the highest quality. http://thefallenheroes.com/

24th November:

The Blues Tribute night on Thursday will serve up the Blues ……Robert Hokum/Guvnors, Norrie Burnett (British  Blues pioneer who even played with Cyril Davies) Doc Stenson (Singer, Guitar and Harmonica player, who played with Alexis Korner and entertained audiences at the July Ealing Fringe Gigs) with Ramon Goose and Geoff Garbow

Please e-mail us to reserve a place on the door, as we will limit the audience to 100 per night – ealing-club@hotmail.co.uk

More details available on the websites:

www.ealing-club.com

www.facebook.com/ealingclub

 

David Highton

Posted on

Update on dealing with anti-social behaviour in Dean Gardens

There has been considerable activity over the last month, the police, council, and charities have been working together and overall the general view is that the area is returning to normality. Current evidence shows that some of our known suspects have responded to the coordinated pressure over the last few weeks and are dispersing.  This is excellent news.

To give you the flavour of the work in hand: retail outlets, off-licences and cafés in the Dean Gardens area have been visited and encouraged to join the responsible retailer programme.  Many are cooperating fully.  The aim is to stop retailers selling to people who are in no fit state to consume – this applies particularly to both alcohol and khat.  In addition, a massive body of evidence has been accumulated and some ASBOs will be put in front of the courts very shortly and we expect to be serving these orders immediately when they are granted.  These will further curtail the known suspects and deter any new suspects on whom intelligence has been built in recent weeks.  We are pleased to report that following the increased police resources on the ground has resulted in over 40 arrests and 176 searches being made.

In summary – considerable progress towards the rehabilitation of Dean Gardens is being achieved.  We are now planning for returning to normality as the intense joint action programme winds down.  We look forward to the area becoming a safer place – day and night – a green space in West Ealing that is a central part of the neighbourhood.   If you are aware of any anti-social behaviour or drug related incident, you can report it by ringing 101 (this number is for all calls to the police other than emergencies – for which please ring 999).  101 will get you through to the Metropolitan Police who will pass the details to a duty officer in Ealing for collation by our intelligence team.

Thank you.

Patrick Chapman,
Walpole SNT Focus Panel Chair

18th November 2011

 

 

Posted on

Can street pastors help night-time West Ealing?

This report is from Ann Clifford, about her experience as a Street Pastor in West Ealing:

street pastors‘Street Pastors have been patrolling in Ealing Broadway for two years now.  I joined a year ago and as a resident of West Ealing, was extremely excited when, three weeks ago, we had our first patrol in West Ealing.

What is a Street Pastor?   A Street Pastor is someone who’s main role is to make themselves available to care, listen, support and help all people on the street, particularly the young and vulnerable.   We also pick up bottles so they cannot be used as weapons.   You’ll be surprised to learn that amongst other things, we carry with us space blankets, spikies (a device you put on a bottle to stop it being spiked), and of course flip flops.  Why flip flops?  I Continue reading “Can street pastors help night-time West Ealing?”

Posted on

Come along to our second Tweetup – 10 November at the Star and Anchor

It’s that time again! After our very successful Tweetup in June, West Ealing Neighbours is having another one! The Star and Anchor is hosting our the event on Thursday, 10 November from 7:30pm.

It’s a chance to have a drink and a chat with your neighbours in West Ealing, meet some new people, and maybe even make a connection or two! We’re inviting local tweeters, bloggers, foodies, councillors and personalities. There will be locals to talk to about the arts in Ealing, including local film, reading and music. Or, if you’re interested in the bricks and mortar of our community, you can talk to people about local planning issues and regeneration. Maybe there’s a fantastic local restaurant you want to tell everyone about?

We’ll also be hosting a book swap where you can bring along the books you want to share with others, and find some new ones to read!

So come on down to the Star and Anchor (they’re will be probably be nibbles!)- it would be great to see you there and have a drink with you!

Date: Thursday, 10 November, 2011

Time: From 7:30pm til late

Where: The Star and Anchor, 94 Uxbridge Road, West Ealing, London, W13 8RA

Who’ll be there: Members of West Ealing Neighbours, and other West Ealing and Ealing locals

Click here to RSVP.