Working together to make West Ealing a better place for residents, businesses and visitors.
OPEN Ealing starts its fundraising for its move to West Ealing with two events this weekend.
A night of comedy featuring:
Phil O’Shea – a stand-up comedian who has been performing in Scotland for the last two years and just moved to London.
Alex Holland – award-winning comedian and writer
Hatty Ashdown – stand-up comedian, presenter, writer, actor …and slipper wearer
Tickets are £10 from OPEN on 020 8579 5558 and more details of the night at www.openealing.com
A line up of four local bands:
Boss Terror – a band whose roots developed in West London and have now spread with different names and sounds
Du Bellows – formed after and open mic night in Ealing, Du Bellows involve a soulful feel and just the right amount of rhythmic and cadence tension
Blushing Bones – acoustic folk loveliness from West Ealing
Jon Mapp and Johnny Hereward – OPEN’s own resident musician Johnny Hereward and Jon Mapp play with a selection of musicians who perform regularly at the Castle Inn on Sunday evenings.
Tickets £10 from OPEN on 020 8579 5558 and details of the bands at www.openealing.com
Do please come along and support OPEN – and there are fantastic raffle prizes on offer including having your portrait painted, your garden designed or a meal at the Star & Anchor.
Just noticed that Peacocks has shut down in the high street. Dean on the flower stall said it shut down suddenly on Friday. I know it’s been bought by Edinburgh Woollen Mill and some stores are likely to close down permanently. I hope the West Ealing store is just shut temporarily as it will be a loss to West Ealing let alone to everyone who was working there.
Tucked away almost out of sight at the top of the building at 2 St James Ave that backs on to Sainsbury’s is a new gym – Just Add Exercise. I wanted to find out more about it as it’s right at the top of my road and I was curious about its seemingly sudden appearance!
I met Matt Hook the owner and he was kind enough to show be round and explain his plans. At its heart is a gym area with a range of equipment from spinning bikes and treadmills to resistance machines with weights plus all sorts of other equipment to get you toned and fit. He offers a personal training service along with nutrition and weight loss advice, sports massage and physiotherapy.
Sitting alongside the gym is a 1,000 sq ft area for various exercise classes and, interestingly, drama. For as well as exercise this space hosts The Artists Theatre School on Saturdays when drama classes are run for all age groups. The Artists School was founded by Amanda Redman and classes are given by professional working artists.
Matt explained that it the gym is in part of what was once the Primary Care Trust offices above Sainsbury’s but some 3,000 sq ft had become vacant a while back. This is well over twice the space at his previous gym in Ealing Broadway and obviously allowed him to expand his services. It has taken him a while to complete negotiations for this space but even after being open for barely a week it felt well established.
Peak gym membership is £18.50 a month and personal training is in addition. There are regular Pilates classes run by Pilates Corps. They offer classes Mondays to Thursdays at a range of times across the day and the classes cost between £8 and £12 depending on how many you book and seniors (which probably now includes me!) get a discount.
So, welcome to West Ealing and more information can be found on their website – www.ealingpersonaltraining.co.uk or call 020 8567 8577
OPEN Ealing is launching its fundraising campaign for its move to premises in the heart of West Ealing with a night of stand-up comedy on Friday 2nd March from 7.30pm. There are three stand-up acts and it promises to be a great night. Full details at www.openealing.com. Tickets are £10 and call to reserve your tickets on 020 8579 5558
We’re holding our Annual General Meeting tomorrow (Tuesday 21st) at OPEN Ealing from 7.30pm. We’re looking for your help in shaping how WEN develops over the next few years. I wrote a piece for this month’s newsletter:
Eric Leach, West Ealing Neighbours Vice-Chair, speaks about his experiences with Ealing Council’s on planning issues and how at least one other Council responded to his request for planning information.
OPEN Ealing launches its first ever OPEN Poetry evening on Wednesday 15 February 2012, 8pm
A reading with SJ Fowler, Christodoulos Makris, Marcus Slease and Cherry Smyth, plus OPEN-mic session.
In what we hope will be the first of a regular poetry series at OPEN Ealing, join us for an evening of readings from our guest poets – and yourselves. Everyone is welcome to come along, whether to perform or simply listen. Admission is free.
SJ Fowler (www.sjfowlerpoetry.com) is the author of three poetry collections, Red Museum (Knives, Forks and Spoons Press, 2011), Fights (Veer Books, 2011) and Minimum Security Prison Dentistry (AAA, 2011). He is the UK poetry editor of Lyrikline and 3:AM Magazine. He is a full-time employee of the British Museum and a postgraduate student at the Contemporary Centre for Poetic Research, University of London.
Christodoulos Makris is the author of the collection Spitting Out the Mother Tongue (Wurm Press, 2011) and the chapbook Round the Clock (Wurm Press, 2009). A chapbook / artist’s book with title Muses Walk – his contribution to the project ‘An Inventory of Al-Mutanabbi Street’ – is due out in March. He was Dublin regional editor for Succour magazine, and ran the Poetry Upfront series of readings and events in north Co Dublin. For more go to http://yesbutisitpoetry.blogspot.com
Marcus Slease was born in Portadown, N. Ireland in 1974. His latest publications are from Smashing Time (MIPOesias Chapbook Series, 2012), Hello Tiny Bird Brain (Knives Forks and Spoons, 2011), Balloons (Deadwood Press, 2011), and Godzenie (BlazeVOX, 2009). He has lived all over the world including: Seoul Korea, Katowice Poland, Greensboro North Carolina, Ogden Utah, Seattle Washington, Ankara Turkey, and Milton Keynes England. His current home is in London where he teaches English as a foreign language. He blogs at Never Mind the Beasts: www.marcusslease.blogspot.com
Cherry Smyth’s debut poetry collection When the Lights Go Up was published by Lagan Press in 2001. A pamphlet, The Future of Something Delicate was published by Smith/Doorstop in 2005, and a second poetry collection, One Wanted Thing, was published in 2006. Her stories have appeared in several anthologies, including The Anchor Book of New Irish Writing (2000) and Scealta: Short Stories by Irish Women (Telegram, 2006). She lives in London. See more at www.cherrysmyth.com
OPEN Ealing, 113 Uxbridge Road (opposite the fire station and on the corner with Culmington Road)
Tel: 0208 579 5558
Website: www.openealing.com
We held the fourth Joint Action Group meeting today – this note summarises the up to date situation.
Since the earlier JAG meetings that started after the incidents in September, there has been considerable activity as we have previously reported. We are now entering the phase where Dean Gardens is being rehabilitated into “day-to-day policing” rather than the “special measures” that we have seen. This does not mean that the Police and Council eyes will be taken off the ball, but rather that we need to use our resources appropriately.
The police, council, and charities will continue to work closely together. Patrols will continue to be made around the local retail outlets, off-licences and cafés in the area to ensure that there is minimum temptation – particularly in relation to alcohol consumption. ASBOs will continue to be put to the courts (already a considerable number have been put in front of the courts and more are to follow). These will curtail the known irresponsible troublemakers and the new ones on whom intelligence has been built since the intense joint action programme started. The JAG meetings will continue – but will be held less frequently.
In summary: Dean Gardens is being rehabilitated and is returning to normality as a safer place, day and night, a green space in West Ealing that is a central part of our neighbourhood. As I have said before, of course we cannot guarantee this and therefore as residents we must all continue to watch and help. 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.
If you have any additional queries, you can contact our local Walpole Police SNT on 020 8721 2949 or email me at patrickchapman@btconnect.com.
Thank you.
Patrick Chapman, Walpole SNT Focus Panel Chair 27th January 2011