I caught a piece on the TV news this morning about the declining number of live music venues in London. Ealing has a great tradition in live music, especially rock and rhythm and blues through the Ealing Club in the 1960s. It’s brilliant news that the team involved in today’s Ealing Club have got Arts Council funding to put on live music on the last Saturday ot the month. This month’s event is at The Drapers Arms and includes Azadeh who should have been on at the SoundBite Festival in September (which we had to cancel due to an assault in Dean Gardens)) so you can grab your chance to see her for free on 31st October along with Ramon Goose and some other good acts. Full details on the Ealing Club website
Leave some apples for us please – parakeets colonising West Ealing
Maybe it’s my imagination but I’m sure that in the last few weeks I’ve seen and heard more parakeets about than ever. It feels like West Ealing used to be at the edges of their empire and now we’re well and truly being colonised. I’ve seen and heard them for some years but never have I seen them in our pear tree on Northfields allotments. Now I have and you can bet that they will have chomped their way through the pears at the top of the tree. Also, in the last couple of weeks, the WEN Abundance volunteers have been picking apples off local trees and, again, the half eaten fruit off the high branches is a sure sign of parakeets. I don’t think there’s anything we can do to deter them from eating the fruit. I’ll just have to hope they leave enough for us earth-bound humans.
Police launch Operation Bottletop to tackle street drinking in West Ealing
Walpole and Elthorne Safer Neighbourhoods Teams have launched a new initiative combatting alcohol related antisocial behaviour and street crime called OPERATION BOTTLETOP.
The operation will see officers tackling these issues through targeting hotspots such as Dean Gardens and areas surrounding West Ealing Broadway having listened to the concerns of West Ealing residents and hearing the detrimental impact these issues have been having on the local community.
The teams have already made significant progress on the initiative. Over the weekend of September 19th and 20th, officers from the Walpole SNT arrested two men for racially aggravated public order offences who had been drinking heavily in the Dean Gardens. Elthorne SNT officers arrested one man for affray following an alcohol fuelled fight on Uxbridge Road in the early hours of Friday morning and one man for begging, who was found to be in possession of more than £250 in cash. Two men were given cannabis warnings.
There will be a strong drive for officers to enforce controlled drinking zone dispersal powers and alcohol confiscations. By the end of the weekend 26 alcohol confiscations have taken place from people drinking in the streets. Police officers will be joined by outreach workers from RISE, Ealing Council’s commissioned drug and alcohol intervention service.
462 litres of non duty paid beer and lager was seized from three premises in the West Ealing Broadway area on September 22nd after officers from the Met Police’s Licensing Team conducted a planned series of visits to off-licenses. Licenced premises found to be trading in an irresponsible manner risk having their premises licences revoked by a licensing authority sub-committee.
The operation will initially run from the 18th September through to December and will then be reviewed to consider extending the initiative. This follows a successful campaign by Safer Neighbourhoods Teams in Greenford, Northolt and Perivale, which saw a significant reduction in levels of street drinking and associated street crime.
Officers would like your support by reporting any street drinkers congregating and causing any Anti Social Behaviour to the Safer Neighbourhoods Team by email at Walpole.SNT@met.police.uk, titling your email Operation Bottletop.
The neighbourhood teams will not only be taking a firm line against ASB they will also be gathering evidence to support a ‘Public Spaces Protection Order’ (PSPO) in West Ealing. Officers are keen to gather impact statements from those affected by street drinking in the area. People wishing to give impact statements are encouraged to email Walpole.SNT@met.police.uk
Can you help us? Walmer Gardens Orchard Clear Up Day Saturday 22nd August
Walmer Gardens Orchard Clear Up Day – 10am – 12pm – follow the path up to April Cottage when in Walmer Gardens W13 9TS
Dear Neighbours
We have now had two successful clear up days in the Orchard at Walmer Gardens, West Ealing, but there is still more work to be done! We are still cutting the brambles, nettles, Ivy etc. and would love some more help to do this . If you are free then come along to Walmer Gardens with your garden gloves, secateurs and/or loppers. Clearing is quite hard work and only suitable for children over the age of 12. Please contact Diane Gill on wenabundance@gmail.com or 07736857700 for further information, otherwise we will see you there on the day!
If you can’t help with clearing, but have a car and would be willing to take garden rubbish to the dump please contact me or turn up at the Orchard on the day.
We are also looking for more expert volunteers, so if you know a bit about apples/pears and could help with picks later in the year please email me on the adddress above.
Many thanks and hope to see you there where Elizabeth and David will greet you.
Northfields Allotments Open Day this Saturday 2-5pm
Saturday 15th August 2015
Have you ever walked past the allotments on Northfields Avenue and wondered what it’s like inside?
The allotment committee thought it was about time we opened the gates and let more people see the allotments. The site is a wonderful place, full of greenery and wildlife. We have butterflies, bumblebees, honeybees and stag beetles (which are protected and endangered).
We will be having our first open day at the Northfield Allotments on Saturday 15th August 2015. Entrance is FREE!
We hope you will come along to see what is normally hidden behind our locked gates.
• Bee Hives – with viewing panel
• Teas, Coffee and cakes
• Vintage tool display
• Plants and seeds for sale
• Guided Walk at 3pm – History and allotment features
• WW2 Anderson air raid shelter and heritage vegetable garden
• Plot Awards – Best Newcomer, Best Traditional Plot
Gates open from 2pm to 5pm. We’d love to see you there and show you around.
West Ealing – New Crossrail Station Revealed
The new glass and steel structure will be located on Manor Road and will include a new footbridge with lifts, a new bay platform for trains on the Greenford branch line, platform extensions and new lighting, customer information screens, station signage, help points and CCTV. From 2018 the new Crossrail trains will begin serving West Ealing and from 2019 passengers will be able to travel through the new Crossrail tunnels beneath central London.
Work will start in the Spring of 2016 and take about a year to complete.
Spectacular Chariot Festival in West Ealing this Sunday
The Sri Lankan temple in Chapel Road is holding its annual Chariot Festival this Sunday. The Chariot Festival is by far West Ealing’s biggest annual event. We have about 10,000 people attending this event from all over Europe and it transforms Dean Gardens and the surrounding area. This weekend of 8/9th August sees the annual Shri Kanagathurkkai Amman Temple (SKAT) festival come to West Ealing once again. The festival culminates on Sunday with the Chariot procession leaving the Temple around 9am, and then returning at about 12pm via Mattock Lane, Culmington Road, and the Uxbridge Road. Dean Gardens will be full of stalls with Tamil food, lassi drinks, and selling bric-a-brac to fundraise for the Temple’s activities. It’s a great day out for everyone with lots of amazing sights, sounds and tastes.
Big plans for BHS site in West Ealing
Following the recent sale of the BHS chain, the West Ealing shop is due to close in 2016. In its place will be a mixed use site with retail on the ground floor and 136 homes above. The height of the new building ranges from 7-8 storeys on the Uxbridge Road up to 10-11 at the Singapore Road end. There will be an exhibition and public consultation mid-August.
We will update this story as we find out more information.
Ealing’s music heritage celebrated in plans for ‘Arcadia’ centre in Ealing Broadway
The new plans from developer Benson Elliott for the part of the ‘Arcadia’ site opposite Ealing Broadway station include a new 5,000 sq ft music venue on the plot of the 1960’s Ealing Club – the birthplace of British Rhythm & Blues. This is great news and congratulations to everyone involved on getting this in to the plans. There is much more to the plans including an 18-storey building, 20 new shops and ‘191 quality homes within residential courtyards above Haven Place, including 30% intermediate affordable housing delivered at discount market rent aimed at existing Ealing residents and young professionals.’ You can find out more on their website.
Temporary new home for Jubilee Children’s Centre
Amanda Foley from Ealing Council writes:
‘The majority of services running out of the current Jubilee Children’s Centre location in Green Man Gardens will cease on the 10th of July and from the 22nd of July all remaining health services will also stop running from that location and will instead run from Mattock Lane until the Children’s Centre is ready to open at its new location in Drayton Green.
We have informed the families who use the service of the change of location, consulted and supported them regarding their travel plans to the new location and have sent notifications of the date that the services will cease to run from Jubilee Hall. We have also sent them a list of nearby Children’s Centres where they can access services over the summer. Please see the attachment for this information.
It is our intention that the Jubilee Children’s Centre reopens at Drayton Green on the 7th of September 2015 when all services will start up again from there. The council and contractors are all working very hard to get the centre up and running for this date.
The relocation of Jubilee Hall on Drayton Green is a temporary measure to ensure as much continuity of the service the centre provides, as possible. This is part of the wider scheme of the regeneration of the Green Man Lane Estate where St. John’s Primary School will be rebuilt and expanded to a three form of entry primary school in order to provide additional school places for the growing community in the area. The primary school will be ready for occupation for September 2017 and the permanent building for the new Jubilee Children’s Centre will be complete in approximately 2020.
We aim to provide the same services from Drayton Green that was provided at Jubilee Hall and will continue to support our families who use this service.’