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WEN Abundance – Pesky parakeets pinch our apples!

Indian parakeets

Indian ring-necked parakeets – possible apple-eating culprits

There are all sorts of theories about how these Indian Ring-Necked parakeets came to this country – from escaping off the set of The African Queen being filmed at Shepperton Studios in 1951 to Jimi Hendrix releasing them in Carnaby Street in the 1960s. In the last few years their distinctive screeching has been a common sound and we’ve seen some in our back garden.  They love to perch right at the top of trees even when the flimsy twigs there barely seem strong enough to hold their weight. However, this year it seems they have taken a fancy to apples.

When we last visited the community orchard there looked to be a decent apple crop. When we went back to start picking we wondered where all the apples had gone? Gone to the parakeets is where they’ve gone. The owner of April Cottage next door to the orchard told us that he has seen parakeets eating the apples this year. They sit right at the top and work their way down. All part of living with nature I guess. Still, we hope to find enough apples from other trees to send some batches off for pressing in to apple juice.

We’re always keen to hear from people who want to volunteer to help with Abundance or who have surplus fruit they’re keen to see put to good use. Whichever it is you can contact us at wenabundance@gmail.com
And watch out for our stall at the SoundBite Festival in Dean Gardens on Saturday 13th September where we’ll have elderflower cordial, apple juice and chutneys on sale – all handmade from local produce.

 

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Get your skates on – Rolladome is coming to West Ealing from Sat 16th August

Rolladome 1 001

Roller-skating is coming to Dean Gardens from 16th – 29th August

  • Open-skating family sessions
  • Adult lunchtime skating sessions
  • Sessions for beginners and intermediaries
  • Hockey, Roller Derby, Speed Skating and more

Then come 7pm it will transform in to a Roller Disco. Over 12 themed nights the Rolladome comes alive with a selection of West London’s finest DJs playing great music for you to rollerskate and dance to.

Find out more – www.facebook.com/W13getsrolling

 

 

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New pop-up cafe coming to Green Man Lane Estate next week

Every now and then I take a walk by the ever-changing Green Man Lane Estate to see what’s happening. I’m particularly interested in what’s going to happen in the community cafe.  And at last there’s something happening.  A pop-up cafe is opening next week.  It’s run by Coco Labelle who describe themselves as follows:

‘Coco Labelle is a family run local catering company offering exotic foods, live entertainment and childcare.

We are now providing pop ups in London to bring you the mauritian, jamaican and italian flavours that we love! We also share with you the finest musicians in London treating you to live jazz, soul, reggae and pop.

Best of all if you have kids, this is the place to be! A place to relax, eat, catch up with your friends, catch a gig all whilst your kids play safely in our creche enjoying our structured activities.’

The cafe is near the junction of Singapore Road and Brownlow Road. Children’s activities start on Tuesday 12th August and below is a (not very good) photo of their activities for the week. A detailed schedule is on their website

 

Coco Labelle

You can find out more about Coco Labelle here

 

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Spectacular Chariot Festival in West Ealing on Sunday

Spectacular Chariot Festival in West Ealing this weekend

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 9/10th  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.

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Volunteers needed to help with exciting new roller-skating project in Dean Gardens

Are you interested in volunteering with me on the W13gets rolling project? You don’t need to skate (unless you want to) you just need to be available for a couple of weeks or until the end of August and want to be part of an exciting and innovative project.
We need people now to help with the preparations (including some admin and contacting traders, event management and sponsors etc) and also on throughout the days/evenings to help with stewarding etc.
We can’t offer a wage but we will look after you in terms of refreshment and expenses and a reference and it would be good for any CV!


We are also still looking for
1) traders,
2) people wanting advertising space,
3) businesses (ideally in W13 but not exclusively) that want to offer
a) special offers throughout the W13getsrolling period (16-29th August) that would be featured on our special offers board to encourage local shopping
b) discounts that would be part of a voucher book for each ticket purchase to encourage return custom to the area

Please contact jackiesear.cdw@live.com ASAP

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New from WEN Abundance – apricot butter now available as the perfect accompaniment to cheese

Yes, you can grow apricots in this country!  They may have come originally from China or Armenia but they have been adapted to grow in colder climates. Normally, the tree on our allotment gets hit by a late frost and that’s usually just about the end of the fruit for the year. However, this year the conditions must have been almost perfect and we had a bumper crop. So once we’d eaten some fresh and frozen some for later we still had a stack left. After a bit of experimentation the decision  was – let’s make apricot butter. Fruit butter, like fruit cheese, is a perfect accompaniment to cheese (the dairy sort). The difference is simply the amount of boiling involved. Fruit butters spread like butter and fruit cheeses need slicing.

If you fancy a treat then drop in to Cheddar Deli on Northfield Ave and buy a jar of our apricot butter and just taste how good it is with cheese. It works best, in my view, with hard cheeses and creamy ones. You may want to think twice before putting it with a blue cheese but no harm in trying it.

Cheddar Deli are also selling our elderflower cordial, apple juice, chutneys and lemon elderflower marmalade. Some of our produce is also available through Edible Ealing’s box scheme and we’ve just delivered some to The Fox Craft Barn next to The Fox pub in Green Lane, Hanwell. So, you’ll find our Abundance produce somewhere near you.  If you can’t get to any of these outlets then do please email us – wenabundance@gmail.com – and we’ll see how best we can help.

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Your chance to say how you’d like to see Central Ealing develop

As with West Ealing, Central Ealing has a neighbourhood forum. The Central Ealing Neighbourhood Forum is working on a plan for the centre of Ealing Broadway. They want to hear from as many people as possible about the issues and options that could be covered in their plan for the area. To help them with their planning they have put a survey online   Please do take a few minutes to complete it and give your views on the issues and options.  There’s a bit of background to the Forum and its work below:

‘The Central Ealing Neighbourhood Forum was set up in 2012 to give local people and businesses a voice in changing our town for the better. It brings together residents, community groups, businesses and other key stakeholders, aiming to make Ealing a vital, thriving and sustainable centre. Under the Localism Act, the Forum has the power to create a local plan. This means that all of us can have a greater say in how our area should change and develop over time, whether we live, work, shop or study here. It can affect where shops, offices, housing and community facilities should be, and how they should look and feel. A neighbourhood plan is mainly about how land should be used and developed. Its policies can influence decisions on future planning applications. But in putting it together, the Forum can also stimulate projects which help to build a stronger, more inclusive community.

To create the change we want to see in Ealing, CENF is creating a Neighbourhood Plan. The Neighbourhood Forum (local residents and businesses working together) is overseeing the delivery of the Plan.  Everyone can take part.  It’s free to all who live, work, study or just visit here to join and to contribute ideas.  The Forum wants to hear from you now.  We’ve just launched our second round of discussions, called “Issues & Options”, on what should be covered in our Plan. Do have a look at the choices we have set out under a number of topic heads.  You may think we’ve missed some obvious things, or have got the wrong idea about what people want.  Let us know, so that we can consider all ideas before the next stage of policy development.’

You can keep up to date with the Forum and its work by signing up as a member of the Forum at http://eepurl.com/p8405, or visit their website, and follow them on Facebook/CentralEalingForum or Twitter @EalingForum.

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OPEN Ealing: showcasing London artists at Westfield, Shepherds Bush 4th-10th August

Exhibition at Westfield London: We Are LDN Summer. 4th August-10th August
Benjamin Bridges – Coronal Loop. 152x122cm Oil on Canvas 2013

4th-10th August @Westfield London, Shepherds Bush.

OPEN’s curator, Jack Jones has been hard at work these last few months on a number of different projects. Coming this August, in partnership with Westfield London, Jack is curating a special showcase of artists from across London. Which include some local Ealing artists. The London Collection was created to bring together the different projects Jack is currently working with in west London. We would love for your support and to celebrate this unique project.

For more information, please visit the London Collection website, and join the facebook/twitter/mailing list to keep up to date!

www.thelondoncollection.co.uk

About the exhibition:
WESTFIELD LAUNCHES WE ARE LDN SUMMER CAMPAIGNSix Weeks of Culture and Culinary Art at Westfield LondonTo celebrate the launch of Westfield’s ‘We Are LDN Summer’ campaign, running 16 July – 31 August, visitors to Westfield London will be treated to six weeks of London’s best in class of dance, music, art, food, children and fashion themed activity.

4th-10th “The London Collection”

Curated by Jack Jones of The London Collection. The exhibition brings together a selection of established and emerging artists to promote the cultural richness and diversity that West London has to offer. This exciting collection will feature contemporary painting, photography and sculpture.

“This exhibition is about showcasing artists work rather than working under a curatorial theme. I think this is an opportunity for the artists to demonstrate their talents to an entirely different spectrum of viewer and I didn’t want that opportunity to get interrupted by a concept. Each of these artists are incredibly talented and with their own distinct ideas. for more information about the artists and the upcoming event, please visit  www.thelondoncollection.co.uk for more information.”
The London Collection was started to develop more opportunities to  exhibit artists in West London. In partnership with OPEN Ealing and HF-ArtsFest the London Collection works across multiple west London Boroughs working with local authorities and private businesses to establish a platform for Contemporary art. 

Below are some of the Artists exhibiting at Westfield London. From left to right: Martin Lau, Durbin Lewis, Benjamin Jasper Buckley, Alex Baker and Nick Pearson.

In association with:          

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