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The spring has sprung, the days are getting longer and we have five bank holidays in April and May – two for Easter, one for the coronation of King Charles III and the early May and late May Spring bank holidays. What to do with all this time off? We have a round up of events for children and families in April and May. Pages 6-8.
Chiswick Women’s Cricket team take to the nets in April, in preparation for their first season playing in a league. I met team captain Leonora Yorath, who told me how they had started during Covid lockdowns for a bit of exercise and fun, and how now things have begun to get more serious. Page 10.
Chiswick’s new Repair Café is proving a success. Set up by four women who wanted to do their bit for the environment, they now have 30 or 40 volunteers who will have a go at mending anything from a Hoover to a teddy bear. Page 15.
The Victorian Society, based in Chiswick, is looking for volunteers. They try and stop developers from tearing down Victorian and Edwardian buildings. Their current major battle is to stop Liverpool Street Station from being enveloped in 16 storeys of modern construction. Volunteers do everything from helping with research to serving drinks on the bar at social events. Page 16.
April is the time when male Goldcrests make their nests, which birdwatcher Les McCallum says are a wonderful thing to behold, constructed from spiders’ webs, moss and lichens and lined with feathers. He has been studying and drawing these tiny little birds for more than 60 years. Page 18.
April is also the time when the garden springs to life and we need to start paying attention to planting and weeding. Gardening notes page 20.
At Hen Corner the hens are looking forward to being released to scratch around the garden, and with beekeeping season fully under way Sara Ward is on the lookout for swarms of bees settling where they are not welcome. Page 26.
With the lighter evenings it is more attractive to leave the house and go and find some live entertainment. Jazz at George IV has a great line-up of New Orleans jazz, blues, soul and tributes to some of the greatest artists. Pages 24- 25.
Let’s just hope the weather is good.
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WHAT’S ON IN APRIL AND MAY
What to do with five bank holidays
We have five bank holidays in April and May – two for Easter, one for the coronation of King Charles III and the early May and late May Spring bank holidays. What to do with all this time off?
Easter: Friday 7th – Monday 10th April
School holidays in LB Hounslow are Monday 3rd – Friday 14th April.
The London Museum of Water & Steam in Brentford will be celebrating Easter with bubbles. From Saturday 1st – Sunday 16th April from 10am – 4pm you can find out what happens when you mix water with soap. There will be crafts, handson activities and best of all, the Wet and Bubbly Science Show! All in the name of science. Sounds fun. Normal admission fees apply but the school holiday activities themselves are then free and do not need to be booked in advance.
Syon Park is hosting an Easter trail through the house and gardens. Enjoy storytelling and find out about Easter traditions in the house. Friday
7th – Monday 10th April, 10.30am – 4.30pm, last entrance 3.30pm.
Osterley Park has an Easter egg hunt every day from 1st – 16th April from 10am to 5pm. Make your way along the trail and find poetry-themed, nature-inspired activities for the whole family. The price of the trail is £3 per child and includes a trail map, pencil and a chocolate egg at the end.
Gunnersbury Park has a range of children’s activities throughout the Easter holidays: there’s a free family Easter Bunny trail on 1st April, and the Great Gunnersbury Easter Celebration on 4th & 5th April, when Lizzie the kitchen maid will guide you through how the Victorians enjoyed their chocolate. Indulge in a nice hot chocolate drink, make some flower decorations and play some outside games. And, of course, it would not be
Easter without a choctastic egg hunt in the grounds of Gunnersbury’s beautiful park.
On 12th April they are hosting a Make & Take session for children to make paper flowers to take home. Later in the month there are more creative sessions, a board gaming meet up and nature explorers sessions.
Chiswick House has the Bizzy Buddies Easter Camp from Monday 3rd – Friday 21st April for children aged 3 – 14 years, involving football, tennis, dodgeball, archery and rugby. Basically lots of throwing, running, catching and jumping. Bizzy Buddies also offers an Arts and Crafts Camp in the cricket pavilion, with painting, drawing, clay modelling, arts and crafts projects.
Chiswick House also has an Easter Quest on Saturday 8 April. Explore Chiswick House Gardens to hunt for clues and discover traditional games. Find all of your Easter eggs and receive a tasty chocolate treat. 11aam – 4pm. Tickets £2 per person. For all the family (recommended kids 5+) Starts at Conservatory and finishes at the Marquee. Hogarth’s House is organising an Easter Bonnet workshop and Easter egg hunt in the gardens on 6th April from 1 – 4pm. Tickets are £6 for one child, and, if you bring a friend or sibling, there will be a combined price of £10 for both (excluding Eventbrite fees).
Hogarth’s House was the ‘country’ home of one of Britain’s best known painters, William Hogarth, and there is a permanent display of his work and about how he lived.
And now for something completely different … Chiswick Cinema will be showing Monty Python’s Life of Brian on Easter Sunday and the kitchen will have an Easter special menu on offer.
April and May see new family films such as Super Mario Bros, Air, Dungeons and Dragons as well as artistic programming like MET Opera Live and National Theatre Live: Good, starring David Tennant.
At the theatre, Theatre at the Tabard in Chiswick offers Just Like that – The Tommy Cooper Show on Sunday 2nd April at 3pm. Watermans in Brentford has the Punjabi Musical Mela on Sunday 9th April from 2 – 6pm, a folk journey through Sanjha Punjab, kicking off with a Bhangra performance by Hardeep Sahota.
Coronation of King Charles: Monday 8th May
Syon House, the London home of the Dukes of Northumberland, the Percy family, for over 400 years, is throwing open the gates for people to visit the gardens and Great Conservatory for free on Monday 8th May, to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla. No need to book they say, just bring a coronation picnic, dress up in your most royal costume and wear your tiara. There will be crafts, facepainting and storytelling for the children. For the coronation itself, Chiswick Cinema is planning to screen the event live on Saturday 6th May, with a lunchtime tea service to complete the community celebration.
Spring bank holidays: Monday 1st and Monday
29th May
Osterley Park is organising a Dawn Chorus walk at 5.30am on Monday 1st May:
‘Enjoy a walk around the estate, listening to nature’s greatest concert. Bring your binoculars, or simply soak up the atmosphere’. The walk will last around 1.5 hours, and tickets cost £5 per person.
Syon Park is hosting its annual Foodies Festival 27 – 29 May, involving top chefs, tasty food and drink and live music. MasterChef Champions, Michelinstarred and top local chefs will be cooking their signature summer recipes in The Chefs Theatre. Great British Bake Off stars including 2022 winner Syabira Yusoff will share their best baking hints in The Cake & Bake Theatre.
There will be cocktails and street food and stalls, with artisan producers selling their wares and a Kids Cookery Theatre. Meanwhile on the live music stage, musicians performing include Fleur East, Scouting for Girls, Callum Beattie and Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
IF YOU VOLUNTEERED FOR VSO, IT’S TIME TO RECONNECT
Back in 1958, an intrepid group of 16 volunteers left Britain to help people in Borneo. Since then, VSO has become an international development agency, placing over 80,000 volunteers around the world. They focus on education, healthcare and resilient livelihoods as these can make the most long-lasting changes to the lives of vulnerable people.
Jo Rhodes-Jiao volunteered for VSO in 1984. After some training, Jo and a colleague travelled to the then little-known north-west region of China to teach English and to train other teachers.
Jo says “they were the best years of my life”. And, like many returned VSO volunteers, Jo has kept in touch with friends from those days.
But now, VSO is making it easier for former volunteers to get back in touch. VSO Reunions are planned, where people like Jo can share cherished memories, celebrate some amazing experiences and connect with old friends and new.
If you volunteered for VSO from 1958 to the 1990s – or you know someone who did – It’s easy to get involved. Visit vsointernational.org to register your interest and VSO will be in touch when a Reunion has been arranged.
For more information, contact VSO at enquiry@vsoint.org or call 020 8780 7500.
CHISWICK WOMEN’S Cricket TEAM
Looking for members
Chiswick Women’s Cricket team are to start playing league matches for the first time this summer.
The team, who came together initially for a bit of fun and exercise during the Covid pandemic, have so far played two matches - both friendlies against the Shepherd’s Bush women’s team, who had similar beginnings to them and are at a similar stage in their development.
That experience has emboldened them to join the Derek Morgan T20 league, so-called after the Derbyshire and England player who was one of the biggest supporters and the instigator of women’s and girl’s cricket in Middlesex.
“We realised we had enough skills and understanding of the game to play” said Chiswick Women’s team captain Leonora Yorath.
For cricketing purposes Chiswick comes under the county of Middlesex and the league is described as being ‘the entry point for emerging clubs wishing to play league cricket’.
“I’m hoping they are true to their word,” said Leonora, a little anxious that the other teams may not be quite as new to it as they are.
It is slightly nerve-wracking signing up for eight matches - four home and four away - throughout
the summer, when you have only just learned how to hold the ball properly.
“The hardest thing about learning cricket is learning how to bowl” she said.
I asked how well she now understands the game.
“I’m getting there” she said, cagily. “I know the rules. I know the basics, but it’s the tactics, there are so many levels to it.”
Leonora’s husband Jim is one of three trustees of the Chiswick Cricket Club, and has been instrumental in regenerating the club, winning an ‘Outstanding Contribution to Cricket’ award from the English Cricket Board in 2015 for the regeneration of the ground in Dukes Meadows, just off the A316.
As well as being leading lights of their respective cricket teams, Leonora and Jim run the Duck & Ball pub in the old cricket pavilion, where we were served a stupendous roast beef and Yorkshire pudding while we talked.
Having women in the club has changed the dynamics in the club house too. “Not that it was ever too laddish, but it has helped the balance,” said Jim. The women’s team start practising for a couple of hours on Wednesday evenings on 19 April and welcome new members.
Pat Davies is now 99. As a young woman during the Second World War she worked at listening stations around the coast, eavesdropping on German naval radio transmissions and relaying the content to the code breakers at Bletchley Park.
“It was interesting work – exciting and serious in equal measure. We didn’t know the significance of the messages we passed on, but we knew the work we were doing was important,” she says.
Pat spoke fluent German, as a result of spending time with refugees from Germany and Austria who had worked for her family.
HEARING Well
Deepak
Jagota, from Hearing
Well on Chiswick High Rd, is honoured to have Pat Davies as one of his oldest clients. Pat served during the Second World War as one of the ‘Bletchley Girls’.
It was the job of the WRNS – the Women’s Royal Naval Service - to pick up what they could, listening on radio receivers, transcribe it on a teleprinter and send them to Bletchley Park to be decoded.
“Mostly it was in code but some of it was ordinary speech. When they were in action they had no time to put it in code”.
Even the mundane was potentially useful. “We knew everything could be important. Even one torpedo boat to another just saying they were going to be on shore leave next week.
“The messages could be very faint” she tells Deepak, “it really
did need good hearing to do the job efficiently, so I still value my hearing very much.”
Pat was awarded the Légion d’Honneur by the French government in 2019 for her service. The intelligence produced at Bletchley Park is estimated to have shortened the war by approximately two years.
“I think Winston Churchill said that there were a lot of us but the ones who were in the services did cut short what might have been a very long war and what a happy time it was when it finished, and we could all celebrate.”
CHISWICK’S Repair Cafe
It used to be considered shameful to get things mended. Having shoes re-heeled or clothes patched and darned was the sort of thing poor people did. Now it is considered a badge of honour to pass on stuff you no longer need to others who can make use of it, or to get something mended rather than just throwing it out.
In a bid to do their bit to save the planet, by working towards a sustainable future rather than contributing to the throw-away society the baby boomer generation have become used to, four women in Chiswick started up the Repair Café six months ago, once a month in Christ Church on Turnham Green.
“It has been a tremendous success” Charlotte Bullock tells me, so much so that they now have 30 or 40 volunteers on their books who are willing and able to mend things and they have to tell people not all to come at 10.30 when they open, as they have had queues of people down the road, waiting to get in. People bring chairs, picture frames, coffee machines, Hoovers, jumpers, teddy bears… “if you can carry it, bring it” says Charlotte. Unlike charity shops, their insurance covers electrical goods.
“We have a brilliant group of volunteers. The men have bonded, which is lovely. There are some younger men who tend to do the computers. There is rather an embarrassing gender divide, in that the men tend to do the gluing and fixing and the women the sewing and darning, but we have one
volunteer who crosses that
gender divide.”
The four organisers met through Hounslow Council’s initiative to create ‘environmental champions’. “None of us can fix anything” she says, “but we met at a webinar, realised we were all from Chiswick and decided to meet up to see how we could support each other.”
Charlotte at that time was working with an eco start-up, Kate Hollis was a clean air campaigner, Jill Spencer was organising litter-picking, and MarieClaire Meisels trying to organise the planting of a ‘Great West hedge’ along the A4.
The four of them sought the advice of the ‘Six Dads’, who had set up a repair café in Twickenham a few months earlier and joined the Repair Café Foundation, a worldwide network of repair cafes started originally in the Netherlands some 20 years ago, with members in New York, cities in India, all over the world. They received a £1,000 ‘Thriving Communities’ grant from LB Hounslow and rented the space from the church.
Six months later they now have their own website, where they are promoting existing businesses in the area which already mend things. If you would like to get something mended, the dates in April and May are Saturday 22nd April and Saturday 20th May, 10.30am – 1pm. Donations encouraged (a suggested sum of £5 - £10 per item).
chiswickrepaircafe.com
THE Victorian SOCIETY
The Victorian Society is looking for volunteers. Like so many organisations they have found that people who used to be involved pre-Covid have found other pursuits to take their attention. They are also, truth be told, looking for younger blood.
What do they do? Here’s what they don’t do: “We don’t do dressing up” director Joe O’Donnell told me. We were talking about fundraising and I had asked the question which apparently many people ask them. They have dinners and talks but decided it did not really give the right image for a serious campaigning organisation to be swanning about in top hats, crinolines and capes, he told me (rather wistfully, I thought), even for fundraising events.
What they do is to try and stop developers tearing down Victorian and Edwardian architecture, or modifying it to the extent that they might as well have demolished it. At the moment they are trying to stop the developers who gave London The Shard, from enveloping Liverpool Street Station in a modern construction, adding 16 storeys to the existing five and changing it beyond recognition.
They have also been involved in the ‘Levelling Up’ legislation which, somewhat counterintuitively, involves planning law. Currently planning permission is not required to demolish a building, provided it is not listed or in a conservation area. The Society argues that needs to change.
“The Victorian Society regularly sees high quality historic buildings demolished through permitted development rights” Joe told me. “The Government’s perverse tax regime of 0% VAT on demolition and rebuild vs 20% VAT on repair and maintenance, further stacks the odds in favour of existing buildings being swept away.”
Construction, demolition, and excavation activities generate approximately 60% of the UK’s waste, according to the Green Building Council, and the material manufacturing and construction processes required for creating new buildings create new emissions.
“It is bizarre that in a climate emergency and a housing crisis you can just get rid of buildings.”
The Victorian Society was formed in 1958 with the late poet laureate Sir John Betjeman as one of its founders. Since there has been such a revival in interest in Victorian and Edwardian style since the 1960s, it is hard to understand now the strength of feeling at the time against all things Victorian, but academic Dr William Filmer-Sankey says:
“The founding of the Society took place against the background of an almost universal dislike of Victorian things, and the widespread destruction of Victorian buildings as the post war reconstruction continued apace.”
The Society lost two of its early battles - Euston Station and the Coal Exchange in the City of London. The tide began to turn in their favour when British Rail was prevented from knocking down St Pancras Station in 1966 and the building was listed as Grade 1. Albert Dock in Liverpool was saved from demolition in 1952 and now has the largest single collection of Grade I listed buildings anywhere in the country. The Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham was made a Conservation Area in 1981.
The Society set up regional groups in Liverpool and Manchester initially, but now have eight regional centres. Its importance was recognised by the government in 1969, when it was given a legal role in the listed building consent system. Following the passing of the Town and Country Planning Act, the Secretary of State directed that all applications involving demolition should be referred to the Society for comment.
Despite the official recognition by government, there is a sense of Groundhog Day about the work they do.
Developers are nothing if not persistent, especially when there is a lot of money at stake, and the Society’s case workers find themselves revisiting some of the same battles.
They work in partnership with Historic England, and also the Georgian Society and the 20th Century Society, with whom they often make common cause. Although by definition they are conservationist, they are also forward-looking Joe told me, and their work could not be more relevant.
“What we do is inherently what we need to do for a sustainable future” Joe told me.
Railway stations feature prominently in their work. Liverpool Street Station was under threat of demolition 45 years ago.
“We are back to where the Society was in 1974” said Joe.
“They are trying to cantilever a huge edifice over the top of it”
But he said, “there is an unprecedented coming together of heritage and conservationist groups to oppose it.”
Volunteers who work with the Victorian Society do everything from helping with research for the casework to helping on the bar at social events.
If you would like to get involved with their work, to help with funding, or just to find out more about what they do, you can contact them at their headquarters in Chiswick: 1 Priory Gardens, W4 1TT. Tel: 0208 747 5897.
victoriansociety.org.uk
Goldcrests(REGULUS REGULUS)
Les McCallumBirdwatcher Les McCallum says to look out for Goldcrests in April, as it is when the males make their nests, which are a thing of wonder.
Britain’s smallest bird is a warbler, the tiny Goldcrest, that can be found searching for insects in conifer trees such as Spruce, Fir and Pine – a confiding bird that will continue to search for food even if you are just a few yards away - but being so small they are hard to spot and weigh just the same as a 20p coin.
The nest is a work of art, constructed by the male in late April using spiders’ webs, moss and lichens, lined with feathers and hung from a branch in a pine tree. The shape looks like a small basket with handles.
Goldcrests are yellowish- grey/green with a brightly coloured crest, orange in the male and lemon yellow in the female, both with a black border. The male raises his bright crest when courting a female or when confronting a rival male.
The call “si si” is repeated twice but of such a high frequency people of my age (78) find it very hard to hear.
Being so small, harsh winters can reduce their numbers but within a few years they make a
remarkable recovery by raising two broods in the summer of about seven to ten chicks.
As youngsters in the 1950s we collected many wild birds’ eggs, but the nests of the Goldcrest were always too high and out on the furthest, flimsiest branches and impossible to reach. These days of course collecting birds’ eggs is rightly frowned on and has been illegal since 1954.
Another name for this bird is ‘Kinglet’, which may have originated from the fabled legend Who should be the King of birds? The award would go to the bird that flew the highest. The obvious winner would be the eagle as it flew higher and higher than any other bird, but just as the eagle reached the highest point a Goldcrest emerged from within the eagle’s plumage and flew just that bit higher, claiming the King’s crown.
I find the best location locally to see this resident, rather mouse-like bird with big black eyes, is among the fir trees next to the log cabin at the Wetland centre WWT Barnes.
Happy birdwatching!
OUR FAMILY HELPING YOUR FAMILY
For over 240 years, eight generations of the Lodge Family have been privileged to help local families in their time of need. We provide all funerals, whether modern, traditional, green or alternative, with care and compassion.
“As soon as I spoke to Jacqueline I knew she was the right person to support me through the funeral. I went with my gut and never regretted it. Nothing was too much trouble. I felt totally supported and guided through the process and amazingly felt like it was a friend holding my hand.” - Ms J
HEAD
Gardener’s
Andy Eddy, Head Gardener at Osterley Park & House, writesOf the many climbing plants that we grow in our gardens clematis has to be one of the most popular and most beautiful. These gloriously coloured members of the buttercup family – ranunculaceae –are stalwart performers in any garden whether large or small and can be grown in pots or containers very successfully also. Some need careful pruning whilst others can be left to romp away through shrubs and trees, climbing towards the light to flower with their heads in the sun.
The clematis we see here is a variety named Rebecca and we grow it here at Osterley, very successfully, in a large rectangular container which makes it easier to prune lightly at the end of the winter, removing about a foot all over and to tidy any wayward growth.
There are many kinds of clematis and many need pruning at different times of the year but all of these simple instructions can usually be found on the label and if not can easily be found online. The beauty of this variety Rebecca is that it not only flowers prolifically in the spring and summer but also repeat flowers right through the rest of the year adding an extra layer of display and as a backdrop to summer plantings. Many of the species types in this very varied family also produce the most striking seedheads – fluffy concoctions – that persist right through the seasons adding greatly to the winter display. As they have adapted, in the wild, to grow through trees it is advisable to mimic these growing conditions as closely as possible, thus they like their heads – flowers – in the sun but like some shade at the roots - a stone or piece of slate should suffice.”
Put a spring in your step
with a visit to Osterley Park
As nature wakes from its winter slumber, now is the perfect time to make memories with your family. This spring explore Osterley's colourful garden, where you can tip-toe through beautiful bulbs or enjoy a picnic beneath the cascading blossom trees.
nationaltrust.org.uk/osterley-park-and-house
COFFEE BREAK
Easter Quiz
The following are chocolate bar slogans or slogans associated with chocolate. Some are from the past, some the present – but can you identify which type of chocolate they are the slogans for?
1. The lighter way to enjoy chocolate.
2. Feel the bubbles.
3. The taste of paradise.
4. Get Some Nuts!
Across
1 Dramatist (10)
7 Be compatible and friendly (3,2,3)
8 Mature (4)
9 Ballet dancer’s skirt (4)
10 Rectified (7)
12 Eternally (11)
14 Horse-soldiers (7)
16 Fail to include (4)
19 Without feeling (4)
20 Evaluate (8)
21 One not given to travel (4-2-4)
Down
1 Sharp or tapered end (5)
2 Airman (7)
3 Timber (4)
4 Notorious (8)
5 Long-legged long-necked wading bird (5)
6 Rapid (6)
11 Shortest month (8)
12 Pestilence (6)
13 Lower back pain (7)
15 Head of a community of monks (5)
17 Savour (5)
18 Catch sight of (4)
5. Why have cotton when you can have silk?
6. It’s not for girls
7. Soft on the outside, crunchy on the inside
8. Take it easy.
9. It’s not Terry’s, It’s mine.
10. And all because the lady loves…
Monday Night
...is Curry Night!
Indian Buffet Menu served every Monday from 5pm - 8pm in the restaurant only.
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Wednesday Night
...is Pizza Night!
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Saturday Night
...is Burger Night!
All our freshly prepared burgers are served with fries and dips.
All Burgers £14.95
Happy Hour
at the Holiday Inn!
Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 4:30pm - 7:30pm
Double up on selected spirits | for just 50p more Beer Buckets | 5 for £16
Corona Pitcher (4 Pints) £15
Holiday Inn London - Brentford Lock
Commerce Road, Brentford, TW8 8GA
O208 232 2000 www.hibrentfordlock.co.uk
JazzAT GEORGE IV
Spring has sprung and with it have arrived the lighter evenings when you actually feel like going out for a bit of live entertainment instead of staying glued to the TV. Jazz at George IV in Chiswick has an exciting programme for Thursday nights in April and May.
Thursday 6th April –
Bourbon & Blues
This highly accessible mix of swing jazz, blues & soul features two of the most exciting performers of these genres in the celebrated Italian guitarist Giulio Romano (Trio Manouche) and top Canadian vocalist Dom Durner (Gypsy Dynamite).
Thursday 13th April –Shireen Francis Small Island trio
The multi-talented vocalist Shireen Francis and her ‘Small Island Project’ will be integrating traditional jazz harmonies along with the Afro-Caribbean rhythms of Reggae and Calypso.
Thursday 20th April –Oriana Curls Piaf
Remembered
An intimate musical evening featuring celebrated French jazz & Cabaret singer Oriana Curls celebrating many of the iconic French singer Edith Piaf’s timeless classics such as “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” & “La Vie En Rose” and talking about her life.
Thursday 27nd April –
The Delta trio
Featuring Delta Blues and Bluegrass numbers along with various jazz, soul and funk influences from guitarist Marcus Bonfanti, bassist Jihad Darwish and drummer Bubu Otis.
Thursday 4th MayHelen Theophanous
The noted jazz vocalist Helen Theophanous and her quintet who will be featuring the songs of Ella Fitzgerald and Burt Bacharach.
Thursday 18th MayJo Harrop trio
The illustrious jazz singer Jo Harrop and her trio will be paying homage to the great Billie Holliday.
Thursday 25th MayMomentum
Contemporary six-piece jazz fusion band Momentum bring their exciting brand of World Music, jazz and soul to the Boston Room at George IV.
THE CHISWICK Calendar
The Chiswick Calendar is a local website which tells you what’s going on in our area on a day to day basis. Beautiful photographs by local photographers - Page per day listings of what’s on, constantly updated - Interesting videos - Our own events. Subscribe to the weekly newsletter and get a free club card, giving you access to deals and discounts from quality local businesses.
Go to www.thechiswickcalendar.co.uk
The Delta trioHen CORNER
As I am writing, our 27 chickens are still on ‘Flockdown’, the legal requirement to keep them housed to protect them from Avian Flu and probably the reason that eggs have sometimes been a bit sparse in the supermarket.
Last year they were allowed their free-range freedoms at the beginning of May and they are certainly looking forward to feeling the sun on their backs again.
It is lovely to see them pottering around the garden, pecking at the grass and scratching in the borders for worms, and it is especially good fun when we have young course guests here to feed them corn and collect their eggs - Who can resist the opportunity to hug a hen?
We have many events for families over the next couple of months; between Easter, Half Term and
the multiple May Bank Holidays, families can squeeze spaghetti, bake buns, handle honeybees and cuddle chickens.
Our weekly micro bakery continues to bake bread, buns, bagels and babkas every Friday and to mark the Coronation, we will be offering our ever popular Apricot Couronne as a top treat for the weekend celebrations.
With the bee-keeping season fully underway, I shall be inspecting each colony on a weekly basis to check that all is well, they are healthy and thriving, and to ensure that each hive has enough space to store this year’s honey harvest.
No doubt I will also be called out to collect rogue swarms of honey bees throughout the local area, safely removing them from public spaces and rehoming them where I can care for them.
As we approach summer, we will be celebrating the launch of my book Living the Good Life in the City: A Journey to Self-Sufficiency and plan to be out and about at as many events as possible - if you see me near you, do say hello!
4th April
Easter at Hen Corner
8th April
Full Day Bee Keeping
12th April & 13th May
Urban Hens - Keeping Chickens in London
24th May
Bees for Children31st May
All courses, virtual & face to face, can be found at HenCorner.com