Meeting of the EAST SHEEN WARD POLICE PANEL to be held at East Sheen Baptist Church, Temple Sheen on Wednesday 2 September at 7.00 p.m.
Agenda
Annual Open House Day at the Air Raid Shelter, St Leonards Court via St. Leonards Road and Palmers Road London SW14 7NG
The annual opening of the Air Raid Shelter to the public will take place on Sunday 13 Septmeber 2026 from 1pm to 5pm. Free entry. It is organised by the Mortlake with East Sheen Society (MESS).
Do come if you have not seen this before – and bring your friends.
The shelter is to the right of the photo beneath the grass area. The entrance is in the tower at the top right hand corner.
The shelter is down thirteen steps, so take care and hold on to the rail. The guide will have a large torch!
Since 2015 MESS has opened the shelter on Open House Day every September. The shelter cannot receive more than 15 visitors at a time and each visit takes 10 minutes, so we may have a queue of visitors awaiting their turn. While they wait, they are entertained with discussion of the site and maps of bombsites in the area.
In the last few years MESS has had tourists coming from the USA and various countries in Europe.
MESS also opens the shelter to local schools by appointment. See mess.org.uk
Saturday 12 SEP · 14:00
Rosslyn Park, Upper Richmond Road, London SW15 5JH
Home matches will take place at Rosslyn Park
Middlesex County Football League Division One West
Free Admission
For the club website including the 130 year old history see Https://eastsheenfc.com
Important Update: MCA Reopening
Our refurbishment works at Mortlake Hall are taking a little longer than expected. While we’re disappointed not to welcome you back quite as soon as planned, our priority is making sure the building is fully ready, clean, safe and comfortable for everyone before activities resume.
Our revised reopening dates are:
Thank you for your patience and understanding while these important improvements are completed. Read below for more details on our activities.
What We’ve Been Up To
Although we’ve been away from Mortlake Hall, MCA hasn’t been quiet!
Our refurbishment project has continued throughout the summer, while Helen and the gardening group have been hard at work at Alder Road, harvesting potatoes, garlic, tomatoes, courgettes and raspberries. Meanwhile, Alan Hertz has continued sharing his popular history lectures from St Mary the Virgin.
We also enjoyed another fantastic seaside trip to Worthing. Despite one of the hottest days of the year, we had a wonderful time. Many thanks to the Barnes Fund for helping make this much-loved outing possible, and our volunteers Toby, Gill and Catherine.
September Activities
We’re putting the finishing touches to our September programme and will send full dates and details next week.
You can look forward to the return of:
Five minutes in Kozy on the Upper Richmond Road
One cargo bike cycled past the window heading east doing about 20 mph on the pavement.
On the other side of the road two minutes later a father and daughter cycled west past a pedestrian. She shouts ‘it’s illegal’. Father calls back, unintelligble but probably not complimentary, as they cycle on.
Perhaps one solution to this now commonplace illegality is a shouting match!
This is a response to the post below on 17 August from Graham Kench, a Mortlake resident. Its length warrants a separate post rather than simply a Comment.
https://childlawobserver10.com/2026/08/17/speed-limits-for-cyclists-is-it-possible/
“I have been banging on about this for years to no avail, initially by confronting pedal cyclists and telling them it is illegal to ride on the pavement. The responses included ” no it’s not ” , ” **** off ” and threats of physical violence. Not one cyclist has ever dismounted. I have also spoken to local councillors and my MP, via her agent and I have raised the matter at the local Police Liaison Group
Councillor Roberts, in addition to being Leader of Richmond Council, is a Member of the London Assembly and is the Liberal Democrats spokesperson on Crime and Policing. He describes himself as “husband, father, cyclist “. It is good that someone of his standing has been prepared to take up this important matter at a high level. He did not mention that there is a Fixed Penalty, currently £50 , for cycling on the pavement, and more severe penalties for causing injury, including life imprisonment for causing death to a pedestrian.
The Highway Code (Rule 64) states (cyclists) “YOU MUST NOT CYCLE ON THE PAVEMENT “
In recent years there has been a large increase in cycling for all sorts of reasons, probably commencing with the Olympic Games in 2012. The benefits are clear: health and fitness, air quality, environment, cost, convenience. The biggest increase is in electric hire bicycles. Richmond ‘s new contract with Forest has increased the cap from 250 machines to 750 with an option to increase to 1,000.
Either cyclists genuinely believe that they have the right to ride on pavements and are unaware that they are committing an offence; or they just don’t care and know that they will never be apprehended.
So, what can be done? First the relative rights of pedestrians and cyclists should be emphasised. Pavements (footways) are for pedestrians. Highways (roads) are for carriages (including cycles). The law should be enforced, mainly by issue of Fixed Penalties.
The hire companies should be required to inform their customers that they must comply with the law and the Highway Code or they will be liable to prosecution. But Fixed Penalties can only be issued by police officers, and one is more likely to see a Martian than a police officer on the streets these days, so there needs to be a greater/regular/occasional police presence, particularly at vulnerable areas e.g. Chalker’s Corner, Lower Richmond Road, Upper Richmond Road.
If cyclists claim they have to use the pavement because the road is too dangerous, there is a simple solution — dismount from the bike and push it. “
And from another local resident: Como mayor hit by electric bike and issues blanket ban in Italian city https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn8n077vxd7o
The Mayor of Richmond does not have quite so much power!
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