Bernard Adams | Winter Recital Series
Fri 7 Nov 2025, 7:00PM
50+ tickets available
Thomas Coxhead | Winter Recital Series
Fri 14 Nov 2025,
7:00PM – 9:00PM
50+ tickets available
Basil Alter | Winter Recital Series
Fri 21 Nov 2025,
7:00PM – 9:30PM
50+ tickets available
The Brubeck Experience | Winter Recital Series
Fri 28 Nov 2025, 7:00PM
50+ tickets available
The Pensford Field Environmental Trust Ltd has with regret decided to wind up following the premature termination of its lease of property in Kew by the Council on 29 September 2025.
Their announcement states:
“We have already distributed our physical assets to various environmental and local charities and the cash we have left over (once we have paid our debts), will be allocated between four charities:
The last two organisations have strong links with schools in Kew which we hope they will develop.
As many of you know, we investigated seeking a judicial review of the Council’s decisions and had reasonable prospects of success. After weeks of refusing to disclose documents to help us assess our chances of success, the Council finally produced them, but we are not permitted to share them with you. The Council has unlimited resources, and we would have needed tens of thousands to keep going so, we reluctantly decided to call it a day.
The deadline for requesting a judicial review has now passed and we handed back the keys to the studio on Monday 29 September – with heavy hearts but heads held high as the field looks wonderful and has won awards this year from London in Bloom and Green Flag.
We will never know why the Council did not consult properly before doing any of this. We will never know why the Leader of the Council did not meet us before triggering the termination of our lease to see if there was scope for compromise.. We will never know why the Council did not check statements provided by Dose of Nature which we regard as misleading.
It is true to say we would not have compromised over the construction of shelters in the field (although there would have been scope on other issues). Several requests were made to us by Dose of Nature for very large shelters. In the future, planning permission will be needed but we understand there is some support for shelters from senior officials in the Council so this remains a risk.
What we do know is that in order to bulldoze this through, the Council committed a truckload of procedural irregularities, one of which is described in the video from independent film maker, Martin Baker – Battle for Pensford Field (Part 7).
[and see previous coverage here on 8 August 2025 https://childlawobserver10.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=3329&action=edit ]
For a third of a century, the community has kept this field predominantly for wildlife and we are handing over the baton to all of you to make sure that this remains the case for the next third of a century. Please keep using the field as it should remain open to the public and, if anything is wrong, then report it to the Council. This field belongs to the local community that has nurtured it for 33 years and whilst Councillors come and go, Pensford Field must remain a haven for wildlife.”
What remains quite extraordinary is the Council’s refusal to agree disclosure of documents seen by the Trust in the course of its consideration of a judicial review. What possible reason can there be for refusing to disclose documents which should be in the public domain? Embarrassment cannot be sufficient.
Saturday 4th October 2025 6pm (Doors open 530pm)
NEW PROGRAM
Jean-Marie Leclair: Violin Sonata in D major, Op. 9, No. 3
I. Un poco andante
II. Allegro – Adagio
III. Sarabande. Largo
IV. Tambourin. Presto
Johannes Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 100
I. Allegro amabile
II. Andante tranquillo – Vivace – Andante – Vivace di più – Andante – Vivace
III. Allegretto grazioso (quasi andante)
Johannes Brahms: Scherzo in C minor for Violin & Piano, from the “F.A.E.” Sonata
Claude Debussy: Prelude de l’ à l’apres-midi d’un Faune
Prelude La fille aux Cheveux de Lin
Maurice Ravel: Tzigane, M.67
More information and tickets for £10 (students and children free) from – ruthmannuk@yahoo.co.uk
We have the Richmond Park Police being disbanded in November. It has now been confirmed that the South Richmond and Ham, Petersham and Richmond Riverside Safer Neighbourhood Teams will relocate from their bases at Twickenham Police Station and will now be based at Holly Lodge in the Park. The East Sheen SNT will remain at their base at the Sheen Lane Health Centre.
That begs the question as quite how the Park and local areas will be policed.
The Knight Trio concert next Saturday, 4th October, 6.00pm to 7.00pm at All Saints. Owing to scheduling difficulties The Knight Trio concert will now be a duo performance by Vedran Janjanin piano and Cristian de Sá violin – a Classic FM Young Classical Star playing in aid of Medical Life Lines Ukraine / ASFT. More information and tickets for £10 (students and children free) from – ruthmannuk@yahoo.co.uk
Celebrating 50 years of the Mortlake with East Sheen team ministry.
All are invited to a parish service of thanksgiving marking 50 years of the Mortlake with East Sheen team ministry 1975-2025. Next Sunday, 5th October at 3:30pm at Christ Church. The service includes prayers and memories; as well as music written in the parish over the last half century: directed by James Cryer, conducted by Richard Lyne and led by the joint choirs. The Bishop of Southwark is the guest preacher and the service will be followed by a celebratory tea.
Saturday, 4th October, 6.00pm to 7.00pm at All Saints.
Pianist Vedran Janjanin returns with co-founders of The Knight Trio playing to support Medical Life Lines Ukraine / ASFT.
More information and tickets for £10 (students and children free) from – ruthmannuk@yahoo.co.uk
The definitive list in 2025: South of the Railway Line
Still serving
The Plough
The Hare and Hounds
The Victoria
The Stag’s Head.
The Pig and Whistle (formerly the Bull)
No comment on the beer or the food but it is disappointing that none of the above have anything about their interesting history on display in the pub.
Converted
The Derby Arms – converted into flats in 1989.
The Queen’s Arms – Princes Road converted into flats in 1997.
The Market Gardener, Priest’s Bridge (formerly the kink in the Upper Richmond Road) – demolished in 2000, after some (alleged) disreputable behaviour and now residences.
The Spur – demolished 1995 and now two houses.
The Wheatsheaf – demolished in 1963, it was at the corner of Sheen Lane and St. Leonard’s Road, historically referred to as in Mortlake, though if you accept the current view clearly in East Sheen.
The Five Alls Upper Richmond Road, opposite Elm Road, demolished 1928, now shops and flats.
We are pleased to announce violinist Basil Alter will be joined by pianist Julian Chan in concert to present a programme of favourite masterworks for the violin, including pieces by Schumann, Saint-Saëns, Stravinsky and Kreisler. The duo are recent graduates from the Royal Academy of Music and have both gone on to successful careers in London and abroad, about which you will read more in due course.
Please join us at Christ Church (SW14 7AW) on 21st November (doors open 630pm for 7 pm) for what will surely be an incredible evening.
Tickets available from https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/christchurch-east-sheen/basil-alter-winter-recital-series/2025-11-21/19:00/t-rpemejg
Basil Alter
Julian Chan
Cyclists in the City of London who run red lights face tougher penalties under new proposals.The City of London Police is exploring whether it can use Community Protection Warnings and Notices to tackle law-breaking cycling. The warnings and notices, civil injunctions which replaced Asbos, could let police issue bigger fines than the £50 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) currently allowed for cycling offences.
It comes after a study found that more than half of London cyclists treated red lights as optional, regularly riding through stop signals despite it being against the law. A 75 per cent jump in the number of people taking to rental e-bikes from the likes of Lime and Forest during a Tube strike this month also prompted claims that London’s streets had become “like Hanoi”.
The latest crackdown by the force is part of new measures to tackle what officials say are “dangerous, antisocial and nuisance cycling behaviours”, the BBC reported.
A paper presented to the City of London Corporation’s Streets and Walkways sub-committee this week said that complaints from the public were mostly about cyclists ingnoring red lights at busy junctions, e-bikes being ridden dangerously, and cycling on pavements and in pedestrianised areas.
‘Cyclists must always stop at red lights’ says TfLwith the launch of a poster campaign encouraging cycling to start obeying the law by stopping at red lights. Londoners will also be shown social media videos as part of the campaign, which follows TfL research that found there was “low awareness and understanding of the rules” on cycling. Out of 1,000 Londoners surveyed, just 16 per cent correctly identified five Highway Code rules on cycling,
As cyclists wend their perceived right of way along the Upper Richmond Road, the Council will no doubt say it is up to the police, and the police will say they do not have the staff to implement existing regulations, especially as they become responsible for Richmond Park.
But what will Richmond Council say in their negotiations with Lime? How about they calibrate their cycles to register the offence if they go though a red light?
 | anna brown on Christmas Lights |
 | Richard AH White on Christmas Lights |
| Richard AH White on Christmas Lights |
| anna brown on Christmas Lights |
 | David Seddon on Christmas Lights |
