😒😢😩 Another High Street Charity shop closing today
ESPS celebrated its annual Summer Fair today
Candy Floss and Music followed by James overseeing the Gladiators with an audience as intent as if they were at Wembley or Sheffield watching the Contenders.
A good crowd braved a hot sunny afternno and made their way past the iconic Phoenix at the entrance to the School.
And former pupils Lewis and Jordan Hambridge offered the opportunity to get up close and personal in a wild encounter with their amazing animals.
The Transport and Air Quality Committee of Richmond Council met with representatives of the hire bike operators Lime and Forest in an open meeting on 24 June 2025. See https://richmond.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/993257 to view the meeting.
EastSheenMatters has published many posts about cycling in the borough over the last nine months, including several on Lime Bikes. You can access these by going into the blog site and searching for Lime Bikes.
Executive summary:
– Council are working on a paper that will be discussed at a comittee meeting later this year (September?) regarding the strategy for hire bikes.
– Recent consultation resulted in 1200 responses, about a third of these were negative; with main complaints being about inconsiderate riding and parking.
– The council officer noted the overarching objectives to find more sustainable transport options to replace car journeys and how hire bikes had been useful for micro mobility, especially parts of the borough further from train stations and bus routes.
– Lime has been operating in the borough for a number of years, has seen strong growth in usage, currently has typically towards 1000 bikes across the borough as per its agreement with the council. Lime say demand is not always met and noted Hounslow has around 2300 bikes.
– Richmond operates a hybrid model with some dedicated bays in town centres and flexible parking elsewhere; Lime likes this model.
– The pros/cons of a bay-only parking model was discussed. It was noted that this would require a 25 bays per square km, or roughly one every 250m; Lime’s own data indicates that people want to have a bike within two minutes’ walk. Overall this would be more than 500 bays across the borough, using space that is currently on-street parking – politically difficult. From a night safety perspective and for convenience for users, parking at your destination as per the current flexible model was noted as a benefit.
– It was noted that users of Lime bikes are more diverse that typical cyclists, with more women, ethnic minorities and wider age groups using the bikes.
Continue readingEast Sheen resident Dominae Lorna Hawthorne has been awarded the Meritorious Order of Malta by the sacred house of the hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem and the military order of the Holy Sepulchre of our Lord at a ceremony at Brompton Oratory this week. The award recognises the twenty years Lorna has spent working to support homeless people in London.
The citation – the original is in Latin below – states (a rough translation):
Your merits and inclination of spirit towards our Order, as well as the devotion with which you are highly commended among us, encourage us to embrace your most distinguished person with a signal of benevolence. Therefore, gladly consenting to the petitions presented to us, we grant you to wear and carry the Silver Medal struck in honor of the Meritorious Order of Malta.
We grant you the full licence and opportunity to bear and refer, and we declare it openly. We urge all and each of the Brothers of our said House, holding any authority, dignity, or office, present and future, by virtue of holy obedience, not to make any concessions contrary to our present declaration of concession and participation, but rather to strive to observe them inviolably.
In witness whereof, our Master’s Seal is impressed here in black wax.
Given at Rome 7 February 2025
St Mary the Virgin Churchyard Garden Party Mortlake High Street
Please join us on Sunday 29th June 3-5pm
Delicious homemade cakes, music from our talented band and chorus and, of course, sunshine. What better way of spending an enjoyable Sunday afternoon. All welcome.
There was a record turnout at the meeting of the Friends of Palewell Common at All Saints Church Hall on Tuesday 24 June 202. Under discussion was the potential threat from a company called Go Ape to build a zipwire adventure playground in the Common’s woods.
Friends chair Andy Sutch predicted that if the proposal looked like going ahead, there would be “fighting on the beaches” to stop it. The Friends’ two main objections would be around the extra traffic the scheme would create and, principally, against the idea of building on Common land.
Councillor Julia Cambridge addressed the meeting, assuring worried residents that she had “grave concerns” at the prospect of the scheme. The proposal had first appeared nine months ago and not much had happened since, but Councillor Cambridge said she had been given an update on the day of the meeting. She was told there wasn’t anything new to report from the Council. She also contacted Go Ape itself, who said they’d get back to her.
Her feeling was that it is “likely” that Go Ape are having “second thoughts”, even though the meeting heard that the company had looked at three potential sites locally and had decided that Palewell Common was the most promising. But Councillor Cambridge warned that “this is a big company” and that it would be best to “head it off” rather than let its proposal get in front of the Council’s Planning Committee.
Continue readingBarnes Hospital is set to become a hub for high-quality mental health and education services, thanks to a major £30 million investment, with construction officially launched today at a groundbreaking ceremony attended by patients, carers, NHS staff, and local councillors.
Richmond Council has welcomed the milestone, which marks the start of a significant redevelopment led by South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, in partnership with LocatED, the Department for Education’s property delivery body.
Speaking at the event, Councillor Piers Allen, Chair of Richmond’s Adult Social Services, Health and Housing Committee, said the development will make a real and lasting difference to the borough.
This investment will improve facilities and provide better care and support for some of the most vulnerable people in our community. Having modern, fit-for-purpose spaces makes a real difference to the quality of care that can be delivered.
Councillor Julia Cambridge, Chair of Richmond’s Education and Children’s Services, added:
The new school is an important development that will offer tailored educational support for children with social and emotional needs. It will provide a nurturing environment where these children can grow, learn, and achieve their full potential. The project will help meet growing demand for local mental health care and special educational needs provision across the borough.
The redevelopment will bring outpatient mental health services to Barnes from 2027 and deliver a new specialist school, operated by The Beckmead Trust, offering 90 places for children with social, emotional, and mental health needs.
The Barnes redevelopment sits alongside other major projects in the borough’s mental health estate, including the Richmond Royal Wellbeing Centre, opening this summer on the site of the former Richmond Royal Hospital, and a planned £110 million redevelopment of Tolworth Hospital by 2028.
Friends of Palewell Common AGM takes place at All Saints Church Hall at 7pm this evening. Non-member are welcome.
FoPC will note their objection to the proposal to construct a Go Ape leisure site in Palewell Common woods on the grounds of traffic and the construction of any buildings on Common land.
 | butteryluckye3eac174… on Sheen Rocks! |
 | Richard AH White on Roadworks in Sheen Lane |
 | stephanie turner on Roadworks in Sheen Lane |
| Richard AH White on Roadworks in Sheen Lane |
 | Dhun kenny on Roadworks in Sheen Lane |
