To celebrate Guy Fawkes Night the meeting at the Barnes Home Guard Club on Wednesday evening will explore the lives and dubious deeds of local characters down the centuries.
630pm for 7pm at 76A Richmond Park Road, London SW14 8LA
Christ Church, on Friday, 7 November 2025 at 7.00pm.
This an evening of remembrance, in poetry, prose and music. There will be accounts from people who were living here at the time. Some will be read by the individuals themselves and others read on their behalf by members of the local congregations. There will also be relevant passages giving the wider picture, more than 60 photographs, and the opportunity for a brief singalong.
Tickets for sale on the door (only) : adults £10.00, under 16s £5.00.
Supporting the mental health veterans’ charity “Combat Stress“.
A call for local property deeds was put out at a recent talk at the Home Guard. Sue at 7 RPR provided hers, which date back to an Indenture or Conveyance dated 28 April 1910, within which there is a plan of the adjacent properties of 5 & 7 RPR.
Within the file there was the plan above, which has attracted considerable interest. It was posted with the intention that readers might want to study it and draw their own conclusions. It might now help to provide some interpretation.
The previous post had some overlap. The version above is clearer. (Thanks to Paul Wiggins.) Note the North South direction. And note also the scale 2 Chains to an inch. A Chain is 66 feet and the sporting among you might note the connection to a cricket pitch.
The plan found within the file for 7 RPR is not dated but looking at the plan in detail, it must have been prepared in the 19th century. A wall surrounds what was Sheen House and its grounds, built in 1786 and demolished in 1907.
On the east side of Sheen Lane (bottom of the plan) there are traces of the Sheen House boundary wall from the junction opposite York Avenue round the bend to opposite Wayside and at the end of the Larches.
The plan shows the original buildings of Sheen House marked house and offices in pink. The dark grey area is marked Conservatory but that does not show on the 19th century photos of the property. The Land and Pleasure Gardens was, one might assume, the area where there was a cycle track. The light grey area could be the Coach House which is still there but now to the north of Shrewsbury Avenue.
Looking to the Upper Richmond Road, divided by the area of Muirdown Avenue, we have the Parsonage, now the site of Parkway House and Artisan. But no records of that Parsonage? And the Kitchen Gardens – the area was of course noted for its orchards. Who still has an apple tree in their garden?
The unbroken line under the words William Gilpin Esq (top of the plan) must be the wall which stretches the whole length of the east side of Richmond Park Road, separates it from Palewell Park and still exists.
The Ice Well marked at the top right hand is an interesting feature. Was it there to feed an ice rink or to keep food for the house cold? Where was it? Did it later feed the allotment in the Home Guard? Does someone have signs of it in their garden? Some of you may know the one in Kew Gardens.
Does anyone have any clues as to what the red mark between William and Gilpin might denote?
See also https://childlawobserver10.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=954&action=edit for more on Sheen House.
Stiff Joints is well known around the music venues of south west London – and beyond.
As always with groups of this type there have been changes over the years and not everyone is available for every gig. The main line-up these days is Brian Coope, Lead Vocalist and Rhythm Guitar, Jon Riley on Lead Guitar and Mandolin, Mark Stevens on Keyboard, Accordion and Vocals, Alan Brock on Bass Guitar and Dan Allsopp or Dave Maud on Drums.
They perform regularly at local venues, such as the Stag’s Head on Priest’s Bridge, the Barnes Home Guard Club in East Sheen and the Jolly Gardeners in Mortlake (opposite the Tapestry), as well as other West London venues in Richmond, Twickenham, Barnes (notably the Bull’s Head), Brentford, Isleworth, Chiswick, Ealing and Kew.
But where did it all start? Brian had been playing with Brentford Dick, aka Richard Brook, sadly now deceased, in earlier bands and continued playing as a duo (including Sunday nights in the Hare and Hounds). They needed to form a larger band for a couple of birthday gigs. Dick’s flatmate Jon Riley also played in a band, so they borrowed him plus his bass guitarist and drummer. So a new band was formed fronted by Brian, Dick and Jon (playing keyboard as well as guitar), plus Mike Allin on bass and Adam Roman on drums.
But “Brian and Dick’s Band” could only be a temporary title and the search was on for a catchier name.
This was solved one Sunday lunchtime at the Hare and Hounds in about 1991. A third party who shall remain nameless had a habit of asking people what they were having for Sunday Lunch and one answer led to the anticipation of a healthy stiff piece of beef and some possible diversity in the nature of the joint. Play with words led to the adoption of the name which has now lasted 35 years.
Stiff Joints has a basic playlist of about twenty numbers performed most frequently, with another ten regular songs. They are always up for requests, especially on early Beatles and Stones. They have also produced their own material over the years. See especially Down Decibel Drive, something of a protest song noted at https://childlawobserver10.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=3498&action=edit
Personal favourites are Runaway by Del Shannon (though Brian admits to difficulty in hitting the high notes now), and Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire and Folsom Prison Blues, which (wisely) they play in a lower key.
Their next gig is this Friday (7.00pm – 10.00pm) at the Halloween Party at the Coach and Horses on Kew Green TW9 3BH.
Do you know someone who loves – or hates – Lime bikes?
Here’s the perfect Christmas present for anyone with strong views on Lime bikes – for or against.
It’s the 2026 The Lime Bikes of East Sheen calendar. Produced with a careful balance of pictures of the invading species in both celebratory and shameful poses, the calendar is sure to provoke laughs and controversy over the Christmas dinner.
Plus, can you spot exactly where in East Sheen, each picture was taken? Did you leave that bike where it shouldn’t have been?
The calendar costs £10 and can be ordered direct from its photographer, Charles Miller. Please contact him for details: charlesblairmiller@yahoo.co.uk.
Charles will also be taking orders in person at Richard White’s talk at the Home Guard Club at 7.00pm on November 5th.
Don’t miss out on this unique local artisan product!
Christchurch Road, East Sheen will be closed outside 75 to side of 22 West Temple Sheen for highway improvement works commencing on 30/10/2025 to 02/11/2025. Contact: FM Conways 01732 600 771.
Following a reading of Roger Mason’s report to the Kew Society (see https://childlawobserver10.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=3829&action=edit) a short online debate ensued involving Alastair Grant, well known on here for his ambulance drives to Ukraine, Nick Pack, a retired airline pilot and the author (RW).
NP and AG: We do not suffer unduly from early morning noise but both hate noise when we are sitting outside in the afternoon or evening.
RW: This trail started when the residents of Richmond Park Road suffered several days of low-flying, very noisy planes from 530am to 930am. There appears to be no control or supervision of this and data is published so far after the event, that it is lost in history. [And this morning the planes started at 4.36am, followed by 4.46, 4.53, 4.58, 5.02 and 5.05, all outside the permitted hours, save in exceptional circumstances. Have they forgotten the clocks have gone back? And they have been going ever since.]
NP: I have long had an axe to grind about pilots, generally not BA, putting the gear down far too early, which creates unnecessary drag on the aircraft, increased power settings, noise and fuel consumption.
AG: Gatwick is better for a second runway on grounds of cost, speed and safety from terrorists. I don’t think we have a chance of stopping pre 0700 flights but routing over Richmond Park, proper runway alteration as well as choosing the Windsor approach in mild wind speeds, will all reduce SW14 bother.
NP: Whatever is decided for Heathrow, a third runway is unlikely to be completed before a lot of us are pushing up the daisies! At the moment there are two plans, one involving the re-routing of the M25 under a new runway to the NW and the other, further east, will be shorter, demolish the existing offshoot from the M4 to Heathrow and quite a few houses not previously threatened. Both choices, particularly the first one, will involve massive disruption in an area which is prone to heavy congestion already.
NP: It is a view that East Sheen is not going to be worse off once the new runway is operational as the approach path is further to the north than the existing northerly runway.
NP: The second runway at Gatwick is a no-brainer and can be completed in a significantly shorter time. But, whilst the airlines will welcome that, they would infinitely prefer Heathrow with its more extensive hub and spoke and interline facilities, whereas Gatwick is orientated to long and short haul holiday spots.
NP: Talking of noise, I’m always perplexed by the runway alternation programme to reduce permanent misery for those under the flightpath, the latter being rather compromised by allowing both runways use in the ‘rush hour’ between 06-0700, thereby ensuring the whole diaspora to the east is awake!
NP: It is possible to use runways with a tailwind of up to 10kts but it does compromise safety in that it reduces the amount of paveway for an emergency stop, engine wear is increased because higher power settings may well have to be used for take-off and it can prevent heavy long haul flights from taking off at all as they can’t comply with the fuel and performance requirements.
NP: As regards the STARS [standard arrival routes], the use of GPS [PBN] and curved approach routes, I don’t think that’s likely to make matters any worse in East Sheen, possibly better in fact. A lot of people have got rather hot under the collar about arrival flights being routed over Richmond Park but I see that as being preferable to flights over built-up areas where it can be avoided.
NP: One of the major safety requirements demanded of pilots is mandatory stability i.e. the correct speed, flap setting, rate of descent and runway alignment by 1500’ [or possibly 1000’ in good weather]. All routing inbound, curved or otherwise, has to recognise that.
Conclusions
Gatwick is better for a second runway on grounds of cost, speed and safety from terrorists.
There is no chance of stopping pre 0700 flights at Heathrow because of inevitable international flight times.
Routing over Richmond Park, with proper runway altenration as well as choosing the Windsor approach in mild wind speeds, would all reduce SW14 bother.
Perhaps the best battleground for now is to seek to tackle the noise (and pollution) which Heathrow and the Government continue to ignore. There are more immediate remedies that could be considered other than the long term plans for aircraft design.
 | 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 |
