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PCA Newsletter 32 - October 2008 |
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100
Years Of Pitshanger
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Most people living here are aware that the area
was developed in its present form about a hundred years ago, and
the PCA Committee has felt for a while that we should recognise
the centenary, the question being precisely when. The houses
were built largely in the years preceding World War One and the
school was opened in 1911, but now member John Waters has given
us a peg to hang our celebratory hats on by discovering that
Pitshanger Lane itself was built in 1909. We’d like
as many local organisations as possible to join with us in
making next year a year of fun and celebration, so we’re holding
a meeting on Monday 27th October in St Barnabas Church Hall at 8
p.m. to which all local groups, clubs and institutions are
warmly invited. Hopefully we’ll have managed to contact you all
before the meeting but we know there’s a lot going on in
Pitshanger that goes unreported, so if you folks in the Soap
Whittlers’ Club feel upset about not getting a call then please
accept our apologies and come along to the meeting. After all,
we’re not a hundred years old every year, are we? |
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Café
Decisions
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The uncertainty hanging over our two newest cafés,
Angel and Cinnamon, was partially lifted over the summer as both
received decisions on their applications for change of use from
class A1 (‘retail’) to A3 (‘food and drink’). Both businesses
had opened under the misapprehension that change of use was not
needed, to the annoyance of at least one of their competitors. Angel’s
case was decided on appeal when the appeals inspector declined
to overturn the Council’s earlier refusal of change of use
because of its policy of not allowing more than three non-retail
businesses in a row. Negotiations between the café’s owners and
the Council continue to determine what exactly the café will be
allowed to do. Cinnamon is not affected by the policy as it has
a retail business on either side, but the final decision was
left to the Council’s planning committee. Support for Cinnamon
by local Councillors Popham and Stafford helped to generate a
unanimous vote of approval by the committee. |
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Alien
Craft
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Pitshanger Proms
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Did you spot them? Neither did we, but
according to reports the double-decker buses planned
to replace the existing E2s next spring were
supposed to have a ‘route trial’ in September.
Transport for London confirms that the new buses
will hold 87 passengers instead of the current 55
and will increase capacity on the route despite a
decrease in frequency from every 6 minutes at peak
times to between 7 and 8 minutes.
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Hugh Mather writes to thank us for our
“very generous” support for the inaugural Pitshanger
Proms. The series of 11 concerts was a “runaway
success” and over 400 people crammed into St
Barnabas Church for the ‘Last Night’. The PCA is
proud to have contributed to this excellent addition
to our social and cultural lives in Pitshanger, and
in turn would like to thank Hugh, an accomplished
local pianist, for his tireless work in promoting
music in our area both at St Barnabas and St Mary’s
Perivale. The programme of concerts and events can
be found at
www.st-marys-perivale.org.uk and on the church
noticeboards.
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New
Shops
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The PCA is pleased to hear from Pitshanger’s two
new shops that they’ve had a very warm welcome from customers
and have found Pitshanger people to be both friendly and excited
about their presence in the Lane. Near the Post Office Anwen and
Bill Roberts have established Roberts & Co whose cards, gifts
and furniture are proving so popular they’ve already sold out of
one range of bags. At the other end of the Lane,
brothers Andrew and James and partner Tiffany have
re-established the butcher’s as McCreadie’s. Andrew, twenty
years in the business, trained at the well-known Fulham butcher
Randalls before moving to Macken Brothers in Chiswick, so he
must be delighted to be moving up-market. All the meat is
free-range, and the partners also sell prepared meals such as
lamb in a Moroccan marinade and ‘generously proportioned’
homemade chicken kievs. It’s great to see two new businesses
thriving in the area and the PCA wishes them both the best of
luck. |
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Selby
Road Tops The League
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Those of us fortunate enough to live in Selby Road
have long known that we’re the most civilized part of the
Pitshanger area, and an analysis of PCA membership by membership
secretary Pam Walker confirms it. Not content with just being
decent – taking in the neighbours’ parcels, helping old ladies
cross the road whether they want to or not – a whopping 48% of
Selby Road households are current members of the PCA.
The analysis makes interesting reading: 21% of all 3136
households in the PCA’s ‘area of benefit’ are members, a figure
which varies from an average of 30% in Pitshanger Lane and
points north to 17% in the Woodfield area. As might be expected
houses provide more members (27%) than flats (8%), probably
reflecting the more transitory nature of flat dwellers in the
area. Joining Selby Road in the over 40s are Lindfield Road
(46%), Princes Gardens (45%) and Mount Pleasant Road (41%),
while standing in the corner with the dunce’s hats are Cheriton
Close and Woodfield Crescent with a mere 4% apiece. |
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Ealing
CommunitySafe
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The emergency services and the Council have teamed
up to provide a new text and email service that will alert you
to major emergencies and crimes, and provide health, crime, and
fire prevention advice. You can receive alerts via SMS (charged
at 12p or provider rate) or by email: go to
www.communitysafe.gov.uk to sign up. |
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Superloo
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Ealing
Golf Club
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A year ago the Newsletter mentioned
the possibility of getting the toilets in Pitshanger
Park re-opened during daylight hours. PCA members
who responded to the item were unanimously in
favour.
Ealing Council agreed to go ahead but
were then thwarted by the cost of bringing the
toilets up to modern standards, particularly
regarding disabled access. Now we’ve been offered a
modern ‘superloo’, to be installed near the existing
toilet block some time around January 2009.
Superloos are cheaper to run than traditional toilet
blocks and provide less scope for the kind of
‘misbehaviour’ that led to the closure of the old
toilets in the first place.
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Our friends at the club behind the
park write to tell us about the “Middlesex County
Golf Partnership”, set up to promote the game
particularly to women and young people. Funded by
Sport England the partnership aims to make it easier
to learn golf and join a club. Ealing Golf Club has
several schemes available: contact the General
Manager, Guy Stacey, to find out more. Call 8997
0937 or email
info@ealinggolfclub.co.uk.
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Scouts
Say Thank You
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Richard Brittlebank, leader of the newly re-formed
16th Ealing (St Barnabas) Scout Troop, writes to say thanks for
the PCA’s contribution to the troop’s start up costs. Although
they only got going in April they’re now approaching twenty
members and are doing all the usual scout things – camping,
parades, badges and sports. Richard has offered the troop’s
services for PCA events: helping at Light Up The Lane comes
easily to mind, but perhaps members can suggest other ways in
which the scouts could contribute to our community? |
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School
Enlargement
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North Ealing Primary School is considering a
proposal to expand its number of places by 50%. This will be
achieved by increasing the current two form entry to three
starting in 2010, creating 630 places by 2017 compared to the
current 420. The proposal is driven by rising birth rates in the
borough. Inevitably this will involve construction work and the
Council has earmarked £4.7m for a two-storey building to replace
the existing reception block and nursery. The plans include a
new school hall which would be available for hire in the
evenings and at weekends. The proposal is likely to
prove controversial and probably will not receive a warm welcome
from some of the school’s neighbours, particularly as many of
the new places will go to children outside the immediate area,
thus creating the potential for increased traffic congestion.
A consultation document and questionnaire have been published.
You can get a paper copy from the school or download it from the
school web site. There is also a discussion thread on
Pitshanger Voice. The closing date for the
consultation is 17 Oct 08. |
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Ward
Forum
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No, this isn’t an item about hospitals, it’s a new
exercise in local democracy. Until a few months ago, local
decision making within Ealing was devolved (up to a point) to
‘Area Committees’ each covering a handful of Council Wards.
Meetings were held at Ealing Town Hall and public attendance was
usually sparse. Now the Council has swept the Area
Committees aside and replaced them with Ward Forums – one for
each Council Ward. The PCA has an interest in two of these,
Cleveland and Hanger Hill. The first meeting of the
Cleveland Ward Forum took place on 18th September and was
attended by about 40 people (out of 6,000 households), while
Hanger Hill’s forum will spring into life on 13th October
(details are on the Council web site
www.ealing.gov.uk). An observer at the
Cleveland meeting found the coverage of local issues interesting
but was left wondering about the difference between a Ward Forum
and an old fashioned Councillors’ surgery. One difference is
that the Ward Forum has £40k to spend locally, at the discretion
of the Councillors. The PCA Committee will keep tabs on these
forums as they bed in and become properly established. |
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Pam
Stands Down
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Popstar
Goes Adult
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Membership secretary Pam Walker is not
standing for re-election at the forthcoming AGM
(date to be confirmed but probably later next
month). She’s done the job for a couple of years,
streamlining the annual mail-out to over 3000
households, and her market research experience
before she retired was put to good use in the design
of the ‘Streets For People’ questionnaire last year.
Your Committee feels sure that you would like to
join us in thanking Pam for all she’s done for the
PCA, and to wish her well in the future.
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Following the success of the
children's singing competition Pitshanger Popstar at
Party In The Park, the organisers have laid on an
adult version in the form of a karaoke night.
Popstar Goes Adult will take place on
Friday 10th October at the Brentham Cub, Meadvale
Road. Tickets are £10 per person including a
finger buffet. For more details please contact
popstar@pitshanger.org.uk.
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