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PCA Newsletter 33 - November 2008 |
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Cautious
Optimism For PCA’s Youth Initiative
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After four years of frustration because of a lack
of suitable premises, the PCA’s ‘Fast Forward’ initiative to
establish a youth centre in the area may be nearer fruition.
Dean Horridge, the PCA committee member whose refusal to give up
in the face of closed doors drew a round of applause at the last
committee meeting, has approached the Brentham Club with a
proposal that it hosts the centre, initially for one evening per
week. Readers may remember the club was our first choice when
the scheme was originally mooted but was preoccupied with
re-development at the time and that, together with resistance
from some members, led to the proposal being shelved.
Your committee feels that things have moved on, and that the
club’s imperatives have changed. The grants and other income
generated by the initiative, which would revolve around a weekly
club night closely supervised by fully-trained youth workers,
could be substantial. This is a great opportunity for the club
to position itself at the heart of the Pitshanger community and
to help secure its future, both through an immediate financial
input and, in the longer term, by offering a warm welcome to its
future members – the youth of today. |
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Duffy’s Out, Village Inn
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You’ve probably noticed that Duffy’s has had a
makeover, including a name change. It’s all part of
what General Manager Paul Bryant calls “breaking the
mould of Duffy’s – a new product, new management,
and a new team”. He’s offering “a quality
traditional pub serving excellent home cooked food
in an informal friendly atmosphere” and so far he’s
succeeding – turnover is up by 50% since the
re-launch.
Currently there’s a 10% discount off your bill
(including drinks) if you have two courses, and kids
can eat for £5 by choosing smaller portions from the
adult menu.
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Paul’s also proud of his “fantastic
Sunday lunches” and the five real ales on offer in
the bar. Reaction to the changes has been
varied. A couple of lunchtime regulars bemoaned the
new name and the big picture window – “it’s like
drinking in a goldfish bowl!”. And what did Paul
think of the pub’s new nickname, the Village Idiot?
“I don’t mind”, he said. “I call it that myself!” |
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Annual
General Meeting
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You should already have had notification of this -
it’s at 8.15 pm on Monday 24th November in St Barnabas Church
Hall. We’ll get the boring bits over with as quickly as possible
and let you have the floor to tell us what you think we need to
be doing. These sessions can become quite lively so give East
Enders a miss and have yourself the chance of some real life
drama! As always, stay for a glass and a chat at the end. |
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Charity
Christmas Cards
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Race
Nite
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The Ealing Charity Christmas Card shop
is now open at the YMCA, St Mary's Road, W5, about
10 minutes walk from Ealing Broadway. The shop is
staffed entirely by volunteers and unlike many other
sources of charity Christmas cards you can be sure
if you shop here that 100% of the card price will
actually go to charity. Opening hours are 10 am to
5.30 pm Monday to Saturday, 12.30 to 4.30 pm on
Sundays between 23rd November and 14th December
inclusive.
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Not a misspelling – that’s the way
they spell it in Hanwell and Northfields Rotary. If
you’re not familiar with the format, you bet on
pre-recorded races from some obscure track in
Nebraska, shout, scream, and genuinely believe your
whole world’s come to an end as you lose £1.50. It’s
at the Brentham Club on Friday, 21st November
starting at 7.30, and tickets (which include dinner)
are £11 each. Call Andrew Murphy on 07963 749492 to
book tickets.
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One
Hundred Years Of Pitshanger
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In the last issue we advertised a meeting of local
organisations to plan events to celebrate the
centenary of Pitshanger Lane next year. Ideas that
resulted included a ‘time capsule’ to be buried in
the park and a photographic exhibition. John Waters
is the PCA member who’s acting as the PCA’s
Co-ordinator for the celebrations, so anyone who
wishes to get involved or has got some ideas for
events and activities should contact him on 8997
5200 or email
john.waters@pitshanger.org.uk.
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Light Up
The Lane
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Our annual street festival will be on Saturday,
6th December, starting at 5.30, with the lights going on at
6.30. |
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Situations Vacant
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Following Pam Walker’s resignation as membership
secretary, we need someone to maintain our database of
membership records and arrange our annual membership campaign.
It’s a pivotal role in the PCA – generally members’ first point
of contact with the organisation – but you’ll receive full
training and join a lively group of people dedicated to making
this as good a place to live and work as possible. We also need
someone to help with the work of our ‘planning group’ which
co-ordinates our approach to local planning issues and our
relationship with the wider borough. The group is actively
seeking ways to reduce the use of plastic bags in the area and
to generate improvements in the park. Please contact our
secretary Debbie Edwards at
debbie.edwards@pitshanger.org.uk. |
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High
School Musical Chairs
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A spat between a couple of our local secondary
schools has turned out to have important
consequences for Pitshanger parents and children. It
started with a complaint from Brentside High School
about the admission criteria adopted by Drayton
Manor High School. Ealing Council was legally
obliged to refer this to the Office of the Schools
Adjudicator which agreed with Brentside and upheld
the objection. But Drayton Manor referred the
case to the High Court and the decision was
overturned.
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The school has no need to change its
admission criteria so it’s back to square one. But
what does it mean for Pitshanger?...
The clause that Brentside objected to
stated that Drayton Manor would give priority to
applicants for whom the school was the closest,
measured by the shortest walking distance. Given the
level of oversubscription, this effectively means
that if Drayton Manor is not your nearest school you
won’t get in (unless you’re a child in care or have
a sibling already there).
Now here’s the twist: Drayton Manor
was always regarded as the closest high school for
Pitshanger-ites, but parents are now being told by
the Council that Brentside is closer. North Ealing
Primary School used to be a recognised feeder school
for Drayton Manor, but it looks as though this
historic linkage is in danger of being broken, thus
reducing choice for families in Pitshanger. One can
only hope that the new high school pencilled in for
the northern part of the borough will be a realistic
option for Pitshanger families when it opens in a
few years’ time. |
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No Score On My Door!
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A trader member writes to explain why more traders
don't display the scores they receive under the Food Standards
Agency’s ‘Scores On The Doors’ scheme for publicising the
results of food safety inspections. “My premises
were recently awarded 3 stars, which implies ‘Good: good level
of legal compliance. Some more effort might(!) be required.’
This was in fact an upgrade on the initial 2 star assessment
which stated that the premises were "nice and clean and well
kept; toilets of a good standard". My extra star was not
obtained, however, by any improvement in food hygiene, but
merely from compliance with (e.g.) recording of delivery dates,
introducing a complaints book, and maintaining a staff training
book. The premises now have a 3 star award, but this will never
be shown on the door because it still implies to would-be
customers some level of underachievement against a worthwhile
yardstick, and yet what remains to be done has nothing to do
with improving food hygiene standards and everything to do with
bureaucratic compliance." |
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Lynda’s
Achievement
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Not So
Brief Encounter
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When she’s not organising the PCA’s
post-people, Lynda Pullman helps at Meadow House
hospice. Now she’s been awarded a Certificate of
Volunteering Achievement for her work, presented at
a recent ceremony by the Mayor of Ealing with MP
Steve Pound reading the roll of honour. The idea
behind the awards is to encourage folk of all shapes
and sizes to go into volunteering and, as Lynda
points out, there’s something for everyone. She
suggests that anyone interested in volunteering but
is unsure about where or what to do should contact
Ealing Volunteer Centre (part of Ealing Community
and Voluntary Service) on 0800 652 3183 and make an
appointment with a ‘volunteering adviser’.
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Member Jeff Pack writes to tell us
about his book, ‘Love Is In The Air’, the wartime
letters and memories of his parents. Jeff has lived
in the Pitshanger area for nearly 30 years, his
parents in west London for most of their lives. The
book chronicles his father’s wartime exploits as a
pilot that included being shot down over the
Dutch/German border and escaping back to Britain
(with the help of a Dutch inspector of ditches!);
the burgeoning romance of his parents; and the
“wartime lives of two young people separated by
extraordinary events”.
You can get a copy from Pitshanger
Bookshop or contact Jeff at
jeffreypack@hotmail.com for more information.
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Emptor
Caveat
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A Harrow View Road member thought she had the
ideal buyers when a family of four walked in with the agent to
have a look around. Waiting in the kitchen area as the agent did
his job, she might have been forgiven for harbouring a little
hope of a reasonable offer in this doldrums of a housing market.
What she got was rather different, discovering a couple of days
later that the ‘buyers’ had cleared out all the valuables from a
bedroom drawer. Bad enough – and thanks to the member concerned
for placing a warning on the PCA website – but her decency was
to be repaid within the week by a burglary which it is strongly
suspected was the work of the same people: unfortunately nobody
noticed that a set of keys had also gone missing, and the
thieves targeted something they’d probably spotted previously.
No need to tell you to supervise all viewings when selling, even
if the agent is present. |
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