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Music at the West Ealing craft market, Sat, Dec 1 2012

It’s local, it’s outdoors and it’s live – that’s music in the craft market in West Ealing on every Saturday in December.  This community experience comes free – with 20+ stalls of goodies on sale from local craftspeople in the open space just next to Blockbusters in West Ealing Broadway.

Line-up for Saturday, December 1st:

12-1pm: Harmonica Lewinsky performs music hall, TV theme tunes and cockney rock to audiences as far away as Sainsbury’s and Tesco Extra in Hanwell.  He is CRB checked and gives 10% of his income to British Gas. No animals have suffered in the making of his music, although several humans have ended up in Ealing Hospital A&E.

1-2pm: Questors Choir Hi – we’re Questors Choir – we’ll be singing carols at the Craft Fair on Saturday. Our aim is to help the event go with a swing, and bring a smile to the faces of shoppers and stall holders alike. We’re a mixed voice ensemble and we’ve been singing in Ealing for over 25 years. If you like what you hear, why not come to our concert next Saturday? It’s on the 8th December at St John’s, Mattock Lane. Musical director Philip Norman has put together a mix of traditional carols, with plenty of opportunities for audience participation, plus some Christmas choral pieces by Handel, St Saens and Eybler, and a few all-time Christmas hits too. If you enjoy singing, Questors Choir welcomes singers of all abilities. We have a good blend of experienced singers and newcomers who’ve only just started with the choir. Our repertoire is deliberately varied, from Baroque and Classical to Contemporary choral works, and folk songs. All of us share one passion – a love of choral music performed in a fun and friendly atmosphere. Visit www.questorschoir.org.uk .

2-3pm: Jacob & Goliath A West London-based folk/alternative band. “Like James’s Tim Booth, Jacob Simpson (lead singer of J&G) possesses a rare and subtle ability to mine deep soulfulness from rough scraps of emotion,’ writes music critic Jon Wilde. “The yearning quality in his voice is both bold clarion call and whispered confession. Jacob & Goliath inhabit a sonic landscape that is equal parts earthy folkiness and propulsive pop”.

A glimpse into the future:

The good news is this happens every Saturday in December – a new show, more crafts, more community. So, don’t go to Westfield – stroll up the road!

For December 8th, local charity Tangled Web join with Beavers and Scouts for some rousing carols, Pinnacle Performing Arts will be dancing to cheer our wintry spirits and Singology choir serve us a slice of gospel joy.
 
For December 15th, watch out for the Westside performers from the local youth club, a barbershop quartet (who will start by flashmobbing Sylvester’s the local barbers – grow your hair and drop in about 12.15), followed by ancient carols with local voices and instruments, and a nativity from St James’s which will involve a live quadruped (we can say no more but bring a shovel).
 
December 22nd is for reflective, moving carols from the Ealing Churches Winter Night Shelter – come and be part of that party, scoop up some last-minute bargains and feel just like a ‘West Ender’. (Wear reindeer headress if possible – or at least a Sarah Lund jumper. You know it make sense.)
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Annual West Ealing Arts & Crafts Fair on Saturday 10am-4pm at St James Church

Come and start your Christmas shopping at our annual Arts & Crafts Fair. More stalls than ever this year, there will be a wide range of original art, crafts amd specialist goods from local arists and craftspeople including:

  • African art
  • Christmas decorations
  • Cushions, blankets and quilts
  • Glasswork
  • Greetings cards
  • Handbags and purses
  • Jams, chutneys, honey and olive oils
  • Scarves
  • Watercolours and acrylics
  • Wood-turning

Admission is free. Hot & cold food and drinks served including a wide variety of home-made cakes.

St James Church, St James Ave (by entrance to Sainsbury’s car park). 10am – 4pm.

 

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West Ealing project wins national food award

Cultivate London

 

Congratulations to Cultivate London for winning the Producer of the Year award in the 2012 Observer Food Monthly Awards. In the company of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall,  Nigel Slater and Sir Terence Conran as prizewinners, Cultivate London was set up and is funded by West Ealing based charity Pathways.

Cultivate London converts derelict land in to urban farms to grow herbs and plants. It has two sites in Brentford and you can find its produce at the weekly farmers’ market in West Ealing in Leeland Road.

The Ealing Today website has a fuller version of this story.

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w7emporium – new delicatessen to open in Hanwell on Saturday

A while back I mentioned I’d joined the monthly cheese subscription from Claire Rosser at w7emporium and I’m delighted to say she is now opening her delicatessen on Saturday. It’s in Boston Road in Hanwell on the right hand side almost opposite Wickes (post code is W7 3TR). It opens at 11am and I’m definitely going along, not least because I’m going to collect my next monthly selection of cheeses.  Claire has worked fantasically hard to get this venture up and running and I wish her success and I hope lots of people can drop in and see and taste what’s on offer.

 

 

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Rent-to-own retailer taking over Peacock’s in West Ealing shopping centre

There’s been work going on in the old Peacock’s shop in the West Ealing shopping centre for a while but until yesterday I hadn’t been able to find out what is going in there. Now, thanks to a WEN colleague, I’ve found out it’s Brighthouse. To quote their website ‘BrightHouse is the nation’s leading rent-to-own retailer. Providing top brand household goods on low weekly, fortnightly or monthly payments and quick & simple credit.’

It’s yet another interesting reflection on the state of the local economy and how some large national retailers view West Ealing.  Brighthouse clearly sees a local market for rent-to-own rather than outright purchase when money is so tight. It’s good that the shop has been taken as it has left an ugly gap in the high street. What worries me is that the shopping centre is becoming unbalanced with an ever-increasing predominance of budget shopping, money lending shops and betting shops. All are fine but we need to find a way to make our hight street more varied to attract in as wide a range of residents as possible. Any form of ‘monoculture’ is risky and a budget shopping only high street is not good for the long-term health of West Ealing’s shopping centre.

As I’ve said before, WEN would like to work with the Council and landlords to find a way to use empty shops as business incubators or start-ups for small local businesses who want to try to make a go of it but cannot afford the high rents charged by landlords. This would bring back a better balance and a greater variety of shops.

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Does West Ealing need another betting shop?

The long empty shop on the corner of the Uxbridge Road and Melbourne Avenue has a sign stuck to it announcing the application for a gambling licence for a Betfred betting shop. Whilst I’m glad this shop will be re-opened does West Ealing really need another betting shop? I can think of at least two between the Lido Junction and Eccleston Road, so why a third?

I guess Betfred have done their research and, at a time when money is very tight, there is a market for people willing to gamble, hope for the best and turn a blind eye to the saying that you never see a poor bookie.

If I had one wish for the newly established West Ealing Centre Neighbourhhod Forum it would be for it to set down tough guidelines for what sort of shops can come to the West Ealing shopping centre. We have enough betting shops and money lending shops in our shopping centre. What we don’t have is low-cost space for new and small local businesses to be given a chance to have a high street presence to see if they can make a go of their business. We need to find ways to give local businesses and entrepreneurs a start in life and low-cost retail space for, say their first year, would be one way of helping them, creating new jobs and keeping money in the local economy. Through running the monthly craft market and annual Arts and Crafts Fair we know there are plenty of local craftspeople and some would jump at the chance to take this next step.

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West Ealing Craft Market in St James Ave on Saturday 10am-3pm

West Ealing Craft Market in St James Avenue on Saturday 7th July 10am – 3pm

Our July craft market is this Saturday in St James Avenue (near entrance to Sainsbury’s car park). We will have 16 stalls selling a range of goods from jewellery made from buttons and ethnic fashion accessories to original artwork and woodturned products.

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Peacock’s, window cleaning and spending money locally in West Ealing

The possible development site on the corner of the Uxbridge Road and Melbourne Avenue - on a dull and rainy day!

I’ve been trying to find out what’s happening to the now empty Peacock’s store and am told there have been holes drilled down in to the ground to look at the foundations. The view is that it’s testing the strength of the building for building flats above. I’m also told the owner of the store now also owns the empty store next door on the corner of Uxbridge Road and Melbourne Ave.  So, expect to see plans for a redevelopment of this whole corner before long.

Anyway, during my efforts to find out all this I got talking to a guy who cleans many shop windows in West Ealing and who I’ve seen about for years. He was telling me that more and more shops in West Ealing, and mostly those that are part of a chain, are stopping using his services and taking out central contracts with national companies. All of which means the money that was going in to the local economy is now going out of it.

It may only be one small example but multiply it for other services that shops and offices need and you start to build up to a significant amount of money that could be spent locally but looks gradually to be going out of the area. I don’t pretend to know how to stop this but it just struck me again that all of us who live locally need to be aware of the importance of thinking carefully how and where we spend our money. A conscious decision to use local shops and services could be a key factor in whether or not these businesses survive and people keep their jobs.

 

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It may have rained but craft market stallholders’ spirits were high!

Music in May – Steven Boyle playing under shelter!

Our second craft market last Saturday was a bit damp with the rain but the general feeling from stallholders was that more people were buying this time. It will take time for people to know the market is there in St James Ave on the first Saturday of the month but there feels to be a gathering momentum and a lot of good will. We had some music and that went down well. I think we need to investigate whether we can get some modest amplification for future music.  We’ll see if we can get more musicians for our next market on 2nd June which is Diamond Jubilee holiday weekend.

You can see photos of the May market on WEN’s website