West Ealing Neighbours Blog

Family fun in May for Ealing 135 Spring fair 

The Ealing 135 Spring fair, a family favourite, has a new location in Walpole park and it’s going to be our biggest event yet.  This year it will take place on Saturday 14 May from 1-4 pm, from its new location at the Rickyard building and the surrounding area, next to the Children’s playground in Walpole Park.  The Seaside themed Spring fair will be a fun day for all the family. It’s open to all and free entry.

There are all the games you expect from a traditional fair including hook-a-duck, lucky dip, tin can alley, splat-the-rat to keep the kids entertained.  There will also be crafts, face-painting, a bouncy castle and a fancy dress competition.  There will be plenty to keep the adults occupied too:  a brilliant raffle, a grown up (boozy) tombola and a selection of some of Ealing’s best local businesses and entrepreneurs showcasing their talents from the stalls. Alongside all of the above an Ealing 135 event would not be the same without its legendary cake stall and the free taster sessions provided by children’s entertainers.

Ealing 135 is a friendly local network run by and for parent and carers in the borough of Ealing.  We are run entirely by volunteers drawn from within our membership.  We organise and run local family friendly events including the Spring fair, play sessions, parent and carer groups, action songs and rhymes sessions, Nearly new sales, Halloween parties, Christmas parties, adults socials, the list goes on! .

A snapshot of the events planned over the next few months include a teddy’s bears picnic, Saturday craft making session, mega train set event and den building.  If you are a young family, join the 135 group, for just 15 pounds a year, as it gives you access to all this and more, such as discounts from local businesses and a quarterly newsletter which includes an in depth weekly guide for local activities for pre-schoolers. For more information go to www.ealing135.org.uk.

Ealing 135 is known for raising money for local charities and this year’s featured charity is Home-start Ealing. Home-start Ealing is a registered charity, supporting families with young children who live in the within the borough. All the families Home-start work with are experiencing some type of stress or difficulty which could include isolation, poverty, mental health issues, bereavement and disability. For more information go to www.homestartealing.org. Home-start Ealing will be there on the day promoting their cause, recruiting volunteers and asking for donations.

So come along and join the fun at the Ealing 135 Spring fair on Saturday 14 May from 1 pm until 4 pm, at the Rickyard, in Walpole park for a brilliant afternoon not to be missed. For more information email ealing135events@gmail.com or go to www.ealing135.org.uk.

The idea of allowing delivery vehicles to access Lidl’s, O’Grady Court and now the new hotel via the library car park has been around for at least six years.  Finally, it looks like work will start on this early May.  The plans are to make the section of Melbourne Ave in front of the library and Sainsbury’s fully pedestrianised by giving delivery lorries etc access to Lidl’s, O’Grady Court and the new hotel through the library car park so they no longer need to drive along Canberra Road by the side of Sainsbury’s and cross over Melbourne Ave. This makes it much safer for everyone and will cut out the damage to the paving stones by done heavy delivery lorries.  As part of these plans there will also be barriers of some sort across the junctions of Melbourne Ave and Canberra Road to ensure no vehicles can cross over by mistake. This has taken a long. long time but is welcome.  It makes good sense to keep pedestrians and vehicles separate.

Good news for everyone who shops at BHS in West Ealing.  It seems the shop will stay open for the rest of the year as the developers, Southern Grove, have delayed their plans to build 136 or so homes on this site. Mind you, all this may change with the threat of BHS going in to administration. I’ll update the story if I can find out why there’s a delay.

This sad looking row of houses on the corner of the Uxbridge Road and Shirley Gardens had been let to go to ruin but, at last, work has started on their demolition.  The original plans for homes on this site were totally out of keeping with the rest of this terrace but thankfully the plans that were agreed by the Council are much more sympathetic. Why on earth has it taken so long?