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Royal Wedding: A sparky new comedy involving the arts and an ‘erotic emporium’ – at OPEN Ealing

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Imagine an arts centre in a converted shop on a suburban London street. Then  imagine an “erotic emporium” next door selling sex aids and lingerie. What would happen if a hole appeared in the dividing wall between the new premises?  A new play about to be performed at OPEN Ealing examines just such a scenario… and as luck would have it, OPEN Ealing happens to currently occupy a converted shop right next door to the Cherry Pye erotic lingerie emporium.


 Royal Wedding, a brand new play by Ealing-based writer Wally Sewell,  imagines the chance encounter between the privately-educated artistic director of the centre and his brash, more worldly neighbour.   Described as a  light-hearted romp, the play sees sex shop owner Queen Bee step through the newly-created “entrance” to engage artist Tarquin Pritchard-Smith in a bout of combative wordplay, raising issues such as class, snobbery,and the place of the artist in wider society. It’s directed by Ealing-based Anthony Shrubsall and  stars Francesca Wilde and Michael Murray.

OPEN Ealing is a local arts initiative originally set up in 2010.  Performances of Royal Wedding will take place at  OPENShop 13 Drayton Green Road, W13 0NG, at the following times:

Thursday 5, Friday 6 and Saturday 7  September  7.30 pm.
Matinee Saturday 7 September 3 pm.

Thursday 12, Friday 13 and Saturday 14  September  7.30 pm.
Matinee Saturday 14 September 3 pm.

Adm. £7

The performance will last one hour approx., and there will be an opportunity for discussion with the players, writer and directorafter each performance. The play is not suitable for children.

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World premiere of ‘The Green Man – West Ealing Past, Present and Future’ on 5th September

 

Come To See Our Play!

“The Green Man: West Ealing Past, Present & Future”
5th, 12th & 17th September. 7:30pm start – Just turn up!

 

Get a taster of what’s to come with this special preview of one of the play’s songs –

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKcS3i6AWEI

This is a play written by Murray Shelmerdine and sponsored by West Ealing Centre Neighbourhood Forum. It is about quality of life in West Ealing dating back to the first records of ‘modern’ human settlement here in the 13th Century. We hope the songs, facts and humour are to your liking and that you will come along and join in.

Its world premiere is on Thursday 5th September at St John’s Church in Mattock Lane at 7.30pm. Entry free.

It’s then on at The Drayton Court on Thursday 12th September and Tuesday 17th September at The Forester in Leighton Road. Both performances are at 7.30pm and entry is free.

 

 

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Folk singing with a difference at OPEN Ealing on Saturday August 17th at 7.30pm

June


Not what you might expect for a folk evening! OPEN Ealing present an acoustic evening with Lithuanian singer June on Saturday 17th August at 7.30pm.

Having grown up in a part of Southern Lithuania, Dzūkija, where traditional singing is still very much a part of daily life, June likes to sing authentic old Lithuanian folk songs. From a very young age, she has taken part in Lithuanian national youth contests. She has sung with one of Lithuania’s most famous folk bands,”Vydraga”, and has recorded a number of songs and instrumental music with this band for Lithuanian national TV and radio.  

June treats the old authentic folk music of other countries with love and respect and incorporates the ideas into her musical vocabulary. She was able to express many of her ideas with the A.Klova folk-jazz quintet. She collaborated in a project with the Senegalese master percussionist Pierre Kouyate. The famous jazz musician Vladimir Chekasin was fascinated by June’s voice and invited her to participate in his world music project at the “Mama Jazz” international festival. 

At the request of the organizers, June represented Lithuania at the contest”Country Europe’ before the “Piknik Country” festival at Mrągowo in Poland. After performing in both the contest and the festival, she was invited to perform at Warsaw’s principal country music clubs and at festivals in Germany and Poland. She was highly praised by the noted Polish country music critic, Ewa Dabrowska.  

OPEN Ealimg, 13 Drayton Green Road, West Ealing W13 0NG

Suggested donation £5.

www.openealing.com

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Spectacular Chariot Festival in West Ealing this weekend

Chariot Festival in West Ealing!

Chariot Festival

The weekend of 10/11th  August sees the annual Shri Kanagathurkkai Amman Temple (SKAT) festival come to West Ealing once again. Past festivals have attracted thousands of devotees to West Ealing from all over the world. The festival culminates on Sunday with the Chariot procession leaving the Temple around 9am, and then returning at about 12pm via Mattock Lane, Culmington Road, and the Uxbridge Road.

Dean Gardens will be full of stalls with Tamil food, lassi drinks, and selling bric-a-brac to fundraise for the Temple’s activities. It’s a great day out for everyone with lots of amazing sights, sounds and tastes.

Dean Gardens Charito Festival 2

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Origins of some West Ealing street names – part three

A bit of light reading for the summer holidays – the last of three articles by local historian David Shailes on the origins of some West Ealing street names:

‘The Wood family owned a large estate in Ealing and the family’s ancestral home was Culmington Manor, Craven Arms, Shropshire, hence Culmington Road. The family are more associated with roads in other parts of Ealing W3/W5: Aston, Boileau, Corfton, Craven, Hamilton, Madeley, Woodville, Woodfield, Woodgrange all take their names from places or people associated with this family. Broughton Road in W13 also fits in to the above group.

 

Elers Road in Northfields takes it name from the Elers Family that owned some land here in Victorian times, but did not live in Ealing. They gave land  to the local board so that an entrance  on to Northfield Avenue to Lammas Park could be built. Nearby Carew Road is also linked with the family. 

 

Robinson Close is built on the site of the old Robinson Nursery which survived until the 60’s as the writer remembers the development of the site.

 

Not too far away are Amherst Road & Gardens, which are named after Charles Thomas Amherst (1832 – 1909), a jeweller and owner of Castlebar House from 1871. 

The only link that at the moment I have found for Argyle Road relates to John Campbell Duke of Argyll who owned Ealing Grove from 1775 until 1791: a house near Grove Road in Ealing Broadway described as a mansion house with 64 acres of land.  An alternative explanation is that the developer used a Scottish theme as nearby is Sutherland Road.

 

Sutherland Road
 

Close by is Egerton Gardens for which there are two possible explanations: the 1st Earl of Ellesmere in Shropshire – Francis Egerton (1800 to 1857) or the Bishop of Durham a Dr John Egerton (1721 to 1787) who owned Elm Grove a house near Ealing Common. This latter house was owned by Spencer Perceval (1762 to 1812) who is the only British Prime minister to be assassinated. Ealing Council offices in the Uxbridge Road are named after him.

 

Argyle Road
 

Montague Road is likely to be named after Sir Montagu Sharpe  – 1856 to 1942. Whilst he lived at Hanwell Park in Hanwell he had a greater involvement with Brentford than Ealing. He was a significant individual involved with the Middlesex County Council, which before the London Borough’s were created in 1964, was the County Council responsible for Ealing.

 

Since starting writing these articles a very chance discovery following a conversation with a relative who happened to mention that she had recently read a book about a Lord Ellesmere saw a cursory internet search reveal a possible explanation for the naming of the road I live in – Erlesmere Gardens. There are a few other Erlesmere street names throughout the UK, but no place name with such a spelling. Nearby are Walmer & Balmoral gardens, which were built at the same time, by the same developer and could be named after castles.

 

It now looks like it is from a fictional story called “Erlesmere: or, Contrasts of Character” by LS Lavenu first published in 1856. Erlesmere is a village that features in the book.

The two previous articles are:

Street names part two

Street names part one

plus

Victorian West Ealing’s market gardens and nurseries

 

David Shailes

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The Return of Sherlock Holmes to OPEN Ealing

 The Adventure of the Crying Boy and The Adventure of the Creeping Man

I saw this first time round at OPEN Ealing and thorougly enjoyed it. The performance starts with a reading of Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of the Creeping Man and then moves on to Wally Sewell’s specially written drama, The Adventure of the Crying Boy, exploring the relationship between Holmes and Watson. (I still love watching the TV repeats of Jeremy Brett playing Sherlock Holmes. He perfectly captured the edginess of Holmes.)  Anyway, well worth £5 in my view.

The Adventure of the Crying Boy by Wally Sewell in ‘Evenings and afternoons of Sherlock Holmes’ performed by Peter Saracen and Edmund Dehn, directed by Anthony Shrubsall.

It’s on at OPEN Ealing  on Thursday 8th, Friday 9th, Saturday 10th and then Thursday 15th and Friday 16th August at 7.30pm. Matinees on Saturday 10th at 3pm and Friday 16th at 1pm.

Price: £5.00

Wally Sewell says, “As a writer I’ve always been interested in the mythical and the symbolic, and the concept of the unconscious, with its population of monsters swimming in its dark depths has been a constant draw. Representations of it, usually in the form of forests and wild places, are something of a recurring motif in my writing! My first exposure to Sherlock Holmes was having the Hound of the Baskervilles read to me as a school boy. At that stage what caught my imagination more than Holmes’spowers of deduction, was Conan Doyle’s evocation of the moors, haunted by malign spirits and bogs that could swallow up ponies, all observable from the relative civility of Baskerville Hall. I’ve tried to catch something of that spirit in my play.”

His play concerns an impromptu late night meeting between Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, who is now married and largely absent from Holmes’s life. As their conversation progresses, touching on Holmes’s cocaine addiction, his dalliance with Freud and confessions from childhood, demons pull themselves up through the cracks in the floorboards and out onto the stage.

The play has been well received at its various performances around the fringe, winning praise from members of the Sherlock Holmes Society and at least one professional psychiatrist!

Performed here with a reading of the short story The Adventure of the Creeping Man, the show promises to be an intriguing and engaging evening or afternoon’s entertainment.

NB Not suitable for children.

More details about this and other OPEN Ealing events here.

 

 

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Work starts on new Morrsions in West Ealing

I thought I saw signs of action yesterday at the old Blockbusters on the corner of the Uxbridge Road and St James Avenue. Then this morning I had another look and ,yes, work is underway to turn it in to a Morrisons. They are clearing out the store in readiness for the new fit out. I had a word with a man with a Morrisons hi-vis jacket and he wasn’t sure of the exact schedule but thought it would take about 10 – 12 weeks or so to complete.

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All quiet on the hotel front

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Another occasional update  on the new hotel in West Ealing – nothing’s happening. Having cracked on with the demolition it’s all been quiet for the last 10 days or so. I hope plans are still on schedule as I’m looking forward to Tony Luckhurst’s return in good time for Christmas.

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Your chance to help crowdfund a film about the Ealing Club’s place as ‘The cradle of British Rock’

I’m a big fan of the efforts being made to show just how crucial Ealing was in the birth of British Rhythm and Blues and I’ve taken my first dip in to crowdfunding with this film.  The target is to raise £6,000 by August 25th and as of writing this we’ve raised £963, so pretty good going as it’s only just been launched.


     

Feb 1965: The WHO & Fery Asgari at The Ealing Club 

Suburban Steps to Rockland is a documentary feature film focusing on the the story of the Ealing Club, a small venue in West London, where bands and artists like The Who, The Rolling Stones, Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton – just to name a few – started their careers in the early ’60s.

Your chance to support the film and get rewarded for participation

Many Interviews with veteran musicians and leading rock writers have already been completed including:  Bobbie Korner (Wife of Alexis) Don Craine (Downliners Sect) Ali Mackenzie (The Birds) Terry Marshall (co-founder Marshall Amps) John O’Leary (Savoy Brown) Pete Brown (lyricist for Cream)  Tom Newman (co-founder Virgin Records, Ealing Club veteran and Producer of Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells”) Mike Watt (The Minutemen, Iggy Pop and The Stooges) Damian and John O’Neill (The Undertones) Harry Shapiro (Rock Music Biographer) and Paul Trynka (Music Writer).  A special PROMO MOVIE can be viewed at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ealingclubfilm/suburban-steps-to-rockland

Supporters will receive copies of the completed film, access to exclusive merchandise and LIVE EVENTS being planned (please see Kickstarter for details) 

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Plans to expand Heathrow and what it might mean for West Ealing

Heathrow’s proposals to expand

Heathrow has been in the news a lot recently proposing a third and possibly fourth new runway. The proposals are being considered as part of the Davies Commission set up by the Government to examine whether and where additional airport capacity is needed in the UK .

Heathrow has outlined three potential sites for runways to the north, northwest and southwest of existing operations. If the go ahead is given:

– the number of Heathrow flights, currently capped at 480,000 a year, will rise to about 750,000 with a third runway and about 1million with a fourth

– passenger numbers will increase from 70 million a year to 130 million with just a third runway

 

What does this mean for West Ealing ? 

The proposals are sketchy. Flight paths are not yet known in detail but, given the potential doubling of flights, it is questionable to say the least to suggest (as Heathrow does) that the noise climate will improve. Their calculations are based on a highly contentious method of measuring noise which does not take into account the frequency of planes overhead. 

Heathrow’s proposals to transport the millions more passengers to and from the airport are also thin on detail and fail to acknowledge the current infrastructure is creaking under existing passenger numbers. Crossrail is a key component of their plans so don’t bank on that fast service to central London, you might not be able to fit on the trains by the time they get to West Ealing .

 

What can you do if you oppose these plans?

– Write to the Davies Commission copied to your MP urging them not to opt for expansion at Heathrow. It is always good to describe how you personally have been affected by aircraft noise. 725,000 people already live under Heathrow flight paths, this is 28% of all people disturbed by aircraft noise across Europe . Building a new runway at Heathrow will exacerbate existing problems of noise, congestion and pollution. The Aviation Environment Federation in its submission to the Davies Commission described how forecasts of passenger demand have been too high since 2000 and the case for additional runways needs to be balanced against other factors such as noise disturbance, pollution etc.

– If you have been disturbed by noise, it is important that you contact Heathrow with the details of the date and time of the incident. The number of complaints they receive about noise is one of their key performance indicators. http://www.heathrowairport.com/noise/help/make-an-enquiry 

 

Further information 

Evening Standard’s summary of the proposals: Super Heathrow: airport unveils 4-runway plan

Heathrow’s proposals to the Davies Commission: A new approach

HACAN actively campaigns against the expansion of Heathrow and the reduction of aircraft noise. The website contains many useful documents including its latest briefing on Heathrow and Noise the latest on noise

 

What to look out for next 

A consultation on night flights is due to take place in Autumn. We need to urge the Government to stop all flights after 11pm (the last take-off from Heathrow is scheduled for 10.45pm but you wouldn’t guess that from the number of flights flying over West Ealing up to and beyond 11.30pm) and before 6am.