Camden Friends of the Earth are organising a local food festival in West Hampstead - with restaurants in West End Lane committing to serve food sourced locally.
The festival kicks off with a special event on West End Green, 3pm-7.30pm on 14th June. There'll be a farmers' market, cookery demonstrations and a jazz band. Last year's event, which I must say completely passed me by, looks to have been rather jolly.
Camden Friends of the Earth tell me there'll be a closing event too on Saturday 24th June - also on the West End Green, 11am-4pm.
Nice to see the Green, which seems normally a rather sorry place, becoming a focus of neighbourhood festivities.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Friday, May 19, 2006
Tiled street signs
Things to like about West Hampstead: fifth in an occasional and totally subjective series.
Ravenshaw Street
Originally uploaded by Grievous Angel.
Seen this before? Not unless you've lived in the 'hood for at least 15 years, since this elegant sign announcing the entry to Ravenshaw Street has been hidden behind an advertising hoarding for at least that long.
I've written before that the tiled streets signs in West Hampstead are a piece of local character to be prized.
I don't know how long this one will be visible. But it's a particularly fine example - both because it's been protected from the elements for years, and because it's too high for vandals to reach easily.
Like the now extinct Routemaster, and the equally extinct George's greengrocer's on the corner of Sumatra Road, these things are part of the fabric which have helped give West Hampstead the intangible feel of a London village. What, if anything, helps to sustain that atmosphere today?
Maybe, in years to come, we'll view the coffee houses on West End Lane in the same light. Or perhaps not.
More things to like about West Hampstead:
Roni's Bagel Bakery
Plaques to ordinary folk
The cheery house
West Hampstead Tube station
Ravenshaw Street
Originally uploaded by Grievous Angel.
Seen this before? Not unless you've lived in the 'hood for at least 15 years, since this elegant sign announcing the entry to Ravenshaw Street has been hidden behind an advertising hoarding for at least that long.
I've written before that the tiled streets signs in West Hampstead are a piece of local character to be prized.
I don't know how long this one will be visible. But it's a particularly fine example - both because it's been protected from the elements for years, and because it's too high for vandals to reach easily.
Like the now extinct Routemaster, and the equally extinct George's greengrocer's on the corner of Sumatra Road, these things are part of the fabric which have helped give West Hampstead the intangible feel of a London village. What, if anything, helps to sustain that atmosphere today?
Maybe, in years to come, we'll view the coffee houses on West End Lane in the same light. Or perhaps not.
More things to like about West Hampstead:
Sunday, May 07, 2006
ex-Thameslink
Here's a piece which attempts to shed some light on why the railway line we've happily called Thameslink for many a year has now been rebranded with the evocative title First Capital Connect.
It's all down to a change of operator - to one, we must assume, with a poor marketing budget.
It's all down to a change of operator - to one, we must assume, with a poor marketing budget.
Friday, May 05, 2006
New council
The local election results are available on the Camden website. Liberal Democrats took all six seats in our two wards: Fortune Green and West Hampstead. Your new councillors are:
Fortune Green: Flick Rea, Jane Schopflin and Russell Eagling
West Hampstead: Keith Moffitt, John Bryant and Duncan Greenland
What is more, Keith Moffitt - who leads the Liberal Democrats in Camden - looks like he will also be the new council leader. For the first time in 35 years, Labour has lost over-all control of Camden. The Liberal Democrats emerge as the biggest party and are likely to be calling the shots - unless, as is theoretically possible but hard to imagine, the Conservatives go into coalition with Labour.
The contest in our neighbourhood didn't quite turn out to be the two-way fight between Labour and the Liberal Democrats that I had predicted. While Labour came second to the Lib Dems in West Hampstead, they were pushed into third place by the Conservatives in Fortune Green. The Greens, who stood candidates but did not campaign in the area, came fourth in both wards.
So what does the change of control at the town hall mean? While media analysis this morning has portrayed Labour's loss of Camden as a function of the party's national problems, it's worth remembering that there were local issues at work too. Camden has a reputation as one of the most authoritarian enforcers of parking controls and there were at least three campaigns running in the borough critical of Labour's handling of this issue. The Liberal Democrats, in a pre-election survey, picked up that people wanted a more sensitive, more listening council. They emphasised both these themes - together with cutting local bureaucracy and care for the local environment - in their answers to questions put by Northwest 6 at the start of the campaign. Another of their themes was the need for a new secondary school west of the Finchley Road.
More resident-friendly parking controls, a more listening council and sufficient school places for families living in West Hampstead. You know what the Lib Dems have promised. Now watch to see if the new largest party on the council can deliver without over-all control.
Fortune Green: Flick Rea, Jane Schopflin and Russell Eagling
West Hampstead: Keith Moffitt, John Bryant and Duncan Greenland
What is more, Keith Moffitt - who leads the Liberal Democrats in Camden - looks like he will also be the new council leader. For the first time in 35 years, Labour has lost over-all control of Camden. The Liberal Democrats emerge as the biggest party and are likely to be calling the shots - unless, as is theoretically possible but hard to imagine, the Conservatives go into coalition with Labour.
The contest in our neighbourhood didn't quite turn out to be the two-way fight between Labour and the Liberal Democrats that I had predicted. While Labour came second to the Lib Dems in West Hampstead, they were pushed into third place by the Conservatives in Fortune Green. The Greens, who stood candidates but did not campaign in the area, came fourth in both wards.
So what does the change of control at the town hall mean? While media analysis this morning has portrayed Labour's loss of Camden as a function of the party's national problems, it's worth remembering that there were local issues at work too. Camden has a reputation as one of the most authoritarian enforcers of parking controls and there were at least three campaigns running in the borough critical of Labour's handling of this issue. The Liberal Democrats, in a pre-election survey, picked up that people wanted a more sensitive, more listening council. They emphasised both these themes - together with cutting local bureaucracy and care for the local environment - in their answers to questions put by Northwest 6 at the start of the campaign. Another of their themes was the need for a new secondary school west of the Finchley Road.
More resident-friendly parking controls, a more listening council and sufficient school places for families living in West Hampstead. You know what the Lib Dems have promised. Now watch to see if the new largest party on the council can deliver without over-all control.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Polling day
Polling station
Originally uploaded by Grievous Angel.
Turn out only so-so, according to the lady canvassing at the door for the Liberal Democrats.
Thank you to all the candidates, from the Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Conservatives, who answered questions put by Northwest 6.
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