OCTOBEROCTOBER 20202020
When you want a place with character... We’re here.
When you’re looking for a period home, make Winkworth Pimlico & Westminster your first call. 020 7828 1786 31 Belgrave Road, London SW1V 1RB [email protected]
winkworth.co.uk/pimlico-westminster
DVERTISING ANAGER HILIPPA OBINSON SEPTEMBER 2020 A M : P R WHO WE ARE:- ZONAL PRINTING DIGITAL CONTENT EDITOR: SAM [email protected] PIMLICO & BELGRAVIA EYE PRODUCTION MANAGER: MIKE LERMER CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: RICHARD RUSHWORTH DISTRIBUTION: ZONAL EXPRESS PUBLISHER: DAVID M. MEHRA [email protected] TEL: 020 7351 4831 EMAIL: [email protected] ACCOUNTS: SARAH BRAITHWAITE [email protected] [email protected]
LONDON’SONDON’S PREMIER 22 MEDWAYMEDWAY STREETSTREET WEWESTMINSTERSTMINSSTER DITOR AT UNSTALL E M S F I T N E S S S T UUDIO D I O SW1PSW1P 2BA2BBA ĐŚŝĞǀĞLJŽƵƌĮƚŶĞƐƐŐŽĂůƐĂƚĐŚŝĞǀĞLJŽƵƌĮƚŶĞƐƐ ŐŽĂůƐ Ăƚ E : P T ssŝǀĞ&ŝƚŶĞƐƐ͕ǁŝƚŚũƵƐƚŝǀĞ&ŝƚŶĞƐƐ͕ ǁŝƚŚ ũƵƐƚ 020 7222 6114 20-minute20-minuute sessions EB ESIGN HILIP ARR WEB ĞĂĐŚǁĞĞŬ͘ĂĐŚǁĞĞŬ͘ FIND OUT MORE:RE: : www.eyepublications.co.uk ΛǀŝǀĞĮƚŶĞƐƐůŽŶĚŽŶΛǀŝǀĞĮƚŶĞƐƐůŽŶĚŽŶ W D : P C ǁǁǁ͘ǀŝǀĞĮƚŶĞƐƐ͘ĐŽ͘ƵŬǁǁ͘ǀŝǀĞĮƚŶĞƐƐ͘ĐŽ͘ƵŬ [email protected]
DOLPHIN SQUARE VICTORY AT LAST. TEMPORARY ROAD MANAGEMENT MEASURES IN PIMLICO Dolphin Square was built between 1935 and 1937 with 1,236 flats to New temporary traffic measures were installed in Pimlico to support provide a better standard of housing than would otherwise have been pedestrian movements under social distancing and also to enable available during the Depression at reasonable rents for those working our food and beverage businesses to reopen under Covid restrictions. in London on moderate salaries. It is ‘an unlisted building of merit ’ and a conservation site, the keystone to the surrounding conservation area. It The scheme was implemented quickly due to the crisis, and as has served London and the country well and was built so strongly such had less time for feedback than usual however the local that it withstood 13 bombs during World War II. General de Gaulle Residents’ Associations and traders were engaged in the process. Cllr Jacqui Wilkinson said that the overwhelming response from local people has been very supportive.
Westminster City Council is carrying out a consultation on their proposals to introduce a number of secure cycle storage units at various locations throughout Westminster. The units will provide residents with safe places to park their bicycles.These storage units are proposed for St George’s Drive opposite Hugh Street and on Sutherland Street opposite Sutherland Row.
HAS POLICE HELICOPTER NOISE AFFECTED YOU ? WRITES NICKIE AIKEN MP People across Pimlico and Belgravia have contacted me about noise from Police helicopters observing protests near Parliament. had his headquarters here stationed in Grenville House. The Square had I completely understand the Police’s need to monitor protests from been run as a non profit making Trust until it was bought by the developers above to keep the public Westbrook in 2005. In 2017 they submitted plans which would have safe however, the use of destroyed the fabric and character of well built Dolphin Square helicopters to do this has led to local people being The whole of the north front was to be demolished with its rare Art subjected to noise Deco Shopping Arcade. It was to be rebuilt 4 storeys higher and pollution, every day for jutting out into the garden on the site of the Spanish Garden, with a hours on end. huge excavation below for a conference centre. Another storey was scheduled for the other 13 houses with mews houses to be built close up to I have been in the houses in Claverton Street. All of this was estimated to take 10 years communication with the to complete with Dolphin Square a building site and the nearby Metropolitan Police and roads blocked by incoming machinery parked on the ruined garden. requested a meeting Following 2 years of protest the plans were unanimously rejected by with the Policing Minister Westminster City Council on 4th June 2019. There had been huge Kit Malthouse to try to support from local residents associations such as FREDA and the resolve the problem. I want to hear how the noise has affected you SGRA of St Georges Square and Protect Our Pimlico, and from many so that I can pass your concerns onto him. individuals who wrote letters of protest and delivered leaflets. It was a very successful campaign by the whole community working together. If you've been affected by police helicopter noise, you can share However, in January Westbrook lodged an Appeal which was due your concerns with me at: nickie.news/helicopternoise to be heard on 22nd September. Dolphin Square was still in danger. If you would like to contact me about any other issue, you can On 4th September Westbrook withdrew their Appeal. After 3 long email [email protected] or call 020 7219 4553. years victory had been achieved. With thanks to so many people there is now real hope for a better future for the Square. Residents are again enjoying the garden during the sunny September days and we hope the bats are happy too. Latest news – Westbrook have announced that a sale has been arranged with AXA which had been rumoured earlier. They will take over and will respect the history and the conservation aspect of this iconic building. aceebee Celia Scott On behalf of DSPS Dolphin Square Preservation Society ©
Pimlico & Belgravia Eye October 2020 2
Nursery Groups: Play and Language Support We are based in Westminster
Does your toddler have a speech or communication We specialise in working with clients and their families who require care in their own homes. We offer a unique service of personalised care visits, delay? from check-in-visits to full live-support. We use the latest technology which provides real time updates and a live status reports of the care being provided. Starting in mid-September, we will be running small This provides a unique private login for families to accesss daily reports, providing peace of mind and specialist language and communication support transparency in all that we do. TO FIND OUT MORE CONTACT US BELOW classes for children aged between 18 months and Homecare Comforts Ltd., 83 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0HW Phone: 0203 585 4027 3.5years old at the Blue Sky Autism Centre, 22 Email: [email protected] Website: www.homecarecomforts.co.uk Sussex St.
The classes are specifically designed for children who may be experiencing delays with their speech and/ or social communication skills. Children do not
need to have a diagnosis to attend.
Our intake for this session will start w/c September
21st and run Tues-Friday. For a referral pack please
email us on [email protected] TEL: 020 7351 4831
www.play2talk.co.uk / www.blueskyautism.com
www.eyepublications.co.uk 3 Pimlico & Belgravia Eye October 2020
WESTMINSTER CITY COUNCIL: www.westminster.gov.uk/ Tel: 020 761 6000 Housing Repairs 0800 358 3783 Adult Social Care 020 7641 1444 WWC general enquiries 020 7641 6000 Housing Solutions 020 764 1000 Citizens Advice 0300 330 1191 Citizens Advice 0300 330 1191 Benefits incl Housing Benefit and Council Tax Peabody Housing repairs 0300 123 1238 Peabody Housing repairs 0300 123 1238 Benefit 0800 072 0042 Shelter 0808 800 4444 Carers Network 020 8960 3033 Council Tax 0343 178 2743 Adult Services 020 7641 2500 Social Services & Child services 020 761 4000
SIR MANSFIELD GEORGE SMITH-CUMMING KCMG CB The Home Section became MI5 or Security Service, while Cumming's was born on 1st April 1859 in Lee, Kent. He was a great-great Foreign Section became MI6 or the Secret Intelligence Service. grandson of the prominent merchant John Smith, a director of both Agents who worked for MI6 during the war included Augustus Agar, the South Sea Company and the East India Company, the second Paul Dukes, John Buchan, Compton Mackenzie and W. Somerset son of Abel Smith, the Nottingham banker who founded a banking Maugham. dynasty and whose business much later became National Westminster Bank, now one of the largest banks in the UK. When SSB discovered that semen made a good invisible ink, his agents adopted the motto "Every Smith joined the Royal Navy and underwent training at Dartmouth man his own stylo ". from the age of twelve and was appointed acting sub-lieutenant in However, the use of 1878. He was semen as invisible posted to HMS ink was ceased Bellerophon in because of the 1877, and for the smell it produced next 7 years served for the eventual in operations receiver. It also against Malay raised questions pirates, and in over the Egypt in 1883. He masturbatory suffered from sea- habits of the agents. sickness, and in 1885 was placed on the retired list as The Government Committee on "unfit for service". Intelligence decided to slash Kell's budget and staff and to Prior to being subordinate MI5 under a new Home Office Civil Intelligence appointed to run the Directorate led by Special Branch's Sir Basil Thomson in January Secret Service 1919. The powerful partnership of MI5 and Special Branch had Bureau (SSB), he managed counterintelligence and subversives during the war, but was working on that was suddenly thrown into disarray. These bureaucratic boom defences in intrigues happened at the very moment when the Irish abstentionist Bursledon on the party Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) were River Hamble. launching their own independence campaign.
In 1909, Major Vernon Kell became director of the new Secret Cumming and SIS (then MI1(c)) organized a new espionage unit in Intelligence Bureau (SIB). In 1911, the various security organizations Ireland in mid-1920 called the Dublin District Special Branch. It were re-organised under the SIB, Kell's division becoming the consisted of some 20 line officers drawn from the regular army and Home Section, and Cumming's becoming the new Foreign Section trained by Cumming's department in London. Cumming also began (Secret Service Bureau), responsible for all operations outside Britain. importing some of his own veteran case officers into Ireland from Over the few years he became known as 'C', after signing himself Egypt, Palestine, and India, while Basil Thomson organized a with a C eventually written in green ink. The C now stands for "Chief ". special unit consisting of 60 Irish street agents managed by communications from Scotland Yard in London. He was involved in a serious road accident in which his son was killed. Both his legs were broken, and his left foot was amputated On Sunday, 21st November 1920, the Headquarters Intelligence only the day after the accident. Staff of the IRA and its special Counterintelligence Branch under the leadership of Michael Collins assassinated 14 of Cumming's Budgets were severely limited prior to World War I, and Cumming case officers. Many agents appear to have escaped the IRA came to rely heavily on Sidney Reilly (aka the Ace of Spies), a execution squads that morning, but Whitehall feared that more of secret agent of dubious veracity based in Saint Petersburg. its professional agents would be identified and suffer the same fate; this prompted the hasty withdrawal of most of the remaining At the outbreak of war he was able to work with Vernon Kell and SIS agents from Ireland in the days that followed. Sir Basil Thomson of the Special Branch to arrest 22 German spies in England. 11 were executed, as was Sir Roger Casement, found A blue plaque was unveiled on 30th March 2015 in Cumming's guilty of treason in 1916. During the war, the offices were renamed. name at the SIS headquarters at 2 Whitehall Court.
Pimlico & Belgravia Eye October 2020 4
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www.eyepublications.co.uk 5 Pimlico & Belgravia Eye October 2020 PSYCHODYNAMIC COUNSELLING & PSYCHOTHERAPY FADI SALAAM, MA For depression, anxiety, personal and relational difficulties Providing short term and long term therapy via Skype/Zoom. Telephone or face to face to Adults in an empathic and confidential space. Accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). Tel: 075 1366 2002, Email: [email protected] Profile can be seen on www.Counselling-directory.org.uk
PARTY TIME 2020 BREX-VID I had intended to title this article, “Birthdays Ain’t What They Used To Be ”, but then second thoughts suggested, “Maybe That’s For The Good ”. I Never, in living political memory, has so much depended on the have been a lifelong host and it has been a long life. I turned professional energy and judgement of so few. with my New York art gallery making Private Views festive, welcoming with a wonderful woman serving drinks. No cheap wines from me, it was a Boris Johnson and his core team of Dominic Cummings, Rishi Sunak mixed bar of tall glasses and strong cocktails. Madeleine and I gained a and Michael Gove are simultaneously trying to cut the Gordian knot of great reputation. Looking back, perhaps I would have become more affluent if Brexit, whilst containing the ravages to the nation’s health and wealth we charged for the drinks and gave the art away. This in another life and in caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. In the meantime, they have to another place, London, was training for when I became a restaurateur. fend of SNP demands for a second independence referendum, and they have decided to set in motion full-scale reforms of the civil I continued my hosting on a more private level in whichever home I service and of English local government. have occupied. These demanded two requirements, space and a large kitchen. Many of my guests over years of meals and drinks As political in-trays go that of the current Conservative government is have rarely ventured beyond the kitchen, so I must have made it almost unprecedented. At least during the second world war the welcoming and comfortable. Conservatives were in coalition with Labour and could focus all of their energies on defeating the Nazis. The current government is being Now and for the undetermined forced to fight on two fronts, and has amount of future all this has chosen to open up a few more for changed. Why as hosts did good measure. Two questions have we require large numbers of to be asked: why are they choosing guests? What sort of show to do so, and can they succeed? was this, a copy of Mrs Astor’s “Four Hundred ”? Making a There is an old political saying that kitchen and flat the equiva- no crisis should be allowed to go to lent of a large ballroom? I waste. The suggestion is that during have found that in London times of crisis the public ‘clings to for every 10 guests who accept nurse ’ and looks to the government invitations, 5 may appear and to keep them safe. There is also the not even excuses coming from possibility that under the cover of a the missing 5. In Manhattan invite 10 and 20 are likely to turn up. major crisis a number of smaller crises can be whipped up, and then solved. I celebrated my latest birthday with two events, a Zoom gathering and as usual with fewer than the expected guests followed by a social session The other explanation for the multi-front campaigning lies in the in my courtyard with two couples. For Zoom we each lifted a glass or cup. character of the two key players – Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings. Mine held water. In the courtyard we consumed one bottle of lager and 2 of Johnson sees himself not just as the heir to Churchill, but also to Prosecco. Guests brought cake and I added some canapes. So little work, Pericles, able to sway populations and dictate events by sheer force so little expense and a great deal of enjoyable companionship with of oratory. Cummings sees himself as an anarchic iconoclast. He has attention paid to each other. been described as a ‘right-wing Maoist ’, and former prime minister David Cameron dubbed him a ‘career psychopath ’. The suspicion of A few years ago I entertained a few dozen guests, some I hardly knew including his many critics is that he does not want so much to sway, as to smash. two middle aged school boys who brought along a few bad behaving younger people high on drugs. I supplied nearly two dozen bottles of wine So ultimately the question is, given the difficulties that surround them, and foods which had taken days to prepare. Was it worth the effort? can they succeed? The task looks all but impossible. However, they To prove I had friends? I am reminded of an earlier time in New York have two major factors going for them - the substantial 80 seat majority, having to make a command appearance at a client’s cocktail party. She gave and the confidence of the international markets, which enables the UK these regularly in a penthouse flat with a huge terrace. Her husband greeted to borrow money at less than one percent interest. arriving guests with a counting devise and she introduced each of us as “the guest of honour ”. I overheard the husband tell his mate, Given that the next general election does not have to be held until successful dear, 35 people so far. When it became more crowded, it December 2024, I certainly will not be betting against them. was easy to slip away unnoticed. Where are the snows of yesteryear? Lionel Zetter is a writer and commentator email [email protected] [email protected]
Pimlico & Belgravia Eye October 2020 6 www.eyepublications.co.uk
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• As a way of supporting our communities during this challenging time, we are vviÀ}>µÕ>wV>ÌVÕÀÃiÃÕ«Ì iÛiÓFREEvÀ> `i>ÀiÀÃÕÌ ÛiLiÀÓäÓäI° • Our programmes are offered in an agile way so that we can learn online and ÀiÌiÞ]ÀiiÌ>Ã>viiÛÀiÌ]>Ãii`i`° • We are here to help learners prepare for employment or retrain for new V>ÀiiÀð • "ÕÀiÝ«iÀÌÃ>Ài >`ÌvviÀ>`ÛVi>`>ÃÃÃÌÜÌ µÕiÃÌÃ>LÕÌ V>ÀiiÀÃ]«À}ÀiÃÃ>`iÃÕÀii>À}° • "ÕÀ } iÀiÛi«À}À>ivviÀÃÃÌ>Û>>Li]>`V>LivÕ`i`LÞ >`Û>Vi`i>ÀiÀ>Ã]ÀÞÕ>ÞµÕ>vÞvÀ, VÕÀÃiviið • We are committed to support all our learners prepare for i«ÞiÌ]i>ÀiÜÃÃ>`VL>ÌÃ>Ì° ENROL NOW
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