£2 WHEN Prospect SOLD Charity Reg No. 1156379 Barnes Community Association Newsletter FEBRUARY 2018 Was that real snow... ...blowing down BCA Easter the High Street on the evening of Duck Race the BCA Christmas Festival? It was cold enough! Do make a note in your diary to come Barnes’s own White Rabbit with along on Easter Saturday, 31st March, to fur so thick wasn’t worried it took the bridge over Beverley Brook, Barnes ages to walk from one end to the Green for the BCA annual Duck Race. other, there were so many people You can buy ducks prior to the race from wanting to say hello. Laurent Residential at Essex Lodge, Barnes Father Christmas waved and High Street – our sponsors for this year’s caused a stir, and a few children fun family event – at Natsons and at Rose did a double-take, as his comfy House.They will also be on sale on the car slid past, bringing him morning of the race. All proceeds go to from the Castelnau Community Centre to the OSO via a walkabout at the new local charities. BCA Christmas Fair in the Sun Inn yard. His reindeer, originally left to graze on Ducks cost £5 each and they can be the common, somehow found their way to a ready supply of food outside James customised on the morning by Torchlight Anderson. Arriving at the OSO, Santa discovered a score of children and their parents Tuition so you can recognise your duck as waiting patiently to tell him what they would like for Christmas. Each child received a it sails towards the finishing line. Everyone bag of chocolate coins and an entreaty to be good – at least till the Big Day. is given a chocolate Easter egg and the Dozens of people stopped their shopping at M&S to hear the delightful St Mary’s winning three will receive special prizes. hand-bell ringers. Castelnau Chorale enchanted the crowds as they sang in front of White Rabbit will come along as usual to Rose House; Barnes Community Choir sang their repertoire of seasonal favourites and welcome everyone, so make it a date. choral specialities outside Olympic Studios, to the joy of passers-by; and the Barnes Concert Band played popular carols and songs despite the chill in their fingers. Jane Bennett-Powell A new face at Rose House The Trustees would like to welcome and introduce Leyla Hutchings, who joined the BCA staff in January. Leyla is the new membership administrator but will also be assisting with a host of other tasks including Prospect+, the website, etc. Leyla lives in Barnes with her family and is very familiar with the events we organise. She is passionate about the local community and is looking forward to working with all our members. She will be in the office in Rose House on Tuesday and Friday mornings and can be contacted by email at other times, [email protected]. Small Ads Apology Please note that, Owing to problems with commercial from the March 2018 delivery, some BCA members were late issue, the cost of receiving their copy of the December/ placing an advert in January issue of Prospect or, in some cases, Prospect will increase to £1 per word, never received one. We can only apologise minimum £10. Copy – lineage only, and advise that, if this should happen, you maers... can always email [email protected], and maximum 30 words – with payment, Christmas Lunch p2 ask for an electronic copy to be sent to you. must reach the BCA at Rose House Town Centre Manager p2 by the 10th of the month, and we We are extremely grateful to our dedicated Trustee news p3 reserve the right to refuse to accept volunteer deliverers who do an excellent any advert submitted. job – thank you! London Marathon p3 BCA festive lunch Town Centre Manager news The BCA and a team of volunteers organise lunch every year, A new year with new opportunities for Barnes complete with transport, so that nobody in Barnes need be 2018 brings new challenges and opportunities for alone on Christmas Day. the economy in Barnes. A number of major projects, The day was a great success and we thank our wonderful which will benefit businesses and residents, are set volunteer cooks and helpers – we could not have managed without them. to take off, whilst at the same time we will feel the The Christmas lunch was funded by the BCA with donations from various impact of a major loss to our retail scene. fundraising events (see below for one example) and with help from Waitrose and local individuals who gave so generously. This year we will lose our last bank. A couple of years after the closure of Barclays, NatWest will shut its doors for the last time in May. This is a significant blow to residents and businesses who use the branch and who will need to find other ways to do their banking. Fortunately the cashpoint, which is critical to our economy, is staying in the short term. On a more positive note, some major projects which we have been working on over the last few years are coming to fruition. Regular readers of Prospect may remember the project that we kicked off over a year ago to undertake a place-making evaluation of the High Street, Church Road and Station Road. This work has been delayed by many months but it is finally moving forward. It will address priority issues such as traffic flow in the High Street and congestion caused by Marks and Spencer Ready for lunch shoppers and Sainsbury’s deliveries. We will keep you posted on the improvements that are being proposed. Biggest Turkey Run to date A big meeting with Network Rail to discuss the future of the Barnes Bridge walkway project is planned. Huge thanks to everyone involved with the Barnes Runners Turkey Run in The good news is that Richmond Council will join the December. Some sixty runners turned out on a grey, damp morning to run meeting and give their support for the project. We the ten mile course along the towpath which started and finished at Small hope we can reach an agreement with Network Rail’s Profit Dock. The Coach & Horses very kindly opened early to operate as HQ legal team which will mean that we can push this before Steven Mindel, BCA Chairman, got the fun run with a festive theme project forward. – some runners dressed as turkeys – underway. Plans for improvements to Suffolk Road recreation Congratulations to Paul Cheetham who finished first in a stunning time ground, including a new playground, are advancing of 58.36 minutes. In second place was Tom White, with Andy Edwards in under the leadership of the new friends group. With third. First woman home was Emma Jones, followed by Denise Bates and a new approach at the Council, a Barnes-wide 20mph Celeste Biever. speed limit could become a reality. Many thanks to the Coach & Horses who offered all the runners a well- All of these initiatives bring great opportunities deserved pint and a delicious turkey bap after the event. Thanks also to for Barnes residents and great potential for our sponsors who donated prizes, including The Ginger Pig who provided a economy. There is a lot going on and the support of turkey, Up and Running in East Sheen, Physio on the River and Buxton the community will be critical for all these projects. (water supplies). We are hugely indebted to Ross Nottingham, who came up Please keep an eye out for news about the work of with the idea for the Turkey Run and Chris Peskett of Barnes Runners and the Town Team and get involved if you can. We will his team who organised the event. Thanks also to the marshals from Barnes be re-launching the Town Team website soon and you Runners and the BCA. can follow our work on Facebook @BarnesTownTeam, The event raised an amazing figure in excess of £3,000. After costs and a Twitter @TCMBarnes and on Instagram @TCMBarnes. contribution to Barnes Runners, the proceeds went to the BCA’s Christmas Lunch fund. 22 bus update The 22 bus campaign team is having a final push with TfL and we need your support. With a change of leadership at TfL – Leon Daniels who came to Barnes last year has now retired – we have a final opportunity to push for the bus to come to Barnes, in particular when Hammersmith Bridge is closed. We are asking supporters to write to London Mayor, Sadiq Khan. We want to fill his in-tray with post to demonstrate the amount of support for the extension of the 22 bus. If you feel strongly about the 22, please put pen to paper. You can find a sample letter and address on our website at bringthe22bustobarnes.com. If you want to support us but, for whatever reason, need some help, you can pick up a hard copy of the letter, to top and tail yourself, from Rose House. Emma Robinson Barnes Town Centre Manager Prospect February 2018 2 Barnes Community Association Please sponsor Trustees’ news Carol! The Christmas holidays are over. It seems like only yesterday we were planning the Christmas Festival (see p1), when it Carol Sutherland is running the was my pleasure as BCA Chairman to accompany the Deputy London Marathon on 22nd April Mayor, Cllr Benedict Dias, around the village. A previous on behalf of the BCA resident of Barnes, he enjoyed his visit immensely and called into several to raise funds for shops, in addition to meeting many local people who packed the pavements defibrillators in Barnes.