The Twickenham Times
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Est 2016 Borough of Twickenham 0006 The Twickenham Times Twickenham Riverside (not Richmond!) Francis Terry, the Council’s architect for the development of Twickenham Riverside, unveiled his plans for “Richmond Riverside” around midday on 14 December in the Architect’s Journal. The London Borough of Rich- mond’s consultation on the Terry options was still in progress, ending Contents at midnight on 16 December. Francis Terry may have jumped the gun 2 Twickers Foodie providing more fodder for those opposing his proposed block of flats on Competition 3 Arts and Entertainment Twickenham Riverside. 4 Community Arts Centre 5 Varsity Match 7 Church St Christmas Francis should have remembered that it was his father, Quinlan Terry, 8 Twickenham Postcards who was the architect for Richmond Riverside in the 1980s. 9 SHRA Carols Mind through Art 10 Hampton Butterflies After Quinlan and Francis Terry won the competition for Twickenham 11 Aircraft Noise 12 The Music Article Riverside Francis split from his father setting up his own practice and continued to work on the Twickenham project alone. Francis Terry is a well-respected architect in many circles but both he and his father have been described in the press as practising reaction- ary pastiche. Unfortunately the picture of Francis’ plan for Twickenham which appeared on Twitter was said to look a little like Trumpton Town. Contributors Erica White None of this bodes well for Twickenham Riverside in terms of architec- Cantabrigiensis ture and the use of the Riverside site for leisure pursuits. Shona Lyons Alan Winter Teddington Action Group To make matters worse, Cllr Fleming who is in charge of the develop- David McGeachie Teresa Read ment of Twickenham Riverside, has not released information regarding Berkley Driscoll the number of Terry flats. At a recent Workshop a senior Council officer announced that £6m had been paid for the part of the site that the Coun- cil did not own; it was suggested that the Council would like to recoup the £6m. Apartments with the Terry name would bear a high price tag. The sum Contact generated from the sale of Riverside flats could go a long way to covering [email protected] deficits in the Council’s budget. Residents might well ask whether Twick- [email protected] advertise@TwickenhamTimes. enham Riverside, which has been fought over for decades, will be sacri- com ficed to finance Council spending. Published by: Twickenham Alive and World Infozone 16th December 2016 Page1 TwickenhamTimes.com Twickers Foodie German Bakery hamper winner Our lucky winner of the hamper is Mary Ainscough, from Twickenham, who collected her prize from the German Bakery in Water Lane, Twickenham. All the products are carefully sourced from Germany by local husband and wife team Harpreet and Preeti Singh. www.germanbakery.eu Special Twickenham Times Offer! Church Street Food Hall You can make up your own hamper or food gift box as an extra special present for a foodie in your life. Colette has kindly offered anyone who mentions the Twickenham Times a free cup of mulled tea and a mince pie to enjoy while they select the items for their Christmas gift. She will then gift-wrap it beautifully for you to take away. They are open until and including Christmas Eve. www.churchstreetfoodhall.co.uk Win a bottle of Prosecco Identify the location (hint, a riverside pub) of the image shown right for a chance to win a bottle of Prosecco. See previous and next editions for other images (from the same location). All correct entries will be entered in a draw to take place the week of 26th December 2016, to enable you to collect your bottle in time for New Year. Send your answer (along with your postcode) to: [email protected] 16th December 2016 Page2 TwickenhamTimes.com Arts and Entertainment by Erica White This week Dramacube Productions present their end-of-term show, ELF The Mu- sical JR. to parents, friends and the general public to performances up at Hamp- ton Hill Theatre from Thursday 15 December at 7.30 pm, Friday 16 December at 5.30pm, Saturday 17 at 1.00pm and at 6.15pm. Ticket details from [email protected] Cantanti Camerati give a CHRISTMAS CONCERT at St Mary’s Parish Church, Twickenham on Saturday, 17 December at 7.30pm Tickets at £15 (under 16 free) from Hillsound Musical Instruments, 24-26 High Street, Hampton Hill, or from Cantanti Camerati on 8898 8020, and on the door. The ever popular CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT at Teddington’s Landmark Arts Centre make a festive start to Christmas week. Local choirs, Surrey Brass and YOU combine to make Christmas music, refreshed with mulled wine and mince pies. Saturday 17 December. Tickets £14/£13/£5 under 16s. [email protected] or phone 8977 7558. The ultimate feel-good Christmas film IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE will be shown at Arthur’s Bistro on the Green, Twickenham on Sunday, 18 December, with a suitably seasonal meal being served at 7.00pm. In- formation : 8893 3995 or go to www.arthursscreenonthegreen.co.uk Looking forward, why not get in the mood to welcome in the New Year with stand- up comedian REG D HUNTER. Reg and friends will be at Hampton Hill Theatre on Saturday, 31 December at 7.15pm. Tickets: £14 online from www.outsidetheboxcom- edy.co.uk or call 07791 439363. A Very Merry Christmas to all and enjoy more entertaining in 2017. 16th December 2016 Page3 TwickenhamTimes.com Community Arts Centre - Brewery Wharf In the second edition of The Twickenham Times there was a letter from a Twickenham resident enquiring about the community arts centre, opposite Twickenham Station, due to open last Spring, which the writer said resembled a white elephant or an ocean liner - fated never to arrive at its destination. The building is in fact proposed as a Cultural Centre for Twickenham, built by St James on the former Royal Mail sorting office site where the property developers gained planning permission for a number of flats and houses. Hailed by the only vocal Twickenham Riverside councillor, Cllr Susan Chappell, as a high-class community facility for Twickenham, the town waits for this empty building to spring into life. Some time ago Cllr Chappell organ- ised a community consultation to find a name for the building but this also seems to be a mystery. The Cultural Centre is said to house a theatre with seats for 320 people for theatrical performances, cinema and conferences. We are told that there are also multi-purpose rooms for meet- ings, community use and sports activi- ties. Various community groups have wanted to book the theatre for Christ- mas plays and film screenings but it is not known if anyone has been ap- pointed to run the Centre; telephone enquiries to the Council and Brewery Wharf lead nowhere. As the 2015 link to the Council Press Release for Brewery Wharf says “Sorry, this page could not be found”. HOT OFF THE PRESS Rumours emanating from the Council today suggest that the Community Arts Centre is to be taken over by St Mary’s University (Strawberry Hill); it appears, as due to expansion, St Mary’s have run out of teaching space. At this stage it is not known how much of the proposed Community Arts Centre will be used by St Mary’s and the extent of any community use. 16th December 2016 Page4 TwickenhamTimes.com Oxford University vs Cambridge University by Cantabrigiensis The annual Varsity Match at The Stadium may be a minor fixture in the world of Rugby Football, but it is a big day for the many of the alumni of those universities who congre- gate to watch, enjoy and take refreshment. I first attended in 1956, when I had a spare day between entrance examination papers, and have gone on most occasions since then. This 60 year span has led me to recall some of the changes I have seen in the Town, the Stadium and the game itself. There were no houses in Water Lane, but there was a car park on the left, with a precari- ous slope on which I once got stuck. I used to park my car there, and walk up to the Sta- dium. I could also have left the car in the middle of King Street, where there was a row of parking places. Sometimes I caught one of the “Specials” from Waterloo. There were always numbers of ticket touts surrounding Twickenham station, offering to buy spare tickets to sell on at vastly inflated prices. The Stadium was a pretty uncomfortable place in those days; many of the spectators were not under cover. The first dozen or so rows made up “The Ring”, and the entire North Stand was open to the elements (and “Stand” meant “stand”!). The roof was supported by pillars (unlike the present cantilevered structure) that obstructed the view in some seats. The latter were excruciatingly uncomfortable, made bearable for the requisite 90 minutes only by the hire for 6d of leather cushions. The individual stands were not joined up, so the wind whistled in at all four corners, forming vortices around the goal posts. This made place kicking extremely problematical. The rules of the game, and the scoring system, were very different from those of today. The ball was made of leather, and in wet weather became extremely heavy and slippery. It is fair to say Rugby is much more entertaining game to watch now than it was then. I was amazed to hear while watching the most recent match (December 8th) live on tel- evision that one of the players was winning his sixth Blue: in earlier times every team member was an undergraduate, so could only have been capped a maximum of three times.