Issue 28 The best thing to come out of Surbiton since the A3 May 2016 Crumbs! Cake entries all disappear Georgia Adams (left) won with a Regency Bookshop the farmers’ market Great cook book. Fabienne Jaimes British Cake Off; judges won the pro section, his Bill Williamson and Elyse madeleines pipping Bosco’s Savage deciding her lemon ornate entry into second. “They and raspberry cake was, as are simple, but delicious, and Bill put it, “intensely fresh I’ve eaten a lot of cake in my tasting”. She won tea for two life!” said Elyse. Within half an at the French Tarte. Charlotte hour, all 15 amateur entries McKenzie (right) won the U12s were crumbs, sold by the slice with her brownies, leaving to benefit the Star and Garter. Keep cats indoors Keep cats inside, and supervise them if they go out. That’s the shock advice as a cat killer moves uncomfortably close to Surbiton. Kingston and Richmond were recently targeted, Tony Jenkins of rescue charity Snarl told The Good Life: “It sounds drastic, but that’s the advice we’re giving cat owners until this psychopath is caught.” To date, 19 cat killings are confirmed; tails or heads gruesomely removed as ‘trophies’. Early incidents were in Croydon, but now the south-west suburbs are under threat. RSPCA post-mortems confirm foul play, rather than road accident deaths. A criminal profiler is working with police. “If you see anyone trying to coax a cat with food, note the car number and call 999,” said Tony. “It’s hard to understand how someone Two flies – Sue Lee, left, and Jane Grove – discuss life could do something so hideous to an and love in David Gray’s Come Fly With Me, a one-act innocent animal,” added Elaine Swift of Who are Tolworth’s top performers? This trio! Isla (left), Fiona (right) play at the cornerHOUSE in May. l Full details on p7 Surbiton’s Mr Monty’s Fuss and Feed. and Olivia won the area’s recent talent show l Turn to p7 for more This act’s worth a butcher’s A beef masterclass will improve From it will be cut rump steaks, Surbitonians’ barbecuing skills, as the sirloins, ribeyes, T-bones and fillets, weather perks up. Staged during the then smaller cuts such as picanhas and Greenway to food festival, it pairs ex-French Table bistro rumps. Those attending will chef Neil Rankin with Kevin Jennings learn how to tell a porterhouse from a from the town’s premier butcher’s in a flat iron. The event is at the community rare (or possibly medium rare) double kitchen, 117 Brighton Road. act of preparation and cookery. ‘The meat comes from Inverurie The free evening on May 9 (email in Aberdeenshire, where we get all [email protected] to Jennings’ beef,’ said Kevin. ‘Cutting it be extended confirm, then bring a bottle), also up is quite theatrical. I’ll demonstrate Tolworth’s Greenway although everyone launches Neil’s book, Low and Slow. how to do it, then Neil will show how is getting longer. agrees we will never Kevin, who runs Jennings with his to get the best from some cheaper cuts.’ The controversial return to the days of dad and uncle in Ewell Road, told The Neil grins, adjusts his cap, folds his central strip, painted a high central barrier Good Life he would begin at 7.30pm immense tattooed arms and says his in everything from splitting the two sides by dividing a ‘roasting’ – the trade aim is to teach people to “cook meat jade to olive, lime to of the Broadway. name for the huge beef carcass which in the right way”. The 39-year-old has turquoise, currently Do pedestrians includes loin, rump and forerib. been on TV’s Great British Menu and ends at the Esso have any rights when is, despite the Scottish accent, garage along the crossing? Are cyclists an adopted Surbitonian. He had Broadway. meant to use the central a sandwich business in his 20s, But it is to be strip? then moved to Manor Drive, doubled in length, Mr Chassard, whose Berrylands, later getting a flat in snaking round the past achievements Glenbuck Road. corner and along include the At 26 he retrained as a chef, Ewell Road before introduction of a new brazenly turning up at the French ending at Red Lion tram and rapid transit Table to persuade Eric Guignard Road. network in Switzerland, to let him work, unpaid, to learn Senior planner insists “the Greenway is the ropes. After college he worked Jean-Christophe Chassard told The working”. He concedes, however, that for two-Michelin-starred Michael Good Life that the project would the vivid green horizontal stripes Wignall and Gary Rhodes before involve significant remodelling of the may not float everybody’s boat, in a doing shifts at Chez Bruce and junction at King Charles Road/Red visual sense. The Glasshouse, Kew. Lion Road, including the installation “It’s a matter of taste,” he said, adding Then he discovered charcoal of new traffic lights, to allow cyclists in a murmur: “It’s not my style.” cooking, and has now made and pedestrians using the extended But traffic speed along the Broadway high-end barbecuing his niche. Greenway to safely rejoin the main has dropped, shoppers move freely He opened Smokehouse in north road. across, and the route to Tolworth London, and is now plotting a The jury is still out on how well the station from the Broadway is safer and new venture in Soho later this multi-shaded Greenway is working, easier. Tim Harrison Kevin Jennings, left, and chef Neil Rankin year. l Full festival story on p8 news Vegging out... Design trends with Elena Romanova Surbiton’s six-year-old organic veg collection and Do you live in a museum? delivery service has been forced to close because urbiton’s Victorian homes range roses are great assets, but you of changes made by its main supplier. Sfrom handsome town houses to can bring them up to date. Why From The Ground Up, run for the past year by humble terraces; typically packed not juxtapose a contemporary light Fiona Quinn, with fruit and veg collected from with features such as ceiling roses, fitting and a traditional plasterwork the YMCA or delivered by bicycle, processed its sash windows, cast-iron fireplaces, rose? Mixing and matching is all the final orders last month. cornicing and tall skirting boards. rage. There was an emotional farewell to a service Some didn’t survive the cheap l Use bold colour. Fashionable valued by regulars, with a party at the Victoria modernising that swept Britain moody dark hues work brilliantly Road collection point. Naturally, the cake which after the Second World War. Today, with Victorian features and are in was enjoyed was made with organic ingredients. though, we want to preserve or keeping with that period’s love of “I received an email from our main supplier reinstate original features to bring dark shades. Consider charcoal detailing significant changes to our supply Last day: Lynn, Juliet, Fiona, Pippa and Chantell character to our home without greys, and inky blues to give your arrangement that would see us lose the valued compromising on contemporary space a contemporary feel. range of produce – only allowing us to sell one provide the economies of scale to be financially style or functionality. l Upcycle period pieces. type of apple per week for example,” said Fiona. sustainable with these new terms, so we have So celebrate your Source inexpensive She added that the supplier had cut the had to come to the decision to close FGU,” she home’s past, Victorian pine furniture. service’s margins, making it uneconomic to said, thanking customers and volunteers for their without living in a Chests of drawers, continue. “Unfortunately our size does not support down the years. museum. cabinets and blanket l Keep sash boxes are easy to find in Recipes for a Good Life: Annie Morris windows. If you have flea markets and on eBay. originals, repair Bring them up to date by and waterproof stripping them back and to help prolong painting them a bright The ideal lunch-box cookies their life. Consider shade. Add new knobs or hese bars are easy to make, great for lunch boxes and beat any in the supermarket. upgrading sashes handles, too, for a fresh TYou need a 397g can of condensed milk, 250g rolled jumbo oats (not instant), 75g desiccated with double glazing, look. These upcycled coconut, 100g dried cranberries, 125g mixed seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame), 125g natural which can be fit into pieces will feel at home unsalted peanuts, and a bar of good quality chocolate – your choice. existing frames. in your Victorian property l Preheat oven to 140°C (130°C fan oven), Alternatively, firms can manufacture without looking stuffy. line a 9x13in baking tin with greaseproof authentic replacements. l Add a sleek extension. paper. l Preserve original floorboards. Lots of homeowners extend l Mix together all the other ingredients, We are still as obsessed with Victorian houses by adding a then add the condensed milk using a original boards as we were a few super-sleek kitchen-diner… and it spatula to fold and distribute. Spread the decades ago, when it became works on the mixing and matching mixture into the tin and press down with fashionable to rip up carpet and principle. Much family life can take the spatula to even the surface. show off the wood beneath. Even place in the large, contemporary l Bake for 1 hour, remove from the oven battered and worn boards can be extension, while smaller rooms in and, after 15 minutes, cut into four across, repaired and patched, so seek the original Victorian side of the and four down to make 16 chunky bars.