Green light for Chiswick Park pedestrian bridge...syria Campaign. It was the Ginger Whisk’s first supper club, and kicked off monthly supper clubs thanks to its sell-out success

LOCAL COOKERY SCHOOL COOK UP £1K FOR SYRIA CAMPAIGNDETAILS PAGE 2

The Chiswick Herald

BACK TO A STARRING ROLE: JOTA RETURNS

SPORTPAGE 46

Green light for Chiswick Park pedestrian bridgeChiswick Business Park has signed an agreement with the London Borough of Hounslow, the Lon-don Borough of Ealing, Network Rail and Transport for London to proceed with the development of a pedestrian bridge linking the Park to Chiswick Park station. The 135m long footbridge will be constructed over the railway line, extending from the northern end of the business park, and will provide employees with direct access to Chiswick Park station. In addition to helping ease congestion during busy periods at Gunnersbury station, the bridge will also help improve acces-sibility with the surrounding commu-nity and gives office workers based

HEATHROW IS SHAPING UP TO HAVE IT’S ‘BEST YEAR EVER’FULL STORY PAGE 20

at the park direct, closer access to the retail amenities on Chiswick High Road. Construction will begin in August 2017, with expected completion and opening taking place in December 2018. The first phase of construction in-volves enabling and piling works, before the three connecting spans of the bridge, which will be constructed off-site, are transported to the site and lifted into place. Following the fitting of...

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Chiswick Park Station Bridge: Construction Will Begin In Aug 2017

THE CHISWICK HERALD2 THE CHISWICK HERALD Friday 5th May 2017Friday 5th May 2017 3

2 Men Charged With BurglarySuspicious activity results in 2 burglars arrested, charged and sent to court. In the early hours of Saturday 22nd April, Police were called by a vigilant mem-ber of the public in Chiswick noticed 2 males were acting suspiciously.

The witness was able to give details of the vehicle, which was subsequently stopped near Chiswick roundabout.

The occupant of the vehicle had in their

possession a quantity of tools from the address that they had just burgled.

Two males aged 25 and 29 years old were arrested by Response Team E for burglary.

Both males have been charged with Burglary and sent to a West London Magistrates Court.

LOCAL NEWSLOCAL NEWS

Chiswick Cookery School raises over £1k for Cook for Syria Campaign

Political Grandstanding or positive Community Partnership?

Lucy Cufflin and Jacqui Melville, found-ers of the Ginger Whisk, are delighted to announce that a Syrian-themed supper club they held to launch the new Ginger Whisk in Chiswick last Thursday night raised well over £1000 for the #cookfor-syria Campaign. It was the Ginger Whisk’s first supper club, and kicked off monthly supper clubs thanks to its sell-out success. Lucy and her team of volunteers worked tirelessly throughout the evening, serv-

ing up delicious mezze of Houmous, Tabouleh, olives, fresh flatbreads, Mu-hammara, Dukkah and Syrian-spiced meatballs to around 70 guests. They went on to enjoy 5-hours Za’atar in-fused Lamb served up with Lemon Scented Labneh and Mujadarra and Spiced Chickpeas before moving on to sweet delights such as Orange & Carda-mon Cake and Baklava with Tea Syrup. Lucy’s star turn was a Rose Pannacotta of which she was very proud (and re-lieved!)

Money was raised throughout the night too, via raffles and the ‘head or tails’ pound coin game, which was great fun. Lucy says of the night, “It was totally thrilling to open our cookery school to a full house, packed with hungry, happy, generous people. I can’t wait for the next supper club, which will be at on June 7th and will be completely different. Keep an eye on gingerwhisk.com for more details.”

Actress Sheila Hancock Welcomes Modern Day Pilgrims To W6

On Tuesday 4 July at 7.00pm, an even-ing of literature and music will be hosted by actress Sheila Hancock in a free event at the Polish Cultural Centre. Refugee Tales is inspired by The Can-terbury Tales and every evening on a long walk, famous writers read tales of the refugee experience. Prizewinning writers Ian Duhig and Marina Warner will read The Walk-er’s Tale and The Mother’s Tale and klezmer band Don Kipper will enter-tain. The event is free so please arrive early to be sure of a seat though Don Kipper may have you dancing in the aisles! Walkers will arrive at the Polish Cul-tural Centre after a day of walking from Brentford and on 5th July will walk from Hammersmith to Westminster. The walk takes place over five days and ends at Westminster. Anyone who likes walking can sign up for the full five days, or for one day on the website www.refugeetales.org The walk is in solidarity with refugees and detainees and walkers reflect on the long and dangerous journeys that refugees make when they flee war and persecution to seek sanctuary. Walkers call for an end to indefinite immigra-tion detention in the UK since the UK is the only country that detains people indefinitely.

Baroness Helena Kennedy, patron of GDWG said, “The Canterbury Tales collected together stories about a set of travellers in England in the 13th cen-tury. From my experience, as a current day lawyer, refugees’ stories are just as affecting: horrifying but also life-af-firming, frightening but also uplifting.

“Our humanity is measured by our em-pathy and willingness to step into the

shoes of others. The idea of sharing the migrants’ experience by travelling with them and lending an ear as well as a hand is ingenious. This is a journey worthy of our support.”

Walkers will be joined by the local community on their journey and to gather to listen to the tales.

Ali Smith, patron of Refugee Tales said, “The telling of stories is an act of profound hospitality. It always has been; story is an ancient form of gen-erosity, an ancient form that will tell us everything we need to know about the contemporary world.

“Story has always been a welcoming-in, is always one way or another a hos-pitable meeting of the needs of others, and a porous artform where sympathy and empathy are only the beginning of things. The individual selves we all are meet and transform in the telling into something open and communal.”

Local residents may experience the transforming power of the tale if they join Sheila Hancock, refugees and modern day pilgrims in Hammersmith in July. Sign up to walk – just £7.50 for a day and £170 for 5 days with overnight ac-commodation, all meals and free even-ing events.

For those interested in indefinite deten-tion the website www.refugeetales.org offers more information and ways to become involved in campaigning for a 28 day time limit to detention.

Refugee Tales stories are available in an anthology published by Comma Press.

LOCAL RESIDENTS, the police, Coun-cillors, the head at Chiswick School, and representatives from Hounslow’s Parks and youth services met this week to dis-cuss the recent escalation in the prob-lem of young people congregating, in-timidating and attacking people in and around a memorial bench in Chiswick.

This initiative brought together an im-portant community alliance and I’m glad a solution may have been found, at least to the pressing problem of young people congregating. It has been agreed there will be daily policing in the hot-spot area. Additional youth work and support dispersal orders as well as the installation of CCTV is being investigated and Chis-wick School will work with a core group of youngsters. Ironically, the bench where people are gathering was installed in memory of Isobel Reilly, a young local girl who tragically died experimenting with drugs at a party in 2011. It’s terribly sad that the bench seems to have become a focus for drug-dealing.

One of the residents I spoke to was shocked to realise that teachers are tak-ing on responsibilities more akin to child protection and social work. The teachers’ workload is therefore growing because these services are no longer able to fully support the increasing challenges young people have both inside and outside of school.

One Chiswick School student told me that, what had started as small groups of local pupils meeting up socially af-ter school, has escalated as other, older youngsters started getting involved. He

said that through social media, young people learn there’s a fight happening af-ter school, and go and watch, and from there it gets worse, with local residents (including other young people and the police) being intimidated and in some cases attacked.

All of our young people need our sup-port. They are bearing the brunt of Government decisions, from the ending of youth services and after-school op-portunities because of “austerity based” funding cuts, to the unrelenting testing culture at school and the pressures many families are experiencing making ends meet.

In addition, the police face an addition-al drain on resources to keep on top of the growing menace of drugs and knife crime.

It’s easy to make quick political capital and news stories from this tragic build-up of intimidation and violence, but these are our children, and our neighbours’ chil-dren. With similar incidents happening across London, and the worrying growth in knife crime, as community leaders and politicians we have to take responsibility for what is going on in young people’s lives now. Let’s take a strategic approach and promote long-term solutions that give our young people a positive and happy future, so they, and we all, can en-joy Chiswick without fear.

Ruth Cadbury



Shots fired in London terror raidTom Hardy ‘arrests’ moped thief

A woman in her 20s has been shot by police and four people arrested in an anti-terror operation inWillesden and Kent, Scotland Yard says. Officers say the operation was not con-nected to the earlier arrest of a man near Parliament. The woman in her 20s was one of the subjects of the investigation and is in a serious but stable condition. Two men, 20 and 16, and a woman, 20, were held after the Willesden shooting and a woman, 43, was arrested in Kent.

The Metropolitan Police said they were arrested on suspicion of the commis-sion, preparation and instigation of ter-rorist acts.

They are in custody at a south London police station.Hospital guard

The woman was shot after armed of-ficers entered an address in Harlesden Road, Willesden, shortly before 19:00 BST on Thursday.

A police spokesman said she was taken to hospital by ambulance.

Hollywood superstar Tom Hardy chased down and helped snare a moped thief after pursuing him through gar-dens and across a building site in Rich-mond, making a citizen’s arrest.

Two teenagers were arrested on suspi-cion of theft-related motor vehicle of-fences and have been released under investigation.

A witness said the Hollywood actor “switched into superhero mode” as he collared one suspect before checking him for weapons after the chase.

He sprinted through gardens and a building site before grabbing the thief by the scruff of the neck, and declaring, “I caught the c***,” said a witness.

With the help of the Legend and Mad Max star, two suspects were detained in connection with the theft, according to The Sun.

The witness said two men had jumped a red light at a busy junction before crashing the moped into a £50,000 Mercedes near Hardy’s home in Rich-mond.

“Due to her condition, she has not been arrested at this time and remains under police guard at hospital,” he said.

“The address and persons connected with it had been under observation by counter-terrorism officers as part of an ongoing intelligence-led operation.”

Searches at the locations of the arrests are ongoing, as well as further searches at “linked addresses” in London, police added.

The incident has been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Com-mission and the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards, as is proce-dure.

Meanwhile, a video been taken at the moment of shooting has been posted on social media. It appears to show armed police surrounding a terraced house as five shots rang out.

The arrests came after a 27-year-old man was held by armed officers under the Terrorism Act in Westminster on Thursday afternoon. In a statement, police said the two incidents were not connected.— BBC

A large gang of schoolchildren have ‘beaten up’ a man during a street attack in Chiswick. Witnesses described seeing the group of youngsters attacking a middle-aged man in the street before the terrified victim sought refuge in a café. Police raced to Chiswick High Road at just after 6.15pm to reports of a man being assaulted by a group of school-children.

The chief executive of Heathrow has said that 2017 is shaping up to be its best year ever after the airport saw sig-nificant growth in quarterly revenue and profit. The announcement comes as local Lib Dems gave expansion plans the thumbs down. Heathrow (SP) Ltd generated revenue of £655m for the three months to 31 March 2017, up from £642m a year earlier.

Earnings grew by almost 19 per cent to £416m and profit before tax for the quarter increased by 17.4 per cent to £27m.

For the three-month period, traffic in-creased by 2.2 per cent to a record 17.2 million passengers, while retail rev-enue per passenger grew by more than 50 pence to £8.62.

John Holland-Kaye, Chief Execu-tive Officer of Heathrow, said, “When Heathrow succeeds, Britain benefits and 2017 is shaping up to be our best year ever. Our new domestic airline Flybe is already driving more choice for passengers on Scottish routes and surging trade is boosting jobs across Britain.

“Britain is plotting a new course in the world and expanding Heathrow is more important than ever to ensure its success. It will make our country the best connected in the world and secure our export-led future. We’re getting on with delivering it and look forward to opening Britain’s new runway in 2025.

Heathrow on for best year ever

Gang of schoolchildren ‘beat up’ man in Chiswick street

Zac Goldsmith seeking re-election as Conservative MPFormer London mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith is seeking to return to parliament as Conservative MP for his former constituency.Mr Goldsmith was ousted as MP for Richmond Park during a by-election in December.He had previously left the Conserva-tive party in protest at the government’s backing of a third Heathrow runway.Local Conservative party members meet on Wednesday night to choose between Mr Goldsmith and two other candidates.Mr Goldsmith, the Conservative par-ty’s 2016 candidate for Mayor of Lon-don, is up against Luke Parker - the party’s 2015 General Election candi-date in Brent North - and Laura Farris, a barrister.— BBC

Witness Alice Terry told London’s Evening Standard: “I witnessed a load of school kids running up and down Chiswick High Road, and then they at-tacked a guy.

“Some men in the pub with me said it was an altercation over him ripping one of their jackets.

“They all tried to run into the Kitchen Pantry cafe, and were kicked out.

“Then police arrived, followed by a car, and broke them all up. The main perpe-trator is currently being questioned.”

Local business owner Kat Jones added she saw a load of Chiswick kids run-ning down Devonshire Road at just be-fore 5pm and several police cars.

Anna Jasinska, who works at the Kitch-en and Pantry café, told the Standard that the young people “attacked an older guy” and he came into the café

to seek refuge.

She added: “He was okay, he’s with the policeman now.”

James Pavey said on Twitter: “Just saw a bunch of Chiswick school kids liter-ally beat up a middle aged man on the high road – nearly got knocked over by a car.”— Associated Press

Both teenagers sustained injuries as a result of the collision and the London Ambulance Service was called.

They were initially taken to a south

London hospital for treatment and then taken into custody at a west London police station.

Proactive Citizen: Tom Hardy


Dukes Meadows Tennis OPEN DAY

New Sexual Health Service in Hammersmith

Diane Scott to stand as Green Party Candidate for Brentford and Isleworth

In support of the Great British Tennis Weekend, Dukes Meadows will be of-fering Free Coaching, Court time and Fun games available for children and adults.

With 5 indoor GreenSet® courts and 4 outdoor clay courts Dukes Meadows gives you and your family access to tennis all year round. Home to FC** Tennis Academy, an LTA grant funded facility, Dukes Meadows hosts a team of world class coaches and is the per-fect venue for playing tennis either for fun or professional development.

We look forward to seeing you all there!

Dukes Meadows Golf Tennis OPEN DAY on Saturday 13th May 10am - 5pm

A range of new sexual and reproduc-tive health services have opened in Hammersamith this spring.

Among the available suite of services are complementary therapies, peer sup-

port, education and employment op-portunities and counselling and aims to reach those not currently using the service.

There will also be screening for sexu-ally transmitted infections (STIs) and access to a wide range of contraceptive methods.

The new service is delivered by joint

Hounslow Green Party has announced that Diane Scott will stand for Brent-ford and Isleworth in the 2017 General Election. Diane will fight to protect the environment and for a fairer society. Dr Scott is a senior medical researcher, with a specialist interest in immunol-ogy. She has campaigned against air pollution and recently co-ordinated measurements which highlighted the dangerous and illegal levels of air near the A4 in Brentford. She helped set up Chiswick Transi-tion, to encourage people to live more sustainably by growing their own food or using locally farmed produce where possible and to raise awareness of cli-mate change and declining oil supplies. She has lived in Chiswick in the Grove Park area for more than thirty years and is mother to two sons, a daughter and has a young grand-daughter. Now re-tired, she is a Trustee of Omushana, a UK charity working to help local chil-

working from Metro, Naz, Marie Stopes and London Friend, led by Turning Point.

Residents using the service will receive tailored support with options including peer support, group work, support for family and carers and complementary therapies.

The new service will have close links

dren in Uganda. Diane joined the Green Party because she became very worried about the impacts of human activity on climate change. Her first action was to join the flash mob demonstrating against a third runway at the opening of Heathrow Terminal 5. She was also attracted by

with HIV treatment services and offer additional education and employment support.

Counselling, complementary therapies and more will be available at 30 Blacks Road, Hammersmith, W6 9DT.

To get in touch, call 020 7851 2955, or visit the website.

Green Party policies on equality and social justice. She continues to campaign against the expansion of Heathrow airport. She is particularly worried that Heathrow expansion will lead to even worse air pollution locally, as well as increased noise and carbon emissions.

Contraceptive services and screening for sexually transmitted infections will be available from 1 June at Crowther Market, North End Road, Fulham.

For more information and alternative locations, email [email protected], phone 020 7685 5939, or visit the website.

She would like to see better provision of patient care in NHS, particularly mental health care. She firmly believes in a free publicly funded and publicly provided NHS and an end to creeping privatisation and cuts. Diane voted against Brexit. She re-spects the opinion of the electorate, and believes that any deal should safe-guard the rights of Britons living in the European Union and members of the European Union living in the United Kingdom. She will fiercely oppose any watering down of the strong environ-mental and labour protection offered by the existing European laws. Daniel Goldsmith, who stood last time, said “I am very glad that Diane has agreed to stand. She will be a very strong candidate. Air pollution is al-ready a major issue in London, and will get worse if there is a third runway. As a scientist Diane will speak very cred-ibly on this topic.”

Chiswick Residents And Green Party Candidate Diane Scott

LOCAL NEWS



Chiswick vicar starts ‘online Church’Anti social behaviour clamp down leads to arrests in Chiswick

A proactive drug operation to tackle low level criminality and ASB in Chiswick and Brentford has resulted in 2 arrests.

Officers from across Hounslow Police led by the Chiswick and Brentford Neighbour-hood team joined in a two day operation to tackle drugs and Anti-Social Behaviour in Chiswick and Brentford.

Operation Archimedes was launched on Wednesday 26th of April 2017 to provide a joint up approach with neighbouring Po-licing Teams to disrupt, arrest and deter of-fenders.

The first wave of the operation on was to focus on tackling to tackle low level crimi-nality and ASB around the Haverfield Estate in Brentford.

Day 2 of the operation, focused on the An-ti-Social Behaviour around Chiswick High Rd and Chiswick Common Playing fields, where a dispersal zone has been place to dis-

perse any youths congregating in the area and causing ASB.

A 14 year male was arrested after refusing the leave the dispersal area and was arrested under Section 35 Anti-Social, Crime and Policing Act 2014

A 17 year old male was arrested for theft of pedal cycle in the Chiswick Common area.

Inspector Steve Edwards from Chiswick and Brentford Safer Neighbourhood team said: We have had numerous complaints about a number of young people causing a seri-ous nuisance across Chiswick Common and the surrounding streets. They have been in-volved in criminality, anti-social behaviour and harassment of all those using or living in the area. The use of a dispersal zone is not taken lightly, but in this case needed to be done to allow people who frequent the Common and the High Road to use it with-out intimidation from this small number of people who are causing all the trouble

Martine Oborne, the local Vicar who writes a column for us in The Chis-wick Herald, has started an online spiritual pilgrimage for people inter-ested in exploring faith. She says, ‘It’s a kind of online church, if you like – but not only for people who already go to church, it’s also for those who don’t go to church and don’t want to!’ The pilgrimage (which you can join at www.martineoborne.com) sets no entry conditions - you don’t even need to believe in God to get on board. You will then receive a free once a week motivational email which will, as Martine puts it, ‘help you live the abundant life you were created for.’ You’ll also be invited to join a closed Facebook community, if you’d like to, where you can share with others encouragement and sup-port along the way.

‘I hope people will find that the jour-ney is transformational,’ says Mar-tine. ‘That it leads people from sick-ness to health, from overwhelm to calm, from low self-esteem to high, from negativity to joy.’

I asked Martine where she got the idea.

She said that the idea really came - as

Chiswick Common

the best ideas always do - from some-where left of centre!

She had struggled with quite bad pso-riasis for about thirty years and had tried all kinds of remedies (including visiting an Irish faith healer living in a caravan in Enniskillen during the Troubles) - but nothing worked.

Martine says, ‘One thing people were always recommending was that I tried giving up dairy - but I’d found it really impossible to stick to a non-dairy diet for long enough to know whether it might help. (Even though I’m a Vicar, self discipline is not one of my strengths!)’

But last September - with the pso-riasis getting worse than ever - Mar-tine joined an online community (based out of the US) promoting a plant based non dairy diet which provided regular online motivation through emails and access to a closed Facebook community where others, like herself, who were also trying to change their diets, could provide each other with support and encour-agement. Somehow the regular on-line advice and community support made all the difference.

Martine says, ‘I stayed non dairy for three months and my psoriasis com-pletely cleared up. And now, eight

months later, I’m still in touch with the online community and managing to stay non dairy and the psoriasis still completely clear.’

As Martine reflected on all this, she thought about how Church works in a similar way. She says, ‘We get together regularly (usually on Sun-days) to receive input and advice on our spiritual journeys and also lots of encouragement by being with others - who also share our struggles. This is why, I believe, the local church brings such healing and support to those who come.

So I started to wonder whether I could replicate the structure online

- with weekly motivational input through emails and a private Face-book community where we could share how we are getting along and encourage each other.’

Hence the online pilgrimage at www.martineoborne.com.

‘From my own spiritual journey over the years,’ says Martine, ‘I know that faith (which is essentially trusting that we are loved) has the power to bring healing, to bring calm when we feel overwhelmed, to raise our self esteem and to lift us up at times when we might despair. We live in a world where much illness is the re-sult of poor self-care, where people are stressed and unkind to themselves - all of which leads to a climate of negativity.

But faith is not something we simply ‘get’ and then don’t have to worry about ever again. It’s something, like exercise or meditation, that we need to make a habit of attending to every day. Hopefully this online pilgrimage will help people to do this.’

I asked her why not she doesn’t just encourage people to go to their lo-cal churches? And she says, of course, she does! ‘But the great thing about an online church or pilgrimage,’ says Martine, ‘is that it provides a commu-

nity unbounded by geography. Just as I could engage with a woman in New Jersey trying to go non dairy to help her live with cancer, I al-ready have subscribers who live as far apart as North London and the North West province of Pakistan - as well as many local subscribers too. Which makes for a very rich and di-verse congregation indeed.

Furthermore, doing the online pil-grimage means you can give church a try without either getting out of bed or darkening an intimidating church door. Maybe, I hope, if peo-ple make progress on my pilgrim-age - they’ll try out a local church wherever they happen to live.’

The project is still in its infancy but Martine is hoping it will prove to be a benefit for people and will grow.

‘We’ve just put in a fab new kitchen at St Michael’s in Elmwood Road so the Church is open most days and I’ll be there - not only ready to dispense spiritual nourishment but with my juicer and ready to whizz you up some green juice too! So I’m hoping lots of people will drop by in person. And also join me online.’

www.martineoborne.com

Reverend Martine Oborne

Council tax collected early by Hounslow council

Hounslow Council has apologised after Council Tax payments from residents across the borough was collected earlier than usual due to a ‘sytem error’.

Councillor Steve Curran, Leader of Houn-slow Council, said: “We would like to apolo-gise to everyone affected by the early collec-tion of some residents’ direct debit payments for council tax instalments.

“Due to a system error, direct debit pay-

ments for council tax instalments that were due on 1 May 2017 were taken early, on 28 April instead of 2 May.

“We are working with our partner, Liberata, to resolve the issue as soon as possible.”

Residents who may have been affected by this and have suffered financial loss as a result should email [email protected].

Councillor Steve Curran



Home Secretary Amber Rudd Gives Backing To Mary Macleod

Conservative Candidate Mary Macleod And Home Secretary Amber Rudd

Powerwall Is Available To View At Tesla Chiswick In Devonshire Rd

Tesla Chiswick encourage locals to find out more about a sustainable future

Brentford and Isleworth Lib Dem calls for tactical voting

CONT. FROM FRONT PAGE

...decking, lighting and infill panels, landscaping works will be under-taken on either side of the bridge to complete the works. Situated on Chiswick High Road, the business community is well served by local bus routes, and is less than half a mile from Chiswick rounda-bout, which gives easy access to the M4, A4 and the North/South circu-lars. With neighbouring Acton and Ealing stations set to be redeveloped as part of the Crossrail programme, the park’s broader connectivity will be further enhanced.

Chiswick Park is widely regarded as one of London’s most pioneering business locations, and continues to attract a wide range of market lead-ing companies. The Park provides a workplace for a growing number of employees, and the new bridge will help further improve accessibility, while easing congestion at the neigh-bouring Gunnersbury station.

Graham White, Chief Executive of Chiswick Park, said: “Our business community at Chiswick Park is very well served by public transport, and the new bridge will provide direct access from the northern end of the site, with five minute walk from the offices to Chiswick Park station.

“We’re pleased to have reached this agreement with the neighbouring

councils, Transport for London and Network Rail. I’m sure the bridge will be welcomed by our guest com-panies on the park, and the wider community, by taking the pressure off the growing number of commut-ers using Gunnersbury station during busy periods, while significantly in-creasing the proximity of the shops, cafes and restaurants on the High Road to our guests on the Park.”

Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, cabinet member for environment, transport and leisure at the London Borough of Ealing, said: “We welcome the construction of this new pedestrian bridge which will provide an easier and much shorter journey for people travelling to and from Chiswick Park Campus to Chiswick Park Station, as well as a direct link between the Co-lonial Drive development and Chis-wick Park Campus.”

Chiswick Park is home to over 8,000 employees from 45 of the world’s best known brands, including Dis-covery, PepsiCo, Aker Solutions and Starbucks. The park is renowned for its revolutionary Enjoy-Work brand, a business lifestyle ethos which be-lieves if people enjoy their work, they do better work. This is manifest-ed by the estate management team responsible for creating and main-taining an innovative work environ-ment and delivering a programme of events and services aimed at improv-ing business productivity.

Joe Bourke, the Lib Dem candidate for Brentford & Isleworth, is urg-ing all conservative and labour sup-porters who voted “Remain” in last year’s EU referendum, to cast a tacti-cal vote for the Liberal Democrats. Bourke believes that if elected with other Lib Dem MPs he can provide strong opposition to the govern-ment’s Brexit strategy, aiming to secure a “soft Brexit”, continuing membership of the SingleMarket and a second referendum on the negotiated terms. “The Conservative candidate Mary Macleod is highly unlikely to defy her party on Brexit,” Joe said. “Whilst Labour’s Ruth Cadbury did on one occasion vote in the Com-

mons against her party agreeing to trigger article 50 she would be side-lined by her party because Labour’s stand is officially pro-Brexit.

“Britain needs strong dedicated pro-European MPs who will fight their corner and hold this Government to account”, said Joe.

“We need to remain in the European Single European Market. The Tories are hell-bent on leaving the EU what-ever happens and no-one is sure what Labour’s position is. Brexit is the single most important decision Brit-ain has faced in over half a century. It is quite possibly the biggest decision we will take in our lifetimes. That’s why it is the single dominant issue in this election.”

“If the Brexit negotiations result in a bad deal for Britain our economy will suffer massively. Living standards will fall. Already the warning signs are there – a weak exchange rate, rising inflation, consumer spending down, very weak recent growth in our economy and this whilst we’re still in the Single Market!”

“We are asking Labour and Conserv-ative voters who feel as passionately about Brexit as we do to vote tacti-cally. Vote for the one party that can represent them in urging a sensible solution – the Liberal Democrats,” said Joe.

The Home Secretary, Rt Hon. Am-ber Rudd MP met with Mary Ma-cleod in Chiswick today to listen to residents concerned about the recent increase in anti-social be-haviour and crime in the Chiswick Back Common area. Anti-social behaviour and disorder has been on the rise in recent weeks, culminating in a large scale incident on Monday 24 April where police officers were assaulted as they at-tempted to make arrests after a large gang of some 50 people gathered on Chiswick Back Common. Amber and Mary met with local residents and Chiswick Councillors Adrian Lee and John Todd to hear about the recent incidents and listen to residents’ concerns. Amber said: “I was concerned to hear about recent incidents of anti-social behaviour and other crimes in the Chiswick Common area which are most distressing for local residents. It was good to come along here today with Mary Macleod to meet some of those affected and hear firsthand about the issues in what is such a

lovely part of London. “I know that Inspector Steven Ed-wards from the Turnham Green Safer Neighbourhoods Team is organising a meeting later this week to review the situation and I look forward to hearing the outcome. Anti-social behaviour really affects the quality of people’s lives and it’s so impor-

Tesla, the US manufacturer of luxury electric vehi-cles and the revolutionary Powerwall home energy unit, are encouraging locals in W4 to visit its Chis-wick showroom for an introduction to its electric vehicles and latest home power solution.

tant that everyone comes together - police, local residents, politicians, schools, parents and local businesses to take action to address it. “I was also delighted to have the opportunity to meet some of Mary Macleod’s team who are out cam-paigning with her to win back the Brentford & Isleworth constituency

With environmental concerns topping many a list of concern for Londoners the Powerwall battery unit increases self consumption of solar generated power by storing surplus solar energy to then be used when the household typically requires it, in the evening when the family is at home.

A Tesla Spokesperson said ‘Our Chiswick store is open to residents in Chiswick to pop by and have a look at the Powerwall which is another step towards our mission for a sustainable ener-gy future. Plus we have Model S and Model X, our revolutionary 100% electric cars on display and available to test drive from the store too’

Tesla’s Chiswick showroom is at 109 Devon-shire Rd, Chiswick, London W4 2AN, tel: 020 3744 9898

for the Conservatives. Mary is sorely missed in Parliament and I wish her well in the upcoming election and look forward to welcoming her back on the green benches where she can continue her hard work for the people of Chiswick, Brentford, Isleworth, Osterley and Hounslow.” Mary Macleod said: “I was delighted to welcome the Home Secretary to Chiswick today to meet local resi-dents and hear about the worrying incidents of anti-social behavior and disorder in the Chiswick Common area. It is simply not acceptable for people to be harassed on the streets and constantly worried about what’s happening outside their own homes. “I am glad to hear that Inspector Ed-wards has taken the important step to put in place a Dispersal Zone, which allows them to arrest any youths who return to the area after being asked to leave. The fact that several arrests have already been made shows that they mean business but I hope that the meeting on Wednesday even-ing with the Turnham Green Safer Neighbourhoods Team will identify further actions to be taken to deal with this situation.”



Macleod campaign whistle-stop constituency launchTHE CONSERVATIVE PARTY campaign to win the Brentford & Isleworth seat was formally launched with a rolling train launch that spanned the constitu-ency.

The whistle-stop tour took in Hounslow, Isleworth, Syon, Brentford, and Kew Bridge be-fore arriving at Chiswick Station where Mary Macleod addressed a reception to launch her candidacy to become the Conservative MP for Brentford & Isleworth.

“Our constituency is highly di-verse but joined by the train line that runs through it. A launch along this line is a metaphor for my pledge to represent the whole of Brentford & Isleworth in all its deiversity”, explained Mary Ma-cleod, Conservative Parliamen-tary Candidate for Brentford & Isleworth.

“We have some tough negotia-tions ahead as a country and we need to be unified locally and nationally in our approach. The-resa May is providing that strong leadership at a national level and I want to ensure that we also have strong leadership on the issues in this constituency.”

Welcoming Mary Macleod’s candidacy, Julian Tanner, Chair-man of the Brentford & Isleworth Conservative Association, stated: “Mary is highly experienced, tough and resolute and will stand up for all the people of Brentford & Isleworth and defend their in-terests. She also has the political experience and connections to make a difference and deliver re-sults for her constituents.”

Mary With Supporters In Brentford

Ruth Cadbury

Young entrepreneurs help Age Concern ChiswickLocal charity Age Concern Chiswick held a most successful Spring Buffet Lunch and Tea Dance last Thursday for over forty of their members and guests.

The event was organised and hosted by a team of young entrepreneurs from Startup Leadership London, ably and enthusiastically led by Michael Blake-ley and the team’s mentor, Steven Hess. Michael has supported the charity for several year in his former role at local internet television company, Modern Times Group.

Guests were treated to a delicious buf-fet lunch, and some luxurious cakes at teatime. Inbetween the two feasts was entertainment on a grand scale: one delight after another. Some witty and cleverly drafted quizzes yielded extremely generous prizes donated by team members.

Many of the guests were lured on to the dance floor by the charming and talent-ed Anna Symes, aka Ms Tequila Slam-mer Anna, who led the dancing. Later, Charlie and Vei from Secret Sessions musicians serenaded everyone with some beautiful renditions of old fa-vourites, ending with a jolly sing-song during which club members were able

to teach the youngsters a thing or two.

The Startup team have also most gen-erously donated a new sound system to the club, for which the Executive Committee are extremely grateful. Jean Silva, Chairperson of the charity’s trustees, commented “We cannot thank the young people enough for their gen-erosity in putting on this event for us, and for their cheerful enthusiasm and friendliness to us all.

“I do believe that they, too, will have benefited enormously from participat-ing and getting to know our members. We wish them all success in their new enterprises and hope to welcome them back again very soon.

“I would urge local people, of any age, with a little time to spare to come and see us and find out how you can con-tribute to this very worthwhile charity seeking to combat loneliness amongst older people in Chiswick and Brent-ford.”

Anti-Brexit Tories Switching Sides, Says Labour’s Ruth CadburyTactical voting, crossing party lines - Labour candidate for Brentford and Isleworth say anti-Brexit Tories are switching sides in a bid to see in a so called soft-Brexit. In a video recorded by John Dale of Brentford TV, Ruth said there are “very, very disappointed Tories – the 2017 election is unpredictable here in marginal Brentford and Isleworth.” It’s early days, but in the current Chis-wick Herald ongoing election poll, Labour trail behind the Tories and Lib dems. Her words came a few days after Lib dem candidate Joe Bourke called for tactical voting in order to keep closer ties with the EU.


COUNCIL NEWSCOUNCIL NEWSCOUNCIL NEWS

Goldsmith selection: Bourke response

In Chiswick people are talking mainly about Brexit

The Liberal Democrats have re-sponded to the selection of Zac Gold-smith as official Conservative candi-date in Richmond Park.

Joe Bourke, Brentford and Isleworth Liberal Democrat spokesman, said:

“By standing as a Conservative after resigning over Heathrow, Zac Gold-smith has just lost his last shred of credibility. “People in Richmond Park voted re-soundingly against a hard Brexit and against Heathrow expansion, both

Over the past few days since the snap general election has been called many people are angry in Chiswick, who I have spoken to, about the need for a general election.

What some people want is a second referendum not a general election. My party, the Liberal Democrats, want this as it would be a clear decision based upon the facts of any negotiated Brexit decision.

In Southfield, Chiswick, 76% of resi-dents voted to stay in the EU (the most in the borough) and now it is more likely we may leave the EU, the real-ity is hitting home. Those who work in the financial sector have seen their companies move parts of their busi-ness to France and Germany. This will continue and more people will be los-ing their jobs.

I feel for the ten or more percent of residents in Chiswick who originated from EU countries and now – often af-ter serving our country so well in many public sector jobs – may be forced out of our country. This is no way to treat residents who have lived here for years and given so much to London and the country. My view is that we should agree up front that any EU citizens should be allowed to stay. This will give security to them so they are not used as a chess piece in a game which Theresa May seems to want.

As both Labour and Conservative vot-

backed by Zac Goldsmith’s Con-servative Party.Instead they voted for the Liberal Democrat Sarah Ol-ney. “Zac Goldsmith couldn’t stand on a Conservative platform last time, so what’s changed? “As a Conservative he will be standing on a clear pro-Brexit, pro-Heathrow manifesto. The people of Richmond Park have already told him what they think of that.Sarah Olney beat him once, she will beat him again.

ers commit in the general election to a vote for the Liberal Democrat candi-date, Jon Ball, we see some other is-sues also being raised including:

• Heathrow – only the Lib Dems at a local, regional and national level are against expansion.

• Hospital cuts – we are working with other particular parties to stop these cuts from happening. It is a shame that the Conservatives appear to be happy to allow the government cuts to take place without making a fuss.

• Increase in homelessness – Lib Dems locally have been raising money to help organisations provide help and services for those who are homeless. Nationally we think that the govern-ment needs to be more proactive on this area and not keep making cuts after cuts which are leading to many people needing food banks or becom-ing homeless.

In summary the government is making a pigs ear out of Brexit – alienating the EU is not the way to get the best for London and Chiswick. Let us hope af-ter the snap general election there is a change of course on this crucial issue.

Councillor Gary Malcolm,

Liberal Democrat Councillor, South-field

Liberal Democrat response to Heathrow runway consultation

Further investment for Ealing’s roads and footways

Councillor Gary Malcolm outlines his objections to Heathrow expansionMy response is one as both a resident in Acton, representing constituents in Chiswick and Acton as well as Group Leader for the Liberal Democrats whose views have come from residents across the borough.In preface to my specific comments I would like to refer to the event that took place at Ealing Town Hall on Feb-ruary 18th 2017: ï It became appar-ent that several the questions asked required the Secretary of State to have given their view on matters, so how can we answer without knowing that the Minister thinks? ï In relation to the noise and air pollution topics the de-tails of proposed locations where air-lines would fly were not available. This means residents cannot understand the impact on them, where they work and where their children are educated.

Questions 1, 2 and 7: I do not believe there is a need for any more airport expansion in the London area includ-ing Heathrow specifically. We need to encourage more use of rail and other more sustainable transport methods.Question 3: The noise levels and the air quality levels need to be considered as priority issues given that London is already failing badly on these two as-pects. Any airport expansion cannot be justified as any increase will lead to an increased level of noise and more air pollution.Question 4: The plans do not adequate-ly consider the current level of traffic and how that is likely to change. The likely modal shift is not realistic given there will not be enough capacity to deal with the likely numbers and con-sidering the preferred modes of trans-port that people will need to get to the airport.Question 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3: I think that the measures outlined are not sufficient but it is difficult to know given that the number of those affected cannot be determined at this stage (see my note about the event on February 18th).Question 5.4: Any compensation due

Over 1880 10 year olds in Hounslow are obese, according to government data released last week.

Despite the Conservative’s publication last year of a Childhood Obesity Plan, over a third of 10 year olds in England are overweight, and one in five classed as obese.

Public Health England regards child-hood obesity as one of the most seri-ous public health challenges for the 21st century. Obese children and ado-lescents are at an increased risk of de-veloping various health problems, and are also more likely to become obese adults.

Liberal Democrat Joe Bourke com-mented, “The failure of Conservatives to properly tackle childhood obesity is carelessly risking the lives of 3087 overweight children in Hounslow.

“We cannot allow another five years to go by without proper steps being taken to address this problem. Liberal Demo-

to residents tends not to fully value any property loss and so we have great concerns here as well as monies for the likely additional health issues caused by air pollution. These health issues often occur several years later so there is a need to pay for additional health needs such as for doctors, hospitals and patients.Question 6: I have great doubt whether these requirements will work as we saw that when valid arguments and con-cerns were made for Fracking schemes in other parts of the country they were overruled despite local opposition and evidence suggesting harm to the land and other implications.

In summary, I feel that the proposal to expand Heathrow will cause more harm than good. Please also note that I am happy for my comments to be published (I do not treat them as being confidential).

Councillor Gary Malcolm,Leader, Liberal Democrat Group (Ealing borough)

crats know it is time to get tough on advertisers and food manufacturers, to protect the future of children in Brent-ford and Isleworth.

“The Liberal Democrats are the only real opposition to this hard right Con-servative government.”

Liberal Democrat Health Spokesper-son Norman Lamb MP, added, “This should be a wake-up call to the Gov-ernment that their approach to public health has been nothing short of disas-trous.

“Councils’ public health budgets have been cut and the Conservative’s pal-try Childhood Obesity Strategy lacked concrete measures to tackle advertising of junk food to children and reduce lev-els of sugar in food.

“Without real action to tackle ill-health in children, the Government are inex-cusably letting down our young people, and harming their wellbeing and life chances”.

Almost £4.3million is to be spent on improving roads and footpaths across the borough, Ealing Council has an-nounced.

The programme, which was approved by the council’s cabinet this week (25 April), will see the council investing £3.5 million into improving roads and footways across Ealing. Of this, £3mil-lion will be invested in roads, with £0.5 million to be spent on footways.

In addition, Transport for London has

1883 Obese children reveal failure of Tory childhood obesity strategy, say Lib dems

contributed £771,000 for the repair of ma-jor roads in the borough.

Each year independent, accredited sur-veyors walk the entire length of all of the borough’s roads checking them for defects such as potholes, cracking, and other signs of deterioration and damage. Each road is then given a condition rating on a scale of 1-100 and those with a high rating, which are in the poorest condition, are targeted for resurfacing.

The council works hard to co-ordinate re-

surfacing works with other work carried out by utilities companies, but on the rare occasions where there is a clash with major works, resurfacing works will be post-poned until the first subsequent opportunity.

Bassam Mahfouz, cabinet mem-ber for transport, leisure and en-vironment said: “Resurfacing our roads and pavements continues to be an important priority for this council and for our residents.

“That is why year after year we continue to invest significantly to ensure that local people benefit, whether they are pedestrians, cy-clists or motorists.”

All cabinet decisions are sub-ject to call-in for a period of five working days from the date of publication of the minutes of the meeting.


COUNCIL NEWSCOUNCIL NEWS

Council in the driving seat for child car seat safety checks

Recruiting school governors to find the perfect match

Council crackdown on fraudulent Freedom Pass holders

Hounslow Council is holding car seat clinics in the borough in May, so fami-lies can get child car seats checked for FREE.

The Council’s Road Safety team will be on hand at two sessions:Saturday 13 May, Tesco Osterley car park, Syon Lane, Isleworth, TW7 5NZ,10am-4pm Monday 22 May, Tesco Bulls Bridge car park, Hayes Road, UB2 5LN 12noon-6pm

Almost 80% of children’s car seats have been found to be not fitted cor-rectly, which puts a child at risk when travelling any distance.

During the two events, the Council’s Road Safety Team will carry out checks on the seats and correct any problems.

The team will also give out advice on the new law changes which came into force in March this year, on travelling with children in the car.

Currently, children weighing 15kgs [2st 5lbs] - which can include chil-dren as young as 3-4 years - can use a booster cushion [or backless booster

seat]. But booster cushions made from 1 March 2017, will only be approved for older children that are 125cm tall and weigh 22kg and above [over 3st].

The change will not affect existing

models which will still be legal to use, but safety experts are recommending a high-backed booster seat is more suit-able as it offers more protection to the head and chest in the event of a colli-sion.

For details visit www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20105/road_safety

For information on other events, con-tact [email protected]

Have you ever thought about becoming a school governor but wondered what it involved? Find out the facts from cur-rent governors at an information event on Thursday, 4 May from 5.45-7.30pm at Ealing Town Hall.

Hosted by Ealing Council and the Governors for Schools organisation (SGOSS), the event will bring together those interested in becoming school governors with representatives from local schools who are looking for new recruits for their governing boards. It provides an opportunity to network with each other to find that perfect match of governor to school.

Current governors and council officers will also be there to talk about the train-ing available and answer any questions.

Governors do not need to have any relevant experience or connection to a school, unless they wish to become a parent governor when they must have a child at the school. But they do need to have a commitment to ensuring excel-

lent outcomes for local children and a willingness to learn and contribute.

Governors do not get involved in the day-to-day running of the school but they do ensure clarity of vision, ethos and strategic direction. They support the head teacher and senior manage-ment team but also hold them to ac-count and make decisions about budg-ets and resources.

The average time commitment is around six to 10 days per year. Em-ployers, under Section 50 of the Em-ployment Rights Act 1996, must give employees who are school governors reasonable time off to carry out their duties.

Cabinet member for children and young people, Councillor Binda Rai said: “Governors provide vital support to the borough’s schools. They are rep-resentative of the local population and bring a range valuable and useful skills and experience with them. Having been a school governor myself I know that it can be challenging but hugely satisfy-ing to play a part in helping a school and its children to thrive.”

Ava Baptiste, who recently became a governor at Stanhope Primary School said: “I’ve been surprised about the

range of things and decisions that I get involved with, I thought it might all be about meetings but it is much more than that.”

For more information about being a governor visit www.sgoss.org.uk or www.egfl.org.uk.For more information about the event please e-mail [email protected].

AROUND £11,000 is lost annually to Hounslow Council when people fraud-ulently use Freedom Passes that don’t belong to them.

There are currently a total of 755 Free-dom Passes issued by the Council that have been matched as belonging to residents who are now deceased but remain in use by someone else.

Following the mis-used passes be-ing identified by the National Fraud

Initiative and forwarded by London Councils, Hounslow Council has can-celled these from the 7th April. Anyone caught using a pass in this way could also face prosecution.

Residents can report when a pass is no longer required due to a person being deceased via the Tell Us Once Service

https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/or-ganisations-you-need-to-contact-and-tell-us-once

Councillor Kamaljit Kaur, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health Services, Hounslow Coun-cil, said: “Using a Freedom Pass that doesn’t belong to you is fraud, as sim-

ple as that. It is very easy to report when a pass is no longer required and we urge residents to do that.

“Sadly the situation as to why the pass is no longer needed is mainly due to a person passing away, which we know is a difficult time for the family and friends of that resident and that will always be respected. But we do need to know by law that it is no longer in use by that person.

“The consequences of using a pass that is not yours could lead to pros-ecution.”

Overall the Council provide 3,806 Disabled Persons Freedom Passes and 33,636 Older Persons Freedom Passes to residents across the bor-ough.


LOCAL NEWS

Ruth Cadbury hits out at Gunnersbury station overcrowdingRuth Cadbury, has spoken out about the overcrowding of Gunnersbury Station in Chiswick after being asked by local residents’ associations to take over the Chair of the Gunnersbury Station Action Group.The sheer number of people using Gunnersbury Station, especially at peak times and particularly due to the development of Chiswick Business Park, has led to severe overcrowding both in the ticket hall and on the plat-form. Local residents have often re-ported missing trains after being held back to allow departing passengers to get off. Transport for London are even considering reducing access to the station between 8am-9am.Ruth says: “The situation is not a surprise, as with London’s eco-nomic growth comes pressure on the infrastructure. TfL and the train operators have done their bit by re-placing the rolling stock and upping the frequency. Planning agreements between developers and Hounslow, including those not yet built, have

paid for more frequent buses, im-provements to the station’s entrance hall and a programme to declutter the platform that is about to start.

“To relieve pressure on Gunnersbury, Chiswick Business Park has agreed, as part of the planning agreement for the final and largest park building, to fund a footbridge to take workers out of the north end of the park towards Acton Town Station. What is irritat-ing is that the complex legal agree-ment to achieve this has only just been signed off, and we are told the bridge will take another 2 years until this will be open. Meanwhile Build-ing 7 will fill up, putting yet further pressure on the station.”“In the long-term, what Gunners-bury Station really needs is another entrance at the other end of the plat-form coming off Wellesley Road, and this must be a condition on any further large planning permissions. Hounslow are also developing plans to link the SWT link (Hounslow

Overcrowding at Gunnersbury Station is a major concern for Ruth Cadbury

loop line via Brentford) to the north London line, using the existing lines, with a station at the Lionel Road site,

but this is at a very early stage.”In the short term, Ruth has written to Enjoy Work to see if they can en-

courage Chiswick Business Park staff to use other routes. She has also writ-ten to Blackstone and Hermes who own buildings in Chiswick Busi-ness Park, in order to apply pressure to keep communication open and work towards a solution. Ruth has also written to Cllr Steve Curran at Hounslow to state that there should be no more major developments agreed until after Gunnersbury sta-tion can cope with the further in-crease in passengers.Ruth would like to thank the local residents associations, particularly the West Chiswick and Gunnersbury Society, for highlighting the issue over a number of years and will con-tinue to work on this issue whilst she is a Member of Parliament.Contact Ruth via:http://www.ruthcadbury.org.ukhttp://www.facebook.com/Ruth-CadburyMP @RuthCadbury

Hounslow man pleads guilty to terrorism offencesA man whose pin code for his phone was ‘ISIS’ has pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to terrorism offences.

Haroon Ali Syed, 19, from Hounslow, pleaded guilty to preparing for acts of terrorism between 12 April and 9 Sep-tember 2016, contrary to section 5 (1) (a) of the Terrorism Act 2006.

He was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on Thursday, 8 June for sentencing.

Syed admitted trying to get a machine gun, handguns, suicide vest and bomb but when he couldn’t raise any finance

through loan applications, settled on trying to source a bomb, with a special request for it to be packed with nails so he could detonate it in a crowded place such as Oxford Street.

When information was received by the authorities about Syed’s change of behaviour, MI5 and the Metropolitan Police Service began an investigation.

The investigation quickly established that Syed was plotting an attack in the UK and officers went to his home in Hounslow and arrested him.

They seized all of his electronic equip-

Haroon Ali Syed

ment which later supported the case against him.

Commander Dean Haydon, MPS Counter Terrorism Command, said: “This is a prime example of how im-portant the public are. It was informa-tion we received in respect of Syed’s change of behaviour that meant we looked at him and our close working relationship with MI5 ensured that we uncovered his plot to kill and mutilate innocent members of the public.”

Two other men arrested at the same time were later released with no further action.



Dan Yates, Founder Of Chiswick Based Pitchup.com

Local Lib Dems give Heathrow expansion plans the thumbs downLocal Liberal Democrats have reiterated their objection to Heathrow expansion.

Councillor Gary Malcolm said: “There are many reasons why the Liberal Demo-crats are against expanding Heathrow es-pecially the additional air pollution lead-ing to even more deaths and respiratory illnesses. We will continue to campaign against Heathrow expansion!”

Jon Ball, Liberal Democrat parliamen-tary candidate for Ealing Central and Acton said: “Ealing Labour used to op-pose Heathrow expansion but now sit on the fence on this issue. That’s not good enough. Liberal Democrats are concerned about the impact of poor air quality on our children’s health. Aircraft emissions and additional cars driving to an expanded Heathrow would combine to increase local air pollution.”

Chiswick based Pitchup.com included in The Leap 100On 26 April, Chiswick-based business, Pitchup.com, has announced it has made The Leap 100 2017 – a commu-nity of the most exciting, fast-growth companies in the UK – launched by London law firm Mishcon de Reya and business publication City A.M. and nominated in partnership with Seven Hills and The Entrepreneurs Network.

To be considered for The Leap 100, companies needed to demonstrate a re-cent history of rapid revenue growth, as well as ambitious plans for the future.

Pitchup.com, specialises in all types of outdoor accommodation from camping and glamping to pods, caravans and lodges. Starting with UK sites only in 2009, Pitchup.com has expanded rap-idly into overseas market, propelling this large traditional sector of the tour-ism industry to the forefront of modern technology.

Dan Yates, Founder of Pitchup.com,

said: We’re delighted that our growth has been recognised by The Leap 100. In the last year we have expanded our number of bookable sites by 50% to nearly 2,800. Our users can now search and book accommodation in 39 countries worldwide, up from only 18 this time last year, resulting in current booking growth of nearly 100%.”

For the third year running, The Leap 100 will support entrepreneurs as they experience the highs and lows of fast growth, bringing together founders and business leaders to share their ideas and experiences. Click here for the full 2017/18 list, which is neither ranked nor exhaustive.

Nick Davis, Head of Corporate at Mishcon de Reya, said: “Since launch-ing The Leap 100 in 2015 we now have 300 fast growth businesses in The Leap community. Scaling-up is challenging and is usually a highly dramatic time for businesses. Over the course of this

year, we will gather together these businesses to facilitate debate and dis-cussion around the factors that impact them the most, especially in the period leading up to Brexit. It is always so in-teresting to assemble these businesses during this stage of their growth and to hear their unique insights.”

Christian May, Editor of City A.M., said of the list: “In the wake of Brit-ain’s vote to leave the EU, the SME community continues to thrive. The Leap 100 is a very nimble selection of UK businesses – all flying in the face of the uncertainty that is Brexit to pur-sue rapid and sustainable growth. For this reason, The Leap 100 2017 is par-ticularly inspirational, showcasing suc-cessful innovation, brand recognition and expansion into new markets and, of course, leadership and tenacity.”

Stay up to date with the latest The Leap 100 news on Twitter #theleap100.



Conservatives announce short-list for Brentford & IsleworthConservatives in Brentford & Isle-worth are to select their candidate for the General Election on June 8th at a members-only meeting this evening in Chiswick. The members will select the candidate from a short list that includes James Cracknell OBE, the Olympian, health campaigner and media personality, Mary Macleod, a former MP for Brent-ford & Isleworth and senior partner in an executive search firm, and Christo-pher Salmon, an ex-British Army of-ficer, former elected Police and Crime Commissioner and criminal justice consultant. The successful candidate will be se-lected at a closed meeting of local Con-servative Party members to be held on April 26th 2017 at St. Paul’s Church in Grove Park, Chiswick. The meet-ing will see each contestant speak and then answer questions before voting by all eligible members present to deter-mine the Conservative Party candidate to contest the Brentford & Isleworth Constituency at the General Election on June 8th 2017.

“Our candidate will be looking to overturn the ultra slim majority of 465 votes and make his constituency Conservative again,” explains Julian

Tanner, Chairman of the Hounslow Brentford & Isleworth Conservative Association. “All of our candidates would make an excellent Member of

Parliament for Brentford & Isleworth and a victory for the Conservative Par-ty would strengthen the Government in

its Brexit negotiations to ensure a bet-ter and more prosperous future for our country.”

James Cracknell, Mary Macleod And Christopher Salmon


LOCAL LIFE, LOCAL PEOPLE/HEALTH & WELLBEINGLOCAL LIFE, LOCAL PEOPLE

The five powers of flowers

Every Tuesday a man called Freddie sends me a large box of flowers. And he’s not my

husband!

Freddie is so thoughtful that he also includes a message, flower food, tips on how to arrange the flowers and tells me their names.

This week he says, ‘Yep, May is gon-na be a good month’ and I agree. He tells me that when my Brindisi lilies open up they will be the most wonder-fully soft, sunset pink colour. That my Greenbell is actually a herb. And that I can keep my Astrantia Roma as dried flowers in a jam jar later on.

Of course I do pay for this fabulous

service and, in the beginning, it did seem a huge indulgence to pay for fresh flowers to be delivered to my door every week.

But, first, you don’t need to have the flowers every week – you can let Fred-die know exactly when his service is required. Secondly, it costs much less than lunch for two in most Chiswick eateries. And, thirdly, it’s brought me extraordinary and unexpected ben-efits.

Let me tell you a bit about those ben-efits. What I call the five powers of flowers.1. Flowers bring beautyYou don’t really need me to tell you this, of course. But flowers do bright-en up a room. They are truly beautiful – in a way that human-made creations can never be, even the most stunning works of art. Jesus expresses this per-fectly when he tells us to consider the lilies and goes on to say that ‘even Sol-omon, (a great and fabulously wealthy king in the ancient world) – in all his glory, was never as beautiful as one of these.’2. Flowers bring health and reduce stressStudies have shown that the recovery rates of patients in hospitals are sig-nificantly increased when patients are able to see trees and flowers outside their windows. And I can easily be-lieve that. Just stepping out into my garden this morning and spending a

On the couch with Nicholas Rose: Mental health round up

IT HAS BEEN A VERY BUSY few weeks in mental health and it is heartening to see so many people agreeing it is time for mental health concerns to shake off stigma. The charity led by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, Heads Together aims to encourage people to speak out when they are struggling.

Of course it is part of our experience of being alive that we have an internal and private world of thoughts and experiences that we do not routinely share with others. So how can we know whether we have a concern which needs attention?

At the present time it still seems that only in certain instances can it be accepted that someone might struggle with their mental health; so people who have experienced life changing trauma or those who through a number of factors are diagnosed with a mental health condition. It is also still a harsh reality that only if someone’s “presentation” fit with a recognised “condition” will their struggle be seen as genuine and treatment be provided through health services. Further with all the gaps still existing in the science around mental health we cannot yet be clear about whether existing treatments are in fact effective treatments.

All so called “mental health conditions” (still widely thought of as illnesses) are not identified

In the Beginning

I have made you;I have given you the tools to equip you for life.I have given you a world of beautyand abundancein which to dwell.

I have given you air to breathe.I have given each of youspecial giftsand worthwhile satisfying tasks to perform.

I have given you the capacityto love.I have set the framework in which you should live.I have given you choice.

So go out and liveto the full.May your lives be showered with blessings.But if you cut yourself,you will surely bleed.

© Tony Inwood.

CHISWICK POET

Rev Martine OborneSt Michael’s Church , Elmwood Road, Chiswick.

by the presence of viruses, bacterias, infections, tumours or fractures etc but rather by observed “experiences”. PTSD, ADHD, Depression, Schizophrenia, Bipolar, Anxiety Disorders, Learning Difficulties etc are all identified through observation and judgement. The authors of the worlds most widely recognised diagnostic publication the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) have stated that they are concerned that science has not yet been able to validate the categories of conditions it contains.

If you cannot be completely certain about the problem how can you be completely certain about the treatment? And if the treatment is not correct what might the implications be for the patient? For example, in the UK it has been identified that young black men are much more likely than young white men to be diagnosed with schizophrenia and no underlying biological cause has been found. So I think that a system that only treats and recognises “conditions” may be as effective at preventing people seeking and getting help as it is at encouraging treatment.

Indeed in response to my article published on the 24th February “What causes mental illness?” where I reviewed a seminar I had attended based upon a book by RD Laing and Aaron Esterson called Sanity, Madness and the Family, the

seminar convenor, Anthony Stadlen wrote:

“I think the title is a bit misleading, as the whole point of the book, as I try to explain in the seminars, was to question “mental illness” and “schizophrenia”, not to ask what “causes” them. The very first sentences of the Preface to the Second Edition were:

“There have been many studies of mental illness and the family. This book is not of them, at least in our opinion. But it has been taken to be so by many people.”

I think this whole question is really important because the gaps in scientific understanding can mean only one thing - we need to look to ourselves and how we experience our lives and decide whether we need to make changes. So back to the question I posed at the start of this article - “How can we know if we have a mental health struggle that needs attention?” Firstly, if people who you are close to say they are worried about you or have noticed that you do not seem to be your old self then take some time to think about their feedback, ask them to give more detail and if you are unsure whether they might have a point then go and see someone to talk things through with. Secondly, if you wonder whether you are struggling then again go and see someone and talk things through. Be as kind and careful with yourself as you would your best friend!

little time with my bluebells felt like a real tonic. So, not surprisingly, flow-ers have also been shown to reduce stress. On Tuesday mornings, as I re-ceive my flowers, open them, arrange them and admire them, I can feel the stress just draining away from me in the five or ten minutes that this takes. 3. Flowers bring joy and ground youAfter arranging my flowers, I like to find somewhere nice to put them in the house and then just enJOY them. Just receiving the joy they bring. And ap-preciating their beauty. Receiving joy and appreciating beauty in our natural world is a great way to ground our-selves and feel rooted in our place in creation.4. Flowers make you feel thankfulEnjoying my flowers often leads to a time of prayer or mediation. A time of thanksgiving. Flowers make you want to say thank you. Thank you for the beauty of our world. And being thank-ful is one of the healthiest and whole-hearted ways we can live our lives.5. Flowers increase creativityStudies have also shown that flow-ers make us more creative. Japanese psychologists, Seiji Shibata and Naoto Suzuki, asked people to carry out various creative activities in carefully controlled office environments. In one study, some of the offices contained a pot plant that had been carefully posi-tioned in front of, or to one side of, the participant while other offices were devoid of greenery. In another study the researchers carefully compared the

effect of replacing the pot plant with a magazine rack of similar size. Time and again, the researchers discovered that the addition of the pot plant sig-nificantly enhanced creativity.

So find a way to bring more flowers into your life. And they will bring beauty, reduce stress, ground you, help you to be thankful and enhance your creativity.

If you can’t afford the luxury of buy-ing flowers then just get out of the house and enjoy them in gardens, parks and meadows all around us.

Interestingly, studies show that hav-ing a nice screensaver of flowers or watching wonderful photography or videos of nature like Planet Earth does nothing to reduce stress or en-hance creativity.

So step away from your desk, go of-fline and find the real thing - a flower. And discover for yourself its amazing powers.

St Michael’s Church: www.stmichael-elmwoodroad.orgMartine Oborne’s personal online spiritual pilgrimage: www.martine-oborne.com

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry


SCIENCE SCIENCE

Antarctic iceberg crack develops fork

Cassini Ran Through The ‘Big Empty’ ‘Shocking’ levels of PCB chemicals in UK Killer Whale LuluThe American space agency says the

Cassini satellite encountered very few particles as it dived between Saturn and its rings last week.

There were fears that the probe might hit fragments of ice or rock, and that these could cause significant damage.

Cassini made the plunge with its radio dish pointing forward like a shield.

But the latest analysis indicates there were hardly any impacts and those particles the probe did strike were only smoke-sized.

“The region between the rings and Saturn is ‘the big empty,’ apparently,” commented Cassini project manager, Earl Maize, of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

“Cassini will stay the course, while the scientists work on the mystery of why the dust level is much lower than ex-pected.”

The outcome is good news because four of the remaining gap-runs that Cassini will execute before terminating its mission in September will edge even closer to Saturn’s inner D-ring.

These manoeuvres also are expected to see the probe lead with its antenna in the shield configuration.

But last Wednesday’s experience means controllers can now approach these events with increased confidence.

Cassini is booked to make a further 21 plunges through the 3,000km-wide opening between the planet’s cloudtops and the D-ring, with the next occurring at 19:38 GMT On Tuesday.

The dives are designed to return data of unprecedented resolution on the struc-ture and dynamics of Saturn’s interior.

They should also allow the probe to weigh the rings, which will give scien-tists their best estimate yet for the age of these spectacular bands.

Currently, no-one is quite sure whether the rings are as old as the planet or are a relatively recent phenomenon, the re-sult perhaps of a break-up of a moon or even a comet that got too close to the giant world.

Nasa intends to dump Cassini in the at-mosphere of Saturn on 15 September.

After 20 years in space, the satellite is running low on fuel and controllers want to be sure there is no possibility of a future collision with the moons of Titan and Enceladus, which could con-ceivably support simple microbial life.

The crack in the Larsen C Ice Shelf that looks set to spawn a giant berg has sud-denly forked. Satellite imagery of the 180km-long fissure acquired in recent days shows a clear branching behav-iour at its tip.

Quite what this means for the future evolution of the crack and the putative 5,000-sq-km berg remains to be seen.Larsen C is a floating projection of ice pushing east from the Antarctic Penin-sula. It covers an area of the Weddell Sea the size of Wales. The berg, when it calves, will remove about a quarter of the total shelf extent and could leave the remaining structure in a less stable configuration.

Scientists are concerned that Larsen C may be developing in a similar way to its siblings, Larsen A and Larsen B, which eventually collapsed at the turn of the century following their own big calving events.

Visit: chiswickherlad.co.uk to read more

One of the UK’s last killer whales was contaminated with “shocking” levels of a toxic chemical, scientists say. The animal, called Lulu, was found dead on the Isle of Tiree in Scotland last year after becoming entangled in fishing lines.

But tests now reveal her body con-tained among the highest levels of pol-ychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, ever recorded. The chemicals were banned from the 1970s but are still in the en-vironment.

Researchers now fear that other ani-mals in Lulu’s pod also have similar-ly high levels of contamination. The group, which is found off the west coast of Scotland, is thought to consist of just eight animals.

Dr Andrew Brownlow, head of the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme and veterinary pathologist at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), told BBC News that Lulu had “shocking levels of PCBs”.

He said: “The levels of PCB contami-nation in Lulu were incredibly high, surprisingly so. They were 20 times higher than the safe level that we would expect for cetaceans to be able to man-

A Raw Image Taken By Cassini As It Turned To Make Tuesday’s Second Gap Plunge

age.

“That puts her as one of the most contaminated animals on the planet in terms of PCB burden, and does raise serious questions for the long-term survivability of this group (of UK killer whales).”

PCBs were used widely in industry during the last century. The manmade chemicals are extremely stable, resistant to extreme tem-peratures and pressures, and have insulating properties. Because of this they were used

in everything from plastics to paints and electrical equipment. But after concerns about the tox-icity to humans and animals was raised, a series of bans were put in place around the world from the 1970s onwards.

However the chemicals take a long time to break down and have lingered in the environ-ment, particularly in landfill sites where they can leach into waterways and on into the sea. They then build up in the marine food chain, which means top predators such as killer whales are particularly affected. Dol-phins, porpoises are also suscep-tible.

Levels of PCBs are measured in milligrams per kilogram of li-pids (fatty acids) in an animal’s body. Dr Brownlow said: “The threshold where we think that there is some form of physi-ological effect caused by PCBs is around 20-40mg/kg stored within the tissues.

“Lulu had a level of PCBs of 957mg/kg - and this has put her as one of the most contaminated individuals we have ever looked at.”

Scientists believe Lulu’s age, estimated to be at least 20, may be one reason that the levels of PCBs were so high, because they had built up over the years. The chemicals have a range of effects. There is evidence that they can impair the immune sys-tem. They also affect reproduc-tion, preventing killer whales from bearing young.

“That’s certainly what we found in the case of Lulu,” explained Dr Brownlow.

“Having examined her ovaries, there was no evidence that she had ever been reproductively active or had ever had a calf.”

The chemicals can also affect the brain. Scientists believe the contamination could have been implicated in Lulu’s death.

“Killer whales are incredibly intel-ligent, they are very nimble, socially aware animals. [Lulu] would have spent most of her probably very long life existing around the waters of the West Coast.

“It is potentially plausible that there was some effect of the PCBs that was in some way debilitating her so she wasn’t strong enough or even aware enough to deal with this entanglement (in fishing line).

“We very rarely see entanglement in killer whales - actually this is one of the first cases we have documented.”

PCBs are a global problem, but a re-cent study revealed that European wa-ters are a hotspot because of the level of the chemicals once used. It is esti-mated that there is a million tonnes of PCB-contaminated material waiting to be disposed in Europe.

But getting rid of them is expensive and difficult - they need to be incinerat-ed at more than 1,000C to be destroyed.

Prof Ian Boyd, chief scientific adviser at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), said that the issue was very concerning but

also complicated.

He said: “The records show PCBs have been declining in concentration in the marine environment, so the regulation we have in place is working.

“It’s just they take a very long time to disappear. Overall I think we are going in the right direction, but it is going to take many more years to get to a point where they are going to disappear en-tirely.”

He added: “Lulu was fairly old, so she will have accumulated [PCBs] over her lifetime and that’s the reason she had such high levels. It’s a legacy she’d carried from her early years, probably.”

But some scientists think more should be done. Dr Paul Jepson from the Insti-tute of Zoology at the Zoological Soci-ety of London said PCBs were not an intractable problem in Europe.

“PCB levels in the United States have slowly declined in humans and other biota such as fish for many years now, and the overall PCB mitigation is gen-erally considered to be successful in the US.

“This is partly related to numerous US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund sites, which the EPA is actively working to decontaminate. We urgently need a similar approach in Europe”.

Killer whales - and other cetaceans - around the world are being hit by PCB contamination. But in the UK, with just eight remaining resident killer whales, the future looks very bleak.

Scientists have not seen any calves born in the 25 years they have been studying these animals, and it looks almost certain that they will eventually vanish from the UK’s waters.

Lulu’s skeleton is now stored at the National Museums Scotland collection centre, which has one of the largest whale collections in the world.

Principal curator of vertebrates’ Dr Andrew Kitchener said the whales re-mains would be available for scientists to study.

“What these collections are here for is so we can use them for the benefit of living animals in the wild today and in the future. They do have a value for liv-ing populations.”


TRAVELTRAVEL


ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT & WHAT’S ONARTS, ENTERTAINMENT & WHAT’S ON

JOBS/ NOTICES ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT & WHAT’S ON



PROPERTYCHISWICK WOMAN

Look out for Chiswick Woman Magazine

and visit chiswickwoman.co.uk for more articles and

features.

April 2017 | Complimentary

chiswickwoman.co.uk

CW April 17.indd 1

12/04/2017 19:38

Wedding Cakes

Many little girls dream of their future wedding dress – but we found something even better than that. This extravagant dress is actually made out of cake! See? We said it would be better. If there’s anything better than a supreme wedding dress, it’s one that you can eat.

There have been some rather impressive cake artists who have shown us some breath taking pieces, but this cake by Emma Jayne Cake Design seriously takes the cake (sorry, had to).

The cake was inspired by a stunning real-life wedding dress, created by designer Mak Tumang. A very intricate piece of fashion and an equally intricate piece of cake! It’s really hard to decide which is more jaw-dropping.

We have no idea how Emma Jayne pulled off the identical folds, icing and floral arrangements on her masterpiece. She only revealed the usage of a “drageekiss”, which is a cake-decorating tool which helps with meticulous details. Ok, we still think magic was involved with this.

London, and the real designer stopped by. Both artists seem pretty happy with the results! Emma Jayne’s cake was the main highlight of the show,

Sorry, brides-to-be, the real dress isn’t up for pur-chase anymore, but we highly recommend hiring someone to make you the cake twin of it, because we think it will be just as satisfying. And if you have to walk down the aisle adorned in cake, so be it.

We also would like to see her enter one of the cake-baking shows that are all of our secret guilty pleasures. She would straight up own everyone on

“Cake Boss” We’re bummed they didn’t show it being sliced, because we would like to know what exactly lies inside this mysterious concoction.


PROPERTY PROPERTY


PROPERTY PROPERTY


PROPERTY PROPERTY


PROPERTY PROPERTY

TRADESTRADES TRADES



SPORTS

Widow aims to start charity in Ugo Ehiogu’s name

Mannings’s Relief As QPR stay up

Former Wales star Sonny Parker to lead London Welsh’s revival

The widow of ex-England, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough defender Ugo Ehi-ogu has set up a fundraising page in his memory following his death on Friday.

Ehiogu, 44, collapsed at Tottenham’s training centre on Thursday, where he was working as their under-23s coach, after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Gemma Ehiogu said money was be-ing raised to help set up a charity that would give all children the opportunity to play football.

Over £11,000 has been raised so far.

Mrs Ehiogu started up a page on Just-Giving on Saturday with an original target of £1,000 to establish a charity in her husband’s name.

On the fundraising page she said: “Ugo’s dream was to set up a charity

QPR midfielder Ryan Manning admit-ted to a feeling of relief following last Saturday’s victory over Nottingham Forest at Loftus Road.

Manning made his 17th appearance of the season in the heart of the Hoops midfield against the Reds, impressing once again, as Rangers ran out worthy 2-0 winners in W12 to secure their Sky Bet Championship status.

“It was a great relief to be honest,” Manning told www.qpr.co.uk.

“We’d set ourselves up nicely prior to the last international break to have a good run-in, but it didn’t quite go ac-

London Welsh Rugby today unveiled its five-year plan to take the Club back to the National Leagues, with former Wales star Sonny Parker set to spear-head its bid.

London Welsh’s professional team was expelled from the Championship in January after failing to satisfy the RFU criteria for Championship rugby. It to-day starts The Journey Back through the leagues as an amateur club led by former Wales Grand Slam winner, Parker, who has accepted the position of director of rugby.

Capped 31 times by his country, Parker was part of the Wales side which won the Grand Slam in 2008 and played in the 2003 and 2007 World Cups. He ended his playing career at Lon-don Welsh before going on to join the Club’s coaching staff, as well as acting as team manager.

The community club, also based at Old Deer Park, already plays in level 9 (Herts and Middlesex 1) and will represent the London Welsh name in the English leagues. Part of the Club’s five-year plan will target promotion to reach National levels.

Former Ospreys and London Welsh prop Cai Griffiths also joins as player/coach and augments the club’s existing coaching set-up. Team manager will be Pete Lowe.

London Welsh Director of Rugby Son-ny Parker, said: “London Welsh has been my club for some time now and I have a great affinity with it having been involved as a player, team man-ager and coach, and now I’m hoping to bring all of that experience to bear in helping the club to build a new future.

“I want to help get the club back to

that gives every child equal opportu-nity to access and play football. He had already put the wheels in motion.

“This fund will make his dream become a reality. We don’t have a set target every donation will help. Thank you, In memory of Ugo Ehiogu #DoSome-thingKind.”

By 18:00 BST on Monday the target had been surpassed, with £11,150 in

Ugo Ehiogu

cording to plan. But we’re over the line now and we finished it off with a pro-fessional display against Forest.To get the two goals and keep a clean sheet at the same time, in front of our own sup-porters, was a nice way to finish off at Loftus Road.”

After a tight first half, two quick-fire goals at the start of the second half from Conor Washington and Joel Lynch put the R’s in the ascendancy – and Man-ning believes the first goal of the game was always going to be crucial.

“It always is, in any game,” he said.

where we want it to be, and I believe the five-year plan is an achievable one.

“Everyone within the club is really passionate about London Welsh, from the minis up through all of the amateur sides, and it’s that passion and ambition which has driven me to be a part of this.

“As well as coaching, I’m going to be involved in recruitment and prepara-tions on the playing front for next sea-son are already underway. The existing squad is a good one, but we’re already talking to several players who are very keen to join us and who would augment the existing group.

“On the coaching side, we already have a good set-up so I’m just looking to introduce a few new things such as changing our playing style a little bit, and that’s going to be the part of the challenge.

“The first year is going to be the real indicator, but the ambition is definitely there to make the five-year plan a re-alisation.”

London Welsh Amateur RFC Chair-man Gwyn Williams, said: “The last few months have been a very difficult time for anyone connected with our club. With the season at a close, now is the time to begin a new chapter for the Dragon in Exile.

“With over 750 players aged from 6-60, amazing sponsors and supporters, we have the opportunity to focus on our core strength as an inclusive family orientated club where we measure our success not only by our league position but through providing excellence in the player and supporter experience.”

“We look a lot better side when we score the first goal in any game - and once we got the first on Saturday, the second came along quite soon after.”

QPR solidified their dominance over woeful Forest who face a scrap on the final day to stay in the Championship.

The R’s final fixture of the 2016/17 campaign is a trip to Carrow Road – the home of Norwich City – on Sun-day, and Manning is keen to finish the season in positive fashion.

“We shouldn’t be in the position that we’re in, but we want to finish posi-tively,” he said.

“We can go to Norwich and look to ex-press ourselves, with no added pressure on us after getting such a positive re-sult on Saturday. We want to finish with back-to-back wins and that’s certainly what we’ll be aiming to do.”

Manning saved his final words for the QPR supporters, who voted him as their Young Player of the Year last weekend.

“To win the award was an unbeliev-able feeling - huge thanks to the fans who voted for me,” he said. “It’s been a breakthrough season for me, well a breakthrough few months to be honest!

“I just want to kick on now next season and help QPR move forward.”

C’mon you R’s!

Ryan Manning

donations.

A final tweet from Ehiogu went viral, after the news of his passing, with peo-ple from across the world promoting #dosomethingkind

The hashtag was trending in Great Brit-ain and the US after Ehiogu used it on 29 March to describe donating £10 to a homeless girl.

THE CHISWICK HERALD48 Friday 5th May 2017

SPORTS

Jota: arguably best player in ChampionshipJota Peleteiro returns from Spain to play starring role for Brentford - He may not be a name in every house-hold in Chiswick, but Brentford’s Jota Peleteiro has arguably been the Cham-pionship’s best player since returning from Spain in January. The talented winger spkoe to Sky Sports about over-coming personal problems and finding the form of his life.

At Griffin Park this Sunday, most of the attention will inevitably fall on relegation-threatened Blackburn rather than mid-table Brentford. But while the visitors’ battle for survival is the big-gest storyline on the final day of the Championship season, the real player to watch will be wearing red and white.

Jota Peleteiro - or José Ignacio Peleteiro Ramallo, to give him his full name - has been outstanding since returning from a loan spell at Eibar in January, wreaking havoc on Brentford’s right flank and contributing 12 goals and five assists in 20 appearances. With this skilful, intelligent Spaniard leading the charge, Brentford are heading for their third top-10 finish in as many years.

It is tempting to describe Jota as a rev-elation but he has already proved him-self at Championship level. The winger joined Brentford from Celta Vigo in 2014, helping the newly-promoted west Londoners into the play-offs with 11 goals in 46 games. Their unlikely promotion bid was ended by Mid-dlesbrough, but Jota seemed primed to make a lasting impression.

At the start of last season, however, the 25-year-old’s circumstances changed dramatically. “I had a good first year with Brentford but I injured my ankle ligaments afterwards,” Jota tells Sky Sports. “It’s difficult to feel good about

things when you can’t play, and on top of that there were some personal issues in Spain.”

It was a lot to handle. Jota underwent surgery on his ankle and returned to action four months into the season, but the off-field problems back home weren’t going away. Midway through the January transfer window, it was an-nounced he was joining Spanish club Eibar on an 18-month loan deal.

“Sometimes you have to say your fam-ily is the most important thing,” he explains. “It has to be the priority. I wanted to resolve a few problems back home in order to come back and be completely calm. I wanted to be able to enjoy football again without worry-ing about other things.”

Eibar was familiar territory for Jota having spent the 2013/14 campaign on loan there from Celta, but after making 13 La Liga appearances in the second half of last season, the 25-year-old fell

out of favour with manager José Luis Mendilibar following a dispute over playing time.

“I kept working hard in training and kept doing the same things,” says Jota. “It was difficult for me to play under the manager after our argument, but my family issues had been resolved. So when Brentford called me and asked me if I wanted to come back just before Christmas, I said yes.”

Jota soon started making up for lost time. He scored his first goal in a 2-1 defeat to Wigan in January, and there was a hat-trick in a 4-2 win over Rotherham a few weeks later. Fast forward to today, and only top scorer Chris Wood has netted more times since the turn of the year. Only New-castle’s Dwight Gayle has a superior strike rate this season.

“Ever since I returned I have been very happy at the club and with my team-mates, and on the pitch things have

been going well,” says Jota. “You evolve every year in football. I didn’t play as much as I would have liked in Spain, but I worked hard and now it’s paying off. I feel great physically and when I have the ball at my feet I feel confident. It’s good for me and the team.”

Brentford started the season slowly in Jota’s absence and lost top scorer Scott Hogan to Aston Villa in January, but things have clicked for Dean Smith’s side in recent weeks. Their improved form has come too late to clinch a play-off spot, but the stats show they have scored more goals than any other Championship side in the second half of the campaign.

“Above all, we’re a team that attacks a lot,” says Jota. “The manager likes everyone to attack together. It suits us forward players because we can create a lot of chances, which makes it easier to score goals. The start of the season was more difficult for the team but eve-

ry side goes through phases. We have a lot of good players and right now it is working well.”

Jota typifies that hard work as much as anyone. It’s with the ball at his feet that he truly comes into his own, but despite his slight frame and elegant playing style, he has also embraced the physi-cal side of English football.

“In Spain, the game is more tactical and a little slower,” he says. “The coaches do a lot of work on tactics, but here everything is quicker. There are more one-on-ones and more counter-attacks, so I get lots of opportunities to take people on and combine with my team-mates. I am not physically as strong as other players here, but I love getting on the ball so much.”

It is not yet certain where Jota’s jour-ney will take him next. He is nearing the end of his contract at Griffin Park and describes playing in the Premier League as an “obvious objective”, but there is also an offer of an extension on the table from Brentford and he ap-pears in little rush move on as he pre-pares for a photo shoot to promote their new kit with some of his team-mates.

“I leave that stuff to my agent but we will sit down and speak to the club to see what’s best for everyone,” he says. “I have been very happy in England. I didn’t have my head focused on foot-ball during my second season and I was too far from Spain to sort things out, but that’s behind me now. I’m just glad to be moving forward.”

Watch Brentford v Blackburn live on Sky Sports Mix from 11.55am on Sun-day

Jota Celebrates With Team Mates

Documents

Green light for Chiswick Park pedestrian bridge...syria Campaign. It was the Ginger Whisk’s first supper club, and kicked off monthly supper clubs thanks to its sell-out success