Cranford Park, balsam bashing and a secret garden

Cranford Park has loads of brilliant events coming up, from balsam bashing to a bat walk and even an invitation into the secret garden.

This is a reminder that the next Quarterly Meeting of the Friends Group is this Thursday (May 23) at 7.30pm. It will be held at Crane Community Centre, Fuller Way (off Cranford Drive) and all are welcome. Bus E6 passes close by. I hope you will be able to join us to hear the latest about your park and contribute your views. The agenda and previous Minutes were sent to members on May 5.

This Sunday, May 26, the  SECRET GARDEN (next to the Stable Block) will be open from 10-12 noon. Come and see how this is growing, thanks to our volunteers, and maybe lend a hand! There are always jobs to do: no experience is required, tools and refreshments are provided.

More Cranford Park dates for your diary – no booking needed unless stated. Meet at park information centre unless stated.

Sundays May 26, June 23, July 14, August 11, September 8, 10am -12 noon all dates. Friends Group SECRET GARDEN OPENINGS. Come to help with some light gardening or just to have a look at this special place (normally closed to the public) beside the stables. Tools and refreshments provided. Meet in the small walled garden, adjacent to Stable Block. (Friends & Macmillan Cancer Support).

Saturday June 1, 11am. BUTTERFLY WALK. Join the Countryside & Conservation Officer on the park’s ‘butterfly transect route’ identifying a wide variety of species.

Sunday June 9, 10.30am – 1pm. Friends Group with Thames 21 RIVER CRANE BALSAM BASH. Volunteers required! Himalayan balsam is an invasive plant, taking over large swathes of riverbank, yet it’s easy to remove at this time of year. Volunteers will be gathering all along the River Crane and Yeading Brook – help us include Cranford Park in the campaign! Refreshments provided. 

Wed. 12 June, 7pm. RIVERSIDE HABITATS & SPECIES. A wildlife walk and talk around the River Crane. Bring wellingtons if you wish to enter the river, nets provided. Please book with Alison Shipley ashipley@hillingdon.gov.uk. Tel. 01895 250647.

Wed. 19 June 8.30pm BAT WALK. Evening twilight stroll looking for bats, using bat detectors. Please book with Alison Shipley (as above).

Sat. June 29, 11am. ‘Knights, Earls & Ghosts’, FREE HISTORY TOUR. Follow in the footsteps of some interesting characters from the past as we show you the park’s historical highlights.

Sun. 14 July, 2pm FORAGING WALK & TALK. Looking for free edible produce our doorstep. Includes cooking tips. With Sam from the Grow Heathrow project.

Sat. 27 July, 10.30am – 1pm. Friends Volunteer session with Thames 21 CLEARING VEGETATION NEAR RIVER BRIDGE. Volunteers wanted to help open up views of this important historical feature. Tools & refreshments provided.

If you have an idea for a free event in your park please let the Secretary know.

Regards,

Bob Barton

www.cranfordparkfriends.org

Come along to HASRA’s AGM

The AGM of HASRA’(Harmondsworth and Sipson Residents Association) is coming up.

Come along to discuss the future of the Heathrow villages. John Mcdonnell MP and John Stewart (HACAN chair) will be in attendance to answer questions. Wednesday 1st May 7.30 pm – 9.00 pm Heathrow School Hall.

17 March: Spring prep at Cranford park

Come along to Cranford Park to help with light gardening, including sowing wild flowers, or just to have a look. All welcome, bring the family.

Sunday March 17, 11am – 1pm. ‘Secret Garden’ Spring preparation

Tools, good company and light refreshments provided. Meet in the small walled garden, adjacent to the Stable Block. This, we hope, will be the first of many openings of the garden this season (with Macmillan Cancer Support).

More information about the group can be found at – http://www.cranfordparkfriends.org/

Last chance to save our commons!

Residents all over Hayes were outraged this week when the London Borough of Hillingdon planning committee voted to approve the application for a school to be built on Lake Farm Country Park. This is despite overwhelming opposition in the consultation, which appears to have been ignored.

We now need to urge Boris Johnson, Mayor for London to intervene and exercise his powers to reject this planning application.

We need to request that he asserts pressure on Hillingdon Council to look more effectively at the alternatives available to meet the need for pupil places in our area without building upon such a sensitive area of green belt and open space, which is cherished by local residents.

This template letter is for you to use should you wish to; just sign it and send it directly to Boris.

In addition, John McDonnell, the local MP, has arranged for locals to meet GLA members at City Hall. This will take place on Tuesday 12th March at 1pm. He is inviting you to join on Tuesday to voice our objection.

Some seasonal outreach

Last month while Heathrow villagers were gearing up for their winter holidays Grow Heathrow pounced on the opportunity to spread some environmental gospel.

Free wreath making and a restocked free shop went down a storm at the rather rainy Harmondsworth Christmas market; punters wove Laurel, Ivy, Holly and other foraged foliage to create their circular masterpieces.

At the grand unveiling of Sipson’s first community Christmas tree, roasting and distributing free sweet chestnuts, locally sourced of course, was a tasty treat even John Mcdonell (MP) couldn’t resist. Our warming snacks also delighted many at the Com. Cafe hosted, Mayor’s Carol event, the following week.

Not only does outreach of this kind leave a sweet taste in the mouth, it also encourages local people to think more about where their produce is from. Nature provides a wealth of glorious bounty whatever the season.

Saturday 5th, 11am: save Botwell Common

Join us on Saturday 5th at 11am at Botwell Common to remind the council that our commons aren’t for sale.

The photos from last month’s fantastic vigil show the wide-reaching, outraged and unstoppable local opposition, with hundreds of formal objections to the council’s planning application expected amid thriving protests. Perhaps the future might even hold some spicy local direct action to save our commons.

Thanks to the Save Lake Farm (Keep Botwell Common) blog and John McDonnell’s blog for letting us know. You can like the campaign on Facebook or follow on Twitter for the latest updates.

Pics from Open Day

The open day on Saturday saw over 100 people flooding through the gates at Grow Heathrow to enjoy the community space in the hot sunshine. Local residents, families and visitors from London came to enjoy site tours, pizzas, smoothies, games and most took some vegetables home with them after a big harvest.

Thanks to everyone that came including John McDonnell MP and local newspaper Uxbridge Gazzette – you can now see the pictures up on our Flickr Page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/47991844@N06/sets/72157631495818466/ 

Celebrating Spring in Sipson

This blog is a bit late but here goes. The rain held out and joining plenty of other stalls, including dance classes, giant jenga, gnome painting and the Com.Cafe puppet show, Transition Heathrow had a great day with Heathrow villagers at this years Sipson Spring Fair.

In the Transition Heathrow area we had a mini selection of all the spaces from the Grow Heathrow site giving residents who haven’t yet visited a peek of what goes on in Vineries Close. A growing area giving away free tomato, salad and coriander plants and wild flower seed bombs, an energy space with a bike powered phone charger, arts and crafts with face painting and mural art, bike doctor and tandem riding and information stall, plenty of new friends were made.

A big thanks to all who came out for the day, its community events like these which bring everyone together and make people value and protect what we have here in Sipson.

Have a look at some pictures from the Uxbridge Gazette. And a big thanks to Kate Birch (Heathrow Villages Community Development officer) for making it all happen.

Happy Birthday Grow Heathrow!

On Saturday 4th March, Grow Heathrow celebrated two years of community food growing, bike maintenance and resistance to BAA’s plans for a third runway. Local residents and friends of the project gathered in the formerly abandoned greenhouses in Sipson for a day of live music, mural painting and a birthday cake competition.

Visitors were greeted by improvised tunes in the sunshine. The ad hoc band included a double bass, accordion and junk-yard drum kit. Around sixty people gathered in the main space as the cakes were being judged. Sipson resident Tracy said, “It’s great to see so many new faces here. Thanks to everyone who has worked so hard in making this project what it is today. It really shows what a community can do”.

The partially completed mural is taking shape nicely and is already brightening up the side of our donated construction site cabin. Conceived of by a friend of the project and street artist Barney, the design is centred around a train of leaves along the length of the building. Moving from left to right, the leaves change colour, to represent the transition from Autumn into Spring and Summer. Alongside this, the mural will display images from the world as it is today on one side, to the world that we’d like to see on the other.

Why not come down to Grow Heathrow as we’re finishing the painting to colour in a leaf or draw a wind turbine? Drop us a line at info@transitionheathrow.com for more details.

More photos from the day can be found on our Flickr

Harmondsworth Scout Group message of support

Heres a message of support which we especially like from the local Harmondsworth scout group co-ordinator.

Just wanted to drop you a note to say thank you for all of the help that you have given us over the past year.

The allotment has been harvested and we shared our produce with not only the children’s families but also the local community. Your expertise and enthusiasm was a god send. The wildlife pond is thriving and we now have all manner of creatures visiting, the children are so proud of it and they relay the story of it’s construction to any one who is willing to listen!

We are delighted to see that you have been awarded the right to stay for the near future at Grow Heathrow. The difference you have made to the community has been immeasurable and we only wish that there were more people like yourselves willing to protect the land, the vulnerable and the community.

As you know it has been a very difficult year for many of our children as they have had to watch their friends move away and the security blanket that the community threw around it’s children has been pulled away with so many residents, young and old, leaving the area.

There has however, been one friend, a new one, that we have grown to love and respect and it is Grow Heathrow whose volunteers have been able to look these children in the eye and say we won’t leave you. The confidence you have instilled in our children has meant that they can look to the future and they now understand that with the right guidance and commitment the Villages can still be their homes and provide the safe environment that every child is entitled to grow up in.

We all love visiting Grow Heathrow where the children have learnt so many things and we hope that we can build on this with you in the future. Some of our children live in flats with no gardens so the chance to come down to Grow Heathrow and dig in the dirt is like winning 1st prize for them. And then we have our young teenagers… who, in their sulky, difficult way think you are all cool and it is really refreshing to see them responding to your advise. We have all learnt so much from the centre and you guys have given the children so much, we only hope that things will work out and that you will be able to stay at Grow Heathrow and help further develop the Centre and continue to support the community.

Having grown up in Sipson I remember the Nurseries and all of the activity that surrounded them, to see them fall into disrepair and then be used as a personal dump was heart breaking but nobody had the knowledge of how to stop this happening and then you turned up. You showed us all that we can change things and we don’t have to allow the degeneration of the area to succeed.

If human beings are being abused the law will protect them, if animals are being abused the law will protect them, let us hope that the law will also start to protect our land and stop it from being abused.