Category: News

Following the tremendous response to the suggested closure of Harrow Arts Centre and Museum last year, you may remember that the Arts & Heritage service was given time by the Council to set up a company to manage the services  in future.The Council stipulated that we put a business plan in place to increase income and therefore become sustainable. Plans to meet this challenge have been created and include, amongst other things, the building of a new cinema.

Our new company, Cultura London, was incorporated in August this year and is currently awaiting confirmation from the charities commission regarding its charitable status. Further information on Cultura London can be found at www.culturalondon.uk. By January 2016, we need to show the Council how we will raise the funds to build the new Cinema.

We would never have got this far without the tremendous groundswell of support from the local community, for which we are incredibly grateful.

We are now holding drop-in sessions for you to come and view our plans so far and find out how you can help us achieve our aims. We have made progress with fundraising (the Council have agreed to a loan of £1million pounds) and our public campaign will be starting shortly.

If you would like to find out more about our plans, please do come along to meet the team and ask any questions you might have.
Sandra Bruce-Gordon
Arts and Heritage Service Manager/CEO Cultura London

 

Reply-To: [email protected]

NB Open days to publicise the plans were held on 11th and 12th November, but as has happened in the past insufficient notice was given, so I would suggest those interested should write to the above address asking for future dates.

Ed.

 

 

The usual multi-denominational Rembrance day service was held by the Pinner War Memorial on Sunday 8th November. It was a very moving service at which many wreaths were laid. The crowds attending the ceremony were greater than ever on a mild November morning.

 very mild November day.

Planning Application for 17.5 metre high telecom mast on the corner of West End Avenue and Marsh Road

There is a current planning application, number P/4612/15 on the Harrow Council Planning website, for the “Installation of 17.5 Metre High Monopole Supporting Six Antennas and Two 300mm Microwave Dishes; Installation Of Two Radio Equipment Cabinets; Associated Development” in West End Avenue, adjacent to the flank wall of 171 Marsh Road.
The Pinner Association has submitted to the Harrow Council Planning Department an objection to this planning application to install a 17.5 metre high telecom mast adjacent to a residential area, citing the following reasons for our request for refusal of this application:

1. Although the address on the application is 171 Marsh Road, the proposed site for the new mast and associated boxes and infrastructure is in West End Avenue, a residential road of attractive Edwardian style properties.  The industrial appearance and bulk of the proposed boxes and mast would not be appropriate in this location being quite incongruous in the streetscene.  In their “Design and Access Statement” the applicants state that the site is “in a built up area with a large amount of street furniture”, even though their “as existing” site plan illustrates that this is not the case.  Currently on the site there are six small bollards (to stop parking on the pavement at this corner site), a lamppost and one small existing cabinet, all on the kerb edge of the pavement.
   2. In their “Design and Access Statement” the applicants concede that the new 17.5 metre high mast would “be a relatively tall structure and would have an impact on the surrounding area”, but then go on to seek to detract from that statement by saying “this minimal impact is acceptable”.   To whom would it be “acceptable”?  The new mast, which would be over 57 feet high, and the associated boxes, would be highly visible to anyone approaching along Marsh Road from the central Pinner direction, and from all those approaching down West End Avenue.  Due to the excessive height of the proposed mast it would tower above the surrounding buildings and be completely out of scale in this location, and be visible, and therefore intrusive, over a wide area.  The impact would be far from minimal and entirely detrimental.
   3. The two new large boxes are proposed to be sited alongside the flank of the corner shop at the bottom of West End Avenue, but the new mast would be positioned in the centre of the pavement, and therefore could be a hazard to any visually impaired, or an otherwise disabled, pedestrian, as well as parents with buggies, etc..

4. This application has no exhibited site notice and very few local properties have been sent letters of notification.  We feel that additional notification letters should be sent and that the time for responses should be extended to allow local people time to consider and comment on the proposed plans.

5. There is currently no extant planning consent for the former petrol filling station site in Marsh Road and thus the applicants cannot be under immediate time pressure to relocate.  They should use this time to identify a new site free from the objections above, e.g. on top of an existing commercial building.
   6. If, in spite of the above objections, and those from local residents, planning consent is granted for the new mast and boxes, we ask that a condition be applied such that once the technological requirement for this intrusive infrastructure ceases then all the equipment should be removed from the site.

          

Neil Elder, long-time resident of Pinner, has won the Cinnamon Press Poetry Pamphlet Prize with his collection, ‘Codes of Conduct’ that has now been published.

The collection falls into two parts: firstly, a sequence focusing on life in the world of work which centres around the character of office worker, Henderson, and the second part of the book concentrates on poems encompassing a wider interpretation of codes of conduct. Neil does not say whether his time as an English teacher at St Helen’s School, Northwood or his present role at St Augustine’s Priory in Ealing are inspiration for the satirical edge to part one of the collection. However, one of his colleagues said, ‘These poems are absolutely wonderful, witty and an annihilation of the corporate world’.

In his adjudication, Prof Ian Gregson, judge of  the Cinnamon Pamphlet Prize, said about ‘Codes of Conduct’:

“This collection  is  entertaining  throughout  but,  in  particular,  it  starts  with  a  sequence  focused  on  a  persona,  ‘Henderson’,  whose  experiences  of  office  work  satirically  depict  this  key  aspect  of  contemporary  life  in  a  series  of  representatively  farcical  and  self-­defeating  episodes.”

Neil hopes that the poems will highlight the discrepancy between what we believe about other people and what we really know. He says that his poems raise pertinent questions about the way we work and live under the guise of humour.
A fellow member of the English Department at St Augustine’s Priory added, ‘He executes the poems with great sensitivity, bringing to mind a modern day Willy Loman (character in Arthur Miller’s ‘Death of a Salesman’)’.
Some of Neil’s students have also been enjoying the work, and Katarina Krneta, Upper VI, commented, ‘This collection is simply fantastic’ and Shivali Sharma, also Upper VI, said ‘Mr Elder’s teaching, like his poetry, is inspiring’.

‘Codes of Conduct’ is available to order now from Cinnamon Press, and the usual online book sellers.

 

 

 

On 20th October the Mayor of Harrow laid a wreath of Poppies in the Peace Garden of Pinner Memorial Park. A large contingent of pupils from West Lodge School attended and were subsequently given a tour of West House  and told about the significance and history of its Shrine Room and about Heath Robinson.

Theatre Studies: Plays In Performance 1
12/01/2016 to 22/03/2016 (allows for half term date – TBA)
Sessions: 10 (8 x 2hrs, 2 x 2.5 hrs); Total number of hours: 21
Tuesdays, 10.30am to 12.30 (1pm for 2.5 hour sessions)
Tutor: Stewart Permutt
Theatre Studies: Plays In Performance 2

12/01/2016 to 22/03/2016 (allows for half term date – TBA)
Sessions: 10 (8 x 2hrs, 2 x 2.5 hrs); Total number of hours: 21
Tuesdays, 2pm-4pm (4.30pm for 2.5 hour sessions)
Tutor: Stewart Permutt
Booking a place on a Study Day

 

Send your name, address, telephone number and cheque (£25 per person) payable to WEA Pinner and Hatch End Branch, with the title of the day on the REVERSE of the cheque to:
WEA days: Sandra Cheetham, 10 Holmwood Close, N Harrow. HA2 6JX
Please enclose a stamped addressed envelope for receipt and confirmation of your booking. A place cannot be reserved for you until your cheque has been received and confirmed.
No refunds within two weeks of the Study Day.

 

 

Social History: Working Class Men & Women Through The First World War

13/01/2016 to 23/03/2016 (allows for half term date – TBA)
Sessions:10 (8 x 2 hours, 2 x 2.5 hours) ; total number of hours: 21
Wednesdays, 10am to 12 noon (12.30pm at first and last sessions)
Tutor: George O’Reilly
Venue: Pinner Parish Church Hall, Church Lane, Pinner, HA5 3A

Art History: Art, The Enlightenment And The World – Europe And The Orient (Part2)

15/01/2016 to 25/03/2016 (allows for half term date – TBA)
Sessions:10 (8 x 2 hours, 2 x 2.5 hours) ; total number of hours: 21
Fridays, 10am to 12 noon (12.30pm at first and last sessions)
Tutor: Madeline Edmead.
Venue: Scouts HQ, North Harrow Methodist Church, HA2 6EQ, North Harrow

Booking a place on a Study Day
Send your name, address, telephone number and cheque (£25 per person) payable to WEA Pinner and Hatch End Branch, with the title of the day on the REVERSE of the cheque to:
WEA days: Sandra Cheetham, 10 Holmwood Close, N Harrow. HA2 6JX

 

 

 

Please enclose a stamped addressed envelope for receipt and confirmation of your booking. A place cannot be reserved for you until your cheque has been received and confirmed.

 

No refunds within two weeks of the Study Day.

 

 

Jazz @ the Manor returns to Ruislip every Sunday from 1 November from 12.30 to 3 pm. Only two Sundays up to end January will not feature Jazz. They are 20 December and 3rd January.
The new venue is The Function room, Ruislip Conservative Club, 56-58 Ickenham Road HA4 7DQ

For details see www.jazzupstairs.comxa.com/ruislip.html