The Barnes Village Bugle

Dig for victory

With all the recent beautiful weather (where did it go?) and all the extra time available for gardening, many of Barnes’ back gardens are looking lovelier than ever, but the only people who can now enjoy them are their owners.

FiSH’s annual Open Gardens event has had to be cancelled and all the money that it could have raised has now been lost. Or has it?

FiSH are hoping that the June event will go ahead in virtual form. Local web designers Great Little Websites have volunteered to build a website with a virtual garden tour experience, featuring galleries and videos of many of the gardens that would have been featured, as well as garden stories. All that’s missing now are photographs and videos. Some of those people who would have been showing their gardens if not for the lockdown are already involved but if you have a garden you would like to show and can contribute a gallery of photographs FiSH would love to hear from you -  if you can make a short video even better. The gardens won’t be identified by address so you should have no concerns about showing them online.

Visitors to the website will be asked to make a donation to FiSH which means you will contributing to a brilliant project, as well as showing off the fruits of your lockdown labour. Your garden doesn’t need to be a show garden, just one you are happy to show off.

If you’d like to volunteer do send your details to us at the Bugle by clicking the link below.

Volunteer your garden

Hammersmith bans cyclists and joggers on river walk

A daytime ban on cyclists and joggers on the river walk between Putney Bridge and Chiswick Mall has been extended by Hammersmith & Fulham Council. The restriction was originally introduced on the Easter weekend in response to concerns that the river walk was becoming so crowded that social distancing was being made impossible.  

The restrictions are in place between 10.00 am and 6.00 pm.

On Hammersmith Bridge a queuing system has been introduced to avoid people overtaking each other and to ensure the two-metre rule is enforced. Marshals are in place to explain the procedure to bridge users. Elsewhere on the river path, the narrow passageway outside the Dove pub has been completely closed to walkers.  

The council say that the restrictions have made a real difference to walkers and have been welcomed by the vast majority of residents. No information is available as to how long the restrictions will remain.

Cards and cakes bring smiles

Sometimes the simplest things make the biggest difference, and who doesn’t love cards and cake? Every week FiSH receives a supply of cards and letters from boys at St Paul’s Juniors – Pauls4All Pen Pals. These are then popped into the bags of clients receiving a frozen food parcel for the weekend. These contain meals that have been generously supplied by COOK in Barnes or created by FISH volunteer cooks from kind food donations from Waitrose in Sheen, 2 Peas in a Pod and the East Sheen Fish shop. These handwritten messages from pupils are really appreciated by the recipients. It’s a small touch but FiSH director Micky Forster says that the cards have been real morale boosters. In future, FiSH is developing a small team of uniquely talented volunteers – cake bakers, singers and musicians – to mark clients’ special birthdays.    

Two for joy

Many thanks to Jane Cockerill for this picture

We have two delightful new cygnets on the pond and they have already been taken on their first excursion to Beverley Brook as you can see above. It's quite a reduction from the seven cygnets born in the last two years. We don’t know why it is such a small litter this year but there is a possibility that some of the eggs on the island were targeted by predators or it could be that the low number is related to the age of the mother swan as the number of eggs laid each season can reduce with the swan’s age.

While bird seed isn’t now available from the BCA you can still feed the swans with your own bird seed or fresh (not mouldy) bread. They also love fresh greens like spinach or lettuce.  The Swan Sanctuary say the best way to feed swans is to throw the food into the water and that it’s not a good idea to lure them onto land to feed them.

BCA furloughs staff as Barnes Fair is cancelled

The BCA has had to put all its staff on furlough and the team of volunteer trustees have taken over some of their roles. BCA Chair Nicki Urquhart will be keeping an eye on Barnes Green and Barnes Pond while Common Keeper Russell Greaves is not working. You can still call the BCA number if you want to report a problem with the swans and Nicki will liaise with the Swan Sanctuary if needed. Other trustees will be helping out with High Street projects such as the community shop and carrying out membership admin tasks.

The cancellation of this year’s Fair is a major blow to the BCA as the income raised from stallholders taking space at the free event helps to contribute to the costs of our Town Centre Manager and the Common Keeper as well as covering the costs of the BCA’s admin team.

Depending on what is happening with social distancing measures later in the year, the BCA board of Trustees is hoping that it will be possible to go ahead with an expanded version of the Food Fair in September which some regular Barnes Fair stallholders could also attend.

Delivery slots now available at the Barnes Community Shop

The e-powered delivery bike from the Barnes Community Shop above is now a familiar site on our streets. After an initial avalanche of orders clogged up the system, slots are now available for this invaluable local service.

The shop allows you to make an online order for goods from three of our brilliant local suppliers, Londis, The Barnes Fruit & Veg Shop and I Love Local in White Hart Lane. Joseph Langdon who is co-ordinating the service says “We are operating Monday to Friday and if you order before 1.00 pm, you are eligible for next day delivery you can also book for a delivery in the future as well as the next day.

“Our friendly driver delivers the items you order between noon and 3.00pm and if there is anything missing you will be refunded, sometimes things are missing due to stock not being available that day.  

“We've been going for about a month now and things are much smoother.

“One thing we've found hard is getting into the rhythm of things which we have now got the hang of and customers are happy with the service.

“To start with we limited the service to those who needed it... i.e those who were self-isolating however now it can be used by anyone and we’re welcoming new orders.“

You can order via the website and if you need to contact them with queries about the service or your order the email address is info@barnescommunityshop.com  

Calling Coronavirus survivors

The NHS Blood & Transport (NHSBT) need people who’ve recovered from coronavirus (COVID-19) to donate blood plasma, as part of a potential clinical trial to help with the national effort against the virus.

The trial will tell the NHSBT how effective convalescent plasma (plasma from people who’ve had coronavirus) is for treating coronavirus patients.

How you can help

If you have had a positive test result for COVID-19, or have had symptoms of COVID-19, you can help by registering to donate plasma. However, not everyone will be able to donate. You need to meet some eligibility criteria:

•	be between 17 and 66 years old
•	weigh between 50kg and 158kg
•	not be pregnant, or had a baby, miscarriage or termination within six months
•	not have an existing or previous heart condition
•	not have had a transfusion since 1st January 1980
•	live close enough to donate at one of two London donor centres

For those who register NHSBT will be in contact over the coming weeks. Acceptance to donate will depend on the responses you give on the registration form and follow-up contacts before donation.

 

What is convalescent plasma?

Blood plasma is a yellowish liquid that makes up about half your blood volume. After a virus, your plasma contains antibodies that are used to help fight infection.

Convalescent plasma is the antibody-rich plasma of someone who has recovered from a virus, in this case COVID-19.

Who can donate convalescent plasma?

Convalescent plasma can only be donated by someone who has had the virus. It is also important that donors have fully recovered from COVID-19, and that their body has had time to develop a good antibody response.

NHSBT are currently collecting plasma no sooner than 28 days after recovery and can only accept donations from people who live in England.

Donating plasma

Any donations will take place at one of their main donor centres - in London this is in Tooting and the West End.

Plasma donation is not the same as blood donation. The process takes around 45 minutes because it separates plasma from the blood as you donate, in a process called apheresis.

Register your details

The Barnes Film Festival goes ahead online

It’s not just garden tours that are going virtual but our very own Film Festival too.

Come June there’s going to be a feast of content available on the Festival website including 500 short films that have been submitted for consideration by the Festival’s judges. One is a documentary on Barnes' very own White Rabbit by local students Saffron & Raphael Cockerton-Rai.  This year the Festival has opened up their entries beyond the UK and it has received entries from over 20 countries from around the world.

In addition to the films contending for prizes, there will also be a wealth of online events and workshops featuring some of the biggest names in the UK film industry including:

Vanessa Redgrave, George Mackay (above), Daniel Battsek (Head of Film4) and Eric Fellner (Head of Working Title) and The Guardian documentary unit.  

Look out for more information on the Festival website and in next month’s Bugle.

Le Tour de Barnes

When this year's London Marathon was cancelled charities lost an estimated £65 million in sponsorship revenue. To try to help address the shortfall the organisers started the 26.2 Challenge encouraging people to take part in fundraising challenges with the theme of 26.2.

Barnes runners have risen to the challenge and their members have run 26.2 km, 26.2 miles, 2.62 KM and one of their runners even ran 26.2 furlongs in Richmond Park.

However the runner with the most original take on the challenge is George Richards has invented an entirely new sporting event Le Tour de Barnes, in which he has run through every street in Barnes. The challenge took him just over four hours and covered over 50 kilometres. If that's not worth a bit of sponsorship money we don't know what is. You can contribute to Barnes Runners charity efforts by clicking on the link below.

Sponsor Barnes Runners

Record food bank donations help the hardest hit

Volunteers at our local food bank have been amazed the generosity of the people of Barnes who have been donating record amounts of food to those in need at this difficult time.

Every week the OSO have been collecting donations and bringing them over to us.

"We really don’t know what the longer term future will bring in terms of employment and crisis need. Currently we are receiving in excess of 300 kg of food a week which is enabling our Barnes food bank to support our other food banks in the borough who have run low on supplies at times." says volunteer Peter Boynton.

To make your donation you can drop it off at the OSO between 10.00am and 12 noon Monday to Saturday.

Cooking up a storm

The OSO Arts Centre volunteer community kitchen has seen a huge surge in take-up. The kitchen which was set up with help from the Barnes Fund is supporting local residents suffering financial hardship during the COVID-19 crisis by cooking and distributing free freshly prepared meals. 

Simon Danciger, OSO Chair of Trustees says "We initially estimated a peak requirement for 1,000 meals a month. We actually produced 1,800 meals in April, our first month, and now expect this to rise to 3,000 in May. It's a clear indicator of the economic difficulties faced by so many in our community at this time".

Additional funding is now key to meeting this level of need. Several local businesses are now generously supporting the OSO Kitchen with food supplies including Natsons, Londis, Barnes Express and West Green Foods. Monetary donations from a number of local residents are also helping sustain the scheme. The OSO is running a fundraising Quiz on Friday May 8, see story below for details.

Starter for 10

Move over University Challenge, say goodbye to The Chase there’s a new quiz in town making Pointless, well, pointless.

To raise funds for our excellent Community Kitchen the OSO are holding an online quiz on Friday May 8. It only costs £5 per household to join and that’s small beer when you consider the accolade on offer – the chance to be crowned Quiz Champion of Barnes.

To take part click the button below: 

Book your ticket for the Big Barnes Quiz

Soul Food

Tree by Tim Pond, one of the beautiful images in the OSO's art gallery.

The team at The OSO have been busy nourishing the soul as well as the body with a huge programme of online arts events. Their arts and entertainment programme, 'The House is Now Open' is bringing together local artists virtually to create performance pieces. Barnes residents sitting at home are also invited to get involved. Write a short play, a poem or musical piece at home, up to five minutes performable length, and the OSO will match you with actors and musicians who will then perform it online.

The Bedtime In Barnes channel has proved to be a particular favourite. New stories are added regularly, most recently by Anneka Rice, Michelle Lunney and Vassos Alexander. Browse the OSO online Art Gallery, 'Isolation Art' where dozens of local artists are uploading their works. Online dance, painting and Tai-Chi classes are also now available to view. You can find more details on the OSO web-site www.osoarts.org.uk.

Rugby stars get behind the Big Barnes Lift

Very sadly, Gary Garrett, a stalwart of Barnes Rugby Club, died in April from Covid-19. It’s been a devastating blow to the club and determined to do something in his memory they came up with the Big Barnes Lift – a challenge aiming to get as many people as possible lifting a combined total of 1 million kg in one day to raise money for NHS charities.

"It was a great shock for all of the Barnes Rugby family when Garry died," said Barnes RFC chairman Michael Whitfield. "Everyone wanted to help his wife Yolanda and his son Jack who plays in our first team. Everyone wanted to do something to honour his memory.

The challenge has been supported by some of England’s past rugby greats including Will Carling and Jonny Wilkinson as well as current England squad members. So far the £10,000 target has been smashed and the fundraising total is set to exceed an amazing £100,000.

You can get behind the Barnes Rugby Team by clicking the link below.

Support the Big Barnes Lift

How your old bed linen could help to save lives

These colourful scrubs above are the handiwork of some very talented local crafters. Rebecca Mascarenhas, Amanda Carr and Susannah Webster have all joined the Kew Scrub Hub to help make much needed scrubs. The Scrub Hub now has all the volunteer sewers it needs but fabric is in short supply. Some of the scrubs above were made with old bed sheets and duvets donated by friends and neighbours of the trio. They need more fabric so if you can donate old bed linen which is still in good condition it would be very much appreciated. The fabric can’t be white or yellow but can, as you see above, be patterned. If you’d like to donate fabric just drop it off on the drive of no 8 Castelnau. 

Local designer celebrates the NHS

Sue Lee, a local illustrator/designer with a small greetings card company has designed a thank you card specifically for NHS staff with all profits going to NHS Charities Together. If people are self isolating, there’s an option to buy the card plus a stamp and Sue will write and send it for you. She says” If people don’t want to send one to a specific person, they could choose an ICU department, or maybe a group of hospital staff (front desk staff, cleaners, porters, caterers, drivers etc) or a GP surgery, pharmacy, care home, ambulance station, fire station (many firefighters are driving ambulances) etc.”

The card costs £2.50 and is available here.

The Home Front

Barnes’s streets are already festooned with rainbows and teddies in windows but ‘more is more’ as they say and it’s time to get the bunting out and to spruce up your front garden planting.

First of all, to celebrate VE Day on Friday May 8th the BBC is encouraging us to honour the men and women of WW2 by bedecking our houses.

Official events planned to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe after the Second World War have had to be cancelled in the light of social distancing measures. However, the day can still be marked with a mass display of bunting.

If you haven’t got some bunting left over from Royal Wedding, or other celebrations, hidden in a cupboard somewhere you could even get the sewing machine out and make your own. You can find a template and instructions here.

And once the bunting’s done it’s time for some weeding and planting as the judges from Barnes in Bloom will be out and about in June awarding certificates to the owners of Barnes’ Best Front Gardens.

By the book

Here’s a lovely idea from Anna Freeland in Cleveland Gardens – a book exchange, perfect for these socially distanced times. It’s a street-based lending library where people can borrow and place books (albeit only when the sun is shining).

Pay it forward

When local restaurant Church Road launched a scheme to sell vouchers for future use to help cover costs during lockdown they were overwhelmed with the generosity of their customers. “We’re so incredibly grateful” says co-owner Rebecca Mascarenhas, “the money raised has made a real difference and we’re really looking forward to saying thank you in person when the restaurant can open once more.”

Buying vouchers for future services is one way we all have available to us to keep our favourite businesses open but for some small shop owners the logistics of selling vouchers are too onerous. However a brand new scheme from the Mayor of London will allow businesses to sell their services and customers to buy them.

The Pay it Forward initiative allows local businesses to sell vouchers and allows us to nominate local businesses to take part. At the moment there are no participants in Barnes so we all need to spread awareness of the scheme to shops and businesses like hair salons and beauty therapists who have been hard hit by the lockdown.

You can find out more about the scheme here. 

Library cat found

Flash Harry or Flash for short is possibly Barnes’ friendliest cat. By day he hangs out in Barnes Library where he’s happy to be stroked and petted by all and sundry, and on Sundays he is a keen church goer at St Osmund’s. However like many of us he has had his routine turned upside down. He’s sixteen now and has rather poor eyesight so it seems that last week having made a forlorn journey from his home in Madrid Road to his favourite spots he wandered further afield and got lost.

Appeals for information about his whereabouts went out on NextDoor Barnes and via a special mini Bugle sent to streets around Castelnau. His worried owners were soon updated with lots of sightings of Flash, which helped put their minds at rest. Eventually Flash turned up back at home behaving as though nothing had happened, but his owners have been hugely impressed both by how many people know Flash so well and with the community level detective work in helping to find him.

 

Also missing from North Barnes is a sweet grey and white kitten called Lunar (see image below). If you spot him do call his owner Madeleine on 07970174502. 

 

The Bugle occasionally sends out appeals for lost pets to subscribers in the immediate area concerned but we appreciate that not everybody wishes to receive them so if you'd prefer not to then just let us know at admin@barnesvillage.com and we will add you to the opt-out list that we maintain.

 

Nominate an NHS hero for a makeover

Local celebrity hairdresser Sinead Kelly has joined forces with Salv Mulé of Academy Salons in Surrey with the aim of rewarding NHS staff who are doing so much for all of us in the current crisis.

They want people to nominate someone who would benefit from a day’s pampering with a makeover session including a haircut and a whole range of beauty therapies.

They would love other businesses in Barnes to get involved by contributing products for goodie bags. Local restaurants can donate meals, and they’d be incredibly grateful if any florists could include a bouquet for each pamperee to make the day extra special.

If you are a local business that can help or if you want to nominate an NHS staffer for a makeover you will need to follow Sinead on Instagram and DM her. The insta handle is @sineadkellyldn.

A316 night time closure planned

Local website PutneySW15 reports that the A316 is to be closed at night for maintenance work during most of the month of May.

TfL has announced that the A316 Chertsey Road and Lower Richmond Road will be shut in sections between May 5 and May 22. The works will include repairs to the road, gully cleaning, maintenance of the lighting, barrier repairs and road stud replacement. Grass verges will also be cut.

The closures will be between 10.00 pm and 5.00am on Monday to Friday between May 5 &8 on the westbound carriageway between Chalker’s Corner and the London Road Roundabout.

On the following three nights (May11-14) the work will take place between London Road roundabout and Hospital Bridge Road roundabout on the westbound carriageway. For the next five nights the eastbound carriageway will be worked on.

The project is scheduled to be completed by May 22 with three nights of work between the London Road Roundabout and Chalker’s Corner on the eastbound carriageway.

Milliner to the stars makes care packages

When local milliner Anne Gretton created a hat for Boris Johnson’s fiancé Carrie Symonds she couldn’t believe the number of times the photo of her wearing it would appear in the press.

Normally such amazing coverage would lead to a flurry of orders for hats for Ascot and summer weddings. However the hat got so much coverage for all the wrong reasons, the photo was used in pieces about Boris Johnson’s hospitalisation, and Ascot and summer weddings probably won’t be happening this year.

So, rather than making hats, Anne has switched to making some beautifully designed care baskets. She’s been pulling together themed present baskets. They can be tailored to meet the needs of anyone who wants to send someone a present. Baskets she has produced so far include pampering packages, tea and scones and children’s activities.

You can contact Anne and find out more about her baskets by emailing ajgrettondesigns@yahoo.com.

Where the heart is

If long periods spent at home have got you itching to decorate there’s good news. Firstly our local hardware store on the High Street is now open and secondly Marija, a brilliant local seamstress, is still working and ready to make the cushions, curtains and blinds of your dreams. She works out of a studio in the lovely mews behind Fired Earth on Church Road and you can contact her by calling 07740 100819.

Shed help

A project whose aim is to prevent social isolation for retirees couldn’t be more relevant now. Men’s Sheds are a fabulous way for people to get together over shared activities, and when this is all over our planned Barnes Men’s Shed will be needed more than ever. However plans to get it up and running have met a small hitch. The Wetland Centre has donated space in its car park for the shed and planning permission has been sought. However the planners are concerned about building the structure on ‘Metropolitan Open Land’. There is a way to overcome this problem – the submission of a BREAM report. However it normally costs in excess of £3k to commission such a report.

The team behind the Men’s Shed are very much hoping that somewhere in Barnes there is an expert compiler of such reports who may be able to donate their time. If you are such a person do drop us a line at the Bugle and we’ll put you in touch with them.

Have you lost your watch?

If you dropped your watch while cycling past the Barnes Farmers Market on Saturday, don't worry it's been found. You will be able to pick it up at next Saturday's market. Just call Eddie from the Sushi stall on 07747 862386 and describe your watch.