A mini Christmas Barnes Bugle

The Barnes Village Bugle

December 23, 2020 - a mini Christmas Bugle for a good cause, and no Hammersmith Bridge coverage for once!

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Turning the tide

Can you volunteer to help the Covid vaccine programme at Essex House surgery?

Over 2,000 people have now had their first dose of Covid vaccine at Essex House Surgery, helped in no small part by a team of volunteers who have been helping with parking and ensuring safe socially-distanced queuing.

Getting as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible is the name of the game and even simple things, like volunteers helping the elderly people visiting for their vaccinations to take off their coats, have helped the vaccination programme run like a well oiled machine.

Town Centre manager Emma Robinson says "We've been hugely lucky to have been helped by many of those who volunteer at the Barnes Children's Literature Festival and we've had amazing support from the staff, parents and older pupils at St Paul's School, but we know we will need to tap into more local goodwill in order to have volunteers on hand to help with the programme well into the new year."

Both volunteers and those receiving the vaccine have praised the Essex House team for how efficiently the vaccination programme has been handled, and Emma has been really touched to receive emails from some of those who have been vaccinated.

"I had a lovely email from an 82-year-old woman who came with her 90-year-old husband, saying what a positive experience the whole thing had been and praising the volunteers for their friendliness and kindness" she says.

If you think you may be able to give some of your time to volunteer in the new year just click the button below to get in touch with Emma. She'll add you to her volunteers list and get in touch when she has the dates of next year's clinics.

Click here to volunteer

The show must go on...

F our performances. That's all there were for Rapunzel, this year's panto at The OSO.

It's the Art Centre's biggest show of the year and when Covid stole this Christmas it meant that months of planning, set construction and rehearsals were all for nothing. The panto closure has left a gaping hole in box office takings (it was a sold-out run), and children across Barnes and beyond have missed one of the highlights of their year.

However in true showbiz fashion the team at the OSO have decided the show must go on. Luckily one of the performances was filmed you can now view it online in exchange for a £10 donation to the OSO. It's the perfect family treat for Boxing Day - oh yes it is!

Click here to watch Rapunzel

And finally, a very Merry Christmas from The Bugle, and here's to a much better 2021

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