Neighbours Paper ’
Issue No 85
Putting the People of Ealing First
Ealing
Summer 2018
Summertime
Also featuring: Local High Streets | Summer Events | Being Needy in Ealing Health in Northfields pre-NHS | Welshore Community Hub
e e r F ease
Pl One e Tak
Acton | Ealing | Greenford | Hanwell | Northolt | Perivale | Southall
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E ditorial
Summer is back in Ealing and below are some of the exciting summer events in our Borough to look forward to. Meanwhile, don’t miss the “Sailing” article in this issue. Here is a new sport to consider! There are still planning concerns, as explained in Ealing Notes and “Missed Opportunities”. We are also highlighting issues that affect
Editorial................................................ 2 West Ealing Community Hub.............. 3 those less fortunate residents. Learn about the re-greening of Ealing and the future of the High Street, while our history writer explains about Health in Ealing pre-NHS. Also, discover more about the excellent Welshore Community Hub in West Ealing. Finally, please contact our Editor if you would like to join the team or write for us!
EVENTS AROUND EALING Conjuring at the Court: Drayton Court Hotel, 2 The Avenue W13. London’s longest-running monthly magic show takes place on last Thursday of every month. Next shows: Thursday 28th June, Thursday 26th July and Thursday 30th August. £11 in advance, £12 on the door. See tickets@ ConjuringAtTheCourt Tel: 07775 587708 www.ConjuringAtTheCourt.com Hanwell Carnival: Sat 16 June. Parade leaves Hanwell Community Centre 11am. Show in Elthorne Park is free entry 12 noon – 6pm. Music, SportsZONE, Animal ZONE, music, Craft Tent, food and drink. Party in the Park: Likely to be Sunday 25th June. Pitshanger Park 1.00PM – 9.00PM £3, Free for kids. Bring a picnic or enjoy food from the “gastrodome” tent. Games, sports, arts & crafts, music and dance by local schools on open-air stage. Music continues in Beer Tent through evening. See www.pitshanger.org.uk NOT CONFIRMED YET Eat Drink Ealing: Sat 30th June-Sun 1st July at Ealing Common. Food meets arts at Ealing’s new foodie festival – jam-packed with entertainment and delicious eats. Nibble and lounge on hay bales or wander around varied food stalls in the main bandstand…. a walking banquet, celebrating the best food and produce in West London. £3 per person Greenford Carnival: Sat. 30th June, Ravenor Park.12.00noon - 7.00PM FREE. Entertainment, Activities, Live Music, Dance, Food Stalls, Markets, Funfair and more…. 2
Contents Contents
Acton Carnival: Sat 14th July, Acton Park: 12.00 – 7.00PM £2 or family £5. Children 12 and under free. Carnival Procession Woodlands Park 12.00 to Acton Park at 2.00PM. Entertainment, Activities, Live Music, Dance, Food Stalls, Markets, Funfair. Ealing Beer Festival: Wed 11th July - Sat.14th July, Walpole Park. 12.00 – 10.30 PM (Sat until 6.00PM) Ealing by Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) £3 for members £5 for non- members. Hundreds of Ales shipped in from around the country.
Ealing Notes......................................4-5 Re-Greening of Ealing........................ 6 Being Needy in Ealing........................ 7 Missed Opportunities.......................... 8 Local High Street Futures.................... 9 Health in Northfields Pre-NHS........... 10 Classic Film Club............................... 11 Summer Sailing.................................. 12
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Ealing Comedy Festival: Thurs 19th & Fri 20th July. Also Wed 25th to Fri 27th July, Walpole Park. Top Comedians. Gates open 6.30PM Shows 7.30-10.30 £22 per show.
Email: neighbourspaper@hotmail.co.uk Editor: Tom Whiting (020 8840 5740) Treasurer: Judy Breens
Ealing Blues Festival: Sat-Sunday 21st-22nd July, Walpole Park. Biggest dedicated Blues event in Britain. Local and International Performers. Shows from 2.00PM – 10.30PM Tickets to book £5.50 per person, £11 both days £ 7.00 on gate Children 12 and under Free. Ealing Jazz Festival: Sat 28th & Sun 29th July, Walpole Park. Local and International Performers. Shows from 2.00 – 10.30PM Children 12 and under Free. £5.50 entry per day w/e £11 if booked. £7.00 on the door. Possibly Fringe Events in other venues. See www.ealingsummerfestivals.com for full details and to book tickets. Lovebox Festival: Fri 13-Sat 14 July, Gunnersbury Park. See www.loveboxfestival.com for international line-up and tickets.
Putting the People of Ealing First
Writers: Judy Breens, Arthur Breens, Manjinder Chijarh, Will French, Michael Holmes, Eric Leach, Ron Nicholls, Rosemary Wallis, Tom Whiting Designer: Jamie Anson Cover - Photo Locations: Ealing Croquet Club in Lammas Park, Ealing Cricket Club, Wedding on Haven Green Webmaster: Sonia Nimley Advert Designer: Sandy Anson Printer: Pollyprint Ltd, 263 Northfield Avenue, Ealing W5 4UA, 0208 579 1441, www.pollyprint.co.uk Advertisement rates: Single Box £25, Double Box £45, Triple Box £70 Next copy deadline: 31st July
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A Community Hub in the Heart of West Ealing By Tom Whiting
The WELSHORE COMMUNITY HUB is a beacon of light that supports the isolated, the young, the vulnerable and excluded residents of Ealing, by running a series of workshops and classes for people of all ages and backgrounds to learn and harness new skills. Founded in 2010, the original aim of this community organisation was to encourage residents housed by the Catalyst Housing Association to get out and about, to interact with their local community and to foster a support network to those who needed help. Christina Tom-Johnson, Operational Director, is a former nursing midwife
Knit & Natter class .
who is now retired and runs the hub. ‘I probably spend the majority of my time trying to raise funds to keep us going,’ she says, with obvious pride in her voice. ‘All of our staff are unpaid volunteers, apart from a couple of tutors who come in and run some of the classes.’ The Welshore hold a range of classes and activities at most times of the day: from Zumba, Sewing, Knit and Natter, Chess, a Jewellery design workshop (with pupils from nearby Belvue school, in Northolt), and a lunch club as well as English Language tuition. As you can imagine, it’s often a buzzy hive of activity and creativity. Indeed, while I was there, a parent of one of the schoolchildren who attends workshops at West Ealing had commissioned the design of a lead stained-glass window for her own home. Christina adds: ‘While mainly self-funded, we’ve had financial assistance in the past from the likes of Catalyst (who own the building and charge a nominal rent),
Young minds
in action at the chess club .
Pathways and the Ealing Community Champions fund. The Felix Project also provide food for our lunch club and knit and natter group.’ In house, the community hub also runs legal advice surgeries and information on how to fill out benefits forms and tips involving household management – for example, on energy saving. Neighbours’ Paper wholeheartedly applauds the efforts of this vibrant and inclusive community group that has proved itself an invaluable asset and support framework to the local residents of Ealing borough. The Welshore is also available for venue hire. See Welshore Community Hub, 99 Broadway, West Ealing W13 9BP. Opening hours 10am-4pm. Tel 020 8566 4099, info@welshore.org.uk, www.welshore.org.uk.
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Ealing Notes
Compiled by J udy B reens
Ealing Save our NHS Ealing’s health bosses are looking for a single provider to run all our community health services and have invited private health companies and NHS Trusts to bid for a 10-year contract worth £0.5 billion to £1.2 billion. Community nursing, diabetes, dementia services, specialist children’s nursing, mental health, physiotherapy and Wards at Clayponds Hospital are just some of what’s included in this contract. The successful ‘contractor’ would be expected to develop these “community” services so that they can ‘substitute’ for hospital beds – something that has never worked anywhere in the world. There are huge risks with such a big contract. A lot can change in 10 years – so if there is no more money and you’re a private company and can’t make a profit, or if you’re a NHS Trust or Consortium and can’t afford to deliver the service, then you withdraw and the local NHS has to pick up the pieces. Ealing Clinical Commissioning Group, our local health bosses, don’t seem to have given much thought to the problems, including the impact on our local NHS Trust, which currently runs many of the services. Nor are they able to explain how or if such a huge contract would be monitored or accountable to the public. There are precedents to things going wrong. Last year the Private Transport Service who ran our local NHS Trust’s patient transport went bust with just two days’ notice, leaving patients without a service. In 2015 ‘Uniting Care Partnership’, a
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consortium of NHS providers won a 5-year contract to run Cambridge & Peterborough Older Persons Service. After 8 months they withdrew, leaving the NHS with a £16 million bill. Unfortunately, even when NHS Trusts are successful in winning contracts, they end up operating more like private companies then public bodies. It’s no wonder that Ealing Save Our NHS is worried and opposed to these plans. More at www.ealingsaveournhs.org.uk and www.ealing.gov.uk/soh.
to consider the community value and use of the building and whether a lawful Equality Impact Assessment had been undertaken. The hall is an important historical building, over the years hosting information and advice centres, the Indian Workers Association and was the focus of a famous community antifascist protest in the 1979. Current user groups include the Southall Community Alliance and the Migrant Advice and Advocacy Service. When granting the review, the Judge made clear that “Local Authorities must take obligations under the Equalities legislation seriously and must actively consider the community value and use of buildings before selling them off to the highest bidder.” Neighbours Paper hopes for a positive result for local people at the forthcoming Judicial Review full hearing.
Southall Town Hall Update
Warren Farm
Last time we reported on the Council’s proposal to dispose of the Grade 2 listed, 1897 built, Southall Town Hall on a 250-year lease. On 25 April the Save Southall Town Hall Campaign appealed to the Royal Courts of Justice for a Judicial Review. The Court agreed that the London Borough of Ealing had a case to answer as to whether it failed
Sadly, Save Warren Farm have not been successful in their appeal to the Royal Courts of Justice to allow a Judicial Review on the Council’s disposal of Warren Farm in Southall to Queens Park Rangers Football Club. The group are currently considering further legal action. See www.savewarrenfarm.com. More next time.
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Ealing Notes continueD Victoria Hall – The Council digs in In March, the Council decided to push on with the disposal of Ealing’s iconic Victoria Hall as part of the deal to hand over the Town Hall to hotel operator Mastcraft. A carefully stage-managed meeting of the specially established General Purposes Committee rejected 277 letters of objection to the deal without discussing any of them. They decided instead that the Hall should be handed to Mastcraft to run as a wedding venue for the next 250 years. Their problem, however, is that the Council do not own the Hall which was built from public donations. They just act
as the trustees of the charity and are supposed to manage it on the public’s behalf. Campaign group Ealing Voice are instructing lawyers to object to the Charity Commission that the Council has mismanaged the trust for many years. No accounts of the charity exist; no one knows what happens to the income from letting the Hall now. Ealing Voice want the Charity Commission to refuse to allow the deal with Mastcraft to go ahead. Instead they say, new trustees should be appointed to run the Hall for the purposes it was designed for. See www.ealingvoice.com for further updates.
What’s on at the Cinema? Announcements that work will soon start on Ealing’s long-awaited cinema may have much to do with the recent elections and Council leader Julian Bell’s claims that the Cinema would be open for business by now. The Council now insists that the Cinema will open by 2020. However, the knowledgeable staff at St George’s recently opened exhibition on Longfield Avenue opposite Perceval House say St George have committed only to hand over the completed building by the end of 2020. How long Picturehouse, the operators, will take to get started is another question. The St George’s exhibition is well worth a visit to see the excellent model of the Filmworks development. There will be four large blocks of flats
named, rather tenuously, after men (no women) in films – (Humphrey) Bogart, (Lawrence) Olivier, (Jack) Hawkins and (Graham) Chapman Houses. Prices will be out of most people’s range however, with the cheapest one-bed flats an eye-watering £550,000. One thing now looks assured: the much-loved YMCA building on Bond Street will very soon be demolished to make way for Hawkins House. The grand Edwardian YMCA featured a 300-person hall, a large gym, classrooms, library, reading and games rooms. It has been boarded and vacant since the Council secretly acquired it in 2011 for £1.7 million. The two foundation stones at the entrance were some of the early works by the notable sculptor Eric Gill. St George promises these will be donated to a museum in Sussex.
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The Re-Greening of Ealing By Ron Nicholls Our part of Greater London is an area with its own unique and ongoing cultural heritage when it comes to the history of British gardening. Northfields apple orchard The very first garden centre in the UK was opened in nearby Syon Park, while Northfields itself was once an apple orchard; a fact that lives on in the names of three of our roads. Bramley Road, Wellington Road and Julien Road were named after the three varieties of cooking apples that once thrived here. Hessel Road was also named after an old orchard variety but in this case the tree was a pear. Details of these historic varieties may be found in the aptly-named Pyrus Malus Brentfordiensis: A Concise Description of Selected Apples (1831) by Hugh Ronalds. Of equal importance is the essential survival of Northfields Allotments, which were also a first for London and therefore deserve special preservation status as a British heritage site. Its well-maintained beds continue to provide visiting bees with such a wide variety of nectar that gives our local honey such a distinctive flavour. It has also just been recently announced that the gardens of Meadow House Hospice have - as in several years before - won the Ealing in Bloom award for a Commercial Premises. Green community projects Our borough is also home to honourable and worthy community
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projects such as Cultivate London, West Ealing Abundance and Ealing Transition. Even our local hostelries continue to play a major part in the green uplifting of our neighbourhood. The two pubs at either end of Northfield Avenue, the Forester and the Plough Inn, deserve praise for the eye-catching magnificence of their floral displays. Last but not least is the fact that Northfields Underground Station won first place in this year's Underground in Bloom competition. The well-tended gardens on the open-air platforms in full-sun come into their own in the almost horizontal shafts of early morning light. Martin Keegan, gardener-in-chief for Northfields Underground and his team of unpaid volunteers who continue to devote their free time to this project, have now become local heroes in our online and real-world communities with good reason. Legacy for future generations This is but one of the magnificent achievements of local community garden projects, regional awards and the finest public garden displays in West London which we should endeavour to celebrate in an effort to awaken interest in gardening that can be of benefit to our entire community as well
as provide a solid foundation for a rich and sustainable legacy for the sake of future generations. Let us increase our efforts to re-green our neighbourhoods and restore vital and historic resources that can help foster more caring and interwoven networks of community culture for generations to come. Such local initiatives can become a heartfelt expression of the ideals, the talents, the aspirations and the boundless creativity of all of us who continue to believe in the re-greening of Ealing. For more info see www.cultivatelondon.org, www.westealingabundancew13. wordpress.com, and www.ealingtransition.org.uk.
Northfields Allotments .
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Being Needy in Ealing By Eric Leach
The needy are those who do not have essential things like money, food or good health. They often suffer from stress, fear, depression and even isolation. One could judge a society or a community on how well it helps the disabled, vulnerable, destitute and needy. At the moment, nationally and locally I think we could significantly improve our help for these people. From my experience, most people want to work. It earns them money, gives ‘shape’ to their lives and often enables social interaction. However, there are those who are not able to work and those who can’t find work.
controversial aspect of UC is that when it kicks in all payments stop for at least five weeks. During this period, you might be able to get a loan from your Local Authority to tide you over. Face-to-Face Contact Curtailed Universal Credit roll-out in Ealing has just begun, and one of Ealing Council’s unhelpful tactics is to withdraw any face-to-face contact between benefit claimants and Council Officers in its ‘Customer Service Centre’ in Perceval House. Claimants on arrival are pointed at some free-phones and computer terminals. Dialling and holding-on for 15 minutes is common. After 10 minutes on the computer terminal, your transaction is terminated. I know the Council is short of money but this treatment of the needy is barbaric. The Ealing Council Community Benefits Team can be contacted for help10am to 4pm Monday to Friday on 020 8825 8555 and at CBT@ealing.gov.uk. Homeless
Iain Duncan Smith - the man who introduced U niversal Credit photographed here in 2010. P hoto by B y B rian Minkoff The Benefits System The current national grand design is called Universal Credit. It replaces six means-tested benefits and tax credits. Its main goals in 2010 were to get more people back to work and reduce overall annual spending on benefits by £5.5 billion by 2017. There’s no evidence that either goal was met. The original roll-out cost budget was £2.2 billion but so far, it’s cost £15.8 billion. The cost saving target year is now 2021 and the Office of Budget Responsibility in 2016 estimated annual savings would be just £1 billion. The current end date for introducing Universal Credit throughout the UK is 2022. A highly
Ealing Council and local Housing Associations do not have enough homes to house all those in need. Some private landlords will not accept those on benefits to become their tenants. The Council does, however, run an emergency housing service on 020 8825 8880. Legal Redress When benefit payments cease or are incorrectly calculated the needy have sometimes gone to law to get justice. Cuts to Legal Aid now make that route much less likely to be pursued. The Shadow Justice Secretary recently revealed that in 2012/13 there were 85,192 housing benefits cases supported by Legal Aid. By 2016/17 such cases had dropped to 35,474. Similarly, in a Parliamentary Putting the People of Ealing First
answer recently, 29,801 disabled people received Legal Aid in welfare cases. By 2016/17, only 308 disabled claimants were helped in this way. Free legal advice can be sought at Ealing Advice Service (03000 12 54 64), Ealing Equality Council (020 8231 2550) and Welshore Community Hub (020 8566 0777).
Foodbanks The Trussell Trust runs a UK network of over 400 foodbanks. During 2017 the trust gave 1,182,954 people in crisis three-day emergency food supplies. Of these people 484,026 were children. In April 2018 the trust revealed that in areas where Universal Credit was being rolled-out the average increase in the use of foodbanks was 52% . Editor’s Note: NP also received a letter on this subject. The writer was distressed that Housing Benefit has to be claimed entirely online now which is beyond the capability of many, including those who are elderly, non-English speaking or with learning difficulties. We were urged to press our Councillors to redress this matter which is causing huge stress to the vulnerable.
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Missed Opportunities By Arthur B reens Ealing has a new Council. Looking back at mistakes and opportunities missed by previous administrations, let’s start at Ealing Broadway and look west. In another article we can work eastwards. 1. The road by new Ealing Broadway station to have no disabled bays or drop-off/pick-up bays. 2. The Ealing Broadway clock tower with a virtually unreadable face. 3. The old YMCA (Bond Street) owned by the Council that has stood vacant for 5 years and could have housed many homeless people. The proposed loss of this building’s façade. 4. An ugly gas holder shaped building that is part of the Dickens Yard development dropped in like a boil in front of Christ Church. 5. Many empty shops in the Dickens Yard development. A planning failure? 6. The sale of a tranche of 59 “affordable” flats in Dickens Yard by the council back to the developer because no-one who fitted the “affordable sale” criteria could have afforded them. The developer then sold them on the open market. The council lost between £15 million (source: Private Eye) and £30 million (my estimate) on this deal. 7. The empty cinema site that could have housed 10 homeless families in park-type homes. 8. Walpole Park’s Rickyard café contract awarded to the “wrong” company on a highly questionable basis. 9. The loss of the eastern limb of an avenue of mature plane trees from Longfield Avenue. 10. The restricted no left turns or drop-off points in Longfield Ave by Perceval House for no good reason apart from (seemingly) cash generation from fines. 11. The tall building (The Curve) in Ealing Broadway. Visible from many points and distinctly “unbeautiful”. 12. The brickwork to the building beside the Coral betting shop on the Uxbridge Road and Northfield Avenue junction, once of beautiful moulded and cut bricks, now disfigured by ugly grey render. 13. The failure to open an entrance to the new Sherwood Estate into Northfield Avenue that could have relieved neighbouring residents from intrusive traffic. 14. Proposal for another makeover of Dean Gardens after only 8 years. Last time it was out of action for 8 months.
Who gave planning permission for this carbuncle opposite the Forester pub? 15. The inability to regulate pigeons and pigeon flock feeders in Dean Gardens. 16. Refusal to improve on-road parking facilities for shoppers and the disabled in West Ealing. The loss of 8 disabled bays. 17. To outwit the over 65s and others by introducing RingGo system parking. Mostly empty bays indicate a net loss to Council and inconvenience to residents. 18. To allow to be built what looks to be a beautiful Mosque for 3,000 worshippers with no parking provision whatsoever, after selling off the adjacent multi-story carpark site for housing. 19. Refusal to consider incorporating Chigwell Place as entrance to new Mosque in West Ealing. 20. Doubling the density of the BHS site contrary to previous plans and public consultation (mentioned in Hansard). 21. Widening of pavement for “mingling” of pedestrians at new West Ealing Station instead of supplying the greater need such as drop-off and pickup, disabled and taxi bays. 22. Extravagant repaving of St James Avenue (West Ealing) merely to provide a setting for 4 trees. 23. Allowing a completely inappropriate development directly opposite the much-loved façade of the Forester pub in Leighton Road.
8 St Johns Parade, Mattock Lane, Ealing W13 9LL
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Local High Street Futures By Eric Leach It doesn’t matter where you travel in Ealing, you will find many High Streets with empty shops, lots of charity outlets and a narrowing choice of retail offerings. Why is this? Online Shopping: Amazon, the biggest online retail site in the world, is now the world’s fourth largest company valued at more than $700 billion. Alphabet, the owner of another online giant Google, enjoyed quarterly income in Q1 2018 of $9.4 billion (up 73%) on sales up 26% at $31.1 billion. According to experts IMRG Capgemini, UK online sales rose by 13.9% year on year in January 2018. Online sales of non-food items were 24.1% of the total market in December 2017. Business Rates and Staff Wages: In 2017 Rateable Values were re-assessed. For some retail businesses in West Ealing, for example, their Rateable Value increased by over 60%. Annual Business Rates have consequently shot up for some shops and put these businesses under financial distress. This is particularly true for those shops whose rate increase put them above the level of eligibility for Small Business Relief. The introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and the National Living Wage (NLW) have pushed up retailers’ costs. The British Retail Consortium estimates that the NLW costs industry between £1.5 and £3 billion each year.
Ailing and Failing Retail Chains: 5,855 UK High Street stores closed in 2017 (PricewaterhouseCooper/ LDC data). And this figure does not include independent shop closures! A number of High Street stalwarts are having financial problems or have failed. These include Agent Provocateur, Bargain Booze, Byron, Carpetright, Homebase, Jaeger, Jamie’s Italian, Maplin, Mothercare, Poundworld, Prezzo and Toys R’ Us. Discretionary Spending: Since the Brexit vote the pound has dropped in value by 15% and pushed inflation over 3%. This has made imported goods more expensive and with wages rising slower than inflation this is blunting discretionary spending. Also, elderly people owning their own homes and with good pensions who might well have money to spend are suffering from the Mayor’s, Transport for London’s and Ealing Council’s war on the car. With new car sales last year of 2.5 million, cars are clearly not going to disappear any time soon. If you are over 60 (or over 70 like me!) you are unlikely to ride a bike, you might have some difficulty walking or you could be significantly disabled. You need to drive (or be driven), park, buy goods and drive them home. However, the current policy for local High Streets is fewer car parking places, fewer disabled car parking spaces and no car
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West Ealing B roadway. parking places in many new residential tower blocks. So, this ‘silver’ pound might not find its way into the local shops on the High Street. In contrast Westfield, the retail monster at White City, has 4,500 car parking spaces… Too Many Cafes? Perhaps because it’s inexpensive to run a café and maybe to the naive it seems an easy business to succeed in, but we are oversupplied with High Street cafes. In West Ealing alone, we have 23 of them!!
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HEALTH IN NORTHFIELDS PRIOR TO THE NHS By Rosemary Wallis The urbanisation of Northfields began in the 1890s, when medicine and health mainly relied on hope and a prayer. Folk medicines and remedies were commonly used to treat ailments. Very hot potatoes or bread were poultices for common boils and carbuncles and bandaged. Opening medicines (for constipation) were used weekly, stomach worms were a reality and worm cakes were eaten every Friday. Hook worms were harder to lose. They were mainly caught from such things as badly cooked pork. Children would sit on a potty with an upturned lit cigarette producing smoke which was hoped would lure out the worms. Mothers giving birth relied on the assistance of a near relative or friendly neighbour, or if money was available to hire the untrained midwife, usually an ex farm wife used to animal maternity. If births became complicated, only then was a doctor called. Painkillers were non-existent. The amateur midwife was also usually called upon for laying out. When somebody died, they were washed and dressed in clean clothes and laid out neatly on their bed to await their funeral. Remedies for all ailments By the 1930s, ailments had established remedies. Thermogene wool for congested lungs, tannic acid for burns and recipes handed down from mother to daughter, which were taken to the local chemist who prescribed them from jars with Latin names. A cough mixture recipe contained Ipicacuana wine and syrup of squills, not to mention Class A drugs! Measles, German measles, chicken pox, whooping cough, scarletina (scarlet fever) and mumps were the inevitable painful burden of children, 10
all of which took three weeks to recover from, after one visit from the doctor. The doctor had no telephone or car so when needed a relative would run to call him. He immediately responded and walked to his patient's home. After diagnosing and treating his patient, he was paid at the front door in cash, normally 2s/6d, and returned to his home and surgery in Elers Road. Health insurance Insurances were important to the poor. The popular Health Savings Account (HSA) offered a 1d a week policy, which covered minor operations such as removal of tonsils. Life and death policies, again 1d a week, covered funerals but often life policies were ignored and unclaimed. The King Edward Memorial Hospital (then the main local hospital, sited in Mattock Lane, which closed in 1979) was charity funded. A very large hospital fete was held every summer in Walpole Park, and earned much of its income. Its almoner would interview patients and assess their ability to pay. When it was found they were too poor to pay, they still received treatment. The three killer illnesses Three illnesses were the most feared. Tuberculosis, scarlet fever and mental illness. Cancer was not diagnosed then as a disease but known under different names. For example, stomach cancer was called dropsy. Tuberculosis killed the very young to the very old. The survivors spent many years in bed in the open air, in places like Harefield Hospital. Sometimes lungs were individually collapsed and reinflated after a rest, which did work. Scarlet fever was also a killer and patients were held in isolation fever hospitals. Mental illness, from nervous Putting the People of Ealing First
Mattock Lane H ealth Centre, site of the former K ing Edward M emorial Hospital that served Ealing . breakdowns to schizophrenia, meant confinement in St Bernard’s Hospital, Uxbridge Road. It was surrounded by open countryside and football and cricket pitches and secured by a high brick wall. Because of the mix of high and low-level illness, the results were suicides and injuries to warders. The local youth played football and cricket matches with patients, which gave them some form of normality. Patients had to have someone to sign them out with the doctors' approval before there was any hope of release. Children’s diet improves During the Second World War the restricted diet meant, inexplicably, the improved diet of children. There was free milk at school. Food was rationed and thought was needed to produce nourishing meals. This generation of parents had been residential cooks or butchers, trades which gave them better knowledge of food and its preparation, which benefitted the health of their children. The introduction of the National Health Service in 1948 was welcomed!!
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Local Hangout for Cinema Classics By Manjinder Chijarh I first visited the Classic Cinema Club – Ealing’s weekly film event – in late January. The 1958 French crime film ‘Lift to the Scaffold’ left me suitably impressed and I knew I would return. Three months later, the time had come to satiate my appetite once again; light refreshments and film discussions included. Ealing’s rich film heritage Classic Cinema Club is a volunteer led organisation of local film fans screening classic films at Ealing Town Hall, every Friday, 7:30pm –10pm. Founded in 2011, this community initiative to support and enjoy film was inspired by Ealing’s own historical film presence. Seventeen Ealing Comedies and over 100 films were made at the renowned Ealing Studios. Such rich tradition and yet, since 2008, Ealing has had no formal cinema! While the CCC’s films are guided by critical consensus and public opinion, they are primarily chosen for their artistic and cultural value. Perhaps they’re influential, ground-breaking, or simply pinnacles of entertainment. Tonight’s feature is the French-British animated film, ‘The Illusionist’ (L’illusionniste, 2010). This Sylvain Chomet project follows ‘My Darling Clementine’ (1946), ‘Some Like It Hot’ (1959), ‘Thelma and Louise’ (1991) and ‘Suffragette’ (2015). Tickets are £7 per person. There is also a £10 annual membership offering a
reduced £6 entrance fee, one free ticket, exclusive member rates at special events and more. Memberships contribute towards licensing fees for film screening, venue hiring from Ealing Council, promotional costs and other expenditure. Enjoy the post-film debate On the table: millionaire’s shortbread, event leaflets and a few copies of Neighbours’ Paper. I’m surrounded by 20-25 film fans in the 30+ year demographic - it feels like a small cinema. Prior to the film, a short slideshow of sketches, photos and various promotional materials, including a raffle for any DVD or Blu-ray from the CCC’s selection (50p per ticket). A pleasantly crisp high definition image on a generous 2½ metre (98 inch) projector screen awaited us. After the credits, an exploration of themes, critical response and social content by volunteer Simon wearing glasses and a light blue sweater. As I left the Liz Cantell Room, I thought about the films I’ve missed and those yet to come. I shall be back, but who knows when? Classic Cinema Club is a fine example of how a dedicated
Catch
local community continues to support Ealing’s proud film tradition. The ticket price may seem initially high. The Illusionist DVD is currently £5.99 from Amazon UK’s warehouse and £7.99 on Prime Video. When you include refreshments, membership discounts, film discussions and a comfortable, easily accessible venue to socialise with like-minded individuals, the pricing sounds reasonable. Call 07411 751 965, visit www.classiccinemaclub.co.uk, check @CCCEaling or email classiccinemaclub@outlook.com to find out more. PS. I’m also looking forward to another event – Pitshanger Pictures at St Barnabas Church in North Ealing. All profits are donated to St Barnabas. Tel 07885 550 802, check @PitshangerPics or email cinema@barnabites.org.
a classic film every
Putting the People of Ealing First
Friday night in Ealing Town Hall.
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Read NP Online at www.neighbourspaper.com
Sail Away This Summer By Michael Holmes Ever thought about sailing? Then why not pay a visit to Strand on the Green Sailing Club based on the river Thames under the Kew Railway Bridge, Chiswick. Whether for pleasure (cruising) or racing, this club will provide you with the necessary training and skills to get out on the water. It all started in April 1946. A group of fun-loving locals met at a public house in Chiswick and unanimously resolved to form a sailing club. During the meeting the spirited team came up with the club rules, the design of the burgee (the flag bearing the emblem of the club), the officers of the club, and that there should be regular club meetings at the same public house for months to come. More than 70 years later, the club is still going strong. Membership The club aims to promote the amateur sport of dinghy sailing. Events take place once a week on Sundays from morning to evening, March to November. Membership is priced at £50 per year for sailors, £15 per year for social and £130 per year for boat storage when available. Participants who join the club don't have to own a boat, though it would be useful if you did. Nevertheless, boats owned by the club are available for use as part of your membership.
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A scoring system recognises certain skills sailors have and awards them an appropriate level. Scores are based on regular course races taking place between two points on the river. Courses are generally up-river to Isleworth and down-river to Hammersmith and beyond. Types of boats sailed to date, in order of popularity: Enterprises, Lasers, Gulls, Vibes, Lightnings, Leaders, Herons, and Wayfarers. Dinghies being People join for social reasons as well, and not necessarily just to sail. Also, being a sports club, a certain amount of fitness is required to take part. This encourages people to become and stay healthy, in order to make the most of the club’s facilities. The technical stuff Ever wondered how sail boats actually work? Sailing employs the force of the wind acting on sails to propel a craft on the surface of the water. A course defined with respect to the true wind direction is called a point of sail. Conventional sailing craft cannot derive power from sails on a point of sail that is too close into the wind. On a given point of sail, the sailor adjusts the alignment of each sail
Putting the People of Ealing First
prepared on the river
Thames .
with respect to the apparent windacting direction (as perceived on the craft) to mobilize the power of the wind. The forces transmitted via the sails are resisted by forces from the hull, keel and rudder of a sailing craft, to allow for steering the course. Contemporary sailing represents a form of recreation or sport. Recreational Sailing or Yachting can be divided into racing and cruising. Cruising can include extended offshore and ocean-crossing trips, coastal sailing within sight of land, and day sailing. For more information on the club, call Henry Brown, the Club Secretary on 020 8995 0873 or see www.strandsailing.org.uk