For the first time in many years, an outdoor theatre company will perform in Pinner Memorial Park. The new Heath Robinson Museum has invited the Illyria Theatre Company to perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream on the evening of Sunday 28 August. Illyria uses only five actors for all the parts and with minimal props, they perform the entre play uncut and at a brisk pace, as they believe Shakespeare would have wished it.
Tickets are £14 for adults and £8 for five to 14 year olds. They are available from The Village Gallery, High Street, Pinner or Gibbs Gillespie, Chapel Lane or online (booking fee applies) at illyria.uk.com. Entrance is at 6.30pm and the show begins at 7pm. People coming should bring a rug or chair, warm clothes and a picnic. Heath Robinson cards and books, including his stunning illustrated version of the play, will be on sale.
The illustrations which William Heath Robinson produced for A Midsummer Night’s Dream are widely regarded as some of his finest work. In the year of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, Museum trustees are keen to celebrate the association between these two great representatives of British culture. This event is part of the run up to the Museum’s opening on 15 October 2016. Other events include comedy nights and children’s activities at West House, the cultural hub next door to the new Museum.
For more information visit www.heathrobinsonmuseum.org.
Sadly, following a short illness, Father Clive Pearce passed away on Saturday 26 March at Northwick Park Hospital. He would have celebrated 50 years since his ordination as a priest on 29 September this year. Father Clive had been the parish priest of Hatch End for 43 years and will be much missed by his family, close friends and parishioners, with whom he had enjoyed many wonderful and some sad times. He had a big heart and helped many people through troubled times with great compassion as well as practical and spiritual support. He was installed by Richard Chartres, Bishop of London as Prebendary of the Stall of Nesden at St Paul’s Cathedral on 30 March 2008. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this very sad time: his wife Yvonne, his brother Michael, his four children, Edward, Elaine, Emily and Amie, and his three grandchildren, Sebastian, Harriet and Ruby.
A memorial Choral Evensong has been organised at St Paul’s Cathedral on Bank Holiday Monday 2 May at 5pm. It is open to everyone.
For more information contact:
Churchwarden: Roger Bessell 020 8428 1371 r.bessell@runbox.com
Head Sacristan: Mark Wilson 020 8427 6079 ourladydesalveregina@gmail.com
Parish Administrator: 07714 200481 jwhiteheadpr@aol.com
In the light of the shocking attacks in Brussels on Tuesday 22 March 2016, Mak Chishty, Commander – Community Engagement of the Metropolitan Police has issued the following message:
“Officers and uniformed police staff will be out and about as part of London’s community life, they have all been briefed and would welcome members of the community approaching them and will do their best to help reassure them. If any member of the community spots anything unusual within their community that they do not feel happy about then please report this to police using the 101 number or if it’s urgent 999. You can also call the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321.
It is with regret, but something that we have come to realise through experience, that hate crime can increase and I would ask that any incident of hate or hate crime is immediately reported and assure you that it will receive a fast response and be dealt with by specialist officers.
I would also like to this opportunity to bring our advice to your notice on the steps to take to keep safe in the event of a firearms or weapons attack. This can be found on the National Police Chiefs Council website:
www.npcc.police.uk/NPCCBusinesAreas/WeaponAttacksStaySafe.aspx”
The Northwood & Pinner Cottage Hospital was bought and run by local public donation as a memorial to the dead of WW1 from 1920 until 1948 when it came under the auspices of the National Health Service. The site is now owned by NHS Property Services Ltd which is under pressure to sell the site. However, on its closure in 2008 Hillingdon PCT promised it would continue to serve local people. Residents in the area are concerned that the site will not continue to be a community health resource. An online petition to Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health, has started. If feel you’d like to sign the petition, please visit the link below.
FEBRUARY 2023
HAC will be holding its first fringe festival in August and would like to hear from creatives who have either been making work for less than 5 years, are over the age of 18 with a background in creative arts or missed out on a performance at Edinburgh Fringe, Vault Festival, or other arts festivals. Applications close on 7 March. Successful applicants will be announced in mid-March and tickets will be on sale in April. For more information on how to apply visit https://harrowarts.com/boiler-house-festival-2023.
JANUARY 2019
The HAC and Harrow Council have been successful in their bid for the Mayor of London’s Good Growth Fund and has been awarded £760,000. The HAC would like to say a massive thank you to all those residents who came to the consultation meeting last June to help with the bid. The bid description is as follows: “The project will improve the civic and cultural infrastructure on the HAC site. It will increase participation in culture, improve the public realm, support job creation and business growth. We will masterplan the HAC site to realise its regeneration potential, for arts, workspace and leisure. In the interim we will convert empty buildings into meanwhile workspace, and replace dilapidated portacabins with modular classrooms. We will expand our outreach and consultation to deliver new provision and increase participation.”
JUNE 2018
Harrow Council and Harrow Arts Centre are making a bid for the GLA Good Growth Fund to invest in the future of Harrow Arts Centre. If successful, the funding will allow Harrow Arts Centre to undertake essential building work to site in Hatch End, including conversion of derelict parts of the site into affordable workspaces for creatives, refurbishment of the Elliott Hall building as well as replacing dilapidated outbuildings with new learning and activity spaces.
The HAC is holding a Project Meeting on Friday 29th June from 6.30pm-8pm at Harrow Arts Centre. This is an opportunity to hear about the proposed bid and for the Council to get your feedback and ideas.
Good Growth Fund Project Meeting
Friday 29th June
6.30pm-8pm
Hatch End Suites 1 & 2, Harrow Arts Centre
OCTOBER 2016
Cabinet Meeting Thursday 13 October 2016
The question and answers at Cabinet are recorded and will be available by Thursday 20 October on the Council website via Windows Media Player and Quick Time on Apple.
Question for the Chair and Cabinet
“The Hatch End Association was very disappointed to read that the council had not been able to agree the future of the Harrow Arts Centre and Headstone Manor with Cultura London. The council press release, we are pleased to note, states services will continue as normal on both sites. However it also states that the Council will explore a ”Different direction” for the Harrow Arts Centre. The HEA and the 6,000 signatories to petitions for maintenance of the Harrow Arts Centre and Headstone Manor are concerned for their future and duration of the ‘Normal Service’. What is the council’s plan for fully consulting the residents of Harrow on any proposed changes to the sites’ estate and usage?
Julian Maw, Co-Chair Hatch End Association”
Response summary
All relevant Stakeholders will be fully consulted
Observation
We have a promise to be fully consulted on future plans.
Supplementary question
The Harrow Arts Centre contains listed building and is surrounded by important green belt connecting the Old Redding to Oxhey strip London perimeter with Pinner Park Farm area. Is it the Council’s intention to build housing on this green belt land or on the developed area of the present Arts Centre and Headstone Monor sites?
Summary Response
All possibilities will be considered will be considered for the future directions for the site.
Observation
Housing for the site and adjacent green belt is not excluded.
September 2016
Failure of Harrow Council and Cultura London to agree handover terms.
Please see below the press release sent out by Cultura London explaining why the Harrow Arts Centre is now in jeopardy.
17M HARROW ARTS CENTRE DEVELOPMENT IN JEOPARDY – FUTURE OF ARTS CENTRE NOW IN DOUBT
ISSUES
* Harrow Council and not for-profit charity Cultura London have been unable to agree final terms for the spin out of Harrow Arts Centre
* Cultura London proposal for £17m development will now not go ahead.
* Final deal fell through when Harrow Council were unable to offer unsullied lease for HAC which would allow the charity to access grants and commercial loans.
BACKGROUND
* The-not-for-profit Charity Cultura London formed in 2015 to take on Harrow Arts Centre, Headstone Manor and Harrow Music Service with no management fee from Harrow Council.
* Cultura London’s plans for Harrow Arts Centre were estimated to bring an estimated £66M boost each year to the local economy.
* Cultura London Chair Andrew Welch said “We are all incredibly disappointed that, at the final hurdle, we will not be permitted to save the arts centre and to really put Harrow on the cultural map”
January 2016
Harrow Council Cabinet Decision on HAC
Harrow Council’s Cabinet agreed this week to hand over the running of Harrow Arts Centre to Cultura London, an independent charitable trust. The charity’s vision is to transform the Arts Centre into a “Southbank Centre for North London” with cinemas, galleries, restaurants, bars and a new, larger theatre to complement the historic Elliott Hall. Cultura London is aiming to raise £3.5 million in the first phase to begin the Arts Centre’s redevelopment. This phase would demolish some of the temporary buildings and bring the cinemas to the site. The local fundraising campaign is a vital element and has already raised more than £30,000 towards the first phase of the development out of a target of £250,000 from this source. If you would like to pledge money to Cultura London’s fundraising effort, call in at the Box Office, phone the pledge line on 8938 3720 or visit www.spacehive.com. You can also find out more by visiting www.culturalondon.uk. All contributions are welcome.
December 2015
HEA support for Cultura London and the way forward –
The Association has today pledged £10,000 in support of Cultura London and the plans for the independent Arts Centre in Hatch End. This major donation meets the objectives of the Association to support the interests of the local community. These interests where clearly expressed by more than 6,000 signature on our petition for the continued provision of an Arts Centre in Harrow. We won a stay of closure for a 12-month period to let independent proposals to be put to the council.
The Association’s Pledge is timed to show the continued local support for the Arts Centre at this critical time. We strongly advocate individual and organisational pledges should be given now to make sure we continue to have an Arts Centre in Harrow.
Update, December 2015
Following the public’s tremendous response to the suggested closure of Harrow Arts Centre and Museum last year, the Arts & Heritage service was given time by Harrow Council to set up a company to manage the services in future. A company, Cultura London, has now been set up with proposed charitable status. It held drop-in sessions for the public to view plans so far and find out how the public can help. Times of public open days were:
Morrison’s, Hatch End
Saturday, 5 December: 3-5pm
Harrow Arts Centre
Wednesday, 9 December: 6-8pm
Thursday, 10 December: 10am-1pm
Thursday, 10 December: 3-5pm
If you didn’t make the drop-in sessions, please take a look at the short film about the project on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93XyFEuEwAE
or take a look at their brochure on this link: CL brochure_v2
A further £250,000 needs to be raised from the community towards the overall target for Phase 1 of £2.5m. If you feel you want to support the project, you can do so at the HAC Box Office, online at www.culturalondon.uk or by phoning 020 8938 3720.
For more information on Cultura London,visit http://www.culturalondon.uk/
Update, May 2015
The business plan for the Harrow Arts Centre was approved at the Council Cabinet meeting on 21 May. A Charitable Trust will be set up to manage the Arts Centre, the Museum and the Music Service. During this financial year, the Trust will be undertaking preparatory work and raising funds. The Council will review progress in October and January.
If all goes to plan, work will start next spring (2016) on Phase 1 – to demolish some of the ancillary buildings and to build a new 240-seat, two-screen cinema with a bar and café, with an aim to open the cinema by the end of the year. In Phase 1, the hall remains as it is.
Headstone Manor Museum has been awarded £3.6million by the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore this 14th Century moated, manor house as a permanent museum of Harrow’s history. The manor sits in a quadrangle of two barns and a granary, which was moved from Pinner Park Farm in the 1980s. Currently the barns are being restored and the greater barn will be available for events when work is completed in late autumn this year. While this work is going on activities take place in The Granary. These include Tuesday Talks, which take place every other Tuesday throughout the rest of the year. The Talks begin at 2pm until 3.30pm, followed by a Q&A session and cost £3.50 each. Doors open at 2pm. For more information, visit www.harrowmuseum.org.uk.
JANUARY 2016
Harrow Council has made changes to its new brown bin collection service which will start at the beginning of April 2016.
They are:
1. Full annual service – 25 fortnightly collections of garden waste between April 2016 and March 2017.
2. Six-month summer service – 13 fortnightly collections of garden waste between May 2016 and October 2016.
3. Flexi service – sign up for either of the above at any point in the year and pay a reduced rate that covers the remaining months of collection. There will be a period of notice of at least two weeks before the collection starts.
4. Share a bin – sign up for either of the above options and split the cost with your neighbour
5. Home compost – composting is easy and provides you with a ready source of garden goodness. We’ve negotiated some great deals on composting bins with get composting.
6. Civic amenity site – take your garden waste in a car, free of charge to the civic amenity site (rubbish tip). There are charges for vans bringing waste to the site. For green waste it is £68 per tonne with a minimum charge of £20.
If none of the above suit you and you feel strongly against the proposed changes and charges, you can sign a petetion. The link is here.
https://www.change.org/p/harrow-council-drop-plans-for-75-brown-bin-charge-2
Harrow Council is proposing changes to the garden waste recycling collection ie the brown bin collection. Its website states the following:
“The proposal is to alter the current garden waste recycling collection to a chargeable service. Garden waste will be collected fortnightly. Households which subscribe to the service will receive 25 collections per year using the current 240ltr brown bin at a price of £75 per year, which equates to £3 per collection.
Concessionary rates are provided to residents on means tested benefits as follows:
Residents of working age £25 (1/3 of the full price)
Residents with disability £10
Pensioners Free
Examples of means tested benefits include:
Council Tax support scheme/Pension credit/Income Support/Employment & Support Allowance.
For the start of the scheme we are offering an introductory offer – £75 to cover the period between 1 October 2015 and 31 March 2017.”
If you disagree with these proposals, there is a petition at Change.org that you can sign. See the link below.
www.change.org/p/harrow-council-drop-plans-for-75-brown-bin-charge-2
It has been reported in the press that residents living near schools in Harrow, including Grimdyke and Hatch End High, have been experiencing irresponsible parking during school drop off and collection periods. This usually involves cars being parked across driveways. If anyone experiences this they can contact Harrow Parking Control on 020 8424 1858 and a warden should arrive. On weekends and after hours, the number to call is 020 8863 5611.
We apologise for a mistake in the Spring Bulletin. Under Planning, on page 8, Para 1 – it should read “Also an Appeal, against the refusal of permission to demolish the Letchford Arms for six townhouses , was allowed.
Anne Swinson