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June 25, 2007
Festival fever
AS they all return from mud-caked Glastonbury, this year's Ealing Festival looks set to be even bigger and better.
Jazz, comedy and opera feature strongly, as well as as a host of other attractive and exciting events including the mela in Gunnersbury Park.
Having teamed up with Ealing Council, in Friday's Gazette there'll be a 16-page guide to the Ealing Festival, giving full details of all the events. It's something definitely worth holding on to for the summer.
Off course, don't forget there's Acton Carnival at the weekend also, the details of this event will be in the Guide section of the Gazette.
Apologies for the lack of blogs recently... no I've not passed away, no I'm not on a beach applying my fake tan, no I'm not having too many late night. But thanks for your suggestions.
I've just been extremely busy - one of the time consuming things I've been doing, is interviewing for a senior reporter. Because at the end of this week Gazette's Southall reporter Natasha Brown, is returning to her home town of Bristol.
We'll all miss Natasha and wish her the best for the future.
Posted by sazam at 2:24 PM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2007
Pride in our People
Wow! What a night.
Gazette's local heroes' campaign, Pride in our People, concluded last night with a hugely successful awards presentation evening.
The campaign, jointly run with Thames Valley University, kicked off in January with nominations coming in from virtually every corner of the Ealing and Hammersmith communities.
If ever there was a campaign to recognise ordinary people doing extraordinary things to boost the lives of others - this was one.
The quality of the nominations was commented upon with everyone deserving to be a winner. So well done to everyone
But particulary well done to all our category winners:
Community Champion : Harbhajan Ghatore
My Hero: Irene Craig.
Business: Barbara Grummitt
Top of the Class: Charlie Farrant
Keyworker: Nadezda Kazakevica
The overall star of West London was our Latvian street cleaner Nadezda Kazakevica who received an astonishing number of nominations. 100 residents, three residents' association, a traders group and two councillors sent in nominations for her. And thanks to Nadezda for delaying her holiday.
As I commented in my speech last night, the partnership with Thames Valley University has gone from strength to strength, and I must thank Andrew Ward from TVU for once again compering the evening brilliantly.
And off course it was great to so many of you last night. So thanks for coming.
The words and pictures from last night will not onlybe in next week's Gazette but will also be on the website.
Posted by sazam at 11:02 AM | Comments (0)
June 8, 2007
G8 SCHOOL REMINDER
As you know the G8 summit has been trying to get agreements on heady subjects, like how to cut greenhouse gas emissions or the way to resolve the row over the new NATO missile defence system for Europe.
Important subjects indeed, and off course, they need to be tackled as they will be have a massive impact on all our lives.
But let's not forget the kids from Three Bridges Primary School, Southall, who sent out a special global reminder to the leaders of the the world's eight most powerful countries - to keep their promise that every child in the world can go to school.
Teacher Marigold Palmer-Jones said: "We are sending the organisers a chain made up of 321 paper figures, each of them representing a child who should be going to school.
"This will be linked up to others to form the world's largest paper chain. The final chain will then be sent to the summit to remind the world's top leaders of the eight million children who are missing out on an education."
Now that's what I call grass root campaigning. For more information on the campaign visit www.sendmyfriend.org.uk
Have a good weekend.
Posted by sazam at 5:11 PM | Comments (0)
June 4, 2007
Hassle-free walk
WHAT is it these days?
You can’t walk down the road without someone, either trying to accost you for money or to have a mad rant.
I’ve just walked a few yards down the Uxbridge Road to get my lunch, and within seconds I was approached twice.
One was wearing an ill-fitting jacket with his trousers held up by a string who slurred something about the Gazette.
Then seconds later, I was approached confidently by a man who greeted me with an ‘asalam wala-kum’, and was on the brink of launching into something or the other. Slightly alarmed, I quickly hurried on.
Now, I could understand if such incidents were an exception, but they are fast becoming the norm, particularly down this stretch of west Ealing.
And off course, if you go anywhere near Ealing Broadway Station – there are chuggers galore or a gaggle of people trying to thrust something into your hand.
Don’t get me wrong, I do like the hustle bustle of inner city life, but there seems to be a growing aggression in the way people are trying to attract your attention.
It would nice to see more of those special constables around West Ealing end of Uxbridge Road, particularly taking on the aggressive beggars who seem to be flourishing in Ealing.
Oh,how I long for those days when you could just take a quiet walk down the high street!
Posted by sazam at 2:47 PM | Comments (1)
June 1, 2007
Independent shops
I ended yesterday's blog with a rallying call to support your local shops.
As well as the big national superstore chains, Ealing does have some excellent independent shops.
These shops are to be treasured as they help to give Ealing its unique identity. Just go along Bond Street.
So I was pleased to hear about the arrival of a new shop called Loop in Ealing Broadway.
The managing director of the shop Alice Whiteley says: "Loop is a new kind of retailer - we buy and sell quality kids stuff from mums and dads - great for the environment and great for parents' wallets too.
"I had the idea for the business as a new mum - I was shocked at how much everything cost and how quickly my son outgrew everything. I began to think about all the cupboards across the country stuffed with kids products and couldn't believe the waste involved. Loop is an an answer to that problem."
So good luck to Alice in her new venture.
If you get a chance this weekend, pop into some of our fantastic independent shops.
Have a good weekend.
Posted by sazam at 5:08 PM | Comments (2)