To Hill and Back

CHANGE OF DATE

The decision has been taken to hold The Lavender Festival - Lavender Hill’s Summer Fair - on the 22nd June 2008

Keep your eye on the dedicated Festival page for updates and to see our list of Official Sponsors and participants.

It began with a few people talking about how lovely it would be to have a summer fair along Lavender Hill - a day for all the community to enjoy - everyone seemed to think it was a lovely idea - so as this number of supporters grew, so has the reality of making this day happen. The idea is to embrace the theme of ‘lavender’, as it is a way to celebrate the history of our little corner of London. So, together with some other local residents, I have begun the huge undertaking of making this vision happen, with the support of our local Wandsworth Council and Lorinda our town center manager.

On Tuesday the 4th of March, there will be an open meeting at the Taybridge pub on Lavender Hill from 3-6pm. Everyone is welcome to visit at any moment between these times, to come and give their ideas, wishes, comments, suggestions and of course, any offers of help and volunteers for the organising committee are more than welcome. We need a few more hands to make this light work!

Please put the 8th of June in your diaries - I’ll look forward to seeing you on the Hill!

Emma@LavenderHill.co.uk

Early this week I opened up my email account, as per usual, to find an unrecognized email address in my inbox - at first I thought my spam filter had let me down, but far from it - this was an email from Sabrina in Vallon-en-Sully, France. She wrote that she is a school teacher, teaching the English language to Junior students. She went on to explain that her students had found a stray balloon in a field, attached to which were the words: “Northcote Road Christmas Fair, Friday December 7^th, 4pm -8pm”. Sabrina said that the children were very excited about the thought that it had flown all the way from London to their small corner of France and asked me to confirm that indeed this place does exist and to explain to the children what a Christmas Fair is!

It is here in this very Blog that my name is attached with the words Northcote Road and Christmas Fair, after all I did attend the event in question. Immediately that I read and digested the message, I felt lucky that it came to me and that I am charged with the task of answering these French children, but I have hesitated in writing to them, as I feel the weight of the children’s expectations resting on my reply email - if you have any suggestions of what I should include in my reply, then please leave me a comment! Did anyone else attend the Fair that evening? Did anyone let off a helium balloon? Do let me know!

I’m always more than a little hopeful that a sprinkling of snow may appear over our little corner of South West London and the early days of the year are the most likely. I know it messes up public transport and causes untold havoc on the roads, but there is something magic in the atmosphere when the weather man turns everything white.

I live alongside the Common, so I often hear the patter of runners’ feet on the pathways, even more now that the new year’s resolution bus has recently been past. I admit, I don’t have the discipline to join a gym, but I have been known to train out on the grass on the lesser soggy days. Perhaps I might be able to further motivate myself if I buy some good kit from Ceelect Sports (who have recently moved into the unit next door to the one they previously occupied) then I shall have no excuses.

My birthday comes just 3 days before a new year start, this time I had my party at Bar Social and on the night much fun was had. For me this time of year is always full of reflection, planning and shopping at the sales(!). I have only made one resolve going forward and that is to improve my baking skills - biscuits and cakes I can manage, but I want to move up to pies and puff pastry. I took myself up to the top floor in Debenhams, where I not only discovered a coffee shop (why do I get so thirsty in department stores?) but loads of great reductions on all types of home-ware. I started the year by producing a colourful batch of iced fairy cakes, around which my friends seemed able to act only 10% of their age. I suppose baking and sharing good food is just another way to show my affection for those around me and a chance for them to enjoy a childish indulgence, despite the fact that in doing so I am probably undoing their well made new years resolutions!

Please keep all your fingers crossed for some snow this month and good luck with whatever your equivalent to baking and running may be - please feel free to let me know what new year’s resolutions you are holding yourselves to by writing a comment on my blog - I’m always happy to hear fellow Lavender lovers.  

 Happy New Year to all.

Its the twinkly time of year again - how quickly the weeks seem to pass since the summer (did anyone see it?) time - already we are seeing the decorations and seasonal special offers up and down the Hill. I do think it is a real shame the Christmas lights do not extend the whole length of Lavender Hill. I do like the hustle and bustle of the Clapham Junction area, but just because the footfall to Britain’s busiest railway station (Clapham Junction’s annual entry/exit is just over 12.5 million) is much higher than say that of Latchmere Road, should that mean the Christmas cheer ends at ASDA? I think a good part of the magic winter atmosphere is made up from flashing neon’s and fat Santas! I am not saying I’m one of the “put everything onto the tree” kind of festive decorators, I do like my baubles to match my tinsel, but when it comes to twinkly lights, more is definitely not less!

I passed by Olivier’s Lounge and Lillidiva this evening and admired their stylish Christmassy window displays… I wonder if my boyfriend is such a magpie as me - here’s hoping because both boutiques have lush girly gifts inside! I was particularly proud of myself this week because I bought my first Christmas present - for my mother. Every year I am faced with the haunting question: what do you buy the woman that has EVERYTHING? I know she has everything, because every time I go to her house, she tries to give me things! Do not misunderstand me, I am hugely grateful for her contributions to my household, but seriously my kitchen cupboards are full to bursting! I now have a medley of electric contraptions, none of which “he” will allow to live on the surfaces and with Christmas well on its way I can feel “him” cringing already with what chopping/mixing/heating/toasting machine will be prematurely bequeathed to us next! Anyway, I bought her a huge pink calculator (approximately A4 sized) from Design Me on the corner of Queenstown Road, as I know her old one broke recently and even she will admit that her eyesight is not perhaps quite what it was.

This is a very busy time for the majority of us, plus it is a big time for PARTIES! Has anyone else drowned in perfume advertisements whilst watching evening television lately? Well aside from making sure I smell good this festive season, I have promised myself that I will successfully make and keep an appointment with my hairdresser at the Anthony Laban Salon, to make sure my locks are looking good and I can see past my fringe this Christmas! Not only is it time for Santa to visit me, but it is also my birthday before the New Year - I won’t tell you how old I will be - if a lady tells you her age, you never know what else she might say!

And on that note, I will sign off and just wish you all… Happy Seasonal Shopping*!

 *especially on Lavender Hill !

I sincerely hope it is never too late to change! Certainly my attitude to Saving The Planet and my habits with things like recycling have altered (and hopefully improved!) hugely, as the subject has been discussed in the media and I have become better informed. I believe that through education (information sharing), we CAN protect the London landscape.

I would like to draw your attention to this page from the Guardian’s website, first the original article and then the comments which have been left by Agnes Poirier’s readers. I found the political ranting fairly amusing, but at its heart is an important campaign and indeed, the motivation for launching LavenderHill.co.uk: to support our local, independant retailers and to SAVE OUR SHOPS!

 http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/agnes_poirier/2006/03/death_of_the_independents.html

Dear Reader, Welcome to LavenderHill.co.uk and this, my Blog about life: To Hill And Back! This is not just my weekly diary, but hopefully a place where many local issues, events and excitement will be reported and discussed with you! Please feel free to add your comments.  My involvement in this project began more than a year ago, when some of the traders and business people on Lavender Hill began talking seriously about creating unity and therefore strength, between them in order to better promote this interesting and diverse South West London street. I have soaked up all the suggestions, stories and wishes from all the business owners, staff and residents I met along the way, then this summer, the team and I began researching and building this website from scratch. I do hope you like what you find – there should be something for everyone connected to life on the Hill!  LavenderHill.co.uk aims to facilitate the growth of an active community with an efficient and highly informative business directory at its heart. The SAVE OUR SHOPS campaign is extremely important, in order to protect and nurture especially the independent businesses, which create the uniqueness of our

Coming in November 2007 - LavenderHill.co.uk - the Lavender Hill SW11 Community website