by Madeleine Menzies-Racionzer

Those of us who live along the banks of the tidal River Crane in north St Margarets love our river. We build decking and jetties alongside it, our children paddle in it, we delight in the wildlife that lives along its banks. We keep small boats on it and every year in the summer we gather as a community to clean it out. We enjoy our river, and yet…

…when exceptionally heavy rain is forecast or high tides expected we begin to worry. We worry about the weight of the water racing down to the Thames and we worry about the incoming tide that is waiting to meet it. We worry about the 4 or 5 times a year when the river overflows into our gardens and covers our lawns with a thick layer of silt, plastic rubbish and grass clippings. Most of all - and even though it hasn’t happened in living memory - we worry about the possibility of our houses being flooded.

Thank you all very much for making this possible with by your continuing and generous support of the St Margarets Fair, which this year will be on Saturday the 10^th of July.

I’ve just read the official website and seen the following:

“Exclusively for the darbaroud.com website, I can reveal and confirm what numerous competitors have imagined for the 2010 edition! Yes indeed, the course, which is still made up of 6 stages, has been slightly extended to reach a total of 250 km - the 25^th anniversary requires this! The itinerary will be packed with the most beautiful sites in the Saharan provinces. The menu will include dunes, mountains, dried up lakes, regs, oases and … more dunes!”

This is excellent as it is 6km shorter than I thought! Brilliant news! Although I think it may be harder!

There will be biscuits.

Marble Hill Placentres are also looking for VOLUNTEERS to serve on the COMMITTEE. We are hoping to find people with an enthusiasm for organisation and a willingness to get involved with staff in developing the facilities and strengthening our funding.

You will need to attend one or two committee meetings a month (at Marble Hill in summer and nearby in winter) but, more importantly, to contribute to developments between meetings. Marble Hill Playcentres is not just a place for children to play: it is a £100,000 business, employing up to 20 people. Committee members need to be able to take responsibility for key decisions affecting the One O’Clock Club and Adventure Playground. You will be offered training and help to build your skills as well as the support of our paid staff.

The position is voluntary but expenses (including babysitting) are payable.

Your initial commitment would be for just one year but we would hope that people will want to continue their involvement beyond that.

If you are interested, please contact the Chair, Sarah Liquorish by phone (88926732) or email (sarahliquorish@onetel.com).

Last weekend Lawrence Dallaglio was in the St Margarets Tavern enjoying the local hospitality and taking a short break following his hectic few days in Twickenham as part of his mega 1,800 mile cycle ride from Rome to Edinburgh for his Cycle Slam charity campaign.

For more details please go to the St Margarets Traders site www.mystmargarets.com

Mothering Sunday is traditionally the day we show our Mothers that we appreciate them and love them and that we are thankful to have them in our lives. Mothers Day came to be celebrated in UK in 17^th century as Mothering Sunday. On this day children give flowers and bouquets to their mother to express their love for them.

England was the first country in the world to dedicate a day for mothers as early as 1600’s. Held on the fourth Sunday in the month of Lent, the date for Mother’s Day changes each year as the dates of Lent are not fixed.

The tradition came about because families had to send their children into service as domestic servants or apprentices when they were very young. So, once a year the rich families allowed the children to return to their homes and mothers. The idea was that the children would attend the Mother’s church, i.e. the church of the family home, rather than the church that was closest to where they were employed. After paying a visit to church, children met their mothers and presented them flowers, which they gathered from bushes along the way. Girls baked special almond cakes called ‘Simnel Cakes’ or ‘Mothering Cakes’ for their mothers and the day became a wonderful way to honour mothers and spend time with the whole family.

Laurence Mann
Secretary

Option 1 Highlights

• Orleans Infants remains an infant school but with four-form entry. Requires building of three classrooms with space reserved for two more.
• St Stephans remains as is
• St Marys Infants remains as a two form infant School
• St Marys Junior moved the St Johns Hospital site and increased to three form entry
• St Marys Junior site becomes a one-form entry primary school (Infant & Junior)

Two additional forms from the current one form expansion

“Those who have the will to win,
Cook potatoes in their skin,
Knowing that the sight of peelings
Deeply hurts Lord Woolton’s feelings.”

Seventy years ago, on the 8^th January 1940, the wartime government introduced food rationing - a control that was to remain in force for the next fourteen years. All over the country people started tightening their belts at the sobering news that their personal weekly food ration would be:-

Butter or Lard: 4 ounces
Sugar: 12 ounces
Raw bacon or Ham: 4 ounces
Eggs x two
Cooked Bacon or Ham: 3 1/2  ounces

Over the years the Fair has become synonymous with its live musical performances. This year will be no exception - so if you’re interested in taking part in this musical tradition on Saturday the 10^th of July please contact mailto: livemusic@blueyonder.co.uk

All genres of music are welcome.

Some runs are good and some are just plain awful. I did a run last Friday and felt like I had lead weights tied round my ankles and I was feeling really slow and tired. I did make it to 3 hours by running and walking. I kept telling myself that there will be moments in the race that will be exactly like this. However, I was bored of Richmond Park and it was so muddy and wet! I ran again this Tuesday and I think I must have been running backwards as it took me 2 hours to run around the park and back home. In fact that’s not quite true, as I only ran from Sheen gate to Richmond Gate - the longer way round! I am definitely bored of the park now as I feel I know every path, muddy track, hill, etc… It’s all mental though and I need to remain positive as I now know I can and will do it.

Too busy for Milan?
Too cold in New York?
Can’t face the traffic in London?

Well the good news is that some of the world’s premier lingerie and swimwear brands are coming to you. SL Privée is delighted to invite your to its Spring Fashion Show at:

Parvinu at Phelps, St Margarets

On Tuesday 16^th March 2010 at 19.00

During the evening you will be able to sample some great food and wine whilst enjoying a spot of shopping, or being fitted by Philippa or Susana in our Ladies’ Private Boudoir!

All tickets will be entered into the draw for the chance to win:

• Silk Nightdress by Valery
• Bra and brief set by Prima Donna
• Swimsuit by Feraud
• Bra and brief set by Aubade

and many more…

Details

• Tickets £25 per person
• All ticket proceeds will be going to the New Victoria Medical Foundation.
• To buy tickets or to get more information on the event, please call Susana or Philippa at SL Privée on 0208 332 2299
• Download the invitation [PDF]

Richmond Council has negotiated the purchase of part of the former St John’s hospital site, in Strafford Road, Twickenham, for further primary school provision, subject to approval from Cabinet on Monday 22 February.

The purchase from the current owners, the South West London Mental Health Trust (MHT), will be conditional upon planning permission being obtained for the site.

It is anticipated that a planning application will be submitted later this year.

There was a time when the St Margarets that we know didn’t exist. No station. No shops. No pub. No cafes, No streets crammed with cars…nothing. The Thames flowed quietly towards the sea through an open parkland of grand houses, smallholdings and market gardens. Boatmen might stop at Richmond to drop off a passenger or pull into Isleworth to collect a cargo but between the two there was little catch their interest.

The poet James Thomson wrote of this beautiful landscape:

Here let us trace the matchless vale of the Thames,
Far winding up to where the muses haunt,
To Twitnam’s bowers.

…and it doesn’t get much more syrupy than that.

The land upon which St Margarets now stands was particularly fertile. J. Middleton’s “Survey of Middlesex” in 1807 stated that some of the most productive market gardens in the area were situated on drained marsh lands by the river side, which, while “being richly impregnated by water from the river”, were protected from flooding by raised banks of earth known locally as ‘sea walls’.