The monster that lives in Agamemnon Road

Is this the best hedge topiary in town?

It's pretty much of a wow and clearly lovingly tended on an ongoing basis...

And sure enough there is a page on the oracle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topiary

This one is hiding in Agamemnon Road and is surely a prize effort.

Competition for the best suggested name? Ideas in this team have been:

• Oscar
• Clementine
• Andreas the amazing animal hedge
• Firaz

August is clearly here...

Jester Festival triumph

It's always great fun and this year the West Hampstead Jester Festival was no exception.

The Festival takes places (every year since 1973) on Fortune Green - which is the green at the top of Fortune Green Road, by the cemetery and near the Greek Streets (Ulysses and Ajax etc) .

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2007/11/west-end-west-hampstead-fortune-green.html

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/03/birds-of-prey-on-fortune-green.html

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/01/twelfth-night-or-2nd-february.html

So much, as with all street festivals is weather dependent and this year we got away with it - just. There was some drizzle but there was more sunshine.

The things that shone through for me were the acts - an amazing array of local talent - singers, guitarists, bass, dancing and ukelele (sp?) and more.

Some of the groups who entertained the crowd:

- Miss Cookie (wow what a voice...)

- Illegal Immigrant

- Young Music makers

- West hampstead Hooley Band

Who could not admire the Emmanuel school choir? And the lad with the hair and the guitar in the three piece rock band - wow... Pictures to follow (they're on a different camera).

Well done to one and all - a great team of local volunteers, hardy regulars and the strong network of local organisations. Special thanks to the West Hampstead Business Networkand Dutch and Dutch for their sponsorship and to all the other businesses that also gave their support in such a variety of ways...

http://www.bniwesthampstead.co.uk/

Birds of prey on Fortune Green

A huge well done to Mark Stonebanks and the team that are the committee of the Friends of Fortune Green.

On Saturday they had an open day type event with a exhibition of birds of prey.

To quote Camden Council website:

"Birds of prey fascinate people. On Saturday 22 March between 11am and 3.00pm you can get up close and personal with a range of native owl and other species, many of them rare.

"They will be on display as part of our ongoing work to raise awareness about nature conservation and offer hands-on opportunities for children and adults."

It was really stunning to see the birds up close. It was great to see how many people were coming along to what was a fairly smallish event - but there was a really steady trickle of people with the crowd rarely dipping below 20-30 people... Snapped this nice little image of local councillor Flick Rea and this lovely barn owl.

Fortune Green is a great open space and is really beginning to benefit from the enhanced care and attention that the Friends are bringing it.

The litter has been minimised through a pretty intensive litter pick the other week, graffiti is dropping and being tackled as it occurs and the paving round the fountain has been improved.

We just need to get the fountain working again now (and a clever source says the pipes are all there - they just need connnecting up)

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/01/where-is-metropolitan-drinking-fountain.html

Back to the fountains and public water...

My post a while back about fountains and getting them reconnected has prompted a flurry of emails and I'm now getting one resident sending me occasional notes of where they have found fountains round and about (often outside the remit of this little blog!).

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/01/where-is-metropolitan-drinking-fountain.html

This one at Fortune Green (the Green rather than just the ward) - just off Fortune Green Road and the Greek streets - is small and pretty and lies slightly off-set to the main of the green - it has just had new paving around it and in fact is incredibly well-placed on the geographic perspective of the green itself.

I'm gradually cacthing up with where there are others and whether they are working or not...

A brief pause on West End Green confirmed what Cllr. Flick Rea had told me - that the West End fountain was indeed working - and great too the water tasted!

I realised after taking this picture (right) of this small fountain that I failed to make a note of the inscription - more to follow when I go pass next...

Welcome to Nancy Jirira

We thought it would be a good night, but we never expected Thursday to be quite so good.

Nancy Jirira was elected as the new councillor for Fortune Green with a whopping 51% of the vote and a majority of over 600 votes.

The Tories threw absolutely everything at this election, lots of Labour canvassers (though few Labour Camden councillors in evidence on the doorsteps!) and Nancy still won through.

Good luck to Nancy - she's a strong community champion, she joins Russell Eagling and Flick Rea on the team and will really stand up for Fortune Green's residents.

Well done, best wishes.

The Spotlight record of "all year round and certainly not just at election time"

The Spotlight Team all year round and not just at election time is a mantra we know and love in Fortune Green and West Hampstead.

The main reason it is so good is that it is true - for 32 years the Liberal Democrats (and the predecessor parties) have produced and delivered the Spotlight newsletter month after month, year after year.

And it's not a propaganda piece - it deals with real street and resident issues. Over the years it has dealt with virtually every possible topic.

So, with the by-election date set for 21st February Nancy Jirira is putting herself forward to be the new member of the local Lib Dem Spotlight Team. Flick Rea leads the team and is backing Nancy to win in the election.

Nancy herself is no stranger to Spotlight - having lived in the area for 30 years it's a publication she knows well.

So what's the significance of the leaflets? In short it is one of the core beliefs and approaches for liberal and democrats - that elected politicians should keep in touch, that they are better representatives from such interactions and that if you seek to represent residents you should give them a chance to know what you are doing and feedback comments, suggestions and more. The belief in community politics as a philosophy was articulated in the Liberal party in the 1970's and has taken root up and down the country - Fortune Green ward (and before that West End ward) has been a beneficiary from those early days... and with the support of local residents, many many more to come.

It's so good when you have an amazing candidate

The Fortune Green by-election has been set for Thursday 21st February and the Lib Dem candidate will be Nancy Jirira. Nancy works in health care, know the local area really well, lives in Sarre Road in the middle of the ward and is just really enthusiastic to work with the community.

I can genuinely say that Nancy would be a superb councillor for the local area - she know the patch, she get's on really well with Flick Rea and Russell Eagling (the other two ward councillors) and anyone meeting her will sense her charm and energy.

More to follow, but hey - I'm really pleased and excited...

Twelfth Night or 2nd February?

In former times people would leave their decorations up until 40 days after Jesus's birth - i.e. 2nd Feb.

It was the Victorian traditions that settled on 12th Night as the definitive end of christmas decor.

Tradition now says twelfth day is the last day for decorations to be taken down. It thought bad luck to take decorations down after this date, though decorations may be kept up until the next Christmas to avoid this bad luck.

Those who forget to take down their decorations before the twelfth day never keep them up all year round.

I spent a slightly sad night taking down our decorations tonight - having a real tree with the lights and baubles has been really good - I realised tonight just how much I love the Christmas celebrations and when the weather is as bright, crisp and clear as it was this morning I realised how much I love the season itself.

To ease the taking down of decorations and in line with the green agenda here in Camden we have places around the borough where you can take your old christmas tree - one such much used and appreciated in on Fortune Green in West Hampstead (pic above left).

It's pretty busy on twelfth night and councillors Russell Eagling (pic left) and Flick Rea are pretty proud of the service...

West End Green at Christmas

What is it about Christmas lights? They illuminate, they cheer, they sparkle and they just make an area look great.

And this year on West End Green is no exception. At the junction of West End Lane, Lyncroft Gardens, Mill Lane and Fortune Green Road this little green is really charming.

Well done to councillors Flick Rea, Keith Moffitt and Janet Grauberg who have made sure this sort of thing happens and is considered important - shame my camera (or use of it) isn't better able to capture the image - though I do think this captures the sparkle!

Ed