Ayo gorkhali

Padding round Kensal Green cemetery this little gravestone stood out amidst the significant undergrowth - and considering the scale of the undergrowth...!

It's the grave of Henry Boisragon and his two children Guy Boisragon (a winner of the Victoria Cross) and Mabel Dent.

Cllr Carol Shaw, Cllr Simon Green and myself are shown here - the grave is immediately adjacent to Simon';s ward and he has been a staunch supporter of the armed forces and Royal British Legion and Carol's father fought alongside the gurkha's in WWII.

The grave reads:
In loving memorial
Major Genl. Henry F.M. Boisragon
Late of the 5th Gurkhas and 4th Sikhs
Born March 27th 1828
Died Sept 22nd 1890
and
Guy Huddleston Boisragon V.C.
Col. 5th Gurkhas
Born November 5th 1864
Died July 14th 1931
The shall be mine saith the Lord
In that day when I make up my jewels
Malachi 3.xvii

Sacred to the memory of
Mabel Maxwell Dent
Born November 7th 1862
Died February 17th 1942
Daughter of
Major Genl. H.F.M. Boisragon
wife of the late Major H.W. Dent
2nd Queens Royal Regiment
"I know that my redeemer liveth"

For more information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Hudleston_Boisragon and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensal_Green_Cemetery and http://www.kensalgreen.co.uk/ and http://www.gurkhajustice.org.uk/

A Users Group for the North London Line?

For too long the North London Line has sat neglected and tatty. It is without a doubt one of the most useful lines of transport in London - for starters it goes across London (east west) rather than the perennial north south, second it stops in places people live in rather than just shopping centres (such as Brondesbury Park) and third it goes to really useful places (connecting at Willesden Junction, down to both Stratford and Kew).

However, for a long time now it has felt low grade - unstaffed at night, poorly lit, subject to a lot of graffiti - a general air of neglect.

The North London Line is now being transformed in reputation as part of Overground - there are staff (albeit a bit security led - there's some need for some customer service training in places) and ticket barriers and with these elements the re-paint jobs.

The effect is to restore some confidence and tackle the back-log of works.

With that end in mind there has been an ongoing conversation with the regional station manager about setting up a users group for the 6 stattions along the bit of the line that runs from Kensal Rise to Hampstead Heath (Kensal Rise, Brondesbury Park, Brondesbury, West Hampstead, Finchley Road & Frognal, Hampstead Heath). If you're intersted and up for this then please do drop me a line ed.fordham@hampsteadandkilburn.org.uk - it's hoped to have a a meeting in the next few weeks to get a group going - it's not rocket science, we don't want to to make it too onerous, but just a chance to be the eyes and ears on the line, making things better, giving suggestions and where useful working with TfL and Overground to push forward enhancements.

Please do get in touch.

Overground improvements needed and quickly

The North London Line (now Overground) is for me one of the most impressive bits of London transport links - it goes across London (everything else runs up and down, in and out of the City), it stops in useful places (residential as well as shopping and commercial), it's pretty quick and efficient and for me [sentimental] it feels like a good old fashioned railway line. (Pic of Brondesbury Park station to right)

This is not to say that it is without problems - tatty, neglected, poorly staffed, vulnerable to graffiti and slightly shambolic. But it needs investment and attention and we 'users' need it to work better.

I'm especially keen that the anomaly that is Hampstead Heath in zone 3 should be removed and placed back into zone 2 - Mayor Ken Livingstone has promised it but is now enforcing zone 3 fares (another broken promise?)...

Most of all I think we users need a sustained dialogue with Overground (used to be Silverlink) and so if anyone wants to help with that then drop me a line at ed.fordham@hampsteadandkilburn.org.uk or start the debate below in the coments section.