picnic on the - london borough of...

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Your special supplement on how Hounslow is celebrating the Diamond Jubilee and 2012 Games

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The Queen could well be making another surprise stop at a residential street in Isleworth this Jubilee year, 10 years after the last visit… that is if Bob still has the wig!

Queen Bob – who has refused to speak to the press on the advice of Palace security staff – made a very regal entrance to his local street party at the Golden Jubilee celebrations back in 2002.

Waving flagsDressed in a baby blue frock with matching hat, grey wig and matching

white gloves and shoes, Bob was majestic. He cut the ribbon to begin the festivities and mastered the royal wave with aplomb.

Lucy Collins, of the local residents association who is helping organise this year’s Diamond Jubilee party, said: “Ten years ago, not many of the residents knew Bob was going to dress up.

“By chance he happened to wear the same colour dress as the Queen on the day, and so when he arrived the very youngest children really thought he was the Queen and they cheered and waved their flags. It was so sweet, and

Whether you’re a dabbler with paints or think you’re a budding Van Gogh, you and the family can put your art skills to the test on a special community card for the Queen.

The art project, organised by Hounslow Adults and Community Education, is just one of the many activities at the Diamond Jubilee party and Commufest 2012 in Inwood Park, central Hounslow, on Saturday 2 June.

There will be a range of art materials and techniques used, including paper and fabric collage, to create Hounslow family portraits, and the finished card will be sent to Buckingham Palace with the community’s best wishes.

That’s not all...As well as art and crafts, stalls, games and quizzes, there will be a mini football tournament, races and Nordic walking for those who want to be more active, Dr Bike offering advice and maintenance tips to bike riders, an exhibition of the history of the park - the second oldest in the borough - by Chris Hern of the

Hounslow Local History Group, and a special appearance by Ludo the clown (pictured) for the party’s younger visitors.

Refreshments will be on sale in the park’s café and the pièce de resistance will be a special Jubilee cake served free of charge on a first-come first-served basis at the end of the day.

Arranged by the Hounslow Friends of Faith and the Hounslow Community Alliance’s annual Commufest, it is hoped the variety of the day’s offerings will appeal to the whole community.

Diversity and neighbourlinessBessie White, secretary of Friends of Faith, said: “The Diamond Jubilee is a wonderful occasion for local residents of all ages, faiths and cultures to come together to have fun and get to know each other.”

Pastor Kenny from the Community Alliance added: “It will be an exciting time to meet all families and peace-loving residents of Hounslow in an atmosphere that promotes diversity and neighbourliness.”

Visit www.hounslowfriendsoffaith or www.dominionparish.org

Hounslow’s summer of celebration is well under way starting with Diamond Jubilee celebrations

THE QUEEN COMES TO ISLEWORTH

Summer of Celebration

Bob was such a laugh.”

It’s hoped Bob will dress up again for the party on Monday 4 June and make just as big an impact alongside all the other activities the residents have planned.

There’s likely to be games and sporting activities, and maybe even a bike track to keep the children active; face painting, picture drawing and crafts; even

street quizzes such as guessing who’s who from residents’ baby pictures, or pinning flags onto a map of the world as residents guess where their neighbours have their roots. And, of course, there will be plenty of food and drink available.

A great excuse for a party“The Jubilee has spurred us on. It’s a really good opportunity for

the whole street to come together,” said Lucy. “Most of the time, you only get to know the neighbours who live either side of you or just across the road.

Maybe you’ll say good morning to the people you see regularly on the street but, other than that, there isn’t an awful lot of mixing.

“That all changed after the last Jubilee party but we have to keep it going if we don’t want to fall back into our old ways.”

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Heston residents are determined to make their grand Jubilee picnic on Brabazon Green an occasion to remember. Music, dance, games and prizes have all been planned to entice people out of their home to mingle with the neighbours.

Tasmine Magloire (page 11 picture), of the Brabazon Estate Residents Association, said residents from the Brabazon Estate, Scotts Gardens, Harlech

Gardens and the Redwood Estate are all invited to the festivities on Sunday 3 June for a joined up effort to help create more community spirit.

Just have fun“There isn’t a lot of community involvement,” she said. “We don’t often get many people coming along to residents’ meetings or local community groups. But with something like this – the Jubilee – it’s the perfect occasion to encourage more people to just come out and have fun.

“We’re hoping the whole community will show up because everybody’s welcome. People can bring their own picnic so it’s easier for them to stick to a budget. But we will also have food on sale for those who want it,” she said.

Selected DJs have been booked to provide the music. There’s likely to be a bouncy castle for the kids and dance performances by various groups, including Tasmine’s own Tasmania Dance Group. In fact, if anyone feels like performing a little routine themselves, said Tasmine, that too can be arranged. There will be a best royal costume competition, maybe a fairground ride or a horse and cart ride, and games with prizes to get people talking to each other.

“This will be a chance for anybody who wants to, to get to know their neighbours in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere,” she said.

Picnic on the green

Hounslow’s summer of celebration is well under way starting with Diamond Jubilee celebrations

Volunteers NeededRemember, 1-7 June is also National Volunteer Week. So why not keep your neighbourhood spic and span by helping clear

up when the party’s over?

The more hands, the lighter the work!


Hounslow’s register office is planning a special Jubilee ceremony for newly naturalised subjects to swear their allegiance to the Queen.

The citizenship ceremony, which will be held on 13 June, will see around 50 people, originally from countries such as Brazil, Ghana, Bangladesh and Poland, become British citizens, looked on by their family and friends and specially invited guests.

They can swear an oath of allegiance to God and Queen or make an affirmation of allegiance to the Queen, the different wording made to accommodate people’s different beliefs, and then pledge their

loyalty to the United Kingdom.

At the end of the ceremony, they will receive a certificate of citizenship.

Superintendent Registrar Sarah Hayter, who will conduct the ceremony, said: “It’s a very meaningful and touching ceremony, and we are hoping to create an extra special celebratory atmosphere for people becoming British citizens in the month of the Jubilee.

“Many of our delegates have worked and lived in our borough for many years before deciding to apply for British Nationality so they are delighted to celebrate such an important occasion in their lives along with such a prestigious occasion like the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.”

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Crowning of a new Queen

Oath of Allegiance

Hounslow Chronicle’s history buff, Eddie Menday MBE, remembers the celebrations for the Queen’s

coronation. The death of King George VI, 60 years ago on 6 February 1952, brought Queen Elizabeth to the throne.

Far from a time of celebration the country went into mourning. Men wore black ties; some shops placed black paper across their windows; others

cleared their displays altogether and replaced them with a photograph of the late king. While in town halls and public spaces up and down the country, and in cities across the Commonwealth, proclamations were read out announcing the succession of Queen Elizabeth II.

This period of sadness, though, gave the country plenty of time to prepare for the coming celebrations in 1953 and just like today, national and local committees organised street parties and jamborees to honour the occasion.

Torchlight Procession

In the old south west Middlesex area, the local hospital management committee organised a special meal for patients and a crown piece to be given to every child in hospital on the day. They installed TV sets in the wards so that everyone could watch the big day.

Heston and Isleworth Borough Council arranged a mass torchlight procession on the evening before the coronation, when some 400 people marched with flaming torches from the Council House to Thornbury playing fields for a bonfire and firework display.

Spring Grove Polytechnic (now West Thames College) organised an arts and crafts exhibition, and to encourage people

to take part in the jollities, the local council gave prizes for the best decorated house and street in the borough. Street parties, which were such a feature at the end of the war, were again a major feature, as were bonfires on open land.

Ten guineas for a baby!On the day itself, Hounslow’s St Stephen’s church choir climbed the church tower and sang a hymn and the national anthem over the town. In Feltham, local organisations, charities and churches organised 16 days of events culminating in a carnival procession through the high street, while the local council offered 10 guineas for the first baby born on Coronation Day.

This year we not only commemorate the passing of a much loved King but the 60 years of unstinting service given by Queen Elizabeth II to our country and Commonwealth.

Read Eddie Menday, every week in the Hounslow Chronicle or go online to: www.hounslowchronicle.co.uk

Oath of AllegianceI swear by Almighty God that on becoming a British citizen,

I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second,

her Heirs and Successors, according to law.

PledgeI will give my loyalty to the

United Kingdom and respect its rights and freedoms. I will uphold its democratic values.

I will observe its laws faithfully and fulfil my duties and

obligations as a British citizen.

Meeting the MonarchBrimming over with pride, ten of Hounslow’s residents were among those invited to meet the Queen when she visited Richmond Park in May. The park was holding its first WILD London festival that celebrates

London’s woodlands, parks and gardens, as part of its Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

The residents, who all have a learning and/or physical disability, are clients of the Triangle Resource Centre in Hounslow town centre. They were invited by the Holly Lodge Centre, which is based in the park, because they regularly attend the centre’s art and craft classes.

In the past the adults’ work has included prints and collages and most recently, papier mâché Easter eggs. Some of their work is currently on display at The Stables, an art space attached to Orleans House Gallery in Twickenham.

Before the event, Jabeen Baig (centre) said: “I can’t wait to meet Her Majesty. I hope she is all sparkly and glittering. I want to tell her that everything’s fine and that I hope she has a happy Jubilee.”

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Her name is GlorianaBrentford was the site for the building and launching of the magnificent new royal rowbarge, Gloriana, that will lead the Jubilee Pageant on the Thames on Sunday 3 June.

Following along just behind a floating belfry with its ringing bells announcing the coming of the pageant, the Gloriana will head the 1,000 or more boats in the procession made up of row boats, working boats and vessels of all shapes and sizes.

The barge, which took nearly six months to design but just eight weeks to build, is a 90-ft long vessel based on the clinker built long-boats of the Anglo-Saxons who arrived in 4th century AD. It continues the

centuries old tradition of royal barges on the Thames.

Transported from the industrial park in Brentford and lowered into the water, the barge was rowed by 18 oarsmen, made

up of some of the people who helped build it, and some of the Royal Watermen who had the duty of rowing the sovereign when they regularly travelled on the Thames. It was rowed upstream to its moorings in Richmond where last minute gilding work was completed, ready for its big day.

The pageant boats will gather on the river between Hammersmith and Battersea, and the formal procession will be from 2pm-6pm, starting from Battersea Bridge and finishing at Tower Bridge.

*Watching the procession from the bridges is a ticketed affair, and Hounslow Council has given its allocation of 325 tickets to those secondary schools that applied to distribute among young people.

Picture: Courtesy of Malcolm Knight, Director of Thames Alive.

Lighting the beaconA beacon will be lit in Lampton Park on Monday 4 June as part of a massive beacon-lighting event taking place across the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, along with Commonwealth countries and UK overseas territories.

The Mayor of Hounslow will light the beacon between 10pm and 10.30pm while the Queen will light the national beacon in central London at 10.30pm, the last to be lit in the UK chain. Countries around the world will light their beacons at 10pm local time.

A beacon, essentially a large bonfire, was once used as a tool for communication. Now it is more a symbol of unity across towns, borders, countries and continents. They were last lit nationally to celebrate the Queen’s Silver and Golden Jubilees.

Before the event, there will be family entertainment, so come early to grab a good spot.

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Join the crowds of people welcoming the Olympic Torch to Hounslow on Tuesday 24 July.

Thousands are expected to line the route that will see the Torch on its journey through Hounslow, starting when it enters the borough on Kew Bridge and ending in Lampton Park.

Torch RouteOnce the Torch crosses the bridge, the Torch bearers will make their way along Kew Bridge Road, through Brentford town centre, along London Road passing the northwest side of Syon Park and its Lion gate, through Busch corner and past Isleworth railway station.

The Torch then travels past West Thames College, enters Hounslow town centre and proceeds through the pedestrianised section of the high street. At Bell Corner it turns right again into Lampton Road and passes through the main gates into Lampton Park before ending its journey at the Lampton Park Conference Centre.

Welcome celebrationsAfter the Torch enters the borough it will be welcomed into Brentford High Street at 11.40am with a carnival featuring an array of music, performers and activities organised by the High Street Steering Group, a collective of local business operators.

Gold-coloured stilt-walking dragons, walkabout entertainers, jugglers, balloon modellers and groovy people on roller blades will mix and mingle with revellers. There will be living statues, face painters, dancing and stalls selling art and crafts and food and drink. A dome will be set up with country-style hay bales for the public to sit on close to the main stage, which will feature a two-hour programme of live music including jazz, pop and reggae.

The festivities will continue after the Torch leaves Brentford on its way to Hounslow High Street where at 12.20pm it will be met by the booming rhythmic sounds of Dhol drummers.

A gospel group will serenade the Torch outside Holy Trinity

Church, and at Bell Corner, Channi Singh and his Bollywood singers will entertain the crowds before and after the Torch relay passes.

At Lampton Park, where the Torch procession stops for lunch at 12.30pm (before continuing its journey by motor vehicle to Hillingdon) there will be a chance for all the family to experience a little bit of the Olympic theatre.

The Torch will enter the park amid a colourful display of performances from Kosovan dancers, Bollywood singers and entertainers from the Muliticultural Centre. Centre stage will be the funky cool jazzy sounds of Brass Roots (pictured), and


Get set, the Olympic Torch is coming

Finish

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the crowd will also be entertained by carnival dance groups presented by Feltham Arts. Why not bring a picnic and be captivated and inspired.

Children get in on the actNot to be left out, Hounslow’s schoolchildren will have their own torch relay on Monday 25 June, and it plans to be as colourful, noisy and just as much fun as the real thing.

Every primary, secondary and special school in the borough has been invited to select 10 pupils to represent them. Each school will adopt a country and the pupil representatives will wear that country’s national dress or carry its national flag on the day.

The pupils will specially design their own “Olympic” torches and

gather at Osterley Sports and Athletics Centre, in Isleworth, for the relay and other activities.

Sarah Hoyle, from the Together We Create charity, which helped organise the day with local schools, said: “It’s going to be a lively and exciting event for the sporty, and not so sporty, children of the borough.

“They’ll learn about the Olympic and Paralympic values of respect, excellence and friendship, courage, determination, inspiration and equality but most of all it’s just going to be a great celebration of the London Games.”

For up to the minute information on Hounslow’s summer of celebration, visit: www.facebook.com/hounslowcouncil


Get set, the Olympic Torch is coming

Start

Where best to stand

The best places to gather to see the Olympic Torch will be at any of the three community events in Brentford High Street, Hounslow High Street or Lampton Park. Along the actual route, the Torch will be escorted by LOCOG, police, media and sponsor vehicles, with Torch bearers changing at 300 metre intervals. In Brentford town centre, east-bound traffic will be stopped just before the procession arrives to allow spectators to spill out onto the carriageway to greet the Torch.

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Isleworth mum, Dr Siobhan Strike (far right), thought she’d struck gold when she was told she will be carrying the Olympic Torch.

“This is enormously exciting. It’s a massive privilege and I think it’s really great to be part of the Olympic spirit,” she said.

Siobhan, a senior lecturer at Roehampton University, was nominated for her achievements in the community after inspiring several other mums she met at the school gates to start a running group.

“At first the majority of us were only able to run about 400m down the road,” she said. “Now we can all confidently run 5k as we did in the 5k Race for Life in Richmond. And seven of our group have since completed a 10k run.”

Siobhan was nominated to be a Torch bearer by Kate Fendley, a former PE teacher and fellow member of the running group. She thought Siobhan had been truly inspirational in the way she helped her and the other mums achieve their athletic goals. She even started a second group to train for a triathlon, which they completed last May.

“We were just a group of tired, middle-aged mums not feeling particularly good about our bodies after having our children,” said Kate.

“It was Siobhan who motivated us to start running and get fit, and it was her enthusiasm that helped build our confidence.”

Two years on, the running group is now more than 30-mums strong and has grown to include women from two more local schools and friends of friends. Dr Strike could not be more proud.

“I have always been involved in sport one way or another and I wanted to share that enthusiasm with others. That’s why I set up the mums’ group in the first place.

“Now, what I’m most proud of is that they are still going strong, even though I’m not as involved anymore. It’s such a wonderful lasting legacy for me.”

The first thing you notice about David Ramsey is his cheerful smile, and as a young man who cannot talk, his smile has become his trademark.Being asked to take part in the Olympic Torch relay has had him smiling from ear to ear.

His mother Sandra is enormously proud: “This is fantastic. It is something that happens only once in a lifetime and we are over the moon for him.”

Born with learning and physical disabilities, David finds it difficult to communicate but this has not stopped him from becoming a valued member of his community. He plays 5-aside disability football in the West Middlesex Sunday football league, competes in athletics, plays the occasional snooker match, and generally keeps himself fit and active. He always gives 100 per cent, say the staff from Hounslow’s Community Access Service, which supports adults with learning disabilities.

In nominating him, they wrote: “David is very popular with a warm, engaging and caring personality. He is admired and respected and is a great role model to his peers.”

Though he does not yet know exactly where in the borough he will be in the relay, David’s whole family is determined to celebrate the occasion.

Ten family members are coming down from Liverpool and one from Scotland, says Sandra, and there may be a couple more nearer the time. “We’ll probably all end up in our local pub to celebrate because David is very well-known and loved in the community.

“He’s got a lot of support and we intend to show him,” she said.

As the Olympic Torch passes through Hounslow, a number of lucky residents have been asked to be part of the relay — in and outside the borough. Here are just a few.

Mums on the... run

His smile says it all

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It was Mahavir Ladva’s love of helping others, despite his health problems, that persuaded the Torch relay judges he would be a good role model to have as a Torch bearer.

And the library assistant at Cranford Community College is ecstatic to have been chosen.

“This is an amazing opportunity that I never thought

would happen to me in a million years. Just to be part of the biggest sporting event in the world is a real privilege,” he said.

As a young child, Mahavir suffered from severe arthritis and he continues to manage the condition today. But it was his voluntary work and his many efforts to raise money for charity that really impressed. While a pupil at Hounslow Manor school, he won a Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Award for raising over £5,000 for various Children in Need and Comic Relief projects. Since then, he has raised £1,800 for WaterAid, become a school governor at his old school, and recently returned from India where he worked in an orphanage.

“I don’t let my health issues get to me and my condition is under control at the moment. But if on the day I am not well, the organisers have promised to provide support so I can complete my part of the relay.”

Though Mahavir lives and works in Hounslow he will join the relay in Richmond, but he doesn’t mind one bit. He said. “I am just so happy I’ve been chosen, I don’t care which borough I run in.”

Happy Feet“I am so excited,” said Brentford’s Torron Lee-Dewar. “Carrying the Olympic Torch will be a big experience for me, one of the biggest of my life so far.”

Torron, a dancer and choreographer, is used to winning awards for his talent. He was Hounslow’s Young Male of the Year in 2009. But it is his role as a community champion that won him his place in the Torch relay.

At his community project, the Alliance Dance Unit, he teaches street dance to children, young people and adults, and he is a great believer in the power of dance to change lives.

“Getting children and young people into dance can steer them away from gangs and crime, and channel their energies into something positive,” he said.

“Teaching street dance, break dancing and other forms of urban dance is something most young people can relate to. It’s great to see them shine and become more confident in themselves.”

Torron will be running in Hillingdon where his family and friends will travel to support him.

He’s booked his place (on the relay)

Olympic rower and World No. 3 men’s single scull, Alan Campbell, had a career in the army all mapped out in front of him. But a surprise reply to an off-the-cuff remark made him take stock and change his life.

“You can’t really tell, but I was quite a late bloomer. At primary and secondary school I was pretty hopeless at sport. I was always the last to be picked for football, in fact any team sports. I didn’t have an athletic build and I was pretty un-coordinated. But despite all that I really enjoyed being part of a team.”

NicknameEven today, Alan’s nickname at the Tideway Scullers School in Chiswick, the sculling club where he regularly trains with local coach Bill Barry, is monkey, after the first time he went out “in a double” and his partner labeled him a bit of a baboon – powerful but not very skilful.

But rowing, it turned out, was the sport he enjoyed the most. “And because I loved it, I developed a talent for it,” he added.

Still, he was not prepared for Coach Barry’s simple question: “What do you really want to do?” Without thinking he replied, a little tongue in cheek: “Win a gold medal in single scull.” He was surprised when, rather than laugh out loud, Bill Barry said: “Well, you’ll have to lose 10 kilos then.”

That was in 2003, the same year that Alan, originally from Coleraine in Northern Ireland, had been selected to represent Britain in the World under-23 Championships in the double scull. He switched to the single scull only five days before the regatta

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Long-distance runner Mo Farah is a sporting marvel of whom his adopted home of Hounslow is rightly proud.

The story of how he came to the borough from a Somalia which was becoming ever more dangerous, and how local teacher Alan Watkinson helped keep him out of trouble by diverting his energies into running, is a modern-day fairy tale.

Even today, Mo continues to graciously acknowledge the debt. “I began running when I was 12. My school PE teacher spotted my talent while I was playing football. He entered me

into a cross-country race and took me down to the local running club twice a week – though for the first few years it was just a bit of fun.”

InspirationSuch dedication to a young star lacking a bit of direction meant that Alan became one of Mo’s biggest sporting influences. “If he hadn’t encouraged me to start running, I never would have known that I had this talent,” he said.

Another was the sporting great, Muhammed Ali. “He was always a huge inspiration to me growing up. He was a legend. His confidence and hard work as a sportsman in boxing inspired me to be successful.”

Getting seriousIt wasn’t until he attended an elite training camp for promising British athletes in Orlando, Florida, that he saw what success could really mean. It was then he started to truly appreciate his talent and give his sport his full, undivided attention.

“One of the things that encouraged me to take running seriously in the long term was when a group of us young aspiring athletes were taken to a training camp in Florida. I remember thinking, ‘I want to travel like this more often’. Since then, I’ve travelled all

Hounslow’s sporting heroes prepare to take on the world

Rowing for gold

Fly Mo, fly


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• British and European record holder for the 10,000m, 2011

• British record holder for 5,000m, 2011

• British record holder for 3,000m, 2009

• European Indoor record holder 5,000m, 2011

• Gold, 5,000m, 2011 World Championships

• Silver, 10,000m, 2011 World Championships

• Gold, 3,000m, 2009 and 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships

• Gold, 5,000m and 10,000m, 2010 European Athletics Championships

Career highlights

because his partner was ill, but he finished a very creditable eighth.

Life-changingThose two events convinced Alan, who had joined the army aged 16, taken A Levels at an army school in Yorkshire, and was in his first year at Shrivenham Royal Military College in Swindon, to change his life. He left college, left the army and become a full-time rower, racing the single scull.

“It all happened so quickly,” he said, particularly as the only reason he met Bill Barry in the first place was because his extra-curricular rowing activities at Shrivenham had taken him to train at Tideway before a big race in London.

Since then, Alan, who is about to compete in his third Olympic Games, has won a silver and two bronze medals at the World Rowing Championships 2009 -11, come fifth at the Olympics in Beijing and gained a World No. 2 ranking, his highest so far, in 2009. “I’m hoping this year to become World No. 1. It all depends on winning gold in London.”

Having achieved so much, Alan is keen to give something back.

He mentors children at a local school and occasionally trains with junior rowers at Tideway. “It’s only right,” he said. “I have a responsibility to give something back and besides I really enjoy it.”

IdolsAt 28, he still has time to replicate the achievements of his sporting idols Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent, who competed in five and four consecutive Olympic Games respectively, and with whom he is on first name terms with.

It’s all a very long way from watching them win Olympic gold on TV as a young school boy – an experience that finally clinched rowing as his sport of choice.

What is a single scull?Scull is an old English word for oar and sculling is a person rowing with two oars, one in each hand. This is instead of rowing with one oar in a team of two, four or eight.

over the world and still continue to do so.”

Not surprisingly, when he’s competing he thinks about winning medals, about how hard his competitors have been training and even about competing in the next race he has lined up. But whatever his thoughts it’s clear that, aged 29, he still loves to run, loves to compete.

“It’s the challenge of racing against the best runners in the world, of putting all my hard work and training to the test. That’s what I love most. I try not to look too far ahead and just take one race at a time but it’s every athlete’s dream to win an Olympic gold. That’s my main goal.”

Taste successFor budding young sportsmen and women, his advice is simple – try out different sports and activities and see what you enjoy. “If you want to be successful it’s very important to enjoy what you’re doing. I didn’t know that I’d enjoy running until I tried it.

“And once you’ve found your sport, work hard. Nothing comes easy, but once you get a taste of success, you’ll want more.”

Pictures: www.workrestandplaypictures.com


Hounslow’s Rajiv Ouseph is Britain’s No. 1 badminton player. He won bronze at the European Championships, and silver at the Commonwealth Games. It will be a herculean task to win gold at the London Games, but Rajiv is more than hopeful he can do it.

“I’ve been as high as number 11 in the world and beaten some of the top ranked players before, but this time I have to beat them all in the same week. If I stay free of injury, and being on home soil, I think I have a good chance.” On the back of recent wins in the Scottish, Irish and Finnish Championships, nobody could argue with that.

Rajiv, who lived in Hounslow before moving to Feltham, was introduced to the sport when he was eight by his dad Joe. “He would bring me and my two older sisters with him to play and I always really enjoyed it.” It was in trying to beat his sisters that Rajiv got early exposure to competitive play, and seeing them compete in junior tournaments, he was keen to do the same.

Early success“When I was about 10 I got the chance to compete in a junior international tournament in Holland and I won! It was only then that I really started to think ‘I’m quite good at this’.”

A few years later, at 15, Rajiv stepped up his training considerably, trained regularly with the junior England team, and when he completed his A-Levels at St Michael and St Martin School in Hounslow, he took to the sport full-time. By 19 he was in the senior England team, and now at 25, he has won five consecutive national singles titles and is ranked as one of the top 20 players in the world.

The DomeDespite his many successes, the modest and shy Rajiv regularly returns to the Hounslow Badminton Centre in Southall, or the Hounslow Dome as it’s known.

“When I’m not at a tournament I spend most Saturdays here, helping coach junior County players.” It was what his badminton hero, Aamir Ghaffar, did for him when he was getting started.

“Aamir was the No. 1 senior player when I was young and to be able to hit and train with him allowed me to believe that becoming a professional badminton player was something I could aspire to.”

Since those days, the Dome has improved its facilities for up and coming young players, with six courts rather than four and better car parking facilities. And it’s not unknown for one or two top international players to drop by to practice.

Hounslow’s future hopefulsIt all helps nurture Hounslow’s future hopefuls like 11-year-old Freya Patel-Redfearn from Isleworth (third from the left). Already a top 20 silver graded player, Freya loves the sport. “It’s fast, involves a lot of fitness and you mix with lots of different types of people,” she said.

Her ambition, naturally, is to play for England and go to the Olympics one day. And being able to practice with champions like Rajiv Ouseph makes that dream all the more possible.

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Heart is where the Dome is


Football crazy Josh Beacham is ecstatic to be playing at the biggest disability sporting events in the world. He’s been picked for the Team GB 7-a-side football team and will compete at his first Paralympics.

One of two variations played at the Games, 7-a-side is played by athletes with cerebral palsy, and

being able to properly compete in a sport that he loves is all 19 year-old Josh has ever wanted.

He started playing football in the usual way – aged three having a kickabout with dad in the back garden. But at primary school he was never given a chance to shine. Only ever picked for the last five minutes of matches, Josh was getting increasingly frustrated.

“Because I was playing mainstream football I was physically a lot smaller, not as strong and quite a bit slower than the other kids, but then my mum found me a football team where everyone was disabled,” he said.

That was the Feltham Bees, Brentford FC’s official disability team. “When I joined I felt much more at home and at ease with myself. Very quickly, I was able to compete playing against people my own age and older.”

Now Josh not only competes at the highest level of his sport but two days a week works with Brentford FC Community Sports Trust coaching children in local mainstream and special schools.

For now, though, his mind is squarely on the Paralympics. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity – to play for your country in your own country. Who knows what we can achieve.”

23


THE QUAD SQUAD

Onside with Team GB

A keen Bees supporter and a Brentford Football Club and Community Sports Trust Disabled Ambassador, 21 year-old Andrew Lapthorne is marked out as one of Britain’s top hopefuls for a medal in this year’s Paralympics.

Currently holder of the Australian Open Quad Doubles title with partner Peter Norfolk, which they also won in 2011, and quad doubles champions at the Masters and the British Open Championships in 2010, Andrew is working hard to qualify and hopes to be selected when the team is announced in June.

“I haven’t played in the Paralympics before, London will hopefully be my debut, but I still have to qualify. If I do, I’m aiming to win a medal in doubles with Peter and a singles medal too.

“I’m currently ranked in the top four in the world for quad singles and quad doubles so if I work hard it is possible. But there will be a lot of strong contenders and I can’t control how they play on the day.”

Andrew first got into tennis when he

attended the Tennis Foundation’s wheelchair tennis development camp aged 10. No-one influenced him to take up the sport but he loved watching Tim Henman play on grass. “So I tried wheelchair tennis and loved it straight away,” he said. “What I like most is the competitive edge, competing either on my own or in a doubles pair.

“I would encourage any disabled athlete to attend a Tennis Foundation camp or just go along to their local tennis club. There are more clubs around than you think and the great thing about tennis is that it is easily adaptable. There are versions for any type of disability, and you can play with non-disabled friends and family, too.”

Athletes competing in Quad singles or doubles, otherwise known as the mixed events, have impairments that affect three or more of their limbs and so can use electric-powered wheelchairs and rackets taped to the hand.

This is as opposed to an individual who has lost all or part use of their legs who is eligible to play wheelchair tennis. The sport follows the same rules as the able-bodied game but the ball is allowed to bounce twice before it must be returned.

The council really wants to provide a legacy from the Olympic Games and our ambition is to provide high quality free sports coaching to children in our schools.

The programme will take advantage of the natural partners that we have in the borough and will hopefully encourage thousands of children to take up a sport of their choice. There are four sports currently on offer and we hope to expand this programme over the next two years.

The take-up from schools so far is already very positive even though the programme only started in January this year.

24


Clubs in the spotlight

Giving our children a sporting chance

Games4Life

The Games may only last a matter of weeks . . .

Heathrow Gymnastics Club

Located next to an international trading centre on Green Lane not far from Heathrow airport, and in one of the most deprived areas of London, few Hounslow residents know that there is a nationally acclaimed gymnastics club right on their doorstep.

It is one of only two or three clubs in the country with an established reputation for producing champions, and this year alone has as many as four

members with a serious chance of getting into Team GB.

The 22,000 sq ft site has three gyms, two dance studios and all the equipment needed to train for a variety of gymnastic and dance events. The long-term benefits of using such a club to encourage more young people to take an interest in sport is an idea not lost on the council.

CB Hounslow Sports ClubOnce facing eviction, CB Hounslow United Football Club is now going to double in size after receiving both a new home and the funding to develop it.

First, Hounslow Council stepped in to offer the club the chance to redevelop a site of disused playing fields at Green Lane after hearing that its lease on pitches in Osterley was to end. Then, Sport England awarded the club £50,000 from its Protecting Playing Fields Olympic Legacy fund designed to bring un-used playing fields, or ones under threat, back into play.

The money will be used to develop five new pitches and create a multi-sports club offering, facilities for archery, cycling and running, as well as football.

The council will be giving out thousands of Games4Life questionnaires at a number of events this summer as part of a nation-wide campaign using the focus of the Olympic Games and the Paralympics to support people to be more active.

Everyone who fills out a questionnaire and sends it in to Games4Life will be sent a free activities pack with lots of ideas on how to get moving and build free and accessible activities into your daily life.

Developed by Change4Life, the national movement supported by the government to improve the nation’s health, the campaign encourages children and families to get their “active minutes, everyday”.

Active minutes include any activity or sport that gets the heart pumping. Over time it can provide a range of benefits helping to strengthen the heart and bones and make

you feel good. To gain these benefits it is recommended that a child gets 60 active minutes every day while an adult needs 150 active minutes a week.

The council is particularly keen to improve the well-being of Hounslow’s children because of a growing childhood obesity problem. Nearly one in four children in Year 6 (aged 10-11) is obese. This is higher than other London borough.

For your free personalised summer activity plan, simply fill in the questionnaire for you and your family and send it freepost to Games4Life.

You can find it and more information online – just search “Games4Life”, and for more details and ideas on how to be active visit www.nhs.uk

Earlier this year, the Sport Makers workshop came to Hounslow to encourage ordinary people to become ambassadors for sport.

Presented by Olympic gold-medal rower Ben Hunt-Davis (left), the London-wide Olympic-related project is about local people encouraging friends, family and the local community to be more active.

Dwinder Hans, (far right) who cares full-time for her invalid husband and is a volunteer health champion, came along because she already talks to people about improving their health. “I recently joined a gym and I swim every morning,” she said. “So I’m thinking of becoming a sport maker because I’m trying to be more active myself and I feel I can help others do the same.”

If you become a sport maker you will be given the knowledge and connections to

support the community to be more active, and you can volunteer with local sports clubs and sporting events. The activities or events you make happen don’t need to be grand. They can include anything from organising a friendly tennis match with neighbours to just going for a walk regularly with friends or family. You can then log the hours you’ve spent making sport happen on the sport makers website where there are rewards available.

Ben Hunt-Davis explained why the sport makers’ project is so important. “There was a lad I met a few times in Doncaster who had been excluded from a couple of primary schools, his dad was in jail and his outlook was not looking good. Then he got involved in rowing, and a couple of years ago he graduated from one of the best universities in the country.“Sport literally changed his life,” he said.

“The Olympics gives us a brilliant

opportunity to get more people involved in sport and the possibility of changing more lives, and ordinary people as sport makers can play a key role in this.”

If you want to be a sport maker, visit: www.sportmakers.co.uk

25


Make Sport Happen

The Games may only last a matter of weeks . . .

Working with London Youth Rowing and the Boat Race Company, and supported by a very generous grant of £100,000 over a five year period from the Oxford and Cambridge Rowing Foundation which we have match funded, we already have 10 secondary schools signed up for rowing.

The tennis and golf programme provided by the high performance centre at Dukes Meadows has already 15 primary schools signed up for tennis and golf classes for the next school year.

And around 60 pupils a week aged eight to 14 currently take advantage of the council’s free athletics sessions as a result of the new athletics track in Osterley.

Leader of Hounslow Council, Jagdish Sharma, said: “We intend to take our commitment to providing an Olympic legacy for the borough very seriously by giving Hounslow students the opportunity to try out a new sport and continue in that sport if they are talented or simply enjoy the challenge.

“By offering youngsters this broad range of sports, we are also trying to provide them with a physical activity that will give them a lifelong commitment to a healthy lifestyle.”

. . . but Hounslow is determined to create a sporting legacy that lasts

26

London Olympic Games 1948

by Eddie Menday

It’s a wonder the 1948 Olympics ever took place. Europe had been ravaged by a dreadful war and Britain was almost bankrupt. But the Government accepted the challenge to prove Britain was still great.

Wembley Stadium was the main Olympic arena but local facilities played their part too. Heston and Isleworth, for example, offered its local swimming baths for training. Water polo practice matches were staged there with teams from Argentina, Italy, Sweden and Spain.

Lady AthletesTwo local athletes were chosen as part of the British team – Joan Upton of Feltham and Doris Batter of Hounslow. Joan ran in the first heat of the hurdles event but came up against the Dutch World Champion Fanny Blankers-Coen. Doris, a former student of

Spring Grove Grammar School won through to the semi finals of the 100 metres, before she too lost to Miss Blankers-Coen who won two gold medals.

I went with my brother to the cycling events at Herne Hill, cycle racing not being as popular as it is today. We just parked our bikes and lined up to buy tickets, no lottery draw for us. I even returned midweek to watch the finals!

Early televisionThe 1948 Olympics was the first to be covered by television, but as few people had TV sets back then most went to the cinema to watch it on newsreels. One Brentford man helped in this; Mr H W Bishop, a production manager for Gaumont British News who filmed the Games for the Technicolour film ‘XIVth Olympiad – The Glory of Sport’.

Just as the 1948 Olympics are still a nice memory for me, I’m sure this year’s events will make great memories for many of today’s young people, and perhaps the not so young, too.

Read Eddie Menday MBE, every week in the Hounslow Chronicle or go no line to: www.hounslowchronicle.co.uk


Changes to services during the CelebrationsHome care and meals on wheelsDuring the Diamond Jubilee celebrations and the Olympic Torch relay, Hounslow’s home care services and meals-on-wheels providers will provide services as normal.

If any meals-on-wheels deliveries are to be disrupted, clients will be notified and frozen meals will be delivered the day before to those able to prepare the meals themselves, or social services or family members will be asked to arrange meals for that one day.

If you have any concerns about receiving either of these services please contact the meals-on-wheels supplier Apetito on 020 8577 5496 or your home care agency whose number is in the communication booklet supplied to you.

Waste and Recycling CollectionsThere will be no waste and recycling

collections on Saturday, Sunday or Monday 2-4 June (the Jubilee Bank Holiday) but there will be collections one day later from Tuesday 5 June.

The council will be contacting street party organisers to make arrangements for any additional rubbish to be collected.

Please remember that street party rubbish should be separated and recycled in the usual way.

Torch relay traffic information – 24 JulyWhole route:At 11.30am from Kew Bridge junction along the A315 (Kew Bridge Road, Brentford High Street, London Road, Hounslow High Street) and Lampton Road to Lampton Park, finishing at 12.33pm, the police will direct traffic and temporarily close roads and junctions to allow the Torch to pass safely.

Brentford town centre:Parking will be prohibited on Brentford High Street between 10am-1pm.

Brentford High Street will be closed to eastbound traffic at Tallow Road from 11am-12.30pm. All eastbound traffic including buses will be diverted via Spur Road and Syon Lane onto the A4 Great West Road.

Hounslow town centre:Disabled parking and loading bays will be suspended along the bus-only section of Hounslow High Street and in Lampton Road’s cul-de-sac area at Bell Corner from 11.30am-12.30pm.

The westbound buses that normally run via the bus-only section of Hounslow High Street will be diverted via Hanworth Road from 12 noon-1pm.

Other bus diversions or temporary delays may also occur as theTorch passes through Hounslow town centre and Lampton Road.

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