This event follows on from the successful public meeting held in November 2011 at the church, where 350 people attended to discuss the possible future of the hospital.

At the February meeting, a presentation on the work and progress by The League of Friends, including the exploration of developing a Social Enterprise Model of ownership for the hospital. The meeting will also provide an opportunity for the community to put forward their views about the future of the hospital.

An online petition has also been sent up by The League of Friends of Teddington Memorial Hospital providing another way for the community to show their support.

[Update 06/02/2012] You can now download a summary of what was discussed on the evening including thoughts from Dr Graham Lewis MBE, advisor Zac Arif and MP Vince Cable and news that the online petition has now received over 12,000 signatures.

Pamela Bryant MBE, Chairman of The League of Friends of Teddington Memorial Hospital presenting at the meeting with the panel (left to right):
Zac Arif, Advisor to the League, Julian Naylor, Trustee and Company Secretary of the League, Baroness Hilton, Chairman of Teddington Society and General Practitioner Dr Graham Lewis MBE and Dr Kate Moore

Dr Graham Lewis MBE giving his presentation

A fantastic range of local and national companies will be exhibiting at the wedding fair, including cake designers, florists, caterers, photographers, bridal, men’s wear and wedding planners.

The ever-popular event provides a perfect opportunity for brides to be and the bridal party, to meet companies who can provide all the elements needed for a wedding day, all under one roof. Local businesses exhibiting will include Teddington names: Jo Butler Flowers, Jo McLaren Formal Wear, Mela Mela, Mitzi B and The Park Hotel.

The House of Colour, Twickenham will be supporting the fair for the second time by donating a personal styling package for the ‘mother of the bride or groom’, worth nearly £400. Visitors will have a chance to enter the draw to win the special prize which will include colour analysis, personal styling and make up lesson from Julia van den Berg, Colour Analyst and Personal Style Consultant, House of Colour.

Tony Nieper, Chairman of the Landmark Trading Company: “The popularity of the Landmark Wedding Fair is demonstrated by the fact that it has been running for ten years and is now recognised as one of the leading wedding shows in the area. The fair is one event ‘not to miss’ if you are planning your wedding for 2012 or 2013. The event also features stunning fashion shows at 12pm and 2pm, showcasing the latest bridal gown designs and men’s formal wear.”.

Doors open at 10:30am for the fair and close at 4:00pm, with admission £4 (under 16s free), which includes a free glass of fizz, provided by Majestic Wine.

Based by the Wharf Restaurant the Lifeboat Station has always been run by local volunteers and the station is on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. 2011 saw an average of one ‘shout’ a week proving an invaluable service on their stretch of the river from Hampton Court to Richmond. The first shout of 2012 was at 3am on Tuesday 3rd January to assist a search for a missing man in the area, who was later found safe and sound.

The RNLI operates over 230 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and since it was founded in 1824 its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 137,000 lives.

Cathy with some fellow volunteers

The station would like to thank all it’s volunteers over the years and also the local community for all it’s continued support. If you want to help celebrate this milestone and help raise funds for the RNLI, an up-and-coming event at the Landmark Arts Centre will let you do just that!

West End performer and RNLI volunteer crew member Cathy Cogle will be presenting and performing ‘An Evening at The Musicals’ for one night only to raise funds.

Cathy Cogle lives in Teddington and has performed in West End shows such as Les Miserables, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, South Pacific and The Woman in White. She recently took part in the Les Miserables 25th anniversary concert at the O2 and also appeared at this year’s Royal Variety Performance and the Classical Brit Awards.

Cathy: ‘It can be tough when the pager goes off at 3am but the adrenalin soon kicks in and we are out on the river within a matter of minutes. We get called out for all sorts of emergencies; suicide attempts, searching for missing people, rescuing swimmers and boats in trouble… The RNLI does not get any funding from the UK government and so I thought I would do my bit, combine my two passions and help a very worthy cause.’

‘An Evening at The Musicals’ is a spectacular concert of songs from the world’s greatest musicals performed by some of the finest West End performers. They will perform for one night only on Sunday 12th February 8pm. Tickets £15 /£20. Box office 0208 977 7558 or online at landmarkartscentre.org.

“Small man in a book” is a heartfelt, honest but ultimately humorous account of his life so far from early years in Wales and how he “slowly became an overnight success”!

Here are some reviews of the book:

“Brydon guides us wittily through his early years. He’s excellent at describing the nitty-gritty of being on stage” The Times

“Fast becoming a national treasure . . . one of the season’s more engaging memoirs” Independent on Sunday

“‘It’s like having a chat with someone who happens to be on the television sometimes” The Telegraph

The world-leading centre of excellence for accurate science, technology and standards will be open on Wednesday 14th March 2012 from 2-8pm. Visitors will be able to wander around some of the worlds most sophisticated and accurate measurement devices and wonder at the amazing work that goes on in the laboratories on-site in Teddington.

By the end of the day your head will be brimming with new knowledge gained from the various rooms and labs on the NPL campus and from the friendly scientists on hand to help explain their work.

The lecture theatre will be hosting short talks on a series of subjects ranging from the history of NPL to fun science talks. Throughout the day you will also have the chance to conduct your own experiments on the day proving at the very least that science is fun!

You can read about what to expect from highlights of last year’s open day. Rest assured that the liquid nitrogen ice-cream will be making an appearance again and you will be able to visit the famous reverberation and anechoic chambers used for measuring sound equipment.

Visitors are required to register in advance so that numbers are manageable.

Starting this Saturday 3rd December with Stanley Primary Schools Christmas Bazaar (12-3pm), St Mary and St Peter’s Schools Christmas Fair (1-4pm) that will include tombolas, raffle, Santa’s grotto, bucking bronco Rudolph and many Christmas present stalls and finally Collis School international Christmas Fair (2-5pm) with steel band, Santa’s Grotto and tastes from around the world.

This weekend also sees the return of the unusual sight of a multitude of Santa’s running through Bushy Park for the Princess Alice Hospice Santa Fun Run. On Sunday 4th December there will be a morning and afternoon run as well as Christmas activities and treats for the whole family.

If you’re itching to get the decorations up, you can also pick-up a Christmas Tree On Sunday at Collis School 10am-12pm or from the at Diana car park in Bushy Park every day now from now until Christmas Eve 9am-6:45pm.

Late night shopping and 15% discounts will be available at The Loft on Tuesday 6th December from 6pm onwards. The following weekend on Saturday 10th December two local schools will also be selling Christmas trees – St Mary and St Peter’s School (9am-12) and Stanley Primary School (10:30am-1pm).

Finally if you’re out and about on the 17th December you might chance across a sea of red Christmas hats in local pubs – the 5th annual Christmas Crawl will be making its way across the area via 20 pubs in 12 hours whilst collecting donations for Shooting Star Children’s Hospice.

Handmade Frames will be hosting this show from 26th November to 24th December that will demonstrate her 35 years of her hugely popular instinctive and colourful oil paintings.

After training at Edinburgh College of Art in the 50′s, Liz spent years living in the West Indies where her love of vibrant colour was ignited. Her oil paintings are mostly of artistic or theatrical events and include new looks at local architecture including Hampton Court Palace and the newly restored Strawberry Hill House.

Another talented local artist you might not have heard of is Kimberley Scott – a freelance illustrator and designer, working in the world of Children’s Books, greetings cards, licensing and calligraphy.

Kimberley works in a riverside studio with a constant supply of green tea and pick and mix sweets to keep the creativity flowing. Her recent work includes charity greetings cards on the shelf at WH Smiths and Oxfam, Pocket Pet’s and Night and Day puzzles at Marks and Spencer and Little Shakers at Amazon.

Up-and-coming work due to be published next year includes two interactive Jungle themed stories, a heroic dog tale, a fun adventure called ‘The Terrible Time without Tilly’ for Egmont, and four little bouncing books for Small World Creations. Kimberley is also currently working on two funny and entertaining jungle and farm stories.

Kimberley Scott, a self-portrait

At the Architects Gallery (who will be celebrating their 3 year anniversary on Thursday), a mixed Autumn Exhibition brings together six artists: Esme Baker, Paul Bennett, Ray Gale, Elizabeth Rollins-Scott, Paul Smith, and Andy Waite.

Avignon – A Moment In Time, a photography exhibition by Mark Borgan will be taking place at the The Landmark Arts Centre on 2nd-5th December 12-5pm. The photos all depict Avignon, a former papal town and jewel of Provence through a collection of unforgettable images. Limited edition prints on sale from only £25.

Peregrine Roskilly is the artist of the month at Mackenzie Gallery – his work depicts London’s annual naked bicycle ride are a celebration of the bicycle and the naked form. The figures display a joyful freedom rarely seen in the city, juxtaposioned with famous landmarks. One rider describing the event said “It is wonderfully liberating but you don’t want to get left behind!“

The meeting was organised by The League of Friends of Teddington Memorial Hospital and local General Practitioners, in response to their concerns about the future of the Hospital.

Since April 2011, TMH has come under the control of Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust (HRCH). The Trust is currently applying to obtain Foundation Trust status, which would include the ownership of the hospital. If such a Trust were formed, it would be comparatively small and could therefore be exposed to a further merger – a potential move that worries GPs that it would cease to be a ‘community hospital’.

Chairman of Teddington Society, Baroness Jenny Hilton chaired the meeting and opened the event commenting, “Teddington Memorial Hospital is a wonderful local resource and I am so pleased to see so much support here tonight for our hospital.”

Local General Practitioners iterated that the hospital should remain locally accountable and responsive to local needs, adding that the GPs strongly support finding an alternative way to secure the future of the hospital – a move overwhelmingly supported by the audience in a vote (350 for, 3 against).

Another meeting will be held at the same venue in January to report the progress of this work any other news back to the community. You can read more about the history of the hospital here.

Switching on the lights this time will be the Mayor, Santa and Kellie Shirley (Eastenders Carly Wicks) as Cindarella – currently in rehearsals to play this festive role at Richmond Theatre.

The main programme of events will include:
5.30pm Carol Singing outside Elmfield House, led by the Landmark Choir
6.00pm Switching on of the Christmas Tree Lights at Elmfield House
6.30pm Churches Together in Teddington sing festive songs with Santa in his sleigh helped by the Lions Club elves

Then in each area of the town centre starting with The High Street, for the kids there will be a high street treasure hunt from 4pm (for children up to 16 years old) – pick up your entry forms from La Casa Del Habano, 76 High Street. Santa and his second-favourite mode of transport (a RNLI lifeboat) will be in residence outside the Kings Head from 6:30pm.

VIA will be offering discounts, canapes and champagnes, William Curley will be giving book signings and giving offering chocolate tasting at La Casa Del Habano. Mulled wine, mine pies, competitions, practice tours and dog treats will be available at Vet4life. Teds will be continuing their 21st birthday celebrations with wine, nibbles, sweets and discounts all Thursday/Friday.

In Broad Street Santa’s Grotto will be at Play Inside Out who will also be selling glow-toys for the evening. Hot Christmas drinks will be on sale at Costa Coffee and Teddington School Jazz band will be entertaining the crowds outside Boots. Coffee tasters and have home-baked cookies will be available from Astrora Coffee.

The Causeway will be closed to traffic – Sims Opticians will be offering mince pies and sweets, reindeer rides will be provided by Park Lane Stables from 4-7pm. “Sounds Familiar” will be playing live music in the Causeway too.

Church Road will also host live music from independent musicians and local schools. There will be complimentary wine and Italian appetizers from Al Borgo, homemade mezes, flat bread and traditional soup from Diners Delight, boozy hot drinks and Christmas nibbles from the Nearest Cafe and £5 mini-manicures and live music at Vidatherapy.

This year for the first time there will also be an indoor Fayre inside Teddington Baptist Church 6-9pm which will be decorated with Christmas drawings by Teddington’s children. Dog walkers will be happy to note that dogs will be allowed inside to visit the fayre!

There will be a lot of local businesses packed into the hall including: Best of Richmond, Cakes by Trudi, Cooper Faure, Desi Fontaine (Photographer), Image Happy, Jo Magdalena Jewellery, LBN Interiors, McDonald plumbing, Messy Mittens, Millie Mac, Miss Captain Clothes, Mumpreneurs, Nargis Ahmad Osteopath, Richmond Birth Preparation Services, Simply Skin, Synchronicity, Teddington Business Community, Teddington Midwives, Teddnet, Toto 4 organic, Vie at Home, Teddington Womens Institute.

Full programme of events can be found here.

[Update 22/11/2011] Waterstone’s will be hosting local Children’s author Karen Inglis in store between 5pm and 7pm. She will be reading from and talking about her book ‘The Secret Lake‘, a magical time slip mystery inspired by the Isabella Plantation at Richmond Park. Her book will enchant adventure loving 8-11 year-olds.

This annual phenomenon is actually deliberately created by changing the balance of locks at Teddington and Richmond and letting the natural tide drain the Thames to enable essential maintenance of the locks, weirs and sluices and inspection of the river bed along this stretch.

Some of the original weir footings exposed at low tide.

The Port of London Authority issues special navigation advice during November due to the draw-off which lasts from 6th to the 27th of November this year (now extended to last until the 25th December) . Moored boats can be grounded during this time and navigation at low tide is particularly tricky.

The natural tidal shoreline near Ham – a short way downstream of Teddington Lock. Photos: Sunshine Soon

On these rare occasions to see the river bed exposed, it’s also an excellent opportunity to explore and help clean up the river (although note you may need special permission to do this).

The Environment Trust is inviting anyone interested to help collect litter on the Richmond & Twickenham foreshore whilst learning about the wildlife that inhabits the river bed via a guided tour including history of the locks. These various events will be taking place on 12th (Twickenham) and 26th November (Richmond) – see website for more info but all will require wellies!

[Update] A shot of the environment group cleaning the exposed riverbed at Eel Pie Island in Twickenham.