Hartswood Films are recording scenes for new BBC1 comedy “Me and Mrs Jones” in the area and the filming at The Teddington Arms means that the pub will remain closed until Wednesday approximately 6-7pm [updated] Thursday. As well as interior shots at Teddington Studios, other nearby locations to spot when the series airs are Adelaide & Albert Road.

There will also be some outdoors shots with actors on the High Street. The pilot for the series was filmed in November 2011 also nearby in BoHo Boutique and again in the Teddington Arms.

The sitcom will star starring Sarah Alexander (Coupling), Neil Morrissey (Men Behaving Badly), Nathaniel Parker (Merlin) and Robert Sheehan (Misfits) – seen here with a fan in Teddington in between filming.

Based at Twickenham Studios, Hartswood Films is one of the UK’s longest running and most acclaimed independent production companies with hit shows under its belt ranging from the recent hit Sherlock to Coupling, Jekyll and Men Behaving Badly.

Recently put-up-for-sale Twickenham Studios had a lifeline thrown when a mystery buyer put a deposit down to purchase the site and retain the studios, but has since pulled out of the deal for unknown reasons. Campaigners are still buoyant that a buyer will be found to save this historic studio.

One such advocate is Martin Freeman, who has added his name to the campaign to save the studios – he talks here about why they are so important to the industry and how his association is strong not just through the show he recorded there but how he grew up nearby in Teddington.

The weather couldn’t have been more glorious on the big day – illuminating the teams on the hallowed turf after progressing through local and regional finals to the famous ground – becoming the cream of the crop from 1,800 schools and 15,400 pupils that took part.

Parents, teachers families and friends turned up to cheer on their teams and those who travelled from Teddington weren’t disappointed after Brentford went 1-0 up just before half-time with a goal from Hal Busfield. Various close shots failed to change the score-line and the Collis year 6 players proudly lifted the cup after a presentation in the Royal Box.

Both teams also were honoured to be flag bearers for the following nPower League 1 play-off final between Huddersdield Town and Sheffield United. Brentford captain Matt O’Riley also won Man of the Tournament for Brentford and also plays for Fulham’s academy.

Up the stairs of number 57, award-winning Elements of Teddington have expanded their range of services to boutique beauty and holistic therapy. Having only been open eight weeks, the salon’s growing client base is a testament to the quality of treatments and service available.

Simply Me Boutique Beauty is aided in its service by Lucie and Dee; therapists who have worked together over 7 years, supported by a great knowledge of both treatments and products. They both recommend the Guinot facials, particularly the hydradermie, a major innovation in skin care treatment.

Lasting just over an hour, this treatment enables fast and deep penetration of active ingredients, resulting in exceptional effectiveness and radiant skin.

As well as offering waxing, tinting, and a varying range of other new treatments, including the Jessica GELeration range in gel manicures and pedicures, Simply Me offers the new “genie” treatment, the worlds only ten minute facelift.

This service alone has made the salon a unique experience for the beauty lovers of Teddington. Feel free to pop in to take a look around and pick up a price list, or give Simply Me a call on 0208 150 7229.

The Sommelier (one of only 299 Masters of Wine in the world) introduced himself and how it would be a relaxed evening of wine comparison and tasting – it’s up to you if you prefer each classic region vs New world wine. With each new delicious dinner course, two mystery wines A & B were sampled, slurped, savored and compared before their grape and origin revealed.

The set menu included a tasty starter of beetroot & dill marinated salmon, cornish crab, pink ginger and coriander. The next three courses followed the same relaxed, yet informative setup as the wine master visited each table to discuss the intricate flavours of each glass. Further wine-tasting and other events to follow at the Wharf!

Retro Bistrot continues their popular Jazz nights this Tuesday, 29th May with a quartet that includes international guitarist Robin Banerjee, who played with Amy Winehouse and in classic venues such as Ronnie Scott’s and the Jazz Cafe. The band will be playing a blend of Jazz/Latin/Soul and Reggae takes on a mixture of original and arrangements of well-known jazz classics.

Retro’s Vincent Gerbeau: “We’re very excited to get a talent such as Robin to play at the restaurant. Our jazz nights are fun and informal with a great atmosphere and the passion of the musicians plays a big role in creating that relaxed feel”.

The now regular evening has been described as “Thoroughly enjoyable evening, great band, wonderful food, lovely people.” and “An excellent evening, good music, good food and good company.”. Clearly the award-winning Retro Restaurant is a perfect setting for dinner and jazz!

The Kings Head are just nearing the end of their special seafood week, have just started their new dine with wine menu, their next monthly live music is on June 1st and their summer menu will be launched on June 28th.

The Kings Head new fortnightly Quiz ‘n’ Chips quiz night starts this Tuesday 29th May at 8pm – it’s free entry, includes free chips and you can win big prizes! The terrace has been packed out lately with drinkers and diners enjoying the hot weather. Remember there is a garden at the back if the front terrace is full.

Red Peppers has re-opened after their extensive refurbishment – regulars are enjoying the fresh new look as they dine at this popular local restaurant.

La Cloche at The Lion have been hosting popular CineClub nights that have been selling out – check out their website for up-and-coming events including the next cinema nights for £15 per person that includes a glass of wine, canapés and a two course set dinner.

La Cloche also host a quiz night every Wednesday at 8pm, run by local journalist & author Sarah Onions. £1 entry per person with a maximum of 6 per team with bottles of wine, rounds of drinks and cash prizes to be won.

If you’re looking for somewhere to enjoy fine food in the recent hot weather, try one of Teddington’s best kept secrets – Shamble’s beautiful Mediterranean garden where you can relax and enjoy eating outdoors. Shambles also has a bowling alley and does a ‘cozze e bocce’ (moules and boules) if you book in advance. You can enjoy the brunch menu and a full English breakfast in the same surroundings for only £5.95.

The leak was serious enough to require immediate attention so work began at 8am on Saturday – Thames Water and their contractors have repaired the leak and will now be repairing the road surface and pavement.

Initial estimates were that this all might take two days and a temporary traffic-light signal system will restrict traffic whilst this takes place.

Combined with the gas works on Park road and traffic heading for the rugby final at Twickenham (Harlequins are now premiership champions for the first time ever!), long tail-backs blighted the area throughout Saturday. Thames Water ref 10469 if you wish to find out more info.

Hosted by Nicholas Owen, the Mayor was in attendance at one of her last public engagements, MP Vince Cable also dropped in to join 12,000 other visitors that helped raise approx £10,000 for two local charities. It shouldn’t be forgotten of course that the bus garage was open as usual and the fleet of 120 buses still managed to run on time for the whole day!

Photo: Peter Denton.

A wide selection of historic buses and support vehicles were on show for families and children to happily clamber over and look around – the first time for some young visitors and bringing back memories for the older crowd. Some historic buses looked out-of-place in Bushy Park at Chestnut Sunday but as local resident Alan points out, buses used to run through the park on their routes during the 1940′s/50′s – quite the scenic bus route.

The weather always has a strong bearing on how well attended Chestnut Sunday is and the relentless rain in the run-up to this year’s festival was casting a shadow over the weekend. Fortunately this stopped before the weekend with enough time to dry out the ground and the sun shone strongly on the day.

Over 10,000 people (and slightly more than last year) lined the route of the parade and joined in the fair and displays afterwards in the park. The usual suspects paraded along the historic Chestnut Avenue (designed by Sir Christopher Wren) including classic cars, military vehicles, police horses, historical actors and marching bands.

A huge queue showed how popular Park Lane Stable’s pony rides are and riders from the Horse Rangers Association performed choreographed formations to music.

There are plenty of Jubilee & Olympic events coming up for the area (news to follow soon) but in the meantime put this in your diary for next weekend. On June 8th-10th, Friday to Sunday, The Teddington Society and local businesses are hosting a Charity Celebration Weekend to help raise money for local charities.

Various goodies will be available in and outside shops on stalls and there will be live music, bubbles & balloons, quizes & games, raffles, 1940s tea party, design a tiara, cupcake competition and more!

Also on June 10th is this year’s Teddington In Flower where private gardens are open to the public to also raise money for local charities and not forgetting the first charity Vet4Life Dog Olympics – even if you are not entering any events, please register your interest if you are planning on attending.

Even dogs on the lead are at risk and sadly this week, one puppy was kicked and another was crushed & killed by a deer that believed it was defending its young. If all the reports are relating to the same animal, it has been acting in this aggressive fashion in a triangle between Teddington Gate, Sandy Lane and also spotted by Hampton Court gate.

Each year the deer give birth in the shaded areas above before the bracken growth is high – this cover is important to the deer that they use it to hide their young. The lack of shelter will mean an anxious period for the mothers. Even if you haven’t experienced problems with your dog being near the deer previously, the deer tend to react badly to dogs during the birthing season.

The club won the Student Championships in March for the second year in a row and now have a Commonwealth champion and many British champions amongst its numbers – it is becoming a breeding ground for weightlifting talent.

They have also recently won the London Regional Universities Competition and in June will be sending its under 20 & 23 teams to the Fulda Youth Cup in Austria. Along with other world-class athletes that train at the University, the world-class facilities are fast becoming synonymous for producing and refining sporting talent.

Our hugely successful Rugby team is looking for men and women players for next season – check out their site for details and you too could be part of the success story whilst playing in the beautiful setting of Bushy Park.

Teddington Antler James Lightfoot-Brown has recently been handed an England 7s deal! The club have congratulated him on this huge achievement and wished him well on his way.

Teddington Athletic are also on the lookout for new members for their football teams of various age groups. The Under 10′s in particular (Under 11 next season) are on the lookout for new members so get in touch and you could soon be cheering on your kids in the park regularly.

The club play on Saturday mornings and train on Thursday evenings in Bushy Park. There is an additional trial on the 26th May in Bushy Park near the main Teddington gate for those interested. You can read about other club news, opportunities for volunteering and sponsoring on their website newsletter.

As you might have heard, the London Olympic games are nearly upon us! To mark 50 days until the opening of the games, LBRUT have organised various celebration sporting open days across the borough.

To help warm up for the Olympics there will be an array of fun activities and the Teddington open weekend is open to all – you can try a range of sports, win competitions and challenges (with prizes) and reap the rewards of special membership offers.

Saturday June 9th at Teddington Sports Centre (Broom Road) 9am-2pm:
•Tennis 9am-10am (5+ years)
•Basketball 10am-12noon
•Wheelchair Basketball 10am-12noon
•Fitness Classes:
9:30am-10:30am Stretch & Tone
11:30am-12:30pm Zumba
•Gymnastics 10:30am-11:30am (5+ years)
•Table Tennis 11am-12noon (6+ years)
•Hockey 12noon-2pm
•Judo Tots 1pm-1:30pm (3-5 years)
•Judo 1:30pm-2pm (5+ years)

Sunday June 10th at Teddington Pools & Fitness Centre 12:30am to 3:30pm:
•Boxing 12:30pm-1:30pm (for adults and children 8+ years)
•Diving 1pm-1:45pm
•Swimming Races 1:45pm-2:30pm
•Water Polo 2:30pm-3:30pm

The most unusual find here though was a distinctive bronze dragon statue – quickly identified on the stolen arts database as originating from Teddington. The weight of this item shows how much effort thieves put into the illegal scrap metal trade – it weighed over a tonne along with it’s concrete base and required four men to originally put it into place! The statue, worth over £3,000 was one of a pair stolen from a Teddington garden overnight.

£20,000 in cash and copper cabling was also found – cable is stolen from train signalling equipment causing massive delays on train networks and a recent cable theft in Hampton left some residents and businesses without phone or internet access for several days.

Around 100 metal thefts are reported across London each week and an increasing number of objects are stolen including cables, drain covers, lift panels, playground slides, fire escapes and cemetery memorial plaques.

If you see what looks like legitimate workers removing cable (even in high-vis vests) they may be taking cable illegally – some crimes are stopped by eagle-eyed neighbours calling the police as they are still occurring. The theft of metal from homes and building sites has been noted around Cedars Road, Vicarage Road and High Street in Hampton Wick over the last year – items are usually taken by lorry/van and even some metal dustbins have been taken with the rubbish still inside.

[Update 28/05/2012] Great to see both dragons back in place in the owners garden!

Twickenham Road has had sections resurfaced recently in preparation for the Olympic cycling road races. Now ageing gas pipes are causing concern – Richmond Council have held urgent talks with the gas board and brought forward repair work in order to minimise any impact along the Olympic cycling route.

From Monday 21st May, Park Road will be closed in one direction when work starts to replace the ageing Victorian gas mains that have led to many leaks over recent months. The work that will lead to traffic and parking disruption in the area, is expected to last for 7 weeks but be completed well before the races on July 28th/29th.