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.

Iwan gave an inspiring talk to the school children and afterwards held a track and field masterclass covering the principles of running, jumping and throwing.

Watson said of the day: “Meeting Iwan was a fantastic experience that our pupils will never forget. He delivered a captivating and inspirational assembly as well as a very honest and insightful Q&A session.. It was a wonderful opportunity for the school to work with the Aviva Athletics Academy and showcase how brilliant and inclusive their scheme of work is and how it is developing our very talented athletes.

Proposals for a new free school in Twickenham have now progressed to the next stage of the Free School application process. On May 15th the group of parents behind this proposal will be interviewed by DfE officials.

As well as bagging many trophies this year, the year 6 boys team from Collis Primary School have trounced opposition in The Southern NPower Kids Cup regional final, scoring 33 goals and conceding just one and are now thrilled that they will play at Wembley for the League 1 playoff final on 26th May.

The Tumble cafe on The Causeway has been granted permission as has a new nursery on the high street (opposite Nova Fortuny) despite concerns from neighbours about lack of parking or dedicated dropping-off spaces.

If you have children could benefit from extra tuition on popular school subjects, Kumon should be able to help. The study centre provides maths and English programmes for students of all ages and abilities – the Teddington branch of Kumon is based at Teddington Baptist Church (Church Road).

Kumon helps your child study these subjects by working at a pace tailored to their individual needs, develop invaluable study skills and concentration establish a positive attitude to study. Kumon’s long-term focus provides children with the self-assurance and the transferable self-learning skills to realise their potential throughout school and life.

The hugely popular Theatrebugs workshops are coming to Teddington this summer. Theatrebugs hosts classes for children age 3.5-8yrs to help them improve their confidence and communication skills through drama and play, increasing the vocabulary and concentration but whilst having so much fun that they won’t notice that they’re leaning!

Theatrebugs provides extracurricular activity for your nurseries and schools as well as magical children’s birthday parties. Established in 2005 by two LAMDA graduates as a means for children to learn through play, Theatrebugs carefully designs each adventure to ignite your child’s imagination and allow their confidence to bloom.

Theatrebugs will be running our Summer course ‘The Animal Games’ at St. Mary’s Parish Hall, Langham Road from 13th – 17th August 9:30-12:30, and anyone who is interested can find out details on their website or by phoning 0800 9755290.

Also based at the Baptist Church is Messy Mittens where theme based projects are held every Thursday to encourage fun, creativity and gentle learning through play for 2-4 year olds. Their aim is to bring something fresh and fun to pre-school classes in Teddington and for your little ones to experience messy fun without you having to tidy up afterwards!

Messy Mitten’s trained Early Years teacher is a great way to introduce your child to becoming a little more independent and focused on structured activities by taking part in “splodgy, sticky fun”! Onsite is room to park your buggies.

Incidentally if your pushchair or pram gets a puncture, just a reminder that Moore’s Cycles (based in Kingston Road Teddington, Twickenham and Isleworth) can fix these and also have spare tyres for popular brands in stock if needed.

This year’s Richmond Borough In Bloom season is hotting up – the winners of the local school’s poster competition have been chosen with the overall winner Chloe Booth from Waldegrave School for girls with this colourful design.

Suggested colours for the posters as well as this year’s hanging basket and garden displays were colours of gold, purple, crimson and white to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee year.

Ebay (based in Richmond) also sponsor a schools project to engage pupils in imaginative and practical gardening projects at their schools.

As a TLC Family member, you’ll have access to exclusive local discounts which are listed on their website along with information on what products and services are available locally, details of classes and activities for children and party venues.

The idea for TLC Family was born after Felicity and Kat found it difficult to find out local information for families in one place and they wanted to incentivise people to further support our local community.

To celebrate the launch of this service, the introductory joining fee is only £26 for a year’s membership. Once you receive your loyalty card, you can start spending and saving straight away!

You’ll receive your TLC Family loyalty card, a free copy of Baby London magazine from their sponsors and additionally the first 300 Founder members will receive a complimentary goody bag.

Businesses in the discount scheme will display a sticker on their window – already on board are: Cook, Diners Delight, The Nearest Cafe, La Bottega, The Happy Potter, The Loft, It’s a Wrap, KC Pharmacy, The Orange Tree Clinic, Desi Fontaine Studios, Zeldaland Florists, Teddington Photographic, Teeney Weenies Play Cafe, Caterpillar Music, BabySteps courses, Jamie McKenna Window Cleaning, Park Lane Stables and The Teddington Arms.

The film is a frame by frame reconstruction of the journey and has now been edited together alongside the original, with the equivalent modern brand-new London United Scania bus, current Mayor and a computer replacing the original trolleybus, mayor and older technology.

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The film, recorded from an open-topped double-decker, has been shown side by side to local schools so they can learn about the old forms of transport and will also be shown at the Open Day at Fulwell Garage on Saturday 12th May (full line-up of buses on display here). BBC Newscaster Nicholas Owen will be compering on the day and before this, signing copies of his new memoirs ‘Days Like This’ at Waterstones (9:30-11:30am).

Schools have been provided learning material, fact-sheets and a presentation about the subject and as part of a lesson plan children will work in groups to create their own artistic take on the Trolleybus and it’s historical and environmental significance. Each school will select one piece of artwork to submit to a competition – prizes include book tokens from local businesses a school trip by London United Busways.

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!“

Due to popular demand from other parents, fun Spanish learning sessions will now be run from next week during term time (Wednesdays 3:30-4:15pm) at the newly refurbished Teddington Methodist Church on Stanley Road.

Ana is a fully experienced teacher working at Cervantes and South Thames College teaching adults.

If successful, this project to help teach Spanish to young children in the area will be expanded to higher age-groups but for now is limited to 2-5 year olds.

£6 per session, no booking required. Contact ana.ramos@me.com 07590 985 698 for further info.

As well as over-subscribing seemingly every cafe for miles around, families also enjoyed a fun day at the Queen Dowager.

The new landlord invited families to enjoy a day in the sun with a barbeque and lots to do for the kids – bouncy castle, face-painting and pony rides from Park Lane Stables. The ponies appreciated the exercise as they weren’t allowed into Bushy Park due to restrictions put into place for the test cycle race.

Landlord Shaun Thompson (pictured below): “It was a great day and so nice to welcome so many families to the Queen Dowager. The weather was perfect and it was lovely to hear the shrieks of children having lots of fun. We are going to donate all the proceeds from the pony rides, face painting and bouncy castle to the League of Friends, Teddington Memorial Hospital.”

Photos: Pete O’Hagan

The pub itself has already started its make-over is set to have a community pub feel with reasonably priced pub-grub, some of the cheapest prices in Teddington £2.50 a pint on some beers), Sky Sports, free pool before 6pm and on Wednesdays then a knock-out competition with first place winning a gallon of beer! The new pub menu will start on the 19th August too.

They beat London North rivals West Leigh Junior School 4-3 in the finals of the RFU YAZOO Tag 2 Twickenham title, played at Rugby School last Wednesday.

More than 35,000 children played in the tournament which is the largest primary school program in England. The team is also thrilled to be playing in a further international competition in Twickenham, the home of England rugby in August.

Ian Dickinson, co-Head of Stanley Primary. “To win the national tag rugby championship is a fantastic achievement reflecting the team’s dedication to their training over the year and the commitment of the coaches – James Watson and Paul Burke. To be the first school to retain the trophy shows the real depth of sporting talent that is developed each year at Stanley.“

The RFU and YAZOO work with police charity Child Victims of Crime to organise this competition.

Recently there have been many rumours of attempted abductions and sightings of a suspicious character throughout Richmond Borough including Whitton, Twickenham, Teddington and Hounslow – these are circulating via emails, Twitter and Facebook.

The website has been setup that will be updated if any new and relevant factual information becomes available – anyone concerned should look here if they wish to double-check the validity of any warnings they receive. This police website is intended to “reduce the fear on the borough generated by well-intended but factually incorrect communications.”

Police are keen for parents and children to remain vigilant but also to know that there is only one alleged incident currently being investigated. In the Barnes area, an 8-year-old is alleged to have been picked up by an adult male but the boy managed to kick him to stop him. The suspect has not been seen by any other witness other than the victim and no description has been issued by police. The facts are being established but this is the only alleged abduction currently being investigated by Richmond Police – no other allegations have been made.

A separate incident (also being referred to in emails) at Murray Park, Whitton on the 16th of July was investigated and found to be a misunderstanding rather than a related crime.

Any additional witnesses to the Barnes incident can contact D.C. James on 020 8247 7032 or ring Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.