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.

The nursery is part of a group headed by a husband and wife team who strongly believe in a hands-on approach to running their nurseries.

The premises at 8 Langham Road, are currently being completely refurbished and will open in September with nursery hours from 7.30am to 6pm. If all goes to plan it will be open to visitors to look around at the end of this week.

The new nursery will provide quality care for babies, toddlers and pre-school children along with a 100% qualified staff team, car parking, secure outdoor play area, pram store and CCTV system along with specialist interior finishes to ensure that the children’s accommodation is vibrant and welcoming.

Julie Parhar, the Nursery Manager/Proprietor, says she is very excited about the opening of Buttons, as it will give her the opportunity to implement new ideas such as the ‘Buttons Lifestyle’ concept which is designed to enhance a parent’s nursery experience beyond quality childcare & education by actively helping busy parents with everyday chores such as dry cleaning, providing freshly prepared healthy meals to take home and even posting their correspondence.

It is a concept based on taking the load off by however much or little the parents want and need. Julie Parhar has over 12 years experience in childcare. She holds Early Years Professional Status (EYPS), Level 4 in Nursery Management and she is also a qualified Assessor. A mother having gone through the whole nursery experience herself, she fully understands and appreciates parents’ priorities for their young ones.

Julie also teaches ‘parenting classes’ for London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and recently spoke at the ‘Early Years Professionals – Agents of Change’ conference held in Chessington and organised by Kingston University.

With the introduction of the low emission zone across Greater London in January 2012, its current minibus will have to be taken off the road. Stanley has many successful sports teams who use the minibus to get to tournaments so it was felt fitting to hold a day with a sporting theme to start the fundraising.

Linford Christie, Olympic Gold Medallist, attended in the afternoon to teach the children some sporting skills and give them a valuable insight into the training requirements and commitment needed to be a top-level athlete. Linford sent the following message before the day:

“I’m really looking forward to supporting Stanley Primary School’s fundraising sports day. I was spotted by my primary school teacher as someone with talent so I love it when I hear that a school encourages its pupils to take part in a wide range of sports and it sounds like Stanley’s efforts have paid off in their match results“.

The fund had previously been kick-started with a generous donation of £2000 from The Friends of Stanley Primary (the parents and staff association). The school already has shown its commitment to sport by being part of the Get Set 2012 network which is promoting the impact of the London Olympic and Paralympic Games and encouraging everyone to participate in sports.

The day involved every child in the school from Reception to Year 6 and parents, friends and local businesses enjoyed the day whilst helping to raise the much-needed funds. Pupils benefited from masterclasses and coaching sessions from skilled coaches and sports experts. After the various events a grand auction was held to sell sporting memorabilia, signed photographs and books from famous sporting stars.

Stanley is also offering the opportunity to local businesses or individuals for team/minibus sponsorship. If you are interested in doing this or would like to find out more information, please contact Helen Arbon, School Business Manager on 020 8977 4858, email h.arbon@stanley.richmond.sch.uk.

This year the event has been reinvented as a festival of music and food for the whole family to enjoy. It’s even got a new name: Collisbury! It will take place this year on the 18th June 2011, 2-6pm.

You can still look forward to all the old favourites as well as hair braiding, tattoos, go-kart racing, animal dramatics and inflatable obstacles. Everyone is invited to spread out a picnic blanket and spend the afternoon enjoying a delicious selection of food and a day of musical entertainment.

Click for full poster

To ensure there is a good selection of excellent entertainment, the school are inviting any local bands, singers or choirs to come and perform on the day. The aim of the event is to raise much-needed money for the school but also for everybody to get together and have fun!

Collisbury is a real team effort: everybody is involved and some of the stalls will actually be run by pupils.

Tickets are available on the door You can buy tickets at the door, £1 (children go free). Don’t forget to also check out their Facebook page.

Elsewhere in school news, excitement is building for Linford Christie’s visit to Stanley Primary School’s sports day this Friday. He will be helping the school raise funds for a new minibus.

Over 30 children from Playwam, recently awarded an Oustanding Ofsted rating and their parents took part in the sponsored event. The Toddle Waddle is one of the Meningitis Trust’s annual fundraising events, which has raised over £2.8 million to date.

Playwam, also held an Easter Egg Hunt and picnic for children and parents to finish off the Waddle. As well as a fun day out for the little ones, it is also a nice introduction to the idea of charity and helping others.