The filming will be carried out by Hartswood Films which is based at Twickenham Studios and have worked on such titles as Sherlock, Men Behaving Badly and Coupling.

The new comedy pilot is currently titled “Me and Mrs Jones” and follows the chaotic life of a single mother and her relationships with her ex-husband and potential love interests.

On Monday filming will take place (8am-12) in The Teddington Arms with interior shots of the some of the characters will be taken going for a drink.

Wednesday morning will see the film crews at BoHo Boutique for some shots inside the shop of characters buying a dress. At both locations film crew technical vehicles will be nearby in suspended car-parking bays (pre-arranged with Richmond Council).

Tickets for the “Pink Friday” event on Friday 14th October at Vidatherapy & Vidahair are just £5 for an evening of pampering and more. As well as canapés from The Nearest Café there will be live music entertainment and also included in the ticket price will be free services including:

• Hairwash and blow-dry
• On-site massage
• Reflexology
• Manicures
• Makeovers
• Raffle prizes

To join in the evening whilst helping to raise money for charity, call 020 8614 1199 or email info@vidatherapy.com. Address: 6/8 Church Road, Teddington, TW11 8PB

Another recent charity event was the nationwide “World’s Biggest Coffee Morning” for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Several coffee mornings were held in Teddington and will hopefully raise enough money to better last year’s £8 million total – including Barclays, In-toto Kitchens, M&S, Teddington Baptist Church and Teddington Tennis Club.

Organisers of the coffee morning at Imperial Sports Pavilion helped create a popular event (in its 10th year here) with tea, coffee, cakes, muffins and some other shopping opportunities in the sun! Here are some highlights from the coffee morning at Imperial Sports Pavilion:

A short prayer was said before the first broadcast meeting re-iterating the council’s aims, aspirations and duty to serve the borough’s residents. Despite some audio issues it’s an interesting insight into how council meetings work and particularly if you are involved in a specific issue up for discussion.

Text titles have been added to the video to name each councillor speaking and also which agenda item is being discussed or debated.

One issue discussed was a petition on behalf of concerned residents of Park Lane, Teddington who wish for the road to have a 20mph limit introduced. Since the central parking zone was introduced the road is heavily used for parking and those crossing the road (particular children visiting Park Lane Stables) find the area dangerous considering the speed that cars drive through it – several near-misses have been reported.

Planning meetings will soon also be available where applications are discussed and decisions made. Decisions such as the recent refusal of the amended Park House/Travelodge plans where flats had taken the place of office space above the new restaurant. The reason for this refusal has not yet been stated in the online documentation.

Vince Cable is leading a backlash against plans to redraw London’s parliamentary boundaries in order to standardise constituency numbers.

His constituency of Twickenham in particular is being broken up to create a new Richmond and Twickenham voting area crossing the Thames – setting up a potential showdown with Zac Goldsmith. He could instead however run for the newly created Teddington and Hanworth constituency which would include 67% of his existing voters.

The existing club house affectionately known as the ‘potting shed’ is to be replaced with better facilities that both clubs deserve considering recent successes, growth and future potential.

BBC’s Countryfile visited Bushy Park on the 26th of May to film for the episode aired last Sunday – using the Royal Park as an example of how a bit of the country is never far away from us in our city life and how “..in London’s suburbs is a great place to take that winning photograph in the Countryfile calendar competition.”

Click for iPlayer video (17m 30s in)

Presenter Julia Bradbury describes the park as having watery worlds, wonderful wildlife which is handy as these are two of the categories from this years’ competition. Also in the program is a piece about the Surrey Downs which will feature in the Olympic Road race which will also pass through Richmond and Bushy Parks.

Eagle-eyed viewers have spotted a blink-and-you’ll miss it scene from central Teddington in the latest BT Home Hub advert – a night-time shot of Repair Station on the bridge.

Also see footage from The Mason’s Arms relaunch after their refurbishment.

Teddington and surrounding areas are a haven for professional and more leisurely runners alike – with popular running routes along the river and in Bushy Park, related businesses such as physiotherapists and specialists in sports massage have followed the sporting crowd and help keep local runners running!

Running experts Sweatshop in particular is at the heart of the local running community and has been since 1971.

Visitors to the store unaware of its rich heritage can now learn about this through a video that Sweatshop has created that also spells out its benefits, achievements and plans for future expansion.

Included in the video is info about its creator Chris Brasher CBE, who helped pace Roger Bannister to his historic 4 minute mile back in the 1950′s, his campaigning to bring a marathon in the UK and the foundation of his first store (initially called “Chris Brashers Sporting Emporium“).

Since then Sweatshop has strived to make everyone of all shapes, sizes and abilities be the best that they can be through their carefully selected stock and professional staff (regular runners themselves).

There are now 30 stores across the country in the chain that was the first to stock New Balance in the UK. The owners belief is that “running is a force for good” and can be fun but also play an important part in family life and give all important goals.

Future plans are to have a Sweatshop within easy reach of everyone in the country and to be become an intrinsic part of communities across the land. Sweatshop sponsor local events such as the weekly Bushy parkrun and plans are to hold 5 major UK races (up from the current 3).

Local couple Bev and Ash had three ‘housegift’ items pitched to them to compete for the chosen item and help them escape from a “bombardment of boring beige“. These were picked from a series of local shops and artists including some in “Teddington: a cosmopolitan bustling suburb“.

Presenters Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Danielle Proud and Gillian Anderson Price looked for inspiration in Teddington, Strawberry Hill, Eel Pie Island, Hampton Court, Richmond and Kew.

The Architects Gallery (Powder Rooms), The Attic in Hampton Hill and an artist’s studio on Eel Pie Island all feature on the program.

If you missed it, you can catch the program using ITVplayer.

A new TV campaign for the new hybrid luxury car by Lexus (“Join the Quiet Revolution”) features a surreal scene filmed in Bushy Park (Lime Avenue) that the deer probably weren’t too keen on.

The advert sees groups of famous drummers filmed in various locations around London distracting poor Kylie (filmed separately) driving her quiet car.

The drummers themselves include Pauli Stanley McKenzie from Gorillaz, ex-Smiths sticks man Mike Joyce, Joji Hirota and the Taiko Drummers, and big band aficionado Vince Dunn.

He had a rare visited to the NPL archives to see a highly guarded artefact of the change-over to the metric system – the metre bar that the UK received when it signed the metre convention in 1875.

Teddington Rugby was featured on Sky Sports News on Sunday for their unprecedented 52 consecutive wins – quite an achievement!

If you want to see more Tedders on TV then set your recorders for Tuesday February 22nd 2-3pm in ITV & ITV HD. The home interior-decor experts from House Gift help a resident to overcome their fear of colour by choosing items for their house from in and around Teddington, particularly from the Architects Gallery and Eel Pie Island.

Elsewhere recent filming at Teddington Studios has recently included a new series of Alan Carr’s Chatty Man.

This years’ challenge with the biggest and best rocket challenge so far. There are separate competitions for schools and other teams to bring their rockets and launchers along to compete. There are rumours that the world’s largest water rocket will make an appearance on the day!

All interested parties are welcome to participate or spectate on the day (general spectators evening only). The schools-only competition will happen during the afternoon and the evening session is open to all to join the ‘just turn up’ workshops. You don’t even need to build your own rockets beforehand.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first person in space, an eggstra egg-based payload challenge has been added to this years events. Challenges were initially based purely on distance and altitude, but more recently require a skill-full combination of landing accuracy (in a zone about 65m from launch position) with time of flight.

Highlights of the 2010 event:

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Registration is now open for this event and there are only 45 launch bays available – book early to avoid disappointment. If you have any questions, email waterrockets@npl.co.uk.

The NPL Water Rocket Challenge has been running since 2003 with over 400 teams of six having participated. It has raised over £10,000 for charity. The enthusiasm for this event is spreading! The team at NPL have helped other organisations setup similar events including the Wales Water Rocket Challenge and at the Cheltenham Science Festival.

[Update] Video highlights of this year’s challenge

Set to the backdrop of the beautiful and very apt Victorian Theatre, this heartwarming and special production will take you on a nostalgic trip back to the glorious days of traditional Victorian Music Hall.

The cast will present for your delight and delectation two hours of song, dance, laughter and a few surprises!

Why not enjoy one of these rare chances to experience a show at our treasured theatre whilst helping to raise funds for the Downs Syndrome Association.

Saturday, February 12th 2011, tickets cost £15: doors open at 6pm for drinks from the bar and the performance begins at 7pm

Contact Alexa Dizon at the Down’s Syndrome Association on 0845 230 0372 to book your tickets or email alexa.dizon@downs-syndrome.org.uk for further information.

Alan Benns video interview and coverage from last year’s performance:

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[Update] Performance starting time has changed! This is now 7pm.

NPL Academy gives GCSE students a real taster of work at the NPL. This Academy was introduced in 2008 to give GCSE students and A Level students a structured opportunity to get the most out of a week’s worth of work experience at one of the UK’s leading scientific establishments.

The Academy is validated by Richmond Education Business Partnership and the scheme has also won awards (Institute for Education Business Excellence, Business in the Community) – some participants return to NPL as university summer vacation workers and GAP (General Activities Programme) placements.

Typically 30-35 students are accepted but competition for these places is intense – usually averaging about 4 applicants per place. The deadline for applying is the 31st of January 2011.

NPL also holds an annual competition for schools or independent teams to create their own science film – participants have the chance to win £500 for their school (£300 for other teams).

Registration for the 2011 event will open shortly but fear not, you will have until September to submit the first cut of your film.

Entries from the 2010 competition can be seen here:

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Elsewhere the more grown-up scientists at NPL have been working hard on many projects including performance-monitoring magnetic nano-hedgehogs, NPL’s first iPhone App and is part of a consortium that helped develop the Megaframe Imager – capable of capturing up to a staggering million frames per second!