Contacts

The Teddington Society
21 Teddington Park
Teddington TW11 8DB

Contact by e-mail:
secretary@teddingtonsociety.org.uk

The Autumn 2006 issue of Tidings includes the following:

• Letter from the Chair
• From the Editor
• Reports from the Groups
• Local History Day
• Richmond Crossroads
• Teddington in Flower
• An Artist with Style
• Tales of the Riverbank
• Diary and Events

Letter from the Chair
This hot and sunny summer has meant that Teddington’s outdoor events have been a great success. For Teddington in Flower I had the great pleasure of accompanying the Mayor, Cllr Bill Treble, to other people’s gardens. He conscientiously visited every one and it was lovely for me to meet some old acquaintances (both people and gardens) and to make some exciting new discoveries.

Despite the heat there was a high number of visitors and a record amount raised for charity. The River Festival is already a very popular annual event and I enjoyed my stint on the Teddington Society stall as a street vendor.

However, although the sunshine is very welcome, the drought and hosepipe ban are already taking their toll. I have noticed a number of dead or dying trees in Teddington and it is a struggle to keep garden and allotments watered. I am having, as I’m sure others are too, to make deliberate decisions to allow some plants and shrubs to die. On a happier note, it is lovely to welcome back Broad Street Books!

Jenny Hilton

From the Editor
As a Society,we are so grateful for the hard work and dedication of those who helped to make the River Festival and Teddington in Flower such a success again this year. In particular, we thank Sheena Harold, Ann Sayer and Pat and Duncan Shuttleworth for their unstinting efforts.

The social side of the Society continues to flourish, due in no small measure to the enthusiasm and hard work of Angela Carvill. The Events are always popular, and early booking is advisable. Watch out also for the Local History Day on September 10th, to be organised by the Historical Research Group.

Copy date for the next issue of Tidings is October 20th. Submissions by email are preferred wherever possible. If supplying digital images (which are preferred) please make sure they are of sufficient resolution for print. Our designer George says "at least 1Mb when saved as a Jpeg!" for an image that will print across a page.

Margaret Chan

Richmond Crossroads – Caring for Carers
The Society was delighted to be able to hand over a cheque for £1,000 the proceeds from this year’s Teddington in Flower, to the Richmond Crossroads charity. Crossroads began in 1974 as a result of a TV programme of the same name - one of the characters was a young lad who was disabled - confined to a wheel chair. A disabled viewer watching the programme contacted ATV because he knew that the story line reflected his own family where his mother was the main carer. ATV donated £10,000 to set up a Carers scheme in Rugby – and we now have 225 schemes nationwide – delivering 4.5 million care hours to 34,000 carers.

Richmond Crossroads began in 1974 and we are the main providers of respite breaks in the borough. We provide home-based respite breaks, going into people's homes and taking over the caring responsibilities whilst the carer takes time off from their never ending role. Last year we provided over 19,500 care hours to 381 carers. We also run a Macmillan/Crossroads Palliative Care Service, helping families stay together and supporting them, especially when the person wants to die at home.

Responding to the lack of provision for leisure clubs for children with special needs,we run 2 Saturday Clubs, one in Mortlake and one in Hampton. These clubs are hugely successful and 21 children in each locality come along and enjoy a few hours of play and fun in a safe environment. Parents also benefit from the Saturday break and can go out shopping or catch up with chores whilst their children are being looked after. Another successful project is The Caring Café, a weekly café for people affected by dementia, run in partnership with the Alzheimer's Society. We have just been awarded another 3 years continuation funding from The Big Lottery to keep this vital source of support open. We have a waiting list of 112 carers needing respite and we can only reduce this number as funds allow.

Eleanor Willett

Teddington in Flower
June 11th was a great success. Despite difficult weather conditions in the months preceding the event, the gardens were superb. Our thanks to gardeners Alan Drake, Judy Asher, Jenny Jackson, Reg Morrison, Margaret Hastings, Tony and Betty Mansell, Jeremy and Nicola Hawke and Roman Croleitz (standing in for Judith Hatton). Over £1,000 was raised in the four hours that the gardens were open. A tremendous achievement! A cheque was gratefully received by Eleanor Willett, Director of Crossroads, this year’s chosen charity. You can find more about Crossroads in her article.

True to her calling, Eleanor had to care for her parents on the day, but her colleague, Ann Schaurman, stepped into the breach and toured all 9 venues. We were honoured by the presence of the new Mayor, Cllr Bill Treble, who enjoyed all the gardens and stopped for tea at St Mary’s churchyard, where June Demont raised £150 for the charity Home-Start Richmond. Cllr Treble, from Whitton, confessed that his wife was the gardener and he was the 'Lawnmower Man'!

Our garden sitters did their usual excellent job, especially given the heat of the day. We thank you all. Sadly one sitter couldn’t make it – she had a good excuse – she had broken her leg! Get well soon, Sue Stevens! Gardener Judith Hatton, who was ill in hospital, is now recovering with her family. Having opened her garden for 24 successive years, she was sadly missed this year. Thank you, Judith, and we all wish you a speedy recovery.

Teddington in Flower could not have happened at all without the help and support I’ve had from Pat and Duncan Shuttleworth. From Pat wrestling with the Sitters' Rota to Duncan climbing lampposts to put up and take down posters, they have done so much. Thank you both. Remember it is only 10 months till we do it all again!

Sheena Harold