May 2009 Archives

ANTI-war protesters took to the streets of Northwood in 'blood-stained' wedding dresses and suits to demonstrate against aerial bombardments in Afghanistan.

The Northwood Die-In Committee, made up of various peace groups, marched from Northwood tube station to the military base in Watford Road on Wednesday (27).

The 42 protesters staged a "die-in" to mark the second anniversary of an attack on a wedding part in Afghanistan in which 47 civilians were killed by US bombing.

Protester Milan Rai said: "We wanted to do something that was respectful to the memory of the people who died and something that expressed the strength of our feeling.

"Fifteen people took part in the "die-in" and fake blood was scattered on the floor around them.

"Six people ended up being arrested and charged under the public disorder act because they refused to get up off the floor."

Hayes and Harlington MP John McDonnell also spoke at the beginning of the event and took part in the march. to express his concerns about the war in Afghanistan.

The march started at 11.30am at the station, headed off up Green Lane and Watford Road towards the base and the "die-in" was staged at the junction with Sandy Lane.

After the arrests the remaining protesters held a vigil before marching back to the station at about 2.30pm.

The organisers of this demonstration organised a similar "die-in" in Northwood in January 2003 when 400 protesters blocked the main gate of the military base for eight hours and 70 people were arrested for sitting in the road.

A NORTHWOOD councillor has become the first to join Twitter.

Councillor Scott Seaman-Digby has joined the social networking site to give another way for residents to keep in touch with him.

Go to http://twitter.com/CllrSSD or to read his blog go to http://cllrssd.wordpress.com.

The borough has also got a Twitter site at http://twitter.com/hillingdon.

THE chairman of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust will be speaking at a Northwood synagogue as part of a commemoration.

On June 6 Northwood and Pinner Liberal Synagogue, in Oaklands Gate, Northwood, will be commemorating the lives of the Jews of Kolin and the legacy of the Torah Scroll that now resides in the Holy Ark in Northwood - now the last Jewish survivor of Kolin.

To mark this occasion, Dr Stephen Smith MBE, the co-founder and director of the Holocaust Centre and chairman of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, will be speaking on the subject: "Memory in the future in the absence of survivors."

Senior Rabbi, Aaron Goldstein said: "We want to welcome local residents to appreciate the legacy of the Holocaust that is present in Northwood.
"It is important to us that our young people and our neighbours understand the opportunity of this legacy, to provide hope in the future, that genocide will be eradicated from the world and any form of hatred is never allowed to develop in our local Community."

The lecture will start at 10am.For more information go to www.npls.org.uk, email admin@npls.org.uk or call 01923 822592.

GARDENS across the area will be open to the public for a weekend to raise funds for charity.

Midsummer Weekend 2009, sponsored by Gibbs Gillespie and Ducks Hill Garden Centre, is taking place on June 20 and 21.

Twenty gardens in Moor Park, Northwood, Ruislip, Eastcote and Ickenham will be open all weekend to raise funds for various charities.

Tickets are £7 and many of the gardens will offer attractions such as tea, refreshments, plants for sale, raffles, live painting and a jazz band.

For tickets call Warren on 01923 451 616 or Tony on 01895 677 925 or go to www.localopengardens.com for more information.

THOUSANDS of pounds was raised an a charity's annual plant sale.

Michael Sobell House, based at Mount Vernon Hospital, in Rickmansworth Road, Northwood, managed to raise £1,445 at their annual plant sale.

The well attended event was hosted in the beautiful gardens of Michael Sobell House on May 9 and the plants for sale were generously donated by local suppliers including Shoots and Greentiles Nursery.

Supporters also grew plants from seeds specifically for the event, with particular note to one volunteer, Hermione Chambers, who nurtured and donated more than 100 plants.

ART students at Northwood School have taken part in a competition to create work that tells their story.

The Young Brits at Art competition, run by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, invited youngsters aged between 11 and 19 to submit art work that told their story.

Four students from the school in Potter Street, Northwood Hills, have made it into the top 100 out of 1,630 entrants. They will be put before a panel of judges before the top 10 are announced at the awards ceremony at London's South Bank Centre on July 2.

Talking about her piece, pupil Sarah Power, 15, said: "My identities piece is a portrait of two Muslims wearing the traditional Islamic clothing, Hijab.

"I painted one of the women with a more European skin tone and one with a more Asian skin tone, to show the scope of the Islamic faith and how it has spread across the world to build up one of the biggest followings to date.

"The Union Jack in the background is to signify how Islam has become such a big part of British Culture in the 21st century."

Go to www.equalityhumanrights.com/art to find out more.

KEEN cyclists who want to help raise funds for a care centre can take part in a popular annual bike ride.

Michael Sobell House, the hospice and specialist palliative care centre at Mount Vernon Hospital, in Rickmansworth Road, Northwood, will be holding 'On Yer Bike For Care' on Sunday (31).

Entry is £10 per person, £5 per child or £25 for a family (two adults and two children).
The ride will start at 8am from Gate 3 of the hospital and all proceeds will go to Michael Sobell House.

Participants can either register on the day or in advance.

To find out more and download sponsorship forms please visit www.michaelsobellhouse.co.uk or call 01923 844 829.

A BOYS' school has come in the top 10 of best school spellers.

St Martin's School, in Moor Park Road, Northwood, beat off tough competition from eight schools at The Times Spelling Bee Semi-Final held in Norwich on May 18.

They have won their place as one of the final ten schools across the country to take part in The Times Spelling Bee Grand Final, the climax of the first ever national spelling championship for schools, to be held in London's West End on June 23.

The school's team consisted of three players and a reserve - Prahalad Prasad, 12, Jonah Surkes, 12, Dylan Amin, 13, and Gordon Howe, 12, as reserve.

The team showed off their mastery by successfully spelling words such as sluice and uncharacteristic.

Linda Crook, teacher at the school, said: "The boys really enjoyed the competition and we're very proud of them."

The team said: "It was the most exhilarating experience and that's with an 'ar' and not an 'er'."

When I looked on the Queensmead website for my next class I realised the only one I could do that week was 20-20-20. I had no idea what that was so I read the description. Basically it consists of 20 minutes aerobics, 20 minutes upper and lower body tone and 20 minutes floor work and stretching.

When I saw it was a class full of women and just two men, I thought it would be an easy one. However, when I saw the instructor I realised it was the same one who takes the Cardio kick class at Highgrove and I remembered I was in a lot of pain the day after that class.

This particular instructor likes to make you do the same exercise over and over again until your muscles pretty much can't take it anymore. After about 20 minutes of aerobics - you never would've guessed - we moved on to the upper bodywork. I thought that was hard enough but the next exercise we did was a killer. We had to do three sets of 16 side lunges on each leg. I could feel the lactic acid building up in my thighs, but I didn't realise how much they were hurting until the next day. I couldn't walk for three days after the class!

The floor work wasn't as bad. It involved a lot of sit ups, which always tends to hurt my neck more than my stomach.

I enjoyed the class but I didn't like the fact we worked certain muscles a lot more than others. There was also quite a lot of choreography involved as well, which I detest!

So, I have come to the end of my blog now. I didn't realise at the time of booking the 20-20-20 class that it was my last class. I said from the beginning that I would try out all the evening and weekends classes and I have - with a few exceptions.

I have done the Stretch and tone class and also the Step class so I don't think the Step and tone class is really going to be any different from these two. I haven't done Core stability, but that's because ever time I tried to book the class it was full. I also haven't done Pilates (which is a disappointment because I was quite looking forward to that). Even though it says on the website it's a class for all intermediate to advanced, when I called to book they told me the classes were run as a special course.
I also haven't done Ju-jitsu because it isn't included as part of the membership package...and to be honest with you, even though I did kickboxing for four years, I didn't feel comfortable with being thrown on the floor repeatedly.

However, 14 classes overall isn't too bad. It has been fun testing out the classes and writing this blog. I am going to try and keep up the exercise, so the classes I think I'll go back to will be the ones that involved a bit of kickboxing.

Hope you enjoyed reading, and if you want to have a look back at all my blogs, just type in fitness blog in the search bar to the right. Keep up the exercise!

POLICE are appealing for witnesses after cars were damaged in Northwood.

At least 10 cars were damaged in and around the Hallowell Road area between 11pm last night (Tues) and 6am today (Wed).

The damage caused is estimated to be more than £2,000.

Police Sergeant Ian Stacey said: "This number of cars being damaged in a single evening is rare for Northwood, which is one of the safest wards in London.

"I would urge anyone who saw anything or anyone with any information to either ring me at Northwood Police Station on 020 8721 2545 or Crime Stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111".