St Stephen's Gets New Vicar

Rev Denis Adide

St Stephen's church on the Uxbridge Road has a new vicar. St Stephen's announced yesterday the appointment of The Rev’d Denis Adide as Vicar of the Parish of St Stephen & St Thomas, Shepherds Bush.

Denis is currently finishing his curacy at Christchurch, Turnham Green, Chiswick and will begin as vicar of St Stephen’s in the summer.

Denis was born in Northern Uganda and came to London as a child. He is married to Anna Fiona and they have three young children.

The PCC and congregation at St Stephen’s are greatly looking forward to welcoming Denis and his family to Shepherds Bush.

Japanese Garden Community Picnic on Saturday 11th May

Hammersmith Park is celebrating its recently expanded Japanese Garden with a Japanese Garden Community Picnic on Saturday 11th May, from Noon until 5pm.

The Japanese Picnic will feature lots of activities for families and children, including the chance to make origami, follow a treasure trail, do a calligraphy workshop, listen to Japanese music, or buy Japanese snacks.

The event is being held to celebrate recent improvement works: the installation of new Japanese-style gates and rows of stone lanterns in the Japanese Garden.

You can see more about it at the Japanese Embassy official site. Don't forget to bring your picnic!

Hammersmith Bridge Closed Indefinitely

Local residents are furious as Hammersmith Bridge has been closed by our Council "indefinitely".

This is the latest development in a long-running and sorry saga of delay and neglect, in which our local Council has continuously kicked the long-postponed repairs into the long grass.

Back in October we reported - to a furious response from LBHF - that the price tag for repairs had risen to £36m from the 2014 estimate of £25m.

New Playground for Hammersmith Park

New playground at Hammersmith Park

The children's playground at Hammersmith Park has been finished at last, having been redeveloped after the children's climbing frames were removed in February and March of 2018.

It took a while, but full credit to our Council for getting it done, and to a high standard.

New Fountain Proposed for Hammersmith Park

Proposed Design

Our local Council have proposed a new water fountain for Hammersmith Park. You can see a draft of the proposed design on the left.

The idea is to have a new water fountain so that visitors to the park can get a drink of water on a hot day.

So far, local opinion is (as is frequently the case) rather divided. A number of locals are against it, suggesting that it adds to the clutter of our neighbourhood and, anyway, why spend scarce public money on an expensive new fountain when anyone who needs a drink can always pop into Play Football and get a glass of water?

Personally, I think it's a good idea, on balance.

Italian Ice Cream Comes to Shepherd's Bush

Creams brightens up the Uxbridge Rd

Italian Ice Cream has arrived in Shepherd's Bush; the ice cream parlour Creams has just opened on the Uxbridge Rd, in the space that used to be occupied by the unloved high interest loan outfit Oakham.

Walk past its wide-open doors and you get assaulted by the sweet smell of ice cream and chocolate; the tables are filled with happy children inhaling improbably tall heaps of ice cream and sprinkles.

Moped Deliveries Disrupt the Peace of Caxton Village

Moped delivery drivers waiting for work in Caxton Rd

Think of Shepherd's Bush and you might think of chicken shops, pizza and kebabs. We are - for good and bad - one of London's fast-food hubs, with delivery mopeds whizzing around our streets at all times of day and night making 24 hour deliveries.

However not everyone in our neighbourhood is entirely happy. In the guest post below, Shepherd's Bush resident Edward Elletson explains why Caxton Village is getting overwhelmed by delivery drivers, and what needs to be done to fix the problem.