July 2008

Hampstead Village Voice - our very own satirical magazine!

Funny and subversive - or brazenly defamatory, libellous and scurrilously misleading, according to the Ham & High!

Not available online or by mail order (yet!)  but there is a blog to read, and a website at www.hampsteadvillagevoice.com

Witanhurst is the biggest house in London - except for Buckingham Palace. A 90 room Grade II Queen Ann Mansion in Highgate, it has just been bought for £50m by the Mayor of Moscow's wife. Apparently it has a window for every day of the year. Imagine! 

June 2008

The Woodcraft Folk is an educational movement for children and young people, which aims to develop self confidence and activity in society, and to build a world based on equality, friendship, peace and co-operation. If only!  Check out their website at http://www.woodcraft.org.uk/

A London Soldier buried in an unmarked common grave in Highgate Cemetery has been found to be Corporal Robert Grant, who won the Victoria Cross for bravery in the Indian Mutiny in 1857. After the war he became a policeman in Kentish Town. When he died , his wife couldn't afford a funeral. Now, thanks to local historians, 141 years after he was buried,  he's getting a fitting ceremony and a headstone to honour his memory.

The Friends of Hampstead Cemetery are in dire need of your help. Their lottery award could be in jeopardy unless they can match the funding by their own fundraising efforts. There's an awful lot to maintaining these old cemeteries. If your relatives are buried there, you might think of making a donation, or an annual subscription of £5 to help them. Please send by post to: The Secretary, The Friends of Hampstead Cemetery, The Lodge, 69 Fortune Green Rd, London NW6 1DR. Or you can donate without even getting out of your chair by Paypal. Email info@thevirtualtourofhampstead.co.uk for details.

The Railway Hotel, West End Lane was a famous music pub in the 60s and 70s, with clubs variously known as Klooks Kleek, The Starlight and  The Moonlight. Legend has it that The Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Eric Clapton, and Led Zep, to name but a few, have all played there. The current owners want to turn it into flats. Next Thursday is the planning deadline to object to Camden about the proposals.

Blind Factory to close. Sadly, the factory in Willesden Junction that has provided employment for blind and partially sighted people for many years is to close due to council funding cuts. Does this compute? Is it cheaper to stop giving the grants, or to pay income support/housing benefit/council tax benefit to some 33 people probably for the rest of their lives. I'm afraid it seems that the council knows the cost of everything, but the value of nothing.

June 6th 1958 There is mention again in the Ham & High that Hampstead has the highest rate of suicide in the British Empire. Why can this be?

From an article in The Times, Monday, Jul 25, 1955, sent to me by Maureen:

Possible reasons why Hampstead usually has the highest suicide rate in England & Wales are discussed by Dr Dennis Geffen, the medical officer of Health, in his report on the health of the Borough in 1954. The results of his analysis suggest that the excessive rate of suicides in Hampstead over the average arises chiefly from personal factors, and may be associated with the type of population who leave their own home town to go to London in search of jobs.

In 1950 Hampstead had the highest rate (about 60% over the average in London as a whole) - 287 suicides in a million of the population, followed by Holborn (270 a million), Burnley (259), Eastbourne (258), and Westminster (257). Dr Geffen goes on to say that with the exception of Wandsworth all them adjoin to form the north west section of the County of London..... These borough have other things in common, such as a large number of people living in lodgings, boarding houses  and rooms, and the presence of an excess of females, students and elderly people....

I must enquire as to the current situation.

American Red Swamp Crayfish have been found in a pond on Hampstead Heath.

Would you Adam and Eve it! Another developer is proposing similarly inappropriate building works to the recent Fitzroy Farm development, also sending huge trucks down Millfield Lane. Residents can comment on the plans at the council's planning website at www.camden.gov.uk We've been fighting for the heath since the days of Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson in the 1840s.  Will it never end!

Ye Old White Bear, New End Square is up for sale. Licensed premises currently for sale in Hampstead are Mojama, Tabby Cat Lounge, Bombay Blueprint, Toast and Bar Room Bar. I think we can do without all those, but - please - let's not lose the historic Old White Bear, which has been there since about 1700.

May 2008

Billy the Kid & the Hampstead Resident: John Henry Tunstall (1853 - 1878) lived in Belsize Terrace in 1871. He emigrated to Canada, ending up as a rancher in New Mexico. His murder ignited the Lincoln County War. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tunstall for the full story. David Thomas, a historian in New Mexico, is currently working on a book on the life and times of John H. Tunstall. Watch this space for details on publication.

The London Canal Museum is looking for people who used to work on the waterways, either on boats or barges, or as lock keepers or people to worked to maintain the routes. They want your memories, before it's too late. Call Mr Keene at 0207 7713 0836 or email ben@canalmuseum.org.uk if you have anything to contribute.

An Irish Magnet The famous Galtymore, the Irish dance hall on Cricklewood Broadway, is closing down after 56 years to become flats and shops.

H G Wells' house in Primrose Hill is put on the market for £3.25 million. I don't think he could have predicted that!

Lloyds Bank is closing  This beautiful Grade II listed building in Rosslyn Hill, by Victorian Architect Horace Field is to close and be turned into a restaurant. As if we didn't have enough already. Makes a change from very very expensive flats, I suppose.

Highgate Cemetery needs YOU!! Members are needed for Friends of Highgate Cemetery, a charity dedicated to keeping the cemetery going http://highgate-cemetery.org/index.asp

Camden Council Vandals In the 1840s it was Lord of the Manor of Hampstead, Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson, trying to build on the heath. Now, it's Camden Council allowing inappropriate building works to take place.

This is the campaigning website for the opposition to the outrageous development of Fitzroy Farm. Fitzroy Farm is just across from the Ladies Pond on Millfield Lane, and its development will have a dramatic impact on the lane, the pond and the edges of the Heath. If it goes ahead the building works will operate for the next two years with huge amounts of construction traffic constantly driving up and down the small lane affecting the pedestrians, runners, cyclists as well as the whole delicate environment. http://www.fitzroyfarm.com/

STOP PRESS!!!! A Victory for common sense!! Camden has now refused permission, in the face of mounting opposition.