Forum Topic

Abundance

Not sure but think it may be Abundance who have planted the now flowering daffodils on the previously scruffy section of land on the A4 by Hogarth Roundabout. They look amazing !! Please don't stop what you are doing in Chiswick.

Jan Porter ● 2440d55 Comments

Lovely daffs blooming too on the centrereservation at the Hartington Rd traffic lights on the A316.  The come up every year and brighten our spirits  I notice that the Roko Club have hung an enormous ugly banner yet again on the wire fencing at that junction.  Can anyone remember to whom I have to report it - it's not permitted!  Ggrrr.  We don't want "ugly" - quite enough of that with all the rubbish strewn about.  The roadway along the South Circular going towards Kew was pristine as was the road leading down to Kew Village - good for Richmond Council.

Jennifer Selig ● 2440d

Richmond Council. LibDem. Just saying.

Ken Munn ● 2440d

Jenniferhttps://fms.hounslowhighways.org/Report it hereCleansingFlyposting

Guy Lambert ● 2440d

Well said Guy  - too many complaining not enough doing. My , rather limited, experience is that LBH are pretty good at moving rubbish if you use on the online system

Alex Brown ● 2437d

Is the banner illegal?

Matthew Swain ● 2437d

Thank you Guy a reporting it now.

Jennifer Selig ● 2437d

Ken - don't understand your message - explain please.  Don't think Richmond Council have any jurisdiction on anything on the Chswick side of Chiswick Bridge!

Jennifer Selig ● 2437d

Pretty sure it is.  Roko may be able to erect a sign within their property but not on the fencing facing the public road.  Previously banners from Roko have been removed along with other ugly ads hung there by assorted bods.

Jennifer Selig ● 2437d

My understanding is they need planning permission - otherwise it's flyposting in the same category as the posters you see clipped to lamp posts or pasted on hoardings etc.

Guy Lambert ● 2437d

Guy I've sent my complaint but do hope Roko have not got Planning permission to drape their ugly adverts all over the fencing there.  This is a residential area, not a commercial site!

Jennifer Selig ● 2437d

Fair enough and I agree they do look ugly especially when they start partially collapsing.  When I left them many years ago they were struggling with their level of service it's a shame as its a very convinient gym to get to for people in Grove Park.

Matthew Swain ● 2437d

What you said..."The roadway along the South Circular going towards Kew was pristine as was the road leading down to Kew Village - good for Richmond Council."

Ken Munn ● 2437d

They are also a business and businesses provide employment.  People need employment.  Lack of employment is one of today's growing problems.

Philippa Bond ● 2437d

Agree with both of you but why do they have to drape ugly advertising banners over the fencing in a residential area???What is stopping ROKO advertising on ChiswickW4 and its sister sites, in other media, on authorised advertising sites?  Why not put up a pleasant and well designed wooden board within the grounds that people can see?  What about publicising themselves in Job Centres if they need additional staff?  They could offer apprenticeships to school leavers and in Youth Clubs.  There are ways far better than a flapping plastic banner pinned to a wire fence!

Jennifer Selig ● 2437d

I suspect it's not lack of staff that's the problem...... it's clients probably.

Micki Hawkes ● 2436d

W3ll if that's the case can't see that a large sheet of flapping plastic tied to a wire netting fence is going to lure many in!

Jennifer Selig ● 2436d

Similarly, are all the plastic banners still attached to the railings on the next corner along, proclaiming that Chiswick School is now officially 'Fair to Middling', that their students have passed some exams, and that the site hosts a wide range of other facilities for young and old?

Peter Evans ● 2436d

No idea - maybe the school has planning permission.  Also I rarely pass that site.  Will look when next I drive up there.

Jennifer Selig ● 2435d

Just so lovely to see! Who do we have to thank for the daffies?!  Abundance? Guerrilla gardeners? (And why do some on this forum turn a thankful post into a complaint?!)

Caroline Carrington ● 2435d

Thank you Caroline - some people, especially some regular posters on this site, are only happy moaning = glass half empty bods - must be living very dark and gloomy lives.    Maybe people are born optimistists  while others are natural pessimists.  A lack of humour is another burden to bear!  Whatever - the glorious cheerful daffs on roadways, kerbs, in pots, in Kew Gardens are a real lifter of the spirits so who ever planted those on the Hartington Rd traffic lights, thank you.  I've lived here since 1075 and they have multiplied each year.

Jennifer Selig ● 2435d

That makes you 945 Jennifer!

Brian Coyle ● 2435d

945????  Wot's dat den?

Jennifer Selig ● 2435d

How did the hoppergrass minds turn praise for Abundance into a rant about Roko.  Start a new thread if that is your point.Back to Abundance.  We have been so fortunate to have such energetic and public spirited people doing so much for Chiswick.  On a daily basis I regularly pass the flower bed on Chiswick Back Common and what a joy it is.  Last week there were mini tulips flowering at the base of the summer perennials and soon there will be something else to catch the eye.  The benches are wonderful and well used by all.  Many people stop and discuss the characters of the past on the current banner and I look forward to what is coming next.Don't forget the Time Line under the railway bridge - a huge asset much appreciated by all who pass by and what a difference that has made.Rather sad that there is so much rubbish getting caught up amongst the plants but this wind doesn't help.Incidentally I recollect that the disapproving Councillor was against this too and certainly made disparaging remarks.There are other areas where Abundance has worked its magic.  Sit on the E3 going passed the Town Hall.  A once scruffy corner at the road junction is always very neat and tidy and the good planting enhances the Town Hall.  Devonshire Road tree pits and the beds on the High Road are also being properly maintained by Hounslow but this was an Abundance initiative.And there are others.We are so fortunate to have such people in our midst working to improve our lives and doing this sort of thing with all the surrounding bureaucracy is very time consuming and frustrating.  The ghastly little car park at the back of Sainsbury was very nearly going to be another wonderful project until Lend Lease reneged at the last minute and made no contribution to all the costs that had been accrued.As for the cherry trees, why the people who complain about nature's abundance cannot take a slightly different route for the few short weeks in the year when the trees a fruiting suggests a mental problem adjusting to what is natural in nature.If we lose such fantastic, altruistic people who improve and enhance our environment and daily lives, everyone is worse off.

Elizabeth Ross ● 2435d

Good post, Elizabeth. Thanks.

Ken Munn ● 2435d

Hear hear. Well said Elizabeth. Bravo Abundance.

Paul Campbell ● 2435d

Thank you Elizabeth and many thanks to Abundance for all the hard work.

Rima Jones ● 2434d

Just a quick correction, I am told Abundance look after the tree pits on Devonshire Road.  Hounslow took over responsibilities for the High Road beds.

Elizabeth Ross ● 2433d

Like many people, I appreciate the work of Abundance to enhance our streetscape with planting etc.I thought of them when I noticed this news article the other day:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-52674679?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science_and_environment&link_location=live-reporting-storyObviously the rest of us are in no position to make demands etc, but is that something they could add to their repertoire?Alternatively, is there another horticultural exerciser out there who might do the same on Chiswick's streets?Either way, it's a better use of chalk than inventing fictitious cycle lanes!

Richard Cathcart ● 2354d

That's a lovely idea Richard. Although, I fear if a person chalked plant names on footpaths in Chiswick there would be outrage! Some local would declare it to be shameful behaviour. They will probably go onto claim these actions will cost LBH, its residents and businesses money to remove chalk.

Sara Collins ● 2353d

Ha ha Sara. Chalk and Cheesewick. The same locals lost it when children drew pictures with chalk a while back as well. Some people have waaaaayyyy too little going on in their lives.

Paul Campbell ● 2353d

Just imagine the outcry if "Prunus avium" was chalked on the pavement.It might ruin someone's shoes.

Michael Robinson ● 2353d

Just on a point of information - the council did request that Hounslow Highways send someone out immediately to remove the road markings. Usually the way these outsourcing contracts work is that there would be a cost to that which will ultimately come out of Council Tax receipts. If the road and pavement markings were actually just chalk then I'm not sure why people complaining didn't just get a bucket of warm water and a brush rather than bothering the council - perhaps they did on residential roads.Let's also not equate not being keen on these guerilla road signs as being against chalk marks made by Abundance on the pavements - they problem that people had with them is not the defacement of paving stones but that they were misleading and potentially dangerous particularly where they were indicating a cyclist was allowed to use the pavement.

Francis Rowe ● 2353d

FR: "Let's also not equate not being keen on these guerilla road signs as being against chalk marks made by Abundance on the pavements"Fair point, but really I can't imagine anyone does.No-one sane, at any rate.

Richard Cathcart ● 2353d

The main problem being those cyclists who speed along unable and unwilling to lose momentum on the pavement who are really dangerous.  There are those including some supervised children who are proceeding with much more care and who will benefit from being able to have a safe route off the pavement and will graduate onto using the road/cycle lane.  I loved the chalking of plant identification on the pavement! Thanks Richard. The escapees sneaking their way out of gates and gardens also constantly amuse me.  I saw some lovely poppies and snapdragons yesterday. I hope they will still be there today to photograph.   

Philippa Bond ● 2353d

I have a book called 'Tiny Gardens'. One suggestion is to grow herbs in the cracks in concrete, or between paving stones.

Ken Munn ● 2353d

Thanks.  I'll have a look for that.  It's really worthwhile trying to grow herbs.

Philippa Bond ● 2352d

Bought it online from Kew Gardens.

Ken Munn ● 2352d

Thanks.  I have one called Small Gardens which is a bit of joke because the gardens are so big!

Philippa Bond ● 2352d

This one is TINY. It includes growing in pots on your front steps. Or on the roof of a shed. Or in a window box. etc

Ken Munn ● 2352d

Pretty complete labelling here!

Tom Pike ● 2351d

Sounds a bit more exotic doesn't it.It would be good to see more plants around the street trees.There are some areas of London that where residents have been very successful doing this.

Philippa Bond ● 2350d

Abundance are doing an amazing job and have been for years 👏However Cherrygate has lead to the demise of Turnham Green Friends and the wildflower meadow has now entirely disappeared.The rockery hasn’t been maintained and planted either.So what needs to happen now?

Rima Jones ● 2350d

I wonder whether a councillor might organise an effective voluntary group to look after TG?

Ken Munn ● 2350d

Abundance suggest that perhaps a conciliatory approach could be made to the Chair who oversaw the most amazingly positive developments on the Green.Were this to be accompanied by a promise to complete the cherry avenue and perhaps a crowd funding scheme to reboot the rockery planting, then the situation could be redeemed and the Friends group reconstituted.

Rima Jones ● 2350d

Philippa, agree about plants around street trees, If they are in an area that the Council will not be spraying weed killer and finish them off.

Janice Evans ● 2350d

That sounds like a mature and sensible way forward Rima.I recall that somebody on here once said that there are two types of people in Chiswick: those who care for its long-term future and the others. I thought that was a bit binary and arbitrary at the time but now one would hope that people who care about Turnham Green will put aside their petty rivalries and vindictiveness to ensure that the cherry avenue can finally be completed, the rockery restored to its former glory and effective liaision with Greenspace reestablished so that we can all enjoy the wild flower meadow again one day.Who could possibly object to that?

Paul Campbell ● 2350d

At present Hounslow Highways appear to have stopped spraying weeds round trees with the awful Roundup and there’s lots of chickweed growing round the bottom of the trees outside my place. It’s edible and rich in Vitamins C,A,D &B, iron, calcium and potassium. Also good for respiratory ailments.So I’ve been watering it and adding to salads.

Rima Jones ● 2349d

Probably rich in Vitamin P as well - Hope it's been thoroughly washed!!

Felicity Goodall ● 2349d

Yes, of course!

Rima Jones ● 2349d

The chalk artists identifying weeds on our city pavements (see earlier posts on ths thread) were featured on today's edition of "Open Country" on BBC Radio 4. The programme is repeated on Sunday morning at 6.07(!) but if you're not up at that time, you can tune-in anytime on the BBC Radio Sounds app:https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000lf9vIt's 24 mins long and you can learn all about Herb Robert and the Hairy Bittercress outside your door.(They're not a C&W band btw)

Richard Cathcart ● 2277d

Ah Stinky Bob is supposed to be good for viruses so they say not sure which though! I've always loved that one it reminds me of a sword fighter.

Philippa Bond ● 2277d

There was chalk ID of plants around a tree on Sutton Court Road, Latin names and English. There was only Latin for one though: canis faeces

Ken Munn ● 2277d

I often wish I knew the names of some of the wild flowers I see. Please keep up the chalking, or join in if you can.

Vivienne Cox ● 2277d

We're losing and have lost so much knowledge of all the uses made of plants.  They all had local names especially when they were used as herbal remedies etc.  Don't forget that many plants are the source of the drugs of today.There are literary references to plants which could so easily be never seen again if an aggressive assault is made on ones which have not been deliberately planted.My favourite is the elusive scarlet pimpernel.

Philippa Bond ● 2277d

Sophie Le Guil, the French woman behind the pavement chalk campaign, has a very informative website, including a guide to identifying plants, with photos etc.You can also contact her if you wish to get involved further.https://morethanweeds.co.uk/

Richard Cathcart ● 2276d