RSPB

After their numbers dropped by 85 per cent since 1995, turtle doves could disappear altogether from our countryside. Find out how people are fighting to save them, and how you can join in. We also have news of the devastation caused by the recent east coast storm, ideas for festive days out, a competition to enter and lots more. Merry Christmas, and thank you for all your support this year.

Are turtle doves on their way to extinction in the UK? With beautiful plumage and a gentle purring call, turtle doves have long been a symbol of enduring love, from Chaucer to Shakespeare. But for how much longer will there be turtle doves in our countryside? Numbers have crashed by 85 per cent since 1995, and sightings were at an all-time low this summer. A wide range of dedicated people are rallying to the doves' aid, doing everything from changing the way they manage their farms to taking a 300-mile sponsored walk, creating artwork and making delicious chocolates! > How you can help save the turtle dove

Get ready for Big Garden Birdwatch It's coming soon... Big Garden Birdwatch, the world's biggest wildlife survey, is not far away. Mark 25-26 January in your diary - it takes just an hour of your time to join in and count the wildlife that's counting on you. Until then, why not stock up on goodies for the wildlife in your garden? The more you help nature, the more you'll see. All profits go towards our conservation work. > Shop online and help save nature

RBKC

Dear Tenant/Residents’ Association,

Please see information below regarding the Mayor’s Carol Service, the Mayor’s Awards and the Greener Living Guide.

Carols for Trinity Hospice

On Monday 16^th December the Mayor will be holding a Carol Service at St. Mary Abbots Church in Kensington to raise funds for Trinity Hospice.  Taking part will be Dame Diana Rigg and BBC news reader Huw Edwards.  The evening begins at 7:00 p.m.  Tickets are £20 each and there will be wine and mince pies at The Town Hall afterwards.   If you would like to buy tickets please call the Mayor’s Office on 0207 361 3659 or email mayor@rbkc.gov.uk   Alternatively, you can download a form from www.rbkc.gov.uk/mayor Tickets can be purchased on the night at the door, but cash or cheques only, please make (cheques payable to Trinity Hospice).  All proceeds go to Trinity Hospice.

The Mayor’s Awards

Do you know someone who makes an outstanding contribution to the life of the Royal Borough or has added significantly to the quality of life of those they help?

Perhaps they’ve made their mark working with a voluntary organisation or through some other community activity, paid or unpaid.

If this sounds like someone you know, then now is the time to put them forward for a Mayor’s Award.

Nomination forms can be downloaded from www.rbkc.gov.uk/mayor or you can ask for a form to be posted to you by calling the Mayor’s Office on 0207 361 3659 or emailing mayor@rbkc.gov.uk

All nominations for awards in 2013-2014 must be submitted at latest by 20 January 2014.

Greener Living Guide is launched

The Greener Living Guide has now been released atwww.rbkc.gov.uk/greenerliving. You can also pick up a paper copy from any borough library, or by special request, from Monday 16 December (see below for more details). Packed full of tips and advice specifically tailored to Kensington and Chelsea residents, this guide will provide you with no-cost and low-cost measures to:

◦Save energy and water, and reduce your bills

◦Learn about energy efficiency and renewable energy options for your home

◦Choose environmentally sound materials

◦Reduce your household waste

◦Could improve your health, as unhealthy activities are often carbon intensive

◦Improve your garden and enhance biodiversity, plus much, much more.

If you’d like to get your hands on a FREE paper copy of the guide then just drop into any borough library and ask. The Climate Change Programme are really keen to send out paper copies to associations, so if you would like to request a batch to pass to other members of your association or to hand out at your next committee meeting, email environment@rbkc.gov.uk or call 020 7361 3001.

Merry Christmas

The CATS  would like to take this opportunity to wish all residents, councillors   and other residents associations in RBKC a very Merry Christmas. Warm Seasons greeting to all Affinty Sutton staff both on and offsite.

Cats Christmas Cards

A big thank you to Chris Steadman of Maylands House, who painted a lovely Christmas Scene of Chelsea Green, and The Sutton Estate overlooking Cale and Elystan Street. The reaction to the painting and the card from Stephen Evans of Renaissance Films was ,' it was beautiful and it reminded him of  'Lowry '. Thank you Chris for your invaluable contribution.

Saatchi Galley

Our art workshops next year will begin on Sunday February the 9th in  the afternoon in The education room at The Saatchi Gallery. We have a new , but experienced Artist, Lilia Pegado, who will be leading the groups. The classes are free. There are 12 places for the adult group and 12 for the under 16s.

Christmas Cards

A big thank you to The First Minister for Scotland - Alex Salmond and his  wife Moira, also to The Rt Hon Douglas Wilson and Mrs Elaine Brand, The Lord and Lady Provost of Edinburgh, for their Christmas Best Wishes, to all on the Sutton Estate.

Redevelopment Meeting Tuesday 3rd December 7 til 9 pm

Councillor Emma Dent Coad will be our guest speaker Tommorrow evening in J and K Lounge starting at 7pm. This is for all residents and Tenants on the Sutton Estate - Chelsea. This is your opportunity to let the committee  know what you feel about the redevelopment. Affinty Sutton have informed the Committee they will be applying for planning next year. Look forward to seeing you all there - tea and Coffee will be provided.

St Lukes Hall Tonight - Postponed

Our meeting at St Lukes Hall has been postponed until Tuesday 3rd of December at 7pm. Due to the elongated voting in the Run up to The AGM , we ran out of time. I do apologise if anyone has been inconvienced.

Royal Horticultural Society - Cats

The Royal Horticultural Society have donated 1,000 Crocus Bulbs to our Gardening project. Abig thank you to them. This is the first support The Sutton Estate in Chelsea has had from the Rhs in 100 years, long may it continue and a big thank you to the RHS in their Centenary Year

AGM - Tonight

Its our AGM tonight in the J and K Communal Lounge. New Committee members will be announced and a year round up.

SE Marshall and Company

A big thank you to SE Marshall and Company who have donated some seeds to our Gardening Project, www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk -

Sunken Garden

I spoke with Earle from Affinty Sutton. He is expecting to hear from  ' Groundforce ' next week. This is the Environmental Charity who will be assisting on the project

William Wiberforce Trust

A big thank you to The William Wilberforce Trust , who have donated and will deliver some garden furniture for our sunken garden. Brilliant

London Housing Design Guide-Possible Redevelopment Room Sizes

These are the recommended room sizes for new builds for London

1 Bed - 2 person 50 sqm
2 bed 3 persons 61 sqm
2 bed 4 persons 70 sqm.

Minimum Width in the main sitting area
2 person 23 Sqm
3 person 25 sqm
4 person 27 sqm
5 person 29 sqm

Minimum Area for a :
Single Bedroom : 8 sqm
Double Bedroom 12sqm

Or you can look at the London Housing Design Guide.

http://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Interim%20London%20Housing%20Design%20Guide.pdf

I would expect the redevelopment drawings are based on these sizes, but as we have not being shown detailed drawings , we can only make an assumption.

Ideas for the Sunken Garden

Ideas from Residents and Committee for the Sunken Garden

Night Lighting - movement sensitive lights.

Benches

Raised beds - for vegetables. accessible to wheelchair users

Small childrens growing section.

Some Grass.

Bird Boxes, Bird Tables , Bird Baths

Water Feature.

Trees and plant need pruning. Beds cleaned.

Fruit trees

More Colour - roses, fuscia, dahlia,peonies

Handrails on steps

Nature Board, tree and plant labelling - education

shed-

Bust of William Sutton - Estate Information board.

Potholes - need to be fixed.

Benches painted in pastel colours. also some railing.

Trellis on interior and exterior fencing.

Tree Decoration - Yearly competiton

Each block to have a growing area.

Tools - storage- forks - spades etc

Water Butts - access to a tap- rainwater harvesting

Security

Compost heap

Bins.

Working table

Bee hive

Hanging baskets

Can the RHS give us advice on what plants , fruit , trees shrubs to plant. The area doesnt gey a lot of light.

Sandbox..

Suggested Uses.

Christmas Carols - Art exhibiton - Growing ,Planting - childrens and mum gardening lessons, summer tea parties.

Additonall Bodies to be approached .

Police, RSPB, Beekeepers

Estate Signs

A number of residents have commented on the positioning of signs on the estate. Natalie Down from Affinity Sutton will be walking around the estate with Jean Keal our Treasurer to try and resolve these issues

Gardening Project

We met with Groundworkers- the Environmental Charity in The Sunken Garden. The will be Re -building Benches, building raised beds,and so forth. We have already had two Bird boxes donated by Larry Bruce- Thanks Larry. Chris McTavish has purchased mini bee hives for the tree. We have asked the London Orchard Projetc for some fruit trees. The project is taking pace- keep watching

Get Well Soon

We heard at The Rap that Jamie Roumph has Broken his leg. Get well soon from all at Cats and Residents on the Sutton Estate Chelsea

Resident Area Panel ( RAP)

There is a Resident Area Panel Meeting in in The Communal Lounge in Kingsmill and Jenningsbury House. Start 6.30 pm

Sunken Garden - Volunteers View

Shame we didn't start a few months earlier... have seen a few offers in the evening standard for bulbs but thought maybe too late to plant them by the time we got going so did not buy any.

Also about tables, in Canada we used to pick up the wooden cable holders left by cable companies etc. They have mnay different sizes.  I am sure some companies here might give us a few. They make good picnic tables and already have a hole in the centre if you wanted to put a cover just need a small adjustment.

Also bought a box at the design festival with 3 lone bee houses... lone bees to not produce honey but they pollenate plants. You just attach them to side of a building or a tree. They were a bit expensive but could make others just out of wood and also some bird houses.

I have also purchased ( made a donation) a bee saving kit form 'Friends of the Earth. Thye have a bee saving campaign on now ... they send you wildfllower seeds that attract bees, a bee guide , bee id and a garden planter. We just need to get the seeds in by the end of October.

This years Panto- Cinderella

This years Panto is at The Beck Theatre on Saturday the 4th of January 2014. Is a Matinee performance . Tickets £10 Adult £5 for Kids - includes Coach to and from The Venue

Calling All Sunken Garderners

Next Monday - 21st October- http://www.groundwork.org.uk/  are coming to the estate at 4 pm to give us some advice and help on what we need to do with the Sunken Garden, if all Volunteers can attend that would be great.

Emma Dent Coads Blog

http://emmadentcoad.blogspot.co.uk/

This is quite an intersting Blog for residents

Residents Redevelopment Meeting - Update

Cats will be inviting all Sutton Estate Residents to a meeting at St Lukes'  Church Hall on Wednesday the 20th of November from  7 -9PM . This is your opportunity to discuss the forthcoming redevelopment and let the Committee know what you think. As we have said before Affinity Sutton have informed the Committee that they intend to submit a planning application in May to knock down the majority of the Estate - not Leverstock and Maylands, and replace it with a new build, consisting of private and Social Housing homes.

AGM - NOMINATION AND VOTING

The Cats AGM will take place in The Sheltered Housing Area on Thursday 14th of November at 7pm.
Nomination form will be going out over the next few weeks , so if you would like to be considered for any of the postions, either as an officer or Committee Member, then now is your chance. If you have not applied to the Committee before you will need 2 people from the Estate to nominate you. Once we have these forms in - we will then send out Voting Forms. The Voting will take place , before the AGM itself so we can announce the result on the night of the AGM.

Sunken Garden

The Sunken Garden is being Jetwashed today and the tree pruners are coming tommorrow. Just to remind all residents that we are looking for Volunteers who wish to take part in being involved in our Community Garden, Once Affinity Sutton have done the majority of the Cleaning - its up to the residents to plant, maintain and care for the Garden. If you haven't already signed up please let us know. After years of neglect , we have a real opportunity to take ownership of this space for all .

Cats Christmas Newsletter

The Cats Christmas Newsletter is now accepting submissions from any residents on The Chelsea Estate who wish to Contribute - email,phone or postbox

Kensington and Chelsea Today

View it in your browser.

October; Season of mists and mellow rays of sun, The trees are in their golden beauty, Autumn has begun Kensington and Chelsea Today has got another edition under way. Please click here to download our digital edition: http://www.kensingtonandchelseatoday.co.uk/documents/z8vh9rb5r9/ October issue presents: The Albert Hall in all its regalia to the Royal Academy celebrating Australia. Photography as well as Horology and a review of the pervert’s guide to Ideology! From Route 66 to alleviate the mundane; to a history of Architecture and bubbly champagne. Secs. Change at the Chelsea Arts club and Cryptic Crosswords by the Wolfe cub. (Club secretary hand-over from Dudley Winterbottom after 35 years and our Wolfe Crossword compiler is re-covering nicely!). There’s a page on street fashion revealing latest trends and plenty of events that can be enjoyed for pennies or cents. If you have an event you would like us to list or an opening to attend or news to publish or an advertisement to print we are keen to hear about anything and everything that may be of interest to our readers. We are now in 13 Waitrose Supermarkets, Waterstones, Peter Jones, Partridges, Chelsea Physic Garden, Chelsea Arts Club, Sainsbury's, Hospitals, Libraries, Local Businesses and many more locations in the Borough and beyond. For more info and to get a subscription contact us on: news@kensingtonandchelseatoday.co.uk Kensington and Chelsea Today is here to stay: to Have, to Hold and to Read. Until the next time. From all of us, the team, at Kensington and Chelsea Today, thank you for reading.

Friends of Holland Park

FRIENDS OF HOLLAND PARK AUTUMN EVENT

METROPOLITAN POLICE HORSES

Highwaymen to Football Crowds

Talk by Inspector Danny Butler

7.00 pm Thursday 24 October, The Orangery, Holland Park

Tickets are £12 and s.a.e. including wine and Janice Miles’ delicious canapés from Rhoddy Wood, 21 Kenton Court, 356 Kensington High Street or contact on 020 7602 0304 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 020 7602 0304 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting orrhoddy.wood@virgin.net

The Mounted Police, formed in 1760, is the oldest part of the Metropolitan Police, but duties and training have changed enormously in 250 years.

Our speaker, Inspector Danny Butler of the Hammersmith Division, has experience in many aspects of what is involved in making sure these wonderful horses help to keep our borough safe. From training at Imber Court to deployment of the animals on active duty, Inspector Butler has plenty of tales to tell and will be very happy to answer your questions. He has also worked as part of the Notting Hill team, so knows Holland Park well and confirms that both horses and police love their rides through our park.

Estate Redevelopment - Planning

Lis Louis and Natalie Down from Affinity Sutton addressed the Committee and let us know that Affinity Sutton will be appling for Planning permission in May and would look to start the Development after that. There will be an informative evening held by Affinty Sutton. There will also be  a meeting held by Cats to Judge residents feeling about the Development.

Sunken Garden

Affinity Sutton have very kindly thrown themselves behind The Cats plans to re open the sunken garden and make it a useful area to all resident. They have put £1,000 towards the replanting of the area. Many thanks from all The Chelsea Sutton Estate Residents

Estate Redevelopment

Affinity Sutton are sending two representatives to address the Committee this evening we will report back in due course

Sunken Garden - Regeneration

I passed all the comments on from our Sunken Garden coffee morning to AS and The RHS. I met today with Earle Newman of Affinity Sutton. We looked at the Garden and Earle and AS are supportive of what we are trying to do. Intially we have asked to get the area cleaned up and safe. We are then going to get the benches repaired, pot holes fixed and some trees pruned, some raised beds  made for Veg planting and additonal lighting.We have intially spoken about leaving the fencing up , but covered in trellis ,intially to see what the reaction is , and then if we feel confident in the future about vanadalism not taking place ,they would be removed. The important thing is to get the space in a safe and workable environment so the residents can reclaim the space for their community.

Builders - Mayland and Leverstock

Some residents ahve noticed hairline crackws in their walls. This may or may not be due to the  building works on the shops and sheds. The reports are coming from Maylands and Leverstock. I f anybody is experiencing this problem please let Osbourne know onn 0300 100 0303. The councils building team know about this and will be visting the estate soon. If you let the committee know if you have this issue then they can come and have a look.

Affinity Sutton - Mobile Website

new online service for residents Residents can now access our services on the go using their mobile or tablet. They can now do all this… Report a neighbourhood issue View their rent account online Use our benefits budgeting calculator Watch videos packed with useful tips and info Search and apply for homes Get the latest news and updates … on their mobile!

Win a £50 Amazon voucher! Our digital dinosaur, Webster, is lurking on one of the pages on our new mobile site. If you find him,let us know which page he is on by 4/10/13 and be in with a chance of winning a £50 Amazon voucher!

Visit today!

Sunken Garden - Rackham Construction

Affinty  Sutton very kindly asked if Rackham could use the Sunken Garden for Training involving a lightweight tower from 9 - 4. on the  25/09/13. This will not affect our gardening project.

Victoria and Albert Museum - Free Tours

A series of FREE tours, open to all, have been planned for Thursday lunchtime, and highlight Africa and the Black Diaspora within the V&A museum.  These tours present rare opportunities to explore objects, sometimes more than once, that go unnoticed, often because they are not relevant to our personal history or heritage or we are simply not interested.  Occasionally, however if the hidden is introduced to us, their stories have such an impact regardless of background, culture or status, that we remember and embrace them and make them our own.  Join us for the first of three tours that we hope will leave you with much to think about:



Searching the Hidden Caribbean
DATE: Thursday 19 September

TIME: 13.00 - 14.15 (75 min)

WHERE: Meeting Point, Grand Entrance, V&A Museum

ADDRESS: The Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, SW7 2RL

Enjoy a tour of some of the V&A's Caribbean objects hidden amongst, arguably, the most outstanding art and design collection in the world. Meet a scholar and a collector of fine art who both made their income on the back of slave trading.  Look out for a house servant, a hair grooming kit and a warrior. Discover Nat Gaynes and the suit worn by London's first Black headteacher, and try to decipher the slogans ‘The Mighty Tamaroo’ and ‘King Peace the Great'. Led by Avril Horsford, Cultural and Academic Consultant.

The tour is FREE but places are limited to a maximum of 25 visitors on a first come first served basis


Click to view on-line information

http://www.vam.ac.uk/whatson/event/2892/searching-the-hidden-caribbean-4263/





Other tours in the series are:

Dates may be subject to change - please check the V&A website before planning your journey



Africans in Medieval & Renaissance Art -
led by Michael Ohajuru on Thursday 24 October


Underground & Overground: minding the gap in the V&A collections of various images of Black representation -
led by Rovianne Matovu on Thursday 20 February 2014

Gardening Project - Sunken Garden Coffee Morning

Thanks to everyone who turned up to the Sunken Garden Coffee Morning. It was a good turnout considering the Weather. Well done to Dorinda Montgomery and Jeal Keal who organized free coffee from McDonald, thank you, and Jean Keal, who arranged for the Garden to be opened for the morning. People really enjoyed the space and lots of great ideas came pouring out, from Tree Decorating, to Raised Beds, Facilities for Birds, Benches, Growing Veg. Bee Hives It was generally  agreed that we need to see more colour and make the Garden ours again.We can make this a focal point for our estate, and in regeneration the gardens and other areas of the estate, we so regenerate our community. A list of everything has been sent to Affinity Sutton and The Royal Horticultural Society. It was also felt we shoul try and involve the RSPB, The Police and some BEE people.The is a lot of excitement and expectation with this project. If you want to join in , please email, call or send a letter to the Cats postbox.

Prudential Ride London

Good afternoon,

2014 Dates for Prudential RideLondon

Next year’s Prudential RideLondon festival of cycling will take place on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 August 2014.

The exact routes for the 2014 events will be confirmed later this year after the post-event evaluation of this year’s event.

The Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 will take place on Sunday 10 August 2014. 

Stay up to date

Our Event HQ e-newsletter is the fastest way to stay in touch with all the latest news and announcements regarding the event. Sign up here.

You can also find updates at Facebook.com/RideLondon and on Twitter @RideLondon 

Take Part

If you wish to take part, or know somebody in your community that would like to participate, the online registration system for the ballot entry place is still open.

To apply for a place in the 2014 Prudential RideLondon-Surrey, visitwww.PrudentialRideLondon.co.uk

The registration system will remain open until 6 January 2014 or until 80,000 registrations have been received; whichever is the earlier. 

Yours sincerely,

James Taylor | Community Engagement Manager | Prudential RideLondon |www.PrudentialRideLondon.co.uk

Tel: 0207 902 0200 ext. 203 | jamest@ridelondon.co.uk
London & Surrey Cycling Partnership | 115 Southwark Street | London | SE1 0JF | United Kingdom

Parking -Letter from Affinity Sutton to the Committee

Dear Committee

 

I’m sorry that you haven’t heard back from us recently about your complaint about the parking on the Chelsea Estate.

 

One of the difficulties was that we don’t have clear guidance on how groups of tenants can raise complaints. But we should have kept you informed about things as we went along and I’m sorry that we didn’t. I’ve also raised it as something to look at for our complaints service task team. Hopefully we can update our guidance so that resident groups can get clearer guidance on how to escalate concerns in the future.

 

I know that you were upset because you felt we should involve residents more in choosing a parking provider and also that we should have clear ways to manage our parking contracts and change them if needed. We agree with you on this, and this is why we are currently managing a London-wide parking procurement review.

 

I’ve spoken to Ian Henderson recently because we are both working on the project group of the procurement review. It’s been very helpful for us to have residents on the project group and we would like to get more resident input by sending out a survey form. We are also asking for residents to let us know if they would like to be involved in helping choose the parking provider when we get to that stage.

 

I’ve attached a copy of the survey form we’re sending out to Chelsea tenants this week. It’s really important that people feed back on this, so we can understand what the challenges are on your estate. We want to put in place a consistent service but if there are things locally that need to be specific for Chelsea, we need to get feedback from residents about these. I hope you will feed back and tell others on your estate to as well.

 

I’m sorry that it’s taken a while but I hope this shows that we are working to resolve the issues you highlighted. I hope you accept my apology. I look forward to working with Ian as a representative of CATs on the project going forward.

 

If you have any questions about the survey please contact Marie on 0300 100 0303.

 

Yours sincerely

Hester Steedman Thake

Gardening Project - Sunken Garden

We have been in discussions with The Royal Horticultural Society and Affinity Sutton regarding The condition and restricted access to the sunken garden, and the general demeanor of The Estate. They have agreed to work with on a Gardening project which will see the Sunken Garden Opened again. We have also requested that other areas of the estate could do with some flowers, planting etc. Cats are having Coffee and Buscuits in The Sheltered Housing area on Saturday 14th September , 10am to 11am. This is so we can get your ideas about what you would like to see and plant. We are looking for people who actively want to be involved as volunteers.

Tea and Scones in The Garden

On Saturday the 6th of September  -in the Garden in between Kingsmill and Jenningsbury houses. There will be Free Tea and Scones. This is an opportunity to meet your neighbours and have a chat

Brighton Trip

A big thank you to Jean Keal who organised and rode ' shotgun ' for the trip to Brighton. Cats hope that everyone enjoyed themselves.

Estate Office Opening - Not Open

We have received a number of calls from residents' upset that the estate office has not been open for the last 4 thursdays.

We will be writing to Affinity Sutton to find out why this is and also to raise concerns.

Estate Parking Tickets

If you need a Visitor or Estate Parking Permit please call 0845 556 2222.
You need to give the number of your car , day and dates you want the parking space for.

Car Parking Procurement Project

I attended a meeting today on The Estate in Chelsea. The Project is there to find someone suitable to run the parking for Affinity Sutton . Its at an early stage, more details will follow over the coming months. The project hopes to have everything in place by January 2014. As part of the process Affinity Sutton will be sending out a survey, asking for your Comments and Opinions. Its essential that we get as many of these back as possible, as we want to make sure we have a parking system in place that reflects the needs of tenants.

Waste Collection - Early Start

Please be advised that the Council has agreed that SITA can start waste collections at 6am(time of leaving the yard) instead of 6.30am for the next few days. This is mainly because some of the vehicles are overheating and breaking down (one vehicle had five breakdowns yesterday). This arrangement will then be reviewed at the weekend.

We ask that you please bear with us during this period of hot weather but in the event that you should have any queries please contact Streetline on 020 7361 3001 orstreetline@rbkc.gov.uk

A Resident Remembers

I read the piece in the Sloane Square magazine with interest and have just one key major correction to the comment on p42 that “It was the first housing estate to have baths,” explains Ian.  “They were in the kitchens. It was a little tin bath and it had a wooden flap.  Some residents still remember them .....”.   What an understatement!  I clearly remember that the bath was a heavy cast metal

(? iron) affair and was the size of a standard bath today.  The hinged flap was a large table work top which extended the full length of the bath (roughly 6x3ft) and protruded slightly to the side facing out to the kitchen.  To the left of the bath/table top would have been the sink and a draining board, giving the length of the kitchen as some 8-9ft.  From there, you went through a door onto the open balcony area where, on one side , there was a toilet and, on the other, a coal cellar and a larder with a mesh grill directly above where the coal would be shovelled.  No refrigerators in those days. ‘Elf and safety - never heard of it! Rumour had it that some residents actually stored their extra coal in the bath if they were not fortunate in renting a shed!

 

On the opposite side of the room to the bath was, at one end, a boiler for hot water which was heated from a fire range stove in the adjoining front room, cupboard space and a gas cooker on four legs.  To fill the bath, you had to manually transfer the hot water from one side of the kitchen to the other - no pipes and taps.  The transfer was done via a largish scoop with numerous trips carrying hot water from one side of the room to the other.  Inevitably, this meant that you bathed in just about the minimum amount of water possible to be able to wet your legs and get a good wash down.  One of the greatest luxuries available to us was a visit to the Chelsea Baths – now the Sports Centre – where they had a number of normal baths and you could luxuriate, very cheaply, in a bath with as much hot water as you liked.  Pure bliss!

 

Heating was provided by the a coal fired ‘range’ in the front room which, during the winter, could be used to cook all meals as it had a large area for cooking pans, its own oven and the above-mentioned boiler linked to the kitchen.   For additional heating, there was an individual grate in each bedroom, fired by coal.  These were very rarely used – mainly when in bed sick during the wintertime.   Lighting to the flat was by gaslight, paraffin oil lamps and candles until shortly after the Word War II ended when electricitywas introduced.

 

How ever did we survive in those days prior to modernisation during the late ‘seventies and early ‘eighties via complete reorganisation of the layout of individual flats to encompass proper bathrooms, central heating and the introduction of entry-phones and lifts, where feasible????  We must have been a hardy lot.

 

David Lloyd

CAR PARKING PERMIT PROCUREMENT TEAM

I have been asked by Affinity Sutton to take part in ' The Car Parking Permit  Procurement Team '. I shall report back with my findings after the meeting on the 18th of July

ROYAL MAIL - REPLY

Dear Mr Henderson

 

Thank you for contacting Royal Mail.

 

I'm sorry to hear about residents in your area receiving mail for other addresses and I can understand that this would cause some concern.

 

Of the huge volumes of letters and packets we handle, very few encounter a problem along their way - but we take every single failure seriously, so I'm sorry that you've had cause to contact us.

 

I fully appreciate the risk to the security of your mail if our postmen and women do not deliver mail to the right address - and the obvious inconvenience this can cause. It's important that our customers have confidence in us to always deliver their mail securely and to a high standard, so I apologise again that we have let you down.

 

To deal with this problem, and based on the information you've provided, I have been able to take the following action:

 

• Logged and reported the full details of your complaint

• Passed these details to the manager of the Delivery Office.

 

The Delivery Office Manager has advised that TNT also deliver mail in this area but as a precaution in case these are items delivered by Royal Mail; he has put quality checks in place to ensure mail is delivered correctly.

 

I would have to advise that you inform the individuals who have contacted you to check the markings on any mail which they receive incorrectly. The envelopes will be clearly marked as delivered by Royal Mail or they will have TNT in bold letters. For items incorrectly delivered by Royal Mail it would be advisable for the individual to contact us themselves, providing us with the address of the incorrectly delivered mail and the date it was delivered. This information would assist the Delivery Manager in his investigations.

 

Once again, please accept my sincere apologies on behalf of Royal Mail for the problem you've had, and our thanks for taking the time to make us aware of this. Please be assured that we take letting our customers down seriously and will use this information to make further improvements.

 

I hope you have found this information useful and that this explanation resolves your enquiry and concludes this matter for you. However if you are unhappy with my response you can contact the Escalated Customer Resolution Team who will re-investigate your complaint. They can be contacted by emailing: customerresolution@your.royalmail.com. Alternatively you can write to: Escalated Customer Resolution Team, Royal Mail, PO Box 466, Plymouth, PL9 7HJ. If you do contact the team please can I ask you to quote your reference number 1-2552386569.

 

Regards

 

Denise Dickinson

Customer Service Advisor

 

Sloane Square Magazine - Sutton Estate Chelsea

http://content.yudu.com/A27iye/sloanesqjun13/

Follow the link for a lovely piece on the estate - pages 42 -44

SUMMER TRIP TO BRIGHTON

The annual Cats summer Trip is on Saturday The 17th of August . Tickets £5 for all Sutton Residents £10 non residents. Coach leaves Cale Street 9pm, Returns 6pm from Brighton Seafront, Tickets on sale from Jean Keal above estate office 10 am to 12 pm  (2 hours) every thursday until sold out , or via cats email, telephone number or postbox, all contact details of which are on this website. However if you are still having difficulty purchasing your tickets please call Jean Keal on 0207 589 8849 , if she is not there leave you name and number and she will arrange a suitable time for you to collect you tickets.

Royal Mail Delivering to Incorrect Houses

A number of Residents informed Cats  in writing ( by hand), that mail that was correctly addressed, was being delivered to the wrong flats. We have been in touch with Royal Mail and The Communication Workers Union who are endevouring to iron out the problem

Summer Newsletter

We will be producing our Summer newletter in approx 4 weeks time. All homes on the estate are included, Smart Hotels as well, The Shops on Chelsea Green, as well as St Lukes, Astell and Godfrey Street. If anybody feels they have anything they would like to Contribute then please contact Cats, byemail, by Postbox or Mobile.

Estate Repairs

Cats Committee members will again be meeting with Affinity Sutton to discuss on going repairs on the Estate. We will report back.

Kensington Palace

Cats have been invited to Kensington Palace as part of a Community Initiative. We will report back with our findings.

ASTELL ST RESIDENTs ASSOCIATION- Supporting Cats and the Sutton Estate

Cats were asked to speak at the AGM of The Astell Street Residents Association last night. We were very well received and received tremendous support from the floor.  The Chair of Kracka was their as well. A £1,000 pledge was made by the floor to The Cats for Legal advice pertaining to the estate redevelopment.

Get Well Dot Munday

We here that Dot Munday Chair of Raps is unwell. Cats Treasurer Jean Keal visted Dot in Hospital with Best Wishes from all at Cats  and The Residents of the Sutton Estate Chelsea.

AFFINITY SUTTON - WILMOTT DIXON

The committee had an estate walk around today with Affinty Sutton - WD Joint venture. We pointed out numerous repairs that were still outstanding, everything from Communal Doors, locks, Damp, Drains, Scaffolding. They are will be reporting back to us next week with a timetable for these repairs to finally be done. We have been promised the main pillars will finally be fixed - after 8 years, at the end of the month

V and A - George Landow

George Landow and his wife have arrived from the US. He is looking forward to his lecture about the Sutton Estate, you may see George around the estate over the next week . Please say hello and make him feel welcome.

CATS POSTBOX

The Cats Postbox is finally up. Its to the right of the Estate Office.

REDEVELOPMENT UPDATE

Affinity Sutton are having an update on the estate Redevelopment in The Sheltered Housing Block on Thursday The 11th of April 3 until 7. You should have all received something through your door.

DR's COMPLAINT

The Committee received a letter about The Conduct of one of the Dr's from Dr Maini's Surgery on Sydney Street . It has been alleged that the Dr in Question left a resident unattended, ' crawling at the couch'. The committee deemed this totally unacceptable. We are writing to The Royal College of Physicians to complain about this derisory treatment. If any resident have any information on the conduct about any of the doctors from that Surgery please let us  know.

NEW LOOK NEWSLETTER

Our 'New Look ' Newsletter will be delivered next weekend . We hope this helps to engage with those of you who prefer ' paper'. We are attempting to communicate with all of our residents and we hope this appeals to those of you who do not have access to a computer, which if that is the case , you won't be able to read this message.

SUTTON ESTATE - POLICING

I have been asked by the Police to attend The Ward Panel meeting in April in my capacity as Chair of The Sutton Estate , i shall report back in due course .

AFFINITY SUTTON REGIONAL SCRUTINY BOARD

I attended the above event as the new representative for London and the East. Many  things were discussed including Repairs - Wilmott Dixon , Welfare Benefits. I shall report to the RAP on the meeting. Other issues such as Estate redevelopment were discussed -  (off the agenda) , and i should be happy to discuss these with residents at our event at St Luke's on the 20th

CATS Community Conversation

Cats are hosting a Community Conversation in St Lukes Church Hall on Wednesday The 20th of March at 7pm until 9 . This will be an opportunity for all residents of the Sutton Estate to meet the Committee and find out what we have achieved on your behalf in the first half of the year, and for you to let us know if we are moving in the right direction. We will be signing people up for our Art Course in Association with the Saatchi Gallery, this is a 6 week , 'free' course, which will be run by the Cats resident Artist Ali Hulme. We will also be publishing our new look newletter, to communicate better with those of you who are not particularly computer literate.

CATS Brooch

CATS info launch the sale of Brooch. Purchase this delightful brooch to help your local tenants association.

Chelsea Association of Tenants Brooch.
Click the PayPal button below to purchase
this item for £3.00

WE WILL ROCK YOU

Hadji Mohajer won the prize in our Christmas Raffle of 4 premium seats, to the West End Hit Musical, 'We will Rock You '. Hadji had a fantastic time and wanted to thank Cats for all their hard work in getting a fantastic prize. Cats would like to take this opportunity to thank Phil McIntyre Entertainments  for their support and donation of such a fantastic prize. Thank You Phil !

COMMITTEE MEETING

The Cats will be meeting this Thursday at 7pm. If any Residents have any issues they would like raised, then please , approach a committee member, email us, committee@catsinfo.co.uk, or telephone the cats number which is on the website.

Joe Phillips - Sutton Estate - I am part of Chelsea

 

 



SAATCHI GALLERY

Following on from our successful ' Community Conversation' , The Chair, Secretary , Ali Hulme our Artist had a  follow up meeting today at The Saatchi Gallery . We will be having a 6 week course at The Saatchi Gallery. This will culminate is an exhibition at The Gallery. More details to follow

VISITOR PARKING

I have been informed by Jamie Roumph that there are no changes to the parking system as they are reviewing the parking system across London. Visitor Permits can be obtained from Marie at the Estate Office.. or.. "If Marie is not available Residents need to call Nighthawk and provide the details so that its logged on to their system and the visitors car should not be issued with a ticket"
This is Jamie's advice and not that of CATS who do not wish to deal with Nighthawk. So getting hold of Marie is, and always was the best option for Visitor Parking

PARKING

The Committee are having a Level 2 complaint with Affinty Sutton on the 1st of February at 1.30 pm in Bromley. The Chair and the Secretary will be attending this on behalf of all Chelsea Estate Residents. The outcome of the complaint will be given to  us 10 days after the hearing. We shall keep you informed in due course.

Estate Maintenenance

On Friday 1st February at 10.30am.

There is an estate inspection being carried out by Affinity Sutton and any tenant is welcome to walk around the estate with Marie.

I'll be going myself and if you have any concerns but are unable to attend please send an e-mail to CATS and we'll raise your concerns with the estate management.

COMMUNITY CONVERSATION

Last night Cats hosted a Community Conversation Event at St Lukes Church Hall. The purpose of the Evening was to meet other residents and Associations in the area and introduce ourselves to them and they to us. The Chelsea Society, St Lukes Residents Association , The Physic Garden Residents Association, Sheila Taylor from North Kensington and may more. Thank you to Councillor Mary Weale for supporting us and giving us her time. Thank you to our Artist Ali Hume, who's photograpic exhibition was well received by all including, Fran from the Saatchi Gallery. Thank You to Dan Taylor from RBKC Community Involvement Team, we hope to progress our, ' i'm a part of Chelsea ' , Social History project. Thank you to Alexander Thirlby and his team from Techical Security for their continued advice and support. A thankyou also goes to Brian Leathard and Alissa from St Lukes Church for their support. There were a lot of positve to come out of the evening , we shall all be learning about these in the weeks and months to come.

LAUNDRY OUTLET

The Commercial team from AS have informed us that they have spoken to Chelsea Green Valet , and have been informed by them, that they (Chelsea Green Valet) have liased with Environmental Health and they can confirm that all works , including 2 silencers and a box to collect all the lint will be completed by the end of January.
The delay is because all the silencers are being manufactured specifically for them