Monday 31 March 2014

Chelsea Art Collective - Saturday Night - Inspiring and Uplifting

Great response again on Saturday Night from The Audience. Around 80 People turned up for The show the vast majority this time from the Borough not just the estate. Its amazing the work that being produced on such a small budget. This is no small part to Donald Huterea and Lilia Pegado - Well Done for bringing our Community Together is such a positive , inspiring and uplifting way

Friday 28 March 2014

Rentez Vouz - Sustainable Clothing

Rentez Vouz won an award last night for a new Category - Sustainable Clothing - you basically rent designer clothes from an individual via the website -
http://www.rentez-vous.com/en/how-does-it-work



Mansion House - The Lord Mayor of The City of London - Sustainable City Awards

I  was a guest of The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of The City of London, Alderman Fiona Woolf CBE @ The Sustainable City Awards at The Mansion House. I was discussing our Sunken Garden project with Sir Anthony Cleaver . He pointed out that our recycling of wood in our Bird Boxes was a perfect example of Sustainability - albeit a small one. Every little helps -! Keep up the good work gardeners and lets make our garden as sustainable as possible

CATS (Chelsea Association of Tenants) presents CHELSEA ARTS COLLECTIVE (CAC)




CATS (Chelsea Association of Tenants) presents CHELSEA ARTS COLLECTIVE (CAC)
 Please come along to these exciting performances!
CAC is a new grassroots initiative by painter Lilia Pegado http://www.liliapegado.com and arts journalist/curator Donald Hutera (The Times, etc) donaldhutera@yahoo.com
Future performances:
March 29 features ballet/contemporary dance from Avatata Ayuso and Alex Fuchsmann; ‘action-theatre’ and dance from Sarah Kent and Yong Min Cho; the flamboyant and classically-trained Kali Chandrasegaram; stand-up and song from Rambert-schooled dancer Ishimwa Muhimanyi; a darkly lyrical solo by actor-dancer Vanio Papadelli; and a solo ballet improvisation with chat from Jennifer Jackson.
April 12: London-based dance company Corali in a poetically playful, immersive piece centred round dreams; Simon Rice's troupe of mature ballet dancers Sage; the lanky-lovely young soloist Hayley Barker; a freshly-made piece by contemporary dancer Jia-Yu Corti; and more!

Details: Doors open 7.45pm. Show time 8pmish. Suitable for ages 12+. All performances are FREE but your donations are gratefully received and will help us to continue to operate and pay the artists. Please talk to them – and us – about your experience tonight. THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE!

CAC has been funded by City Living, Local Life / Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Please Forward to interested parties and print out the poster to pop on your door! Many Thanks

Please Come and Join in the Gardening fun


 On the Following Saturdays:
29th March Digging and Mulching from 1pm - 4pm
5th April Digging and Mulching 1pm - 4pm
12th April Mowing and planting 1pm - 4pm
19th April Planting and Easter egg Hunt Event from 2pm - 4pm This Estate will be planting Sunflowers in The RHS Growing for Gold, the 50th anniversary celebration of RHS Britain in Bloom. Please  forward to anyone who would like to come and print out a couple of copies of the poster and stick it on your door! Many Thanks! Dorinda!

Thursday 27 March 2014

Chelsea Art Collective Show ; details and directions - 7.45 This Saturday 29th March - FREE ENTRY


St Luke’s Hall, SW3 3RP
More info and directions: www.chelseaparish.org/stlukeshall.htm

CATS (Chelsea Association of Tenants) presents CHELSEA ARTS COLLECTIVE (CAC)
CAC is a new grassroots initiative by painter Lilia Pegado http://www.liliapegado.com and arts journalist/curator Donald Hutera (The Times, etc) donaldhutera@yahoo.com
Welcome to St Luke’s Hall and tonight’s programme which comes to you on a lo-fi wing and a non-denominational prayer.
The bill (order not yet determined at press time) for March 29:
Alexander Fuchsmann and Avatâra Ayuso in Very Unlikely (work-in-progress), a dance duet between an old man and a young woman who share a passion for dance, for music, for life… info@avataraayuso.com and www.avataraayuso.com
Stopgap Dance Company’s Nadenh Poan in Bound For..., choreographed by Tomos Young
who also edited Max Richter’s Untitled (music) http://stopgap.uk.com/
Identity comes in many forms – religion, culture, country, colour, even song. In ishimoi, using comedy and original music, Ishimwa Muhimanyi looks at how we create an image of who we are and how we want people to see us. www.ishimoi.com
Devised by Sarah Kent skent235@btinternet.com in partnership with Yong Min Chohttp://www.ymcho.co.uk In Conversation is an oblique reflection on the relationship between two people of different ages, sexes, cultures and backgrounds, and with no common language. Plus Breathing, an improvised action theatre solo by Sarah Kent in which anything could happen – from dancing and singing to storytelling. Expect to be seduced by weird movements, oddball revelations and black humour.
With Old Time Dancing: the improbabilities of new ballet Jennifer Jackson of BIG Ballets (Ballet Independents’ Group) hopes to raise a laugh by asking, Can I be a feminist and a ballet dancer?jenjackson2@btinternet.com and
Kali Chandrasegaram is imposing, powerful, often flamboyant, classically-trained yet contemporary and unpredictable … www.kalidance.net
In The Air Changes the Colour of Things Here.... dancer-choreographer Vanio Papadelli (working with musician/composer Mike Picknett, technical assistance from Vasilis Gkiziakis and texts by Margarita Karapanou, Joseph Chaikin, Sam Shepard, Juan Rulfo and herself) conjures a darkly lyrical, intimate and enigmatic landscape that blends autobiography and fiction.  http://vanioka.ideastap.com/

 andvanio_ka@yahoo.gr

Future performances:
April 12: London-based dance company Corali in a poetically playful, immersive piece centred round dreams; Simon Rice's troupe of mature ballet dancers Sage; the lanky-lovely young soloist Hayley Barker; a freshly-made piece by contemporary dancer Jia-Yu Corti; and more!
CAC Details: Doors open 7.45pm. Show time 8pmish. Suitable for ages 12+. All performances are FREE but your donations are gratefully received and will help us to continue to operate and pay the artists. Please talk to them – and us – about your experience tonight. THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE!
CAC has been funded by City Living, Local Life / Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. We also gratefully acknowledge technical support from Chelsea Theatre.

Chelsea Arts Collective - Saturday 29th March - 7.45- Free Entry

Doors open 7.45
St Luke’s Hall, SW3 3RP 
More info and directions: www.chelseaparish.org/stlukeshall.htm

Wednesday 26 March 2014

CAC

CATS (Chelsea Association of Tenants) presents CHELSEA ARTS COLLECTIVE (CAC)
 
CAC is a new grassroots initiative by painter Lilia Pegado http://www.liliapegado.com and arts journalist/curator Donald Hutera (The Times, etc) donaldhutera@yahoo.com
 
Welcome to St Luke’s Hall and tonight’s programme which comes to you on a lo-fi wing and a non-denominational prayer.
 
The bill (order not yet determined at press time) for March 29:
 
Alexander Fuchsmann and Avatâra Ayuso in Very Unlikely (work-in-progress), a dance duet between an old man and a young woman who share a passion for dance, for music, for life… info@avataraayuso.com and www.avataraayuso.com
 
Stopgap Dance Company’s Nadenh Poan in Bound For..., choreographed by Tomos Young
who also edited Max Richter’s Untitled (music) http://stopgap.uk.com/
 
Identity comes in many forms – religion, culture, country, colour, even song. In ishimoi, using comedy and original music, Ishimwa Muhimanyi looks at how we create an image of who we are and how we want people to see us. www.ishimoi.com
 
Devised by Sarah Kent skent235@btinternet.com in partnership with Yong Min Chohttp://www.ymcho.co.uk In Conversation is an oblique reflection on the relationship between two people of different ages, sexes, cultures and backgrounds, and with no common language. Plus Breathing, an improvised action theatre solo by Sarah Kent in which anything could happen – from dancing and singing to storytelling. Expect to be seduced by weird movements, oddball revelations and black humour.
 
With Old Time Dancing: the improbabilities of new ballet Jennifer Jackson of BIG Ballets (Ballet Independents’ Group) hopes to raise a laugh by asking, Can I be a feminist and a ballet dancer?jenjackson2@btinternet.com and
 
Kali Chandrasegaram is imposing, powerful, often flamboyant, classically-trained yet contemporary and unpredictable … www.kalidance.net
 
In The Air Changes the Colour of Things Here.... dancer-choreographer Vanio Papadelli (working with musician/composer Mike Picknett, technical assistance from Vasilis Gkiziakis and texts by Margarita Karapanou, Joseph Chaikin, Sam Shepard, Juan Rulfo and herself) conjures a darkly lyrical, intimate and enigmatic landscape that blends autobiography and fiction.  http://vanioka.ideastap.com/
 
Future performances:
April 12: London-based dance company Corali in a poetically playful, immersive piece centred round dreams; Simon Rice's troupe of mature ballet dancers Sage; the lanky-lovely young soloist Hayley Barker; a freshly-made piece by contemporary dancer Jia-Yu Corti; and more!
 
CAC Details: Doors open 7.45pm. Show time 8pmish. Suitable for ages 12+. All performances are FREE but your donations are gratefully received and will help us to continue to operate and pay the artists. Please talk to them – and us – about your experience tonight. THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE!
 

CAC has been funded by City Living, Local Life / Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. We also gratefully acknowledge technical support from Chelsea Theatre.

Chelsea Arts Collective - This Saturday 29th March - FREE


St Luke’s Hall, SW3 3RP
More info and directions: www.chelseaparish.org/stlukeshall.htm

CATS (Chelsea Association of Tenants) presents CHELSEA ARTS COLLECTIVE (CAC)
CAC is a new grassroots initiative by painter Lilia Pegado http://www.liliapegado.com and arts journalist/curator Donald Hutera (The Times, etc) donaldhutera@yahoo.com
Welcome to St Luke’s Hall and tonight’s programme which comes to you on a lo-fi wing and a non-denominational prayer.
The bill (order not yet determined at press time) for March 29:
Alexander Fuchsmann and Avatâra Ayuso in Very Unlikely (work-in-progress), a dance duet between an old man and a young woman who share a passion for dance, for music, for life… info@avataraayuso.com and www.avataraayuso.com
Stopgap Dance Company’s Nadenh Poan in Bound For..., choreographed by Tomos Young
who also edited Max Richter’s Untitled (music) http://stopgap.uk.com/
Identity comes in many forms – religion, culture, country, colour, even song. In ishimoi, using comedy and original music, Ishimwa Muhimanyi looks at how we create an image of who we are and how we want people to see us. www.ishimoi.com
Devised by Sarah Kent skent235@btinternet.com in partnership with Yong Min Chohttp://www.ymcho.co.uk In Conversation is an oblique reflection on the relationship between two people of different ages, sexes, cultures and backgrounds, and with no common language. Plus Breathing, an improvised action theatre solo by Sarah Kent in which anything could happen – from dancing and singing to storytelling. Expect to be seduced by weird movements, oddball revelations and black humour.
With Old Time Dancing: the improbabilities of new ballet Jennifer Jackson of BIG Ballets (Ballet Independents’ Group) hopes to raise a laugh by asking, Can I be a feminist and a ballet dancer?jenjackson2@btinternet.com and
Kali Chandrasegaram is imposing, powerful, often flamboyant, classically-trained yet contemporary and unpredictable … www.kalidance.net
In The Air Changes the Colour of Things Here.... dancer-choreographer Vanio Papadelli (working with musician/composer Mike Picknett, technical assistance from Vasilis Gkiziakis and texts by Margarita Karapanou, Joseph Chaikin, Sam Shepard, Juan Rulfo and herself) conjures a darkly lyrical, intimate and enigmatic landscape that blends autobiography and fiction.  http://vanioka.ideastap.com/

Future performances:
April 12: London-based dance company Corali in a poetically playful, immersive piece centred round dreams; Simon Rice's troupe of mature ballet dancers Sage; the lanky-lovely young soloist Hayley Barker; a freshly-made piece by contemporary dancer Jia-Yu Corti; and more!
CAC Details: Doors open 7.45pm. Show time 8pmish. Suitable for ages 12+. All performances are FREE but your donations are gratefully received and will help us to continue to operate and pay the artists. Please talk to them – and us – about your experience tonight. THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE!
CAC has been funded by City Living, Local Life / Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. We also gratefully acknowledge technical support from Chelsea Theatre.

Growing for Gold


Click here to find out more
Dear Growing for Gold participants,

Thanks for signing up to Growing for Gold, the 50th anniversary celebration of RHS Britain in Bloom. We’ll be sending out your free sunflower seeds in early April, in time for your sowing events. Your seed packet will contain approximately 40 seeds, comprising roughly equal parts Helianthus annuus ‘Giant Single’; H. annuus ‘Taiyo’; H. annuus ‘Moonwalker’ and H. debilis ‘Vanilla Ice’.

We hope all groups will arrange a launch event between 14 – 20 April to coincide with UK-wide Growing for Gold celebrations.

Attract extra volunteersYou can now add your events to the National Gardening Week website, to help you to attract more volunteers and support for your activities. Just fill in the online form at:www.nationalgardeningweek.org.uk

Publicise your eventDon’t forget to publicise your Bloom launch activity too – we’ve developed a series of Bloom 50th poster templates (see support and resources) to help you do this and also a press release that you can amend and send out to your local media.

The RHS website also has advice about sowing your seeds and creating larger golden displays.

We hope you have lots of fun with your launch events. Please let us know how you get on and send us your photos so that we can share your stories with other groups via our newsletters. Send your feedback and photos to: communities@rhs.org.uk.

Best wishes,
RHS Community Horticulture

Monday 24 March 2014

Chelsea Society - Volunteers required

Chelsea Society Needs You


With our exhibition Chelsea In the Great War coming up soon - the  2nd to the 15th June - we shall need a great number of volunteers to man the desk for fourteen days.    Many of you have already indicated on the survey that you are willing to help and many more of you are on my list having helped at previous events.  We are extremely grateful for all your support and I will be in touch with you later.    However if there are any members reading this Newsletter who have not yet let us know they could help, or who would be willing to confirm when they can help, could you please let me know?  My contact details are at the end of this message.

I think you will find the exhibition based on life in Chelsea between 1914 and 1918 particularly interesting with some surprising activities in the Borough, for example not one but two aircraft factories.  In addition we have readings from a fascinating diary of a Chelsea resident writing to her newborn son, a talk  by the author of a critically acclaimed book  Wounded: From the Battlefield to Blighty, and the actual football kicked to launch the offensive at the Battle of Loos by the men of the Irish Rifles in 1915.  It was retrieved from the barbed wire and brought back to regimental headquarters at the Duke of York’s.  On 10th June it will be brought back ‘home.

The duties are not onerous and most people work in pairs, doing two hour stints, to encourage visitors to join the Society, tell them about its activities and sell cards and literature.  In addition, to add icing to the cake, we hold a party for all those who have helped

Sunday 23 March 2014

Sunken Garden- Groundworks - Today Sunday 23rd March- 2pm

Calling all Sunken Gardeners - Today at 2pm - Groundworks return for the final time to put the benches in and give us our final piece of direction . if you  have any questions about gardening , then today is the day. I have made approaches to The Chelsea Physic Garden so we are hoping they will pop along in the Coming weeks. The RSPB will be giving a talk in the garden in the Summer - with advice on how to attract more birds, although im sure you will have all heard the dawn chorus if your up at 5.30. We are awaiting our Sunflower seeds from the RHS - for the big bloom event. Even if  you feel you cant do any work in the garden, thats ok- say hello .So come on,  come down to the Sunken Garden , have a cuppa and say hello your neighbourhood. 2pm


Chelsea Arts Collective - Inspirational Community

Last night was the first performance of the Chelsea Arts Collective, a cornucopia of truly individual and inspiring performance . An audience of 60 watched as a diverse range of acts made us laugh cry and feel at peace. Comments from the audience - ' i didn't know what to expect next...' ' Brilliant ', it was like a piece of the Edinburgh Fringe was dropped into Chelsea '. By far and away the largest chunk of the audience came from all over the Borough. Next to the V and A this is the most successful event to engage with the wider Community. Well Done Donald and Lilia. Next Saturday we go again, same venue , same time , different acts.- Dont miss out - If you want to know the true meaning of Community and Diversity - Turn Up

Thursday 20 March 2014

Sunken Garden - Wilberforce Trust - Jose Vaz

Thanks to The Wilberforce Trust for agreeing to deliver some garden furniture for us next week. Groundforce have been in the Garden today. The wood we saw in the Garden was for the raised beds not benches - as i had previously thought (DOH). Well Done to Jose Vaz who was liasing with Groundforce today, and painting  - well done !

Chelsea Arts Collective - This Saturday - Free Entry - St Lukes Church Hall 7.45


CHELSEA ARTS COLLECTIVE (CAC) kicks off on a wing and a prayer in St Luke’s Church Hall! (Scroll Down for Full Details )


The performance strand of this new, grassroots initiative masterminded by the painter (and Sutton estate resident) Lilia Pegado and the veteran arts journalist Donald Hutera (The Times, etc) commences March 22.


Operating under the auspices of CATS (Chelsea Association of Tenants), and with minimal but very welcome initial funding from City Living, Local Life, Chelsea Arts Collective (CAC) aims to provide residents of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea – and any and everybody else – with opportunities for stimulating creative expression and exchange.


Pegado’s ongoing visual arts classes adhere pleasurably to the principles of The Quadrangle, a unique and absorbing method of individual and communal art work and thought. (For more information please seehttp://www.liliapegado.com/)


Alongside this CAC has a series of wide-ranging and engaging live performances up its copious sleeve, curated by the talent-hunting Hutera and spotlighting artists who span generations and genres. ‘The performance strand of CAC is something Lilia and I have cooked up as an opportunity for gifted people to share, as it were, their artistic wares. '


If Hutera is tickled about the pop-up nature of CAC's performance activities, one of the key reasons is the venue. 'We're using St Luke’s Hall on St Luke’s Street as a venue. It's got such a lovely atmosphere both formal and informal. It’s high-ceilinged and a little old-fashioned, but at the same time so open and airy.'


And what about the bills he's organising? 'I want to juxtapose more polished pieces and experienced performers alongside newcomers and work in development,’ he says. ‘Each night will probably have an up-close, in-the-studio feel about it. I'm thinking of these performances, at least in their initial phase, as rough yet warm, slightly raw, very direct, exceedingly flexible and communally intimate experiences. Each is an aesthetic adventure with next to no (or minimal) technical facilities but, ideally, a load of aspiration and pleasurable sensations attached.’


At press time the launch of CAC performances on March 22 features the fresh sounds of the all-female musical quartet Palisander; improvisational dance from both contemporary movement explorer Zoi Dimitriou (working in close conjunction with the musicians Dani Cali and Franck Alba) and the daring John Livingston of Daniel Vais' Culture Device Dance Project); a work-in-progress world premiere of Tango Lessons by the irrepressible writer/performer Lorna V; the semi-acoustic middle-aged British-East Asian folk-rock charmers Wondermare; a scintillating solo by bharata natyam specialist Anusha Subramanyam; and members of Opera In Space winging their way through Stabat Mater (fragments). Hutera characterises the evening as 'eclectic, non-formulaic, laboratorial and fun - and maybe, just maybe, so diverse it's almost perverse.' 


Artists involved in upcoming CAC presentations will likely include (on March 29) the visual arts journalist turned kick-ass performer Sarah Kent, going solo but also in tandem with onstage partner Yong Min Cho; the fearless Avatara Ayuso teaming up for the first time with balletic octogenarian erstwhile physicist Alex Fuchsmann (in his performance debut); the flamboyant and classically-trained Kali Chandrasegaram; stand-up and song from Rambert-schooled dancer Ishimwa Muhimanyi; and a darkly lyrical solo from actor-dancer Vanio Papadelli. Meanwhile among those on the docket for April 12 are London-based dance company Corali in a poetically playful and immersive piece centred round dreams, and Simon Rice's troupe of mature ballet dancers Sage.


As a budding but deeply enthusiastic curator Hutera is unapologetic that the CAC programme is still in a state of flux, especially for its final date. 'I'm doing this on a wing and prayer,' he avows, 'and having a great time with it, too, but it's certainly a learning curve. What I'm most struck by, as was the case with GOlive, is how willing and/or needy people are to have their work go public. Artists are hungry for opportunities. It's a reflection of the financially uncertain and restrictive times we're in.  I'm getting a kick out of doing what I can to combat that in as energetic, supportive and transparent a way as possible.'*CAC's performances are March 22, March 29 and April 12 in St Luke's Hall, SW3 3RP. More info and directions available here: chelseaparish.org/stlukeshall  Doors open 7.45pm with ‘curtain up’ at 8pm. Admission is free (although donations will be gratefully accepted). Suitable for ages 12+.

Chelsea Arts Collective -This Saturday 22nd March 7.45 Free ENTRY

*CAC's performances are March 22, March 29 and April 12 in St Luke's Hall, SW3 3RP. More info and directions available here: chelseaparish.org/stlukeshall  Doors open 7.45pm with ‘curtain up’ at 8pm. Admission is free (although donations will be gratefully accepted). Suitable for ages 12+.

Wednesday 19 March 2014

Rap Meeting

Dear RAP Member;
The next Resident Area Panel meeting for your area is being held at St Quintin Park on Thursday 17 April 2014 from 6.30pm. The full address is St Quintin Park, The Portakabin, Sutton Way, W10 5HU. We would like to encourage you to use public transport although if it is difficult for you to get there, please let me know in advance on 0300 100 0303 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 0300 100 0303 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting and we will arrange a cab pick-up.
Please find enclosed the RAP Priorities proforma 2014/15. Please use the form attached to detail any issues you have within these themes.
Please bring this form with you to the next RAP meeting, or return it to us beforehand.
Also enclosed is an EXPRESSION OF INTEREST IN REGIONAL SCRUTINY BOARD form. Please let us know if you are interested by completing the form and returning it to us by 14 April 2014.

Sunday 16 March 2014

CATS presents…



 

Chelsea Arts Collective (CAC) launches FREE performances in St Luke’s Hall on March 22, 29 and April 12!!!

 

Featuring dance, stand-up, live music and song from a gifted group of UK and international artists.

 

Location: St Luke’s Street, SW3 3RP

 

Doors open 7.45pm. ‘Curtain up’ 8pm. Admission free but donations gratefully accepted. Suitable for 12+.