WCGS

The Routemaster Reunion (RM 70) will be held in the Chiswick Business Park over the weekend of 20/21 July.

Please click here to read more. 

We are delighted that these iconic buses will be coming home. Not only because the business park was the former site of the London Transport Chiswick Works but also more specifically because Colin Curtis OBE, who played a key role in the design and development of the Routemaster, was based at the Chiswick Works.

Click here to read his obituary in the Guardian

The timing of the event is also fitting as Curtis was born on the 21st July 1926.

We are sure that the event will be very popular with Chiswick families some of whom will have memories of members who worked at the bus works. A founder member of WCGS, the late Beryl Cross, who lived her entire life in Silver Crescent, was proud of her father who worked there including during the Second World War, as recorded in one of her poems about the park (extract below).

Another has a certificate awarded by London Transport to a local man for 53 years and 11 months service! 

As part of the Society’s local history focus, we would welcome more memories of those times. Contributions can be sent to our Secretary, Kate: secretary@westchiswickgs.org

The following link is to an interesting item by Ian Wylie whose photos of Chiswick were much appreciated locally.:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/ianwylie/8173520238/in/pool-2058001@N22/

Extract from:

Autumn Intimations; Chiswick Park by the late Beryl Cross of Silver Crescent

And I shall walk on plank-board pathways

Past glass-fronted, metalled buildings

Sometimes remembering how my father,

In this plot’s previous incarnation,

Helped to rebuild London’s buses;

One, from a direct hit,

Ravaged with blood and flesh.

Monday, 12^th February 2024

7.30pm at the Age Concern Hall, Oxford Road North, Chiswick W4

All Members are invited to attend this meeting

Topics to be discussed include:

• The Society’s Annual Report and Accounts

• Election of Officers

• Latest planning news

• Presentation of the amended Constitution

• Anything else that concerns you.

There will be refreshments after the meeting for which a donation towards our campaign and conservation fund would be appreciated.

Please note that you can pay your subscription at the AGM and bring your completed membership form along to save posting it.

There is a new friendly face watching over our Meanwhile Garden – welcome to Gunnersbury Gus who lives in one of the telecoms cabinets lining the walls behind our garden. We are delighted with the artwork created in early 2024 by Helga Stentzel, an award-winning artist based in Shepherd’s Bush. Judging by the smiles on the faces of people passing by, so are others – including one of our police community support officer Cheryl Spilsbury. Brightening up the streets where we live and the corners we pass by every day is part of WCGS’s mission.

Many thanks to Helga for the artwork and to Karen Liebreich of Abundance for arranging it.

Armed with our banner, our new leaflet and big smiles, we manned a table at the October Flower Market.

During the course of the day, we spoke to many local residents about who we are and what we do.

We hope that some will be inspired to join us.

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A reminder that the next Public Meeting will be on Monday 19th June at 7.30pm at the the Age Concern Hall in Oxford Road North W44DL.

The Society’s 21st Annual General Meeting will take place on Monday February 20th at the Age Concern Hall in Oxford Road North at 7.30pm.

A reminder that our next Public Meeting will take place at the Age Concern Hall in Oxford Road North W4 4DN on Monday 17th October at 7.30pm.

We are pleased to announce that there will be a speaker at the meeting who will give us a short talk about the Richmond American University in London that recently moved into new premises in the Chiswick Business Park. We were supportive of their move to the Business Park and hope that you will come along to learn about this university.

The AGM will be on the 21st February at 730.pm.

More information will follow in due course