by Admin | 12 Oct 2023 | events, FRONT PAGE NEWS
Something a little different this month – a concert of 16th century masterpieces for viol and lute, delivered by locals Alison Crum and husband Roy Marks.
Alison Crum is one of the best-known British exponents of the viol. As teacher, performer, and moving spirit behind several well-known early music groups, she has travelled all over the world giving recitals and lectures and teaching on summer schools and workshops.
After considering a career in meteorology, she decided to read music at Reading university as a French horn player. While there she started playing the viol, and later went on to study it with Wieland Kuijken in Brussels and Jordi Savall in Basle. Since then she has made over one hundred recordings with some of Britain’s finest ensembles and, as a soloist, on discs of Marais, Bach, and virtuoso Italian divisions.
Alison is President of the Viola da Gamba Society of Great Britain, and until 2020 she was Professor of Viol at Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London, but she is still a visiting teacher at several colleges and universities in both Europe and the USA. She is also the author of two highly acclaimed books on playing the viol, and has been called the doyenne of British viol teachers.
Roy Marks is Alison’s husband. In early childhood he began his musical life playing the piano, and in his teens playing lead guitar in a rhythm and blues band. Rather than to conservatoires of music, however, he went to colleges of art to study – studies that culminated at the Royal Academy in London where he was awarded the prestigious David Murray scholarship for landscape painting.
Roy went on to teach painting and drawing in adult education, but turned his attention in his late thirties almost exclusively to early music – to the recorder, the viol, and the lute. Roy also edits, arranges, and composes music for his friends to play.
Together, Alison and Roy are very much occupied with playing music from the 16th to the 18th century and they have collected a large number of copies of early instruments – all of which they play. As members of The Rose Consort of Viols they have recorded many CDs of English consort music, and as teachers they are popular on courses and workshops in the USA and in Europe.
Get tickets.
by Admin | 27 Sep 2023 | activities, advice, FRONT PAGE NEWS, tips and advice
Barclays Bank have had a (non-cash) branch at the library for over a year now, and are keen to bring more services to the community over the coming months. They will be running an advice surgery for anyone who’s interested in how to identify and avoid financial and banking scams of all kinds.
The Metropolitan Police will be on hand between 1000 and 1200 on Wednesday 19 October, to answer all your questions and offer advice.
by Admin | 11 Sep 2023 | activities, events, FRONT PAGE NEWS
We’re delighted to welcome back old favourites the Brent Jazz Orchestra Quartet to kick off our exciting autumn of music at the library. The line up will be joined on this occasion by a trumpet and tenor sax, making the full line up
Vito La Sala on trumpet
Stuart Ashton on tenor sax
Shura Greenberg on bass
George Harvey on drums
Pierre Guillot on guitar
And yes, there will be pizza! Don’t miss out! Book now!
See you there.
by Admin | 11 Sep 2023 | Cricklereaders, Cricklereaders Read, FRONT PAGE NEWS
The group is reading Death and the Penguin by Ukrainian author Andrey Kurkov.
Viktor is an aspiring writer with only Misha, his pet penguin, for company. Although he would prefer to write short stories, he earns a living composing obituaries for a newspaper. He longs to see his work published, yet the subjects of his obituaries continue to cling to life. But when he opens the newspaper to see his work in print for the first time, his pride swiftly turns to terror. He and Misha have been drawn into a trap from which there appears to be no escape.
Join the group on Sunday 15 October at the library, 1030-1130. Sign up in advance so we know to expect you!
by Admin | 1 Sep 2023 | FRONT PAGE NEWS
What is the Design Code?
The draft Staples Corner Design Code sets out the council’s expectations for high quality design and placeshaping within and around the Staples Corner Growth Area, as defined in the Brent Local Plan 2019-2041.
Why is it needed?
Recent changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) have sought to give design coding a greater role in the planning system. Published in 2021, the National Model Design Code provides detailed guidance on the production of design codes, guides and policies to promote successful design.
Alongside the emerging Staples Corner Masterplan, the Design Code expands on Policy BEGA2A of the Brent Local Plan to underpin decision-making for council officers and give developers, occupants and adjacent communities greater certainty about what may be acceptable when seeking planning permission.
How is the Design Code structured?
There are seven sections in this draft Design Code:
- Section 1 provides an introduction setting out what a design code is, who the design code is for, where it applies, and how it is structured and to be used.
- Section 2 sets out the existing context of Staples Corner.
- Section 3 sets out the vision for Staples Corner as developed collaboratively between the council and a group of local stakeholders.
- Section 4 describes the coding plan and how the design code relates to the emerging masterplan.
- Sections 5, 6 and 7 form the three parts of the design code addressing each of the following: area-wide design codes, street-focussed design codes, and place-focussed design codes.
Consultation details
The consultation will run for a period of eight weeks from 24th August to 19th October 2023. Documents will be made available at Brent Council libraries.
Please submit a response via this portal. Alternatively, responses can be sent to planningstrategy@brent.gov.uk or to: John Stiles, Principal Urban Design Officer, Brent Council, Civic Centre, Engineers Way, Wembley, HA9 0FJ.
Please note that the council will not register anonymous responses. You should provide your name and, if relevant, the name of the organisation that you are working for, and that which you may be representing.
Area of coverage
The London Borough of Brent, specifically the Staples Corner Growth Area and some areas on its periphery.
Data protection
When reporting the consultation responses, organisation names will be referenced by the council. However, no individual’s name or personal details of respondents will be made publicly available. Please can you indicate with your response whether you wish to be informed by the council of whether this document is adopted.
Please also indicate if you would like to be informed of other planning policy consultations by having your details put on our planning policy consultation database. This information will only be used in relation to consultations on the council’s planning and associated documents. Unless you indicate that you want to be put on this database, your personal details will only be kept until the council makes a decision on whether to proceed with the adoption of the Design Code or not and has subsequently issued the appropriate notifications. Please see our privacy policy for more details.
To support participation in the consultation process, the council has arranged two in-person drop-in sessions at the library on the following dates:
- Saturday 30th September from 12pm-3pm
- Tuesday 10th October from 6:30-8:30pm
by Admin | 31 Aug 2023 | activities, FRONT PAGE NEWS, gardening
September is a month of golden sun and harvests. A month when the bulbs and perennials planted last year come into their own and cheer up the fading grass. And yet, despite its name, it is not the 7th month of the year. A misconception derived from when the Romans used a solar year which was later converted (not till 1753) into the current Gregorian year – which required the removal of 11 days from September in the year of conversion.
It is the month when grass and wildflowers produce seeds (sticky or blown in the wind often), and is the best time to cut these, and your lawn, to provide food for your wildlife.
Mining bees will often be found in your lawn, and the ants and other grubs will be providing food for birds to stock up for the winter too.In the first talk, I will consider the importance of gardens for wildlife in the UK as so much of our green space has been built on. And how we can support that wildlife in the way that we garden.
In the second talk I will consider the plants we can grow in London and which can be harvested later in the year- now that our climate is changing, and the implications of our changing climate will be considered also in later talks (Feb/Mar 2024). But our last talk of 2023 will look at the plants we use in December to decorate our homes and why we still invest them with myths and religious importance.
