Clubs/societies

Members of The Pinner Association will meet for its half yearly meeting on Wednesday at Pinner Village Hall, Chapel Lane,
It is due to start at 8.30pm and will include a talk from Neil Watson on the history of Pinner Police Station.
Following that there will be an open forum, giving residents the chance to have their say on all things Pinner.

Come and find Harrow Beekeepers' Association on 13th and 14th September at RAF Bentley Priory Open Day, Common Lane, Stanmore.

We will be there each day from 10.00am to 5.00 selling local honey and other hive products and children can roll candles.

Sunday 24 and Monday 25 from 11am to 4.30pm

Harrow in LEAF in Association with Harrow Museum & Heritage Centre are holding their 4th Annual Show at Headstone Manor in Pinner view.

Paintings created by members of Pinner Sketch Club went on display on Saturday (16).

The club, which has been in action for more than sixty years, is inviting people to have a look around, purchase paintings and vote for their favourite piece.

The exhibition, which runs until August 30, will be on show at St John's Church Hall in Church Lane, Pinner between Monday to Saturday from 10am to 6pm and Sunday (24) from 12 noon to 6pm. Admission is free.

Harrow Beekeepers' Association will be exhibiting at the 4th Harrow in Leaf Horticultural Show on August Bank Holiday.

So come along and visit us on Sunday 24th August and Monday 25th August from 11.0am to 4.30pm at the Harrow Museum and Heritage Centre, Pinner View.

A free talk about the secrets of London from archaeologist Colin Oakes is being held by the Harrow National Trust Association.
The City of Secrets talk is from 8pm on August 7 at Harrow Arts Centre, in Uxbridge Road.
For information call 020 8866 9272.

By Kavit Majithia

In July 1938, the Pinner Association released its first edition of The Villager, a community magazine outlining upcoming local events, and requests for donations to aid local hospitals.
This month, the publication reached issue number 211 - and its 70th anniversary.
The first issue was sold for 2d (less than a penny in today's money) while nowadays an annual subscription is a mere £3, with the magazine going out to loyal readers three times a year.
Editor Cynthia Wells, 70, of West End Lane, said the glossy A5 newsletter is still very much in demand: "We have five distribution leaders, each area distributing 500 copies each.
"If some copies go out late, I get calls from readers wondering why they haven't got their copy when their friends have."
The success and popularity of the magazine can be attributed to the way in which the magazine is run, through volunteers residing in the area, and the professional manner in which it is produced.
The magazine has certainly developed over the past 70 years because the first issue only had 32 pages, while the current issue contains 80.
It has also switched from four to three issues a year, but the size and style is very much the same.
Mrs Wells described older copies as being a lot 'simpler' but said it is still 'as in touch with the community as it ever was'.
Joanne Verden, chairwoman of the Pinner Association's environment committee, said: "Politics come and go, but The Villager has always stayed, even during the war we were publishing."
Mrs Verden has been involved with The Villager since the 1970s and does a lot of work around the community, in terms of tending to local parks and open spaces, and even helps to design the High Street and Peace Gardens.
She described The Villager as being 'the work of several decades, an archive of the district, a long-term memory for the community'.
All the local environmental work is reported by the magazine, and Mrs Verden, a long time veteran of the magazine, told the Observer of the importance of reporting news to the people.
She said: "It keeps people aware of what is actually happening in the village and I have found that interest in the magazine and the enviroment is increasing."
The first issue of The Villager reported on the demise of the parish hall, which was located at the bottom of High Street.
During the past seven decades, the building has been used for several projects including a library, a village hall and is currently being used for the High Street gardens.
Further stories included reports of day-to-day problems in the area, such as hazardous parking and the loss of footpaths due to estate buildings, and news regarding sports and leisure activities, in addition to advertising the Pinner Hill Golf Club's annual subscription for £3.13s.6d.
The current issue seems to share a lot of the same content and topics. Its stories concern the environment, quirky facts and features, and information regarding current events in Pinner, as well as advertising local businesses.
Mrs Wells found that the 'Talking Shops' section, which focuses on local businesses in the area and gives mini reviews on their products and services, is the most popular section in the magazine.
Over the past 70 years The Villager has covered countless local stories and community events, but Mrs Verden drew on a particular exhibition in 1995 that really sticks in her mind.
The event was held at West House, in Pinner Memorial Park, Chapel Lane, Pinner, to commemorate those who had died in the Second World War.
Visitors were able to sign books of remembrance, which were also used at the time of the war and shortly after it.
Mrs Verden said this was a perfect example of how The Villager 'communicates to a large range of people, who are able to learn all about their district'.
She added: "Whether you plant a tree or write a magazine, it's there for everybody. I, like many, are interested in the community and it is important to publicise what is popular."
Mrs Wells said The Villager has the potential to last for a very long time. It really depends on the new people moving in, but we have no problems filling The Villager - it can last forever."

Jazz fans can enjoy a free afternoon of music at an open air show.
This Sunday (06) there will be a live concert of jazz by the Dixieland Jazz Band at Harrow Recreation Ground, off Pinner Road, Hindes Road and Cunningham Park Road.
The concert will begin at 2pm in the central area of the park, and will last for about two hours.
The event is free, with seats provided, and light refreshments will also be served.

By Ian Proctor

A rugby club is helping out a cricket club which burnt down in suspicious circumstances.

Pinner and Grammarians Rugby Football Club invited Hatch End Cricket Club - with which it shares Shaftesbury Playing Fields in Grimsdyke Road, Hatch End - to use its clubhouse after the cricket club's neighbouring premises were torched on the evening of Saturday June 14.

These pictures, sent in by reader Michele Lawrence show the defiant club playing a match and flying its flag again just one week after the disaster.

The suspicious fire started hours after a confrontation between players and youths which caused a game between Hatch End and visitors Old Camdenians to be abandoned.

Rugby club president David Hiles said: "They now use our pavilion on Saturdays and Sundays.

"We do sympathise with their position because our clubhouse burned down about six years ago and we had a long battle with our insurance company over two years so we used Hatch End's clubhouse.

"As soon as I heard about the fire I rang up their secretary as we owe them quite a bit. We're returning the favour."

Mr Hiles said anti-social behaviour and wanton damage had been a persistent problem for years on the recreation land the clubs shared.

"We have had continual vandalism. It's just deliberate damage and for the last couple of years in the summer there's always a crowd of kids there on a Friday."

In February, yobs blocked a drainpipe with mud, bottles and timber, causing the rugby club's building to flood.

Mr Hiles added: "You always find bottles, knickers, condoms and needles around the back."

Hatch End CC's social secretary Graham Wild said: "We're very grateful for the generosity of the rugby club.

"We've been able to fulfil all of our fixtures and we're brining together an action plan for fundraising events.

"As a club, we're trying to take this opportunity and make a new start."

He said the full cost of building a replacement pavilion could be as much as £200,000.

Mr Wild said: "It's very likely that we will be back in our pavilion in the next couple of seasons, the real-istic target being 2010."

A Harrow Police spokesman said: "The fire is being treated as suspicious but has not yet been confirmed as arson by the London Fire Brigade.

"There have been no further arrests."

One cricketer and one youth were arrested on suspicion of affray in relation to the confrontation.

Anyone who wishes to donate money to Hatch End CC should contact Mr Wild via email at wild.man@btinternet.com.

By Dave Fawcett

New Orleans style traditional jazz is returning to Hatch End.
A music that seemed to lose popularity forty years ago is being greeted with open arms by local enthusiasts.
A new jazz club featuring the Colin Kingwell Jazz Bandits, who play on the last Friday of the month, has opened in the clubhouse of Parkfield Youth FC, in Uxbridge Road, Hatch End.
The first session was held on April 25. A great evening with excellent jazz, comfortable seating, bar, dancing area and a popular raffle. In running the club, the "Bandits" were pleasantly surprised that a larger than anticipated crowd attended and the atmosphere was great.
A second session was held on May 27, and was again a good night.
The next performance will be June 27, admission just £6.