Richmond’s council leader Gareth Roberts has set out to show British people haven’t turned their back on Europe in a post-Brexit world.

The borough celebrated 65 years of its European partnerships with Konstanz in and Fontainebleau in on June 7 and 8, hosting more than 40 events for the public. 

Roberts said the twinning relationships with the towns are especially important in today’s political climate where there is a need to celebrate unity rather than division. 

He said: “There is far too much of an idea still going on that Britain has become narrow, has become insular, it’s become inward-looking and we have not. 

“We are still outward looking. We still want to have relationships with our friends in Europe and beyond.

“We still want to ensure that we have got a place at the table.”

The weekend festivities included an exhibition exploring Richmond’s story of tourism which was extended for the weekend.

Roberts said: “Well, we are in an absolutely gorgeous area of southwest London, and it is absolutely ripe for people to come and visit.”

Watch the full video below for more.

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Plays being taken to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and theatres face funding challenges to keep their shows on the road. 

Funding for the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) was reduced by a further 1.4% on Wednesday, following spending reductions by the government of 16% since 2017. 

As the government gives out increasingly less money for culture in the UK, and arts council funding becomes more highly sought after, theatres and independent productions are looking to different revenue sources for their income. 

Youth in Flames, a production about white identity in Hong Kong during the 2019 protests, is a play going to the Edinburgh Fringe later this year. 

Writer and performer of the one-woman show, Mimi Minton, said: “With ticket sales, we may break even, who knows?

“It’s a tough gig.” 

Tickets can be bought for their London previews here and for the Edinburgh Fringe here.

The Orange Tree theatre in Richmond has shifted to a more American model of hip and patronage. 

Following this style of fundraising has brought them success, as they have seen a 75% revenue increase from 2022/23 to 2023/24.

Find out more about these challenges below.

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South West Londoner attended a Q&A at Richmond’s bookstore, Books On The Rise, held by Anglo-German children’s illustrator Axel Scheffler, best known for his popular illustrations of The Gruffalo, Stick Man and Zog.

The event, which took place on Thursday 5 June, was organised as part of the borough of Richmond’s ‘Reaffirmation Weekend’, celebrating the renewal of its twinning agreements with Konstanz in and Fontainebleau in .

The illustrator was ed by his long-time author and collaborator Alison Green, the Scholastic publishing team and of the refugee charity Three Peas, including his partner, Clementine Koenig, to discuss the new picture book that was created in of the charity.

South West Londoner spoke to Scheffler and Koenig, who provided insights into the making of the picture book and discussed the work and mission of the Three Peas charity.

Watch the video below to find out more.

If you wish to make a donation please visit the Three Peas website.

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The owners of the Eel Pie Club will host a street party to celebrate its 25 anniversary and Twickenham’s rich music heritage.

The vibrant event is set to take place on August 17 from 12-5pm on Church Street, and will feature five live bands on an open air stage, various DJ sets and market stalls filled with 1960s memorabilia. 

Aiming to invoke the spirit of the ’60s, the street party will pay homage to the likes of the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Pink Floyd, all who previously performed at Eel Pie Island. 

Eel Pie Club co-owner Gina Way said: “These kind of events are so important for the local community because they bring everyone together.” 

A Crowdfunder has been launched to help the running of the event, making it entirely community-powered. 

Twickenham 60s Day is being held in collaboration with Church Street Traders Association and A Taste of Twickenham, two groups which actively promote music events within the area. 

The 1960s-orientated lineup consists of The Eel Pie All-Stars and The 60s All-Stars, both of which feature from iconic bands including The Kinks, The Swinging Blue Jeans and The Foundations. 

Attendees will also be able to enjoy a kids’ zone with art activities, Mod Vespas and a walking tour which will explore Church Street’s music and film history. 

Way said: “We want to unite different generations, alongside giving the younger crowd a taste of what Twickenham was like during the ’60s.”

Way added all of the activities on the day seek to honour Twickenham’s status as a music and cultural hub. 

There will also be an intimate acoustic set at Brewery Market at 5pm and live ’60s music played into the night at The Eel Pie Pub and The Fox.

Entry to the street party is free and tickets can be accessed here.

Feature image: Gina Way

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A production of Joseph K and the Cost of Living (After Franz Kafka) will appear at Twickenham’s Mary Wallace Theatre, 100 years after it was written, from the 31^st May to the 7^th June.

This Emily White adaptation follow four diverse characters who face parallel experiences while battling discrimination and injustice with the complexities of modern day living.

This Richmond Shakespeare Society (RSS) production has been directed by Maxina Patterson and is a multi-role play consisting of eight actors.

Actress of K3 (the third incarnation of Joseph K) and ensemble roles, Anastasia Babich said: “We’ve got some things that people don’t usually do in amateur theatre because they’re complicated.

“The diversity of what we are doing on stage is pretty unique.”

K3 deals with misogyny at church and at work and Babich said that the main challenge is getting into the right mindset for each part without blending the roles together.

Babich said: “Some things seem absurd and something very far from us.

“But sometimes if you look at them and have a think, you can find something around you that might remind you of that absurdity.”

Babich added how theatre makes a situation big and grotesque but it can also make you reflect on what you see daily.

Dominic Upton plays four roles, and secured the part of K1 which dives into Joseph K’s corporate life following his arrest.

Upton said that the play’s physicality was challenging due to this being an amateur production which resulted in many hours being put into perfecting unison movements.

Patterson said: “I learned a way of working with actors to find through their ability and their imagination, how we would put the movement pieces together.”

Patterson’s directing technique involved recording the actors so they watch it and learn as well as see their progress.

Upton said: “It’s been a good challenge, but it has been mentally taxable.

“It definitely gave me an appreciation for people who do one man shows and play multiple characters.”

Guidance is advised due to the play’s sexual nature, depictions of violence, bad language and flashing lights.

The RSS charity was founded in 1934 by former dancer and actress Gladys Erickson.

With many of their previous shows like While The Sun Shines being sold out, ticket pricing starts at £16.

Upton said: “We’re just itching to get it off the ground and have an audience come in.”

The RSS regularly hold open auditions for actors of all levels and for this play, auditions begun with a physical workshop to give the actors a feel of what the rehearsals would be like.

Babich enjoyed the freedom in the rehearsals due to Pattison letting the actors devise the script and figure out how their character would behave.

Patterson said: “I really enjoyed the process of sitting with the actors and taking about the differences as well as how they changed their physicality to play those characters.”

The RSS performs plays all year round including two Shakespeare plays.

They have a Young Actors Company which is taught by a professional actor and director with the aim to improve confidence and build on performance skills.

Upton the Young Actor’s Company at age 12 which resulted in an exchange trip to perform in Malta.

Within the theatre, there’s state-of-the-art lighting and sound control technology, along with an induction loop for hearing-aid s.

There are volunteer vacancies for in lighting and sound, stage management, costume making, set designers, and acting.

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South west London has emerged as a hotspot for bicycle thefts at train stations, with the borough of Richmond reporting the highest number of incidents across the capital.

Bicycle theft is one of the most prevalent crimes in London, with an incident happening every 16 minutes. 

In 2024, nearly a thousand of these thefts were of bicycles locked up at stations, according to data from the British Transport Police. 

Data from London rail, overground, tube and tram stations shows a significant density of these bicycle thefts from stations in the South West, with Surbiton, Richmond, Twickenham and Teddington stations consistently among the highest number of reported thefts from 2019 until 2024. 

Stations in Richmond recorded 734 reported incidents in the six year period and Kingston upon Thames followed with 405. 

Stations Richmond and Kingston alone recorded more than a fifth of total bicycle thefts from stations across all of London’s 33 boroughs, based on data obtained by a Freedom of Information request. 

Jake Neale, Retail and Marketing Manager at Richmond Cycles, said: “In the last couple of years, it definitely feels like that’s happening more regularly, both from outside stations, but also from homes and elsewhere.”

The average price of new bicycles in the United Kingdom sat at around £590 in 2023, according to Statista research. Some models can sell for significantly more.

Neale added: “It’s definitely not uncommon around here to see £10,000 bikes.”

High value models which are rarely ed and difficult to trace, with a low likelihood of police intervention, makes bicycles an appealing target for thieves, according to Neale. 

He said: “They just cut through the street furniture because these days, bike theft is no longer just teenagers seeing an unlocked bike and just grabbing it for a bit of fun. It’s a real targeted theft. They know what they’re doing.

“They’re rocking up with unmarked vans and ankle drivers and completely covered faces, and they’re in and out within seconds. It’s basically impossible to stop, really.” 

For Neale, who has worked at Richmond Cycles for over seven years, it makes sense for bike thefts to be more common in the South West, as it’s a more affluent part of London and bikes are likely to be of higher value. 

Yet the number of thefts is not directly correlated to affluence.

In fact, Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea rank highest for resident’s disposable income, according to Trust for London data, yet they have the lowest number of reported bicycle thefts. 

Neale also noted the proximity to Richmond Park, one of London’s most popular spots for the cycling community, which may attract cyclists to the area, who may be more likely to buy higher value bikes. 

Ben Holland, a podcast host, has had six bikes stolen in the 20 years he has lived in South London, leaving him financially strained and frustrated.

These thefts have deterred him from repurchasing an aspirational bike, because the risk of getting it stolen is too high. 

The 41-year-old said: “I saw a bike someone was selling, an expensive specialized bike, for next to nothing. That’s a really amazing, beautiful bike, and it’d be nice to ride around. And I thought, oh, actually, no. That’s crazy, it’s not worth having one. 

“I feel very confident that by having a cheap bike and an expensive lock, like a lock that’s literally worth more than the bike, then you’d always be fine.” 

As a result of the number of thefts from London stations, the British Transport Police have launched a campaign in collaboration with the tracking website, Bike.com to make stolen bikes more easily traceable. 

The campaign aims to raise awareness about the high frequency of bicycle theft in London and encourages cyclists to “double lock” their bikes as a preventive measure.

The British Transport Police said: “We are pleased to see a decrease in reports of thefts at Twickenham and Richmond in 2024 compared to the previous year.  

“We are aware that every offence is one too many, and we will continue to work relentlessly alongside our policing partners and partners in the rail industry to further reduce incidents of theft and criminality across the railway network. 

“Our patrols are targeted and ed by statistics to ensure that our officers are exactly where they are most needed.”

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The number of on-time state school applications received by south west London councils has decreased following the autumn budget’s private school tax, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.

Data obtained from Croydon, Kingston, Richmond, Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth councils each showed a decrease in the number of secondary school applications received by the 31st October deadline.

The announcement of a 20% VAT charge on private school fees last autumn had heralded outcry, but is yet to play out in the state sector. 

One teacher at a small private school in Surrey said: “There has been no sudden rise of pupil withdrawals. But I can see a few schools struggling in the future which could have a major impact on the state sector. 

“With the rising cost of living, even before the VAT increase, families were having to make sacrifices to send their children to private school. Now, the number of families who can afford the extra 10-20% gets even smaller.” 

The Independent Schools Council (ISC), which represents more 1,400 private schools in England, declined to comment on these figures but had previously suggested that an increase in private school fees to meet the additional VAT charges, would result in a migration of students into a ‘stretched’ state sector.

Richmond Council saw a 10% drop in applications from 2024 to 2025, although figures had already been decreasing since 2021, in line with dropping birth rates in the area. 

A council spokesperson said: “The number of on-time secondary school applications received for September 2025 shows a small decrease compared to the previous year, reflecting wider demographic trends that we will continue to track closely.

“At this stage in of secondary issions, we have not seen any discernible impact on our pupil numbers arising from the VAT charge on independent private schools. As we monitor this, our focus remains on ensuring that there are sufficient high-quality school places available for all children in Richmond upon Thames.” 

The capital’s rising cost of living, coupled with its dropping birth rates could be contributing to the fall in student numbers. 

One Wandsworth primary school is set to close over the summer, citing a dramatic decline in pupils and a resulting debt of approximately £300,000. 

St Anne’s Church of England took just eight children into their reception class in September 2024. 

Merton has seen a similar steady decrease in secondary school applications year on year, dropping by 10% since 2019. 

MP for Mitcham and Morden Dame Siobhain McDonagh said: “We have had a number of primary schools in Mitcham and Morden go down to one form of entry, you know, 30 a year rather than 60 because there simply aren’t the children around.

“We’re facing a terrible crisis in our schools in SW London with falling school rolls. Birth rates are down, people are just not having children and one of the factors at the top of our discussion is just how expensive it is to live in London and clearly if you have children, you need more housing and that is very difficult to access.” 

With regards to constituents raising concerns on struggling to afford the rising fees at independent schools, McDonagh added: “Maybe some time ago I had one or two, but as your Freedom of Information application indicates there has been no real impact.

“Some of the schools have absorbed the costs because private school fees have gone through the roof in recent years, so there may be quite a lot of money in the model.”

Despite dropping slightly this year, Sutton has seen a 5% increase in the number of state school applications received from 2019 to 2025.

A state school teacher in Sutton said: “Most of us here are in agreement that the move by the government makes sense. If what they’re saying is true then state schools will definitely benefit from the budget increases.

 “But I can see both sides, some people work really hard to just about manage to pay the fees so their child can get that top education, but probably won’t be able to afford it anymore.” 

The ISC together with a small collective of Christian faith schools and a parent-led group challenged the government’s VAT policy in court last month, arguing that it was discriminatory and against the legal right to an education. 

At the hearing, it was raised that higher fees could force 35,000 children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) into the state sector, which the claimants state to be ‘in crisis’. 

Representatives of the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, HMRC and the Department of Education argued instead that the policy will raise a predicted £1.3-£1.5b annually, to be put into raising the standards for the 94% of children in state schools. 

The hearing concluded at the Royal Courts of Justice on 1 May and a date for judgement has not yet been announced. 

Featured Image by MChe Lee on Unsplash

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England’s Grand Slam triumph in the 2025 Women’s Six Nations served to underline the impact the team is making in inspiring the next generation in south west London.

The Red Roses seventh-consecutive Six Nations title following last Saturday’s 43-42 win over continued the longest winning streak by any side in the men’s or women’s competition, and the shown by the Twickenham community is having a notable impact on the area, too.

Along with a mural on fan-favourite pub The Cabbage Patch showing skipper Zoe Aldcroft plus vice-captains Marlie Packer and Meg Jones in action, the venue will be renamed The Red Roses Patch for the Women’s Rugby World Cup in England later this year.

Cabbage Patch bartender Alex Collinsson, 24, said: “They’ve had lots of watch-time on TV, and it seems to be growing week by week by week.

“We’ve had it on every screen bar one with people watching it until the end.”

Collinsson added interest in the sport has only increased over the years, with many young women regularly watching the tournament in their pub.

St Mary’s University women’s rugby team, whose players are aged 18-22 and are sponsored by The Cabbage Patch, has found the community from them and other businesses instrumental to driving their participation rates and visibility.

Team spokesperson Ella Dempster, 22, said: “Being able to watch what England’s women’s team have been able to achieve the past few seasons has been monumental and will be a massive turning point for women’s rugby union.

“Women are starting to be put on an even playing field to men.

“We hope that the participation rates of girls and women in rugby will continue to grow and showcase how much women are capable of.”

Saturday’s nail-biting Grand Slam decider between England and brought 37,573 spectators to Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.

As part of the Rugby Football Union’s Every Rose campaign, they aim to fill the 82,000 capacity of the ground for a Red Roses match by 2027.

Viewing data trends from Statista also show a steady increase in British women watching the games, rising to 42% in 2023 from 37% in the previous year.

A £12.3million government-backed investment ahead of this summer’s home World Cup aims to make rugby union even more accessible for women and girls across England, on the back of a 9.3% rise in girls playing in 2023.

Dempster said: “The attitudes towards the sport have been hugely positive.

“The winning streak of the Red Roses will continue to inspire generations to come.”

Feature image credit: Bethan King

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Food bank parcels distributed in London are at a higher level now than at the peak of the pandemic, Trussell Trust data shows.

The number of food parcels distributed in London in the year before the pandemic hit was 204,355.

This number had more than doubled at the height of lockdown to 423,214 and is now higher than ever, surging to 454,750 between 2023 and 2024.

It comes amid reports that almost one in five people claiming universal credit and disability benefits used a food bank towards the start of this year and as the government released in its Spring Statement plans to slash welfare benefits by £5bn before the end of the decade.

Sarah Hope, who regularly volunteers at her local Salvation Army food bank, told South West Londoner these new statistics by the UK-based Christian food aid charity did not shock her.

She said: “Very sadly, it doesn’t surprise me that the use of food banks has risen dramatically since Covid, of course, because of the upsurge in the cost of living.

“I think some people have now become completely reliant on the food parcels, and food banks tackle the issue of hunger without addressing the root causes of it.”

Hope said that the normalisation of food banks minimises a sense of urgency for society to act on the deep-rooted causes of food insecurity.

Experts agree with Hope that food banks have increasingly become a semi-permanent fix, or ‘sticking plaster’, for severe food poverty in the UK.

Food insecurity worsened during Covid-19, when food banks were unable to bulk-buy food staples from supermarkets as non-food bank s stockpiled supplies, with Sainsbury’s pasta sales rising by 240%, and sales of UHT milk by 110%.

Post-Covid, worsened living costs have seen demand for food banks skyrocket to almost 300% in many areas of the UK, with London hit particularly hard.

The number of food parcels distributed in the capital is markedly higher than the average in England, which was at 286,788 between 2023 and 2024, nearly 200,000 less than London.

Whilst food parcel distribution has increased dramatically, the number of distribution centres barely risen as food banks continue to battle increased demand, with stagnating resources.

A south west London resident who has struggled to afford food and asked to be anonymous said: “I’ve gone through all my savings, and at the end of the month, what I get on Universal Credit is ridiculous. It just doesn’t stretch, as everything’s going up.

“I find now my weekly food shop has easily doubled over the past few months.”

She was about to use the food bank for the first time when she came across Olio Hub – an app that works alongside shops, where neighbours can share surplus food and other household items that are near their sell-by dates.

She is now an Olio volunteer – collecting supermarket items that have expired by the end of the day, and ing them onto the site, where app-s can arrange to pick up the surplus food, and the volunteer gets to keep 10% of what they have been given by the shop.

Despite many needing to use the food bank, she said stigma stops people from going to food banks near them to avoid anyone they know, and she has noticed people who travel very far just to collect food.

“There is a big stigma to it, even though more people I know are using food banks they don’t want to it it,” she added.

Emma Revie, Chief Executive of the Trussell Trust, said: “The sheer numbers of people in London still facing hunger and hardship is heart-breaking.

“You can help make sure food banks can continue to provide warm, comionate, practical and advice by volunteering, donating, fundraising or campaigning to help end hunger in London and the rest of the UK.”

A spokesperson from the Department for Work and Pensions said the Government is determined to decrease London’s reliance on food banks.

“The mass dependence on food banks is unacceptable – that’s why we will fix the fundamentals of the social security system and make work pay so people don’t rely on crisis and become more financially secure,” they said.

As part of this plan, Labour has increased the National Living Wage, extended England’s Household Fund by £742 million for another year, and is due to publish a new Child Poverty Taskforce strategy this spring.

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The 250^th birthday of Britain’s foremost landscape painter J.M.W. Turner was celebrated at his former residence in Twickenham on 23 April.

Sandycombe Lodge, otherwise known as Turner’s House, was designed by Turner himself as a getaway from the bustle of London life, and is now a museum, with its interiors recreated as Turner would have had them. 

The celebrations, organised with Visit Richmond, began at Tate Britain, where the nominees for the Turner prize were announced, before travelling to Sandycombe Lodge for champagne, cake, and a speech from Richmond’s mayor, and onto Richmond Hill to take in the inspiration for his painting, ‘England: Richmond Hill on the Prince Regent’s birthday’.

In his speech, the Mayor of Richmond Richard Pyne said: “We in this borough are very thrilled that he chose to design and build this house in our borough and to live in our borough.

“It was wonderful that he lived here so happily with his father for so long.”

The day also marked the opening of the museum’s new exhibition, ‘Turner’s Kingdom: Beauty, Birds, and Beasts’.

The collected artefacts include Turner’s own fishing rod, on loan from the Royal Academy, and a letter in which he signed his name with a cartoon of a mallard to signify the initial M for ‘Mallord’ in his name.  

The exhibition curator Nicola Moorby said: “This exhibition feels like such a perfect fit for the house, which is somewhere where you get to see a behind-the-scenes look at Turner, you get to see behind that armour of secrecy which he created around himself.

“We’re focussing on the birds and beasts that were known to be part of Turner’s household and his world during his lifetime, and using them as a way to understand a bit more about Turner the man.”

Moorby said that it was a real thrill for her to bring the ‘Farnley birds’ to the exhibition from Leeds.

These watercolour paintings of birds including a turkey, a heron, and a peacock, were part of a private project created for Turner’s friend and patron Walter Fawkes of Farnley Hall.

Sandycombe Lodge, built in 1813, was reopened to the public in 2017 after painstaking year-long restoration efforts, including the removal of an extra storey and white paint on the exterior walls, as well as the recreation of furniture and wallpaper using scraps and inventories from Marylebone and Chelsea.

Chair of Turner’s House Trust Lucy Littlewood said: “I think it’s very much as Turner would have had it when he first moved in.

“I personally feel it would have been a little bit muckier and messier if Turner had just returned from a fishing trip with his dad, so that’s chapter two for where we want to take the house in its next iteration.

“We want to bring more of Turner the man into the house.”

Current fundraising efforts will go towards making the house feel more lived-in in an effort to conjure a feeling of Turner’s continued presence in the residence.

Among the attendees at the birthday celebrations were a number of art critics, curators, and biographers.

Dr Jacqueline Riding, a curator and biographer, said: “We know minute by minute what Turner was doing when he was touring Europe, or going to Italy, or around Great Britain, but it’s those little bits of the character, the little bits of personal life that come through, that’s the bit I find really exciting.”

Biographer and TV producer Franny Moyle said: “You want an environment where the past is still present.

“I think being able to time slip and discover little bits of our past, and have a communion with the past, is healthy.”

On Richmond Hill, the assembled group was treated to a talk from the curator and art historian Gillian Forrester, with a particular focus on ‘England: Richmond Hill on the Prince Regent’s birthday’ which depicts the protected view. 

She said: “It’s about this view being absolutely emblematic of Englishness. 

“He’s really interested in those sort of symbolic resonances.”

She finished her speech by saying: “I feel quite moved by having the opportunity to talk about this in front of this spectacular view.” 

The exhibition ‘Turner’s Kingdom: Beauty, Birds, and Beasts’ will run until 26 October 2025.

Tickets and more information is available here: https://turnershouse.org/whats-on/

Picture credit: Ciaran Whyte

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