Bridget Osborne is the Editor of The Chiswick Calendar. She worked for the BBC for more than 30 years as a journalist in radio, television and online.
Winner of a Sony award for her work on BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours, she produced radio programmes as diverse as Midweek, Any Questions and Desert Island Discs before moving to television to produce the hard hitting interview programme HARDtalk on BBC World TV, which she did for 12 years.
Since leaving the BBC in 2014 she has trained journalism students in Media Law, made a documentary history series The History of Africa with Zainab Badawi and set up The Chiswick Calendar.
Cyclists are to be allowed back in Richmond Park from Tuesday 2 June. “We are looking forward to welcoming cyclists back” said a spokesperson for the Royal Parks. Described as a “managed re-introduction”, cyclists will only be allowed in to Richmond Park on weekdays before 10.00 am and after 4.00 pm. The time in between […]
A few days ago, Cllr Tom Bruce, Hounslow’s Cabinet Member for Education, Youth and Children’s Services, wrote to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson MP, criticising the Departments for Education’s decision not to fund free school meals during half-term. He was one of more than a thousand councillors across England to have written to the government calling for […]
Hounslow Council has announced it will be restricting through traffic on Turnham Green Terrace and Devonshire Road, limiting vehicle access to buses and essential servicing, in order to allow shops and restaurants to spread onto the pavements and shoppers to move about in the road with safe social distancing. Parking spaces will be suspended, but […]
The cafe at Gunnersbury Park has been completely destroyed and the park will remain closed until at least Sunday. The fire engulfed the cafe in the early hours of Friday morning (29 May). “This is very sad news and will be a significant blow to everyone who uses the park and for colleagues at both […]
Cricket authors (and obsessives) Peter Oborne and Richard Heller have launched a new podcast to help deprived listeners endure a world without cricket. They chat regularly about cricket topics – hoping to keep a good line and length but with occasional wides into other subjects. In this episode they are joined by Dr Sarah Fane […]
The XV Theatre Company proudly presents two radio plays, specially written for The Bedford Park Festival. The Bedford Park Festival is going online this year with The Chiswick Calendar as one of several digital platforms hosting events. Creature Features by Freya Alderson and Christina Balmer Creature Features imagines what would happen if a journalist went […]
Since our Jazz at George IV nights came to an abrupt halt with the coronavirus, The Chiswick Calendar and Jazz promoter Larry Pryce are particularly pleased to be able to present the YouTube Premiere of Gypsy Jazz band Trio Manouche presenting their new album, recorded during Lockdown, as part of the Bedford Park Festival, on […]
The Bedford Park Festival is going online this year with The Chiswick Calendar as one of several digital platforms hosting events. Festival will feature performances by a host of local stars. Phyllis Logan, Kevin McNally, Lucy Briers and Jeremy Vine are recording a new radio play for The Chiswick Calendar, and Eddy Marsan is giving […]
Homeowners struggling to pay their mortgage due to coronavirus will be able to extend their mortgage payment holiday for a further three months, or start making reduced payments. The availability of a three month mortgage holiday was first announced in March as part of a package of support for individuals, businesses and the economy. Over 1.8 million mortgage payment […]
Hounslow Council’s Lead Member for education has labelled as a ‘disgrace’ the Government’s decision not to fund free school meals during half-term. During the Easter Break in April, free school meals were funded as many vulnerable children or those of key workers were still attending schools, and it was also recognised many low-income families were […]
The Government’s plan for schools to return is for some primary school classes to return from 1 June ‘at the earliest’. At time of writing (Thursday evening, 28 May) it doesn’t look as if any of Chiswick’s state primary schools will be back on Monday morning and across the borough of Hounslow only a third […]
Mobile coronavirus test centres are being set up for Sunday 31 May and Monday 1 June, from 10.30 am-3.30 pm at the Grasshoppers’ Rugby Club, Syon Lane, Osterley, Isleworth, TW7 5PN. There will be both walk-in and drive-through appointments which will be available to book on Friday 29 May. Testing for key workers, volunteers and their families: […]
House prices along London’s Cycleway routes are 80% higher than the London average, according to research carried out for letting agents Benham & Reeves. They looked at house prices along the seven cycleway routes and compared them with the average price for London. House prices along all seven cycle superhighways averaged £874,578, which is 80% […]
Detectives from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command (Trident) investigating two shootings in the Acton area have made two arrests. Police were called at approximately 00.35 am on Tuesday 19 May to reports of a shooting in Perryn Road, W3. Officers and London Ambulance Service attended and found an 18 year old man suffering gunshot injuries. He was […]
More than 200 people were arrested over a seven day period in May, in continued efforts by the police to tackle violent crime. The Territorial Support Group and the Dog Support Unit worked in conjunction with local teams on a number of operations across several London boroughs, including Hammersmith & Fulham, making a total of […]
Following on from the witness who contacted The Chiswick Calendar on Monday about a violent altercation on Chiswick Common, and a series of burnt out cars strewn across Chiswick, there have been reports of two shootings in Acton over the past week. The police have issued stop and search notices covering Acton and the whole […]
Today (Tuesday 26 May) is the eightieth anniversary of Dunkirk, the evacuation of Allied soldiers during World War II from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk in northern France, as they were hemmed in by German troops. By rights, Princess Freda (pictured here crossing the English Channel) should have been on a week long trip […]
Artists At Home has been a feature of life in Chiswick for decades now. The annual Open Studios by artists in Chiswick, Hammersmith and Shepherd’s Bush over a long weekend in June is something many of us look forward to. This year the artists will be ‘Staying Home’ as opposed to ‘At Home’, meaning they […]
So much for a nice quiet bank holiday weekend. Up and down the country people have been incandescent with rage that they have stuck to the rules to ‘protect the NHS’, not been able to see sick and dying family members or go to funerals, while Dominic Cummings has been up to Durham and even […]
Lovely photographs of a vixen and her cubs by Mark Lawson @casenoter
The coronavirus emergency has prompted a surge in second hand bike sales, as people see cycling as an obvious way to get around without getting too near to other people. The use of ‘Boris bikes’ has also been on the increase. Santander Cycles, as they are properly known, were rented out in record numbers over […]
Julia Langdon started working from home nearly 30 years ago after being unceremoniously sacked from her job as Political Editor at the Sunday Telegraph: ‘a “personality clash” which had found me out on my ear … I had never been out of a job and I was afraid we were all going to starve’. Looking […]
Images above: One Over the Ait, Brentford; The Pilot, Wellesley Rd, Chiswick When will the pubs reopen is the $64,000 question many of us want to know the answer to, and how? How is it possible to enforce social distancing in a boozer? Who will want to eat a meal served by someone in a […]
James Thellusson, resident of Chiswick aka ‘Man in the Middle’ has won a prize for one of his short stories. James, who started writing the column last year for The Chiswick Calendar about his elderly mother moving in with his family, won the 2020 Sandstone Press short fiction prize for his story An Epidemic of Kindness [redacted]. Inspired […]
Images above: Peter Oborne and Richard Heller in action by Richard Heller Of course there are more important things to worry about, but the virus left England bereft of cricket just when its devotees could look forward to the new season. To us, this represents not just a physical but a psychic deprivation. No cricket […]
The Chiswick Flower Market, which initially hoped to open in May, now plans its grand launch for Sunday 6 September. A survey shows Chiswick residents are looking forward to the market becoming part of Chiswick life. ‘Chiswick needs rejuvenation’ said one who answered the survey; ‘Chiswick and Chiswickians need cheering up’ said another. The survey […]
Cricket authors (and obsessives) Peter Oborne and Richard Heller have launched a new podcast to help deprived listeners endure a world without cricket. They chat regularly about cricket topics – hoping to keep a good line and length but with occasional wides into other subjects. A distinguished guest illuminates the eighth episode: Tim Wigmore is […]
Cllr Steve Curran, Leader of Hounslow Council, will be hosting a live Q&A on the Council’s response to coronavirus and its impact on the borough. It will take place between 7.00pm to 8.00pm on Tuesday, May 26, via Microsoft Teams. You can join through this link. Residents can submit a question beforehand at communications@hounslow.gov.uk or […]
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