Brent Council upside down sign

doɥs doʇs əuo, Brent Council Reception, Brent House

I can only assume that this is Brent Council's one stop shop sign for people who walk on their hands.

Kensal Rise Library planning - last day for comments

From the Friends of Kensal Rise Library

Last update before planning comments close......

1. Thank you to all of you that have contacted Brent planning expressing your support for FKRL and those who have signed letters of support.

To those of you who have not yet sent your comments you have until the end of Monday 28th April to do so.
The link is:
https://forms.brent.gov.uk/servlet/ep.ext?extId=101150&reference=115466&st=PL

For the best chance of retaining a library for the community, FKRL are supporting the application in the following way by stating:
Support planning application 14/0846
I give my support re Planning Application 14/0846:
1. For D1 community library and space
2. For FKRL to be tenants of the space
You can do the same and add your own words.

3. We have had emails of support from councillors from all three wards surrounding the library, Brondesbury, Kensal Green and Queens Park. Thank you to all those councillors for your support.
We have had a further email of support from Maggie Gee and her husband Nick Rankin who earlier in the week sent a statement of support. Both supporters and campaigners for the library since 1988. Thank you both for keeping Kensal Rise in your hearts.

4. We have also had support from Marika Giles Samson who some of you may remember was a very active campaigner until her move to Canada - and here is an excerpt:

Does anyone genuinely believe that FKRL has not done all that they have other than for the benefit of the community that they love? Does anyone really think that the decision that we are asked to support is motivated by anything other than a genuine  belief that it is in the best interest of the community? As far as I am concerned, the trustees of FKRL and the members of the campaign have earned all the credibility that they need to make this decision on the community’s behalf. We have no reason not to trust them, and every reason to support them.

Marika Giles Samson

Montréal, Canada

Formerly of 35 Bathust Gardens

5. Yes we have had to compromise but we are hoping that we will manage to have 2/3 of the ground floor (which is about 66% of the previous library space for those of you that like figures).

6. Looking forward to the day when our energies can go into planning an actual library and community space.

Regards and many thanks to the most important support of all - the residents of Kensal Rise and Kensal Green.

Margaret Bailey

Friends of Kensal Rise Library

Playlist for the results event

View from the back at the results event/launch

British Pathé's entire newsreel archive online

This is just one of nearly 90,000 newsreel films, recently uploaded to YouTube by British Pathé. It shows the aftermath of a V1 bomb attack in Walthamstow, 1944. This one is silent, unlike most of the films (I think).

Truly beautiful video

Stick with it and you'll see. Wait for the Cab.

Into the west

Cavendish Avenue

Do we still do sunsets?

Yep.

Saturday 26 April 2014

Ceanothus (?), Whitton Avenue West

Thursday 24 April 2014

Wood End Gardens

Cavendish Avenue

Obama plays football with a robot

They also chat and the robot runs around and even hops on one foot. It's quite amazing. Afterwards he says the robots were "a little scary".

And finally...the skiing rabbit

The 2014 competition results and book launch event took place on April 16th in Brent Artists Resource Gallery. There are no plans for any further competitions at this time. Thanks to everyone who took part, sponsored and helped out over the years.

Competition accounts 2013-14

I want to make this quick, so I'm only going to use round figures here. The accounts are submitted in detail to the IRS as part of my trading company Object Tree Ltd.

The entry fee was £6 this year and all went through Submittable .com, which takes about a dollar per entry. I created the Southernmost Point poetry collection out of the proceeds of the competition, as well as the competition anthology New Short Stories 8. There were 381 entries, resulting in an income of just under £2,000 plus sales of books at the event of £70. Out of that take cash prizes £600, and two books including copies for authors and contributors, which came out at approx £400 each, all told. That's £1400 roughly accounted for. I also paid for my web server, which hosts the websites for Willesden Herald and New Short Stories, out of the money; that's another £270 (Webfusion VPS starter pack annual price). That leaves us with £400. The venue was £45, wine/water/nibbles £65, leaving us with £290. Mugs and p&p take us down to about £200. Although we're in the black this year, this can be balanced against losses in previous years, I think. Only ever wanted to break even and it appears I have done so, or a little better. So that's that. :)

P.S. The accounts for 2012-13 were published in updates under the Kickstarter book project* for that year. Actually I see we were in the black then as well. So that's good. I've spent a fair bit on software that I use and plugins for the WordPress site, which I probably haven't counted, so there's not a lot in it either way. For example I use three plugins from WooCommerce to run the online bookshop and they cost about £20 each. Etc. You can find other previous years' accounts by clicking the accounts tag.

Steve

* Copy of relevant text from the Kickstarter project introduction and updates, for ease of access and in case Kickstarter archives it away:

From Kickstarter project description/introduction:

Here is why we need the money and for what it will be used. First of all a summary and then the detail. I should explain that even though we only really need £400, to get that £400 we have to raise £800 here to cover the cost of the rewards, i.e. the books and mugs, plus shipping. What will we do with the £400? It splits into about £200 to publish the book and £200 to fund the authors' five copies each. That's the summary, now for the detail.

Background 1, entry fees: We had 340 entries this year, at £3.00 making a total of £1020. Less 10% PayPal commission, that left £918. Less prizes, £600, left £318. [Correction 30/3/2013: 340 - 13 unpaid = 327 @ £3 making £981 - 10% = £883, less prizes £600 leaving £283.]

Background 2, website: There were a few incidental expenses but the main other one was when the website had to move to a new server and I paid a year in advance to get the cheaper rate. Even if we hadn't moved, the cost would have been about the same, but we had to "ante up". With the new server comes the latest version of PHP, enabling the rebuilt WordPress-based New Short Stories website. That took away another £200. Together with other incidental expenses - the prize mug etc, somehow or another we are now down to under £100 in the kitty. [Correction 30/3/2013: Have found the difference in 13 unpaid entries (see above). Kitty actually down to under £50.]

To publish the book is not all that expensive, in fact £200 covers what we do, (we set it up for print on demand), but there is also the small matter of 50 copies to send out, five to each of the contributors to the book, plus three more due to friends for helping with the competition. Now that plus postage eats up about £5.50 per book, at cost. There's £290+ right there.

From Kickstarter project updates, in case they archive that away

A rough calculation shows that about £640 + £50 for books for the launch (if and when - see below) has been used out of £830 that I got from Kickstarter after they took their commission. All the figures here are approximate. I just want to get an overview on here, as it makes me feel better about it. It's a big responsibility.

The way I get that total is as follows (all approximate figures, remember): Contributor, designer and judge copies (total 53): £220. Mugs (turned out expensive at about £15 including postage) 12 x 15: £180. Book setup and proof: £100. Individual books x 27 for backers, including postage to me and onward postage from here (very approx. - might be more after some of the distant addresses): £140. 

220 + 180 + 100 + 140 = £640. Plus about 50 for the extra 12 books I added for the launch = £690. 

830 - 690 = £140 left over.

Horse chestnut tree

Whitton Avenue West

And the mug goes to...

Willesden, April 16: Charles Lambert announced the prize-winning stories in 2014 Willesden Herald short story competition.

1st prize goes to:
Ward by Nick Holdstock

Equal runners-up:
Postman's Knock by Angela Sherlock
Such is her Power by Joan Brennan

Thanks to all who came to BAR Gallery this evening and to everyone who helped out with the event. Read all the stories in New Short Stories 8.

Last night at Brent Artists Resource Gallery

Dead tree

Near the corner of South Vale and Wood End Road

Results event and book launch 2014

Willesden Herald best stories, 2014

Short stories by

Joan Brennan
Gina Challen
Nick Holdstock
CG Menon
Dan Powell
Jo Barker Scott
Angela Sherlock
Megan Taylor
Medina Tenour Whiteman
Lindsay Waller-Wilkinson

More

Recent pictures

Event at Polish supermarket, Greenford Road, March 29

Funderpark XL, 3-21 April, Ruislip HA4 9PQ

Quote of the day and book exchange, Sudbury Hill station

£10 rail sale, vintage clothes shop, Queens Parade, Walm Lane, NW2

Where is everyone?

I think they've all buggered off to our Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr (Radio Shh) pages*. It's just so much easier to post things there, mainly because they can all be posted simultaneously from Spotify to share music and in the same way all simultaneously from Spreaker for podcasts and so on. It is also very easy to share thoughts on items found around the web because most things have buttons you can click to share very quickly, albeit not simultaneously. On the other hand Blogger is laborious and does not automatically play linked items without having to use html, nor does it enable simultaneous posting to other social media. Lastly, most people are on Facebook and Twitter all day, it seems and not so many looking at Blogger.

Simon Moribund

* We're back, the prodigal bloggers. (May 2014)

Save Kensal Rise Library! | Agreement to be signed

This just in:

March Update - Agreement to be signed.

Hi Everyone,

At a Trustees’ meeting of the Friends of Kensal Rise Library, on Thursday 20th March, it was agreed to sign an agreement, in good faith, with both All Souls College, Oxford, and Andrew Gillick of Kensal Properties Ltd.

The agreement means that we will publicly support the D1 aspect of the proposed development of the library building: namely, the provision of the D1 space.

In return, we trust the agreement will ensure that we, as the named preferred tenants of both the College and the developer, will be the operators of a community library in the space.

This is the fourth year of the campaign to Save Kensal Rise Library. Our intention has always been to make sure there is a library in the Kensal Rise Library Building. In this, we have had the support of the community - and beyond.

We have greatly valued and respected this support over the years; we now ask that the community continues to maintain its faith and trust in FKRL.

For, having seriously considered alternatives, we have not taken lightly the decision to enter into the agreement.

However, we think it is the best chance we have of ensuring that a library continues to function in the building for the community of Kensal Rise and Kensal Green.

The Save Kensal Rise Library campaign will continue until this objective is achieved.

Regards,
Margaret Bailey

Save Kensal Rise Library! | Campaign to Save Kensal Rise Library

Tommy Maher's Irish bar

Greenford Road

Welcome in, have a skinful 

Gunga Din, it's not sinful. 

Take a drink and only think

That Jesus Christ's own advice

Was get more in, partying

With James & John, dusk till dawn

At Tommy Maher's Irish bar.

--
Stephen Moran

Harrow is part of Willesden, y'know

St John's Road, Harrow

Even though we have moved HQ to Sudbury Hill, Harrow, we still can be called The Willesden Herald as this photo proves. It's a picture of St John the Baptist church, Harrow and on the sign outside it says "Diocese of London, Willesden Area". So there.

It's a miracle.

The open sandwich men of Sudbury Hill

 

Encounters at BAR GalleryChas

"Nine Heads" - Jean-Luc Almond

"Chas" - Joel Whybrew 

Ink Encounter - Sally Buchanan
recycled linen thread

From the recent Encounters exhibition at Brent Artists Resource gallery, Walm Lane, Willesden

Reheating Tea

.

My forehead is a touch screen.
I take the edge and thumb-swipe time
forward, while regrets blur into pain.
One swipe and 30 seconds die
not with a bang but with a ping
on the microwave.

.

I have heard the burst of bombs
left by terrorist platelets,
sound travelling from the crater of a synapse
banging anvils onto hammers in my ear,
projecting dragons out through closed eyes,
and counted myself lucky
afterwards.

.

In spring an old man's fancy
likely turns to thoughts of wonder.
I open the blinds to let sunlight
blind me and send its flying vitamins
to anaesthetise lesions, and waken
hibernating hope cells with a splash
like witch hazel.

.

Shell is too strong a word
for this bubble, reflecting day's glare.
When you've floated around the sun
a few times, landed somewhere -
called it home and held in
the breath you were given. I wish
I had a shell.

.

-- Stephen Moran

Short list for the 2014 short story competition

There were 381 entries and reducing them to ten wasn't easy at all. Many brilliant stories had to be omitted. It was fascinating, as always, reading each and every submission. When you think of all the craftsmanship, thought and sheer imagination there is out there, it's quite heartening.

Short List 2014

• Piercings by Jo Barker Scott
• Such is her Power by Joan Brennan
• The Beekeeper’s Daughters by Gina Challen
• Ward by Nick Holdstock
• Rock Pools by CG Menon
• Rip Rap by Dan Powell
• Postman’s Knock by Angela Sherlock
• Rash by Megan Taylor
• The Stealing by Lindsay Waller-Wilkinson
• Cotton-Fisted Scorpions by Medina Tenour Whiteman

Congratulations to the writers of the short-listed stories and thanks to all who entered. The first and runners-up prizes will be announced by the judge, Charles Lambert, on April 16 at a special event in BAR Gallery in Willesden. New Short Stories 8, the anthology containing all the stories above, will be launched at the same time.

Steve Moran

About the Authors

Jo Barker Scott was born in London, but grew up mostly overseas, in Kenya, Pakistan and Iran. These days she lives in Winchester, writing fiction and loitering on social media. Her work has been variously ignored, long-listed, short-listed, prize-winning and published, and she is currently polishing a novel. Her dream is to become a good enough writer to do justice to her family’s story.

Joan Brennan lives in London and writes full-time. Her stories have been short-listed for the Bridport, Fish, V.S. Pritchett and Lightship. She was placed second in the final London Short Story Comp. She lived in America for 7 years which is the setting for her recently completed novel, ‘The Bean Farm’ - currently short-listed for the Exeter Novel prize. After gaining a degree in Art she went on to complete an MA in English Lit. and over the years has worked as an illustrator, education editor, F.E. tutor, and university librarian. Originally from Lancashire, Joan still hankers for the North

Gina Challen is originally from London but has lived in West Sussex for over 30 years. She left her job as an Insurance Broker in 2012 to complete a Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Chichester. This she calls her mid-life crisis. Her short stories have been published in anthologies by Cinnamon Press and Rattle Tales, and her essays can be found on line at The Thresholds Short Story Forum. She is currently working on a collection of short stories linked by the life and landscape of the Sussex Downs.

Nick Holdstock is the author of The Tree That Bleeds, a non fiction book about life in China's Xinjiang province. His stories and articles have appeared in the London Review of Books, n+1, The Independent, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. His first novel will be out from Thomas Dunne in Spring 2015.
www.nickholdstock.com

CG Menon is Australian, but currently splits her time between London and Cambridge. Her stories have appeared or are forthcoming in a number of venues including Litro Online and Stupefying Stories. She was short-listed for the first Words and Women competition and has a story forthcoming in the associated anthology.

Dan Powell grew up in the West Midlands and currently lives in Lincolnshire. His short stories have been published in Carve, Paraxis, Fleeting and The Best British Short Stories 2012. He is a prize winning author, receiving both the Yeovil Prize and an Esoteric Award for his short stories. His Scott Prize short-listed debut collection of short fiction, Looking Out Of Broken Windows, is published by Salt. When not writing, Dan teaches part time and takes care of his young family as a home-dad. He is currently working on his first novel and procrastinates at danpowellfiction.com and on Twitter as @danpowfiction.

Angela Sherlock has worked in engineering and in education but now lives in Devon where she writes full time. She has published reviews and articles but currently concentrates on fiction. Her first novel, The Apple Castle, (as yet unpublished) was long-listed for the Virginia Prize and short-listed for the Hookline Novel Writing Competition. She has published some short stories and is currently working on a novel that draws on the history of Plymouth. Postman’s Knock, her third story to be short-listed by Willesden Herald is from her collection, Exports, which explores the Irish Diaspora.

Megan Taylor is the author of three novels, ‘How We Were Lost’ (Flame Books, 2007), ‘The Dawning’ (Weathervane Press, 2010) and ‘The Lives of Ghosts’ (Weathervane Press, 2012), but for the last year and a half, she has been concentrating on her short stories. In 2013, she was highly commended in the Manchester Fiction Prize and had a story published in an anthology, ‘Weird Love’ (Pandril Press). She was also recently awarded runner-up in Tin House’s Shirley Jackson competition and in Synaesthesia Magazine’s short story competition. She lives in Nottingham with her two children.

Lindsay Waller-Wilkinson worked in fashion for 25 years, but more recently spends her days writing – mainly short stories and poetry – and has been published in various literary magazines, both online and print. She is working on her first full length poetry collection titled DressCode and a novel length collection of linked short stories. She is an associate editor for The Word Factory and blogs at www.poemstorydreamreality.com.

Medina Tenour Whiteman is a writer, singer, musician, translator, small-time farmer and mother of two children who writes at a frenetic rate in the rare opportunities she has to do it. Born in Andalusia in 1982 to American-English Sufi Muslim converts, she is currently based in the Granada province, where she is co-writing a travel guide to Muslim Spain and trying to find time to finish a novel.

First prize includes a writing retreat courtesy of LitCamp.