Even if you haven't had to use its services you're sure to be familiar with St Mary's Hospital in Paddington which serves as one of London's four major trauma centres with around 160 acute care staff on duty at any one time. What you certainly won't know is that they currently share a single small staff room with little space to rest & recover away from the pressures of emergency care.. Now a charity has been set up called Caring for Carers which aims to fund a specially-built barge to serve as a sanctuary for off-duty staff which will be permanently moored on an unused section of Paddington Basin (see artist's impression above). The charity needs to raise £230,000 by January to unlock a matching grant from Westminster to enable the project to go ahead. You can help by making a donation via caringforcarerstrust.co.uk and/or/ buying tickets for a special charity performance of Paddington The Musical at 7 pm on December 14th at the Savoy Theatre by going online at paddingtonbargecharityfund-raiser.com. (It's an excellent show btw but an even better cause!)
Our annual celebration always takes place on the Saturday nearest to Bonfire Night which means that this year it will be held on November 7th. But the important things don't change: as ever we can count on a fabulous display from award-winning supplier Fireworks Crazy; the bonfire will be lit at 6.30 pm & the fireworks will get under way at 7 pm. (The display in neighbouring Crescent Garden is once again handily timed for 7.30 pm so residents can enjoy both). Guests are encouraged to be within the Garden perimeter by 6.50 pm at the latest & all spectators must keep behind the safety cordon.
There is one innovation for this year however that's bound to be welcomed by those who wish to be a bit more hands-on: children living on Formosa (plus any adults wanting to re-live their youth) will be able to light their own sparklers which will be available on a first-come first-served basis from the two security guards on site. Where they are used though they need to be disposed of in the bucket provided & not on the grass or the paths.
And it's still the case that no other fireworks can be let off by residents in the Garden or on private patios.
First aid cover will be provided near to the main gate. If in doubt ask the security guards for the location.
Other than that nothing remains but to show up on the night & have fun!
....Well we always knew that but now it has been formally recognised by the people at London in Bloom, who have just awarded Formosa the so-called Silver Gilt award in the Small Park/Enclosed Garden category.
Entrants were graded on achievements in three main areas -- Horticulture: plant quality. garden design & maintenance; Environment: cleanliness, sustainability & bio-diversity & Community: local participation, involvement of volunteers & neighbourhood engagement.
The accolade is all the more remarkable because Formosa has never put in for any Garden awards before so it's very much a question of first time...not lucky, but (deservedly) successful. Jan Melkenbeek, who heads the winning team at Gravitas, says "the guys are beaming & super-motivated"...& plan to use this as a launch pad for their campaign for Gold in 2027!
