Edition 25, in partnership with Iya London Walks
🚶 Hammersmith Radicals: a riverside walk with Iya London
📍 Ravenscourt Park Underground Station | Sun 18 Oct | 11am
Before Hammersmith was a roundabout, it was a hotbed. In the late 1800s the riverside between the bridge and Chiswick was home to William Morris, one of the UK's earliest socialist parties, and the private presses that challenged how working people and women were treated.
Joanna Oyediran of Iya London walks that stretch and tells the stories of the artists and activists who lived and worked along it. It's about two miles and an hour and a half, starting at Ravenscourt Park Underground Station and finishing by Hammersmith Bridge.
Tickets are £15, or £12 for concessions.
Welcome back.
October has properly arrived. Friday is breezy and wet, then it clears for a crisp weekend, and Sunday looks like the pick of it.
This week Yard Sale Pizza lands on the High Road, a honky-tonk on Barley Mow Passage raises money for Mulberry Cancer Support, and the Poppy Appeal is looking for collectors. Plus a Hitchcock silent with a live score, an orchestra in Bedford Park and a new doo-wop musical at the Tabard.
Here's the week.
🍂 First proper autumn weekend.
If you catch Chiswick House, Turnham Green or the river looking its best, hit reply and send us the photo by Monday. We'll run the best of them next week, with your name on it.
🍕 Yard Sale Pizza
📍 88 Chiswick High Road
Yard Sale Pizza has made it to W4. The London pizza group's new shop at 88 Chiswick High Road opened on Monday 28 September for delivery and collection.
The pizza is built for the journey. The dough ferments for 48 to 72 hours, and the bake runs a little slower and longer, so the base stays crisp in the box. Delivery is by Yard Sale's own drivers and cyclists rather than the apps, and covers Chiswick, Gunnersbury and Hammersmith, plus parts of Acton, Barnes and Shepherd's Bush.
Pizzas come in 12" and 18". The Holy Pepperoni stacks smoky gyula pepperoni, regular pepperoni and nduja. The TSB is tenderstem broccoli, pine nuts, garlic oil and parmesan. Then there's the cheesy garlic bread with Marmite, which they describe as notorious. We'll let you decide.
Worth knowing: Yard Sale joins our pizza rematch later this month, so you've got time to do some research.
🤠 A honky-tonk for a good cause
📍 Lil' Nashville, 11 Barley Mow Passage | Thu 15 Oct | 6pm to 11pm
Tucked down Barley Mow Passage is Chiswick's own slice of Nashville: a country bar and kitchen with live music at weekends and a dance floor that fills up. Next Thursday it's raising money for Mulberry Cancer Support, which has helped local people affected by cancer for 25 years.
Your £25 ticket covers canapés on arrival, a line dancing lesson for all abilities, live music and the raffle. No experience needed. Over-18s only after 9pm.
🌺 Chiswick's Poppy Appeal goes bigger, and needs you
📍 Turnham Green station and three new spots | From Thu 22 Oct
Elisabeth Whittaker (centre) with the planning team
Last year Chiswick's Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal was revived after the local branch fell quiet, and it raised £30,459.31. This year the organisers want to go further.
Collections start on Thursday 22 October at Turnham Green station, with three new spots: Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer and Chiswick mainline station. The appeal runs to Remembrance Sunday and beyond.
Local resident Elisabeth Whittaker leads it again, with deputy organiser Julie Porter and Mark James, known to many shopkeepers as "the poppy man". The ask is simple: more volunteers, in more places.
To volunteer, contact Julie at [email protected] or Mark at [email protected].
Source: Chiswick Poppy Appeal news release, 3 October 2026
This week
⛪ St Nicholas Church & Burial Ground Walk | Sat 10 Oct | 2.30pm to 4.30pm | St Nicholas Church, Church Street
Henry Sainty leads a Victorian Society walk round the churchyard where Hogarth and Whistler are buried, and the church J.L. Pearson rebuilt in the 1880s. £20. Book
🎼 West London Sinfonia: Here Comes the Sun | Sat 10 Oct | 7.30pm | St Michael & All Angels, Bath Road
Nielsen's Helios overture, Grieg's Holberg Suite and Sibelius's Second Symphony. £17, concessions £14, students £5. Tickets
🏺 Chiswick Antiques & Vintage Market | Sun 11 Oct | 9am to 3pm | Chiswick High Road, W4 2DU
Second Sunday of the month on the High Road, five minutes from Turnham Green. Details
🎬 The Lodger, with a live score | Sun 11 Oct | 5pm | Chiswick Cinema, 94-96 Chiswick High Road
Hitchcock's 1927 silent thriller, loosely based on Jack the Ripper, with a live score from violist Hugo Max. Part of the cinema's Hitchcock for Halloween season. £12, children £7. Book
🦔 An evening with Hugh Warwick | Wed 14 Oct | 7pm to 8.30pm | St Michael's Church, Elmwood Road, W4 3DZ
The hedgehog campaigner and author of A Prickly Affair on hedgehogs, wildlife corridors and the thornier side of conservation. £5 on the door, under-12s free. Details
🎤 Who Put the Bomp? | From Wed 14 Oct | 7.30pm | Tabard Theatre, 2 Bath Road
A new doo-wop musical by Keith Strachan about a shy teenager who forms a group with his friends and his music teacher. Runs to 7 November. Previews £20, then £25.50. Book
🍂 Autumn Colour Walk | Thu 15 Oct | 10.30am to 12pm | Chiswick House & Gardens
Head of Gardens Rosie Fyles and gardener Kate Campbell lead a walk through the quieter corners as they turn, and talk about plans for them. £5, meeting at the Cricket Pavilion. Book
Further ahead
🧀 Chiswick Cheese Market | Sun 18 Oct | 9.30am to 3pm | Old Market Place, W4 2DR
Third Sunday of the month, opposite M&S. Details
🎻 Sunday Afternoon Concert | Sun 18 Oct | 3pm | St Nicholas Church, Church Street, W4 2PJ
Doris Kuo on violin and Henry Tozer on piano and voice: Franck's Violin Sonata in A, songs by Gershwin, Cole Porter and Leonard Cohen, and Ponce's Estrellita. £10 on the door, students £5, cash or card. Tea and cake afterwards for £5, with profits supporting young musicians. Questions to [email protected].
🎨 Magic and Mischief half-term art workshops | Tue 27 to Thu 29 Oct | 10.30am to 2pm | Learning Hub, Chiswick House & Gardens
Cygnets Art School runs Halloween projects for ages 5 and up, from potion bottles to a rabbit escaping a hat. Half day £30, full day £55, all three £150. Book
🌱 Gardening Together | Wed 28 Oct | 1.30pm to 3.30pm | Chiswick House & Gardens
A free half-term volunteering session in the woodland. Children over seven welcome, registration required. Register
🦇 The Addams Family: Spooky Cinema | Fri 30 Oct | 2pm to 4pm | Gunnersbury Park Museum
A family Halloween screening, rated PG. £8 children, £10 adults, and children must come with an adult. Book
🏊 Plans move forward for a new Fountain Leisure Centre
Hounslow Council has appointed AECOM and Faulkner Browns Architects to design a replacement for the Fountain Leisure Centre in Brentford, open since 1987. Early plans include pools with moveable floors, water play, a bigger gym, a sports hall and family spaces, part-funded by new homes on the site.
A second round of public engagement runs this October and November, after more than 900 people had their say in 2024-25. The current centre stays open as normal.
Source: Hounslow Council
🏀 Community focus: The Hogarth Youth & Community Centre
📍 Duke Road, W4 2JR
More than 300 young people spent their summer holidays at the Hogarth centre on Duke Road: art, cooking, music production, sport, and trips from kayaking at Osterley to a four-day residential in Norfolk. July was its busiest month since detailed records began in 2017, and a full day, hot meal included, costs £1.50.
It has just won Mayor's Youth Fund support for 2027 and 2028, but money is still the limit on what it can do, so donations and business sponsors go a long way.
Source: Friends of the Hogarth, Autumn 2026 newsletter