Welcome back.
Your autumn photos came in, and the pick of them is a sunset over Christ Church on Turnham Green that looks almost painted. It leads this week, alongside a misty morning of our own from Strand on the Green.
Also inside: a Northern Mexican restaurant on Turnham Green Terrace that the critics are taking seriously, the Dukes Meadows football club the FA has just honoured for playing without a break since 1863, and a local history society looking for its first new chair since 1984. Saturday is the best of the weekend weather.
Here's the week.
🍂 Your autumn, in pictures
Last week we asked for your autumn photos. Derek Cowie sent this one: the spire of Christ Church, Turnham Green, against a pink and orange evening sky.
Christ Church, Turnham Green. Photo: Derek Cowie
And one of ours, from an early walk along Strand on the Green, with the mist still sitting on the river under Kew Railway Bridge.
Strand on the Green. Photo: Inside Chiswick
Keep them coming. If something in W4 catches your eye, hit reply and send it over by Monday. We'll run the best of them next week, with your name on it.
🌮 Mirtala
📍 59-61 Turnham Green Terrace, W4 1RP
Mirtala opened in July in the old Sam's Kitchen on Turnham Green Terrace, and it cooks the food of northern Mexico: meat and fish off the grill, flour tortillas, and a dozen salsas, sauces and marinades made in-house.
The name has a story. Rishad Mehta's grandmother, Aloo, had a close Mexican friend called Mirtala, and the two families have stayed in touch for three generations. Rishad runs the kitchen and his wife, Benaisha, put together the drinks. Before opening, they ran a sold-out Taste of Mexico series in Turnham Green.
Snacks such as the Devon crab tostada are £15, and small plates like the masa-fried chicken with habanero cream are £19. The centrepiece is the taco platter for two, grilled and served with six flour tortillas, fries and salsas, from £39 a head. There's also a five-course feasting menu at £79. It's a special-occasion place rather than a quick midweek taco.
The critics have noticed. Jay Rayner reviewed it for the Financial Times last month and praised the guacamole, the "quite fearsomely spicy" fried chicken and the young team, while calling it "still a work in progress" and raising an eyebrow at how much wagyu is on the menu.
Worth knowing: there's a children's menu, starting with a £9 cheese quesadilla.
📜 Could you chair Chiswick's history society?
📍 Chiswick Memorial Club, Bourne Place, W4 | Next talk: Mon 19 Oct | 7.30pm
James Wisdom has chaired the Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society since 1984. After 42 years he is stepping down, and the society is looking for his successor.
You don't need to be a historian, or even a member yet. The trustees want someone with management experience, ideally at board level in a charity, who cares about the area's past. The chair leads the trustees, chairs the public lectures and represents the society with the council and the wider local history world.
The society was founded in 1958, is run entirely by volunteers and became a registered charity last year. Its monthly talks, open to all, run from September to April, and Monday's is a good way to see it in action: Jeremy Lonsdale on Patsy Hendren, the Turnham Green-born cricketer who played for England, and for Brentford FC, between the wars. Free, with donations from non-members welcome.
Interested? Email [email protected].
🎃 Halloween at Kew
📍 Kew Gardens, just over Kew Bridge | Fri 16 Oct to Sun 1 Nov | Evenings
From Friday, Kew Gardens turns into an illuminated trail after dark, back for a third year. Expect Dracula, fire performers, the Headless Horseman and a new cursed tomb, with hot chocolate, toasted marshmallows and hot toddies along the way.
It runs 6pm to 10pm until 24 October, then from 4pm for half-term to 1 November, with last entry at 8.30pm. Those earlier slots are the gentlest for small children; after 7.30pm is the scariest.
Adult tickets are £19.50 off-peak and £24 peak. Entry is timed and booked in advance, and Kew expects it to sell out, so don't leave it late. Go in through Victoria, Elizabeth or Brentford Gate.
We'll be there ourselves this Friday evening.
This week
🔧 Chiswick Repair Café | Sat 17 Oct | 10.30am to 1pm, last entry 12.30pm | Christ Church Turnham Green, Town Hall Avenue, W4 5DT
Yes, the church in Derek's photo. Volunteers fix small electricals, laptops, clothes, toys, ceramics, jewellery and small bikes, and sharpen knives. Free, though you pay for any parts and a donation is welcome. No booking, just turn up. ig: @chiswickrepaircafe Details
📚 StoryTime Takeover with Tor Freeman | Sat 17 Oct | 10.30am to 11.15am | Everybody Reads, 6 Chiswick High Road, W4 1TH
For ages 5 to 10. She reads from Pomona: Stories of the Cat Witch, then teaches children to draw the characters. Free, booking advised on 0203 793 5633. Details
🧮 Johnny Ball: Laughs, Maths and Stories | Sun 18 Oct | 2.30pm | Tabard Theatre, 2 Bath Road
The Think of a Number presenter on the story of maths and his years in television. For all the family, with a book signing afterwards. £23.50, under-16s £17. Book
🧀 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].
🎬 Sabotage | Tue 20 Oct | 7.45pm | Chiswick Cinema, 94-96 Chiswick High Road
Hitchcock's 1936 thriller about a cinema owner secretly plotting a bomb attack on London. Part of the cinema's Hitchcock for Halloween season. Book
🌺 Poppy Appeal collections begin | From Thu 22 Oct | Turnham Green station
Collectors will be out at Turnham Green station, Sainsbury's, M&S and Chiswick station through to Remembrance Sunday. More volunteers wanted: email Julie or Mark.
Further ahead
🎺 Kew Sinfonia Autumn Concert | Sat 24 Oct | 7.30pm | St Michael & All Angels, Bath Road
Beethoven's Coriolan Overture and Seventh Symphony, plus Ruth Gipps's Horn Concerto with soloist Joseph Longstaff. Tickets
🕷️ Creepy Creatures Nature Trail | Sat 24 Oct to Sun 1 Nov | Gunnersbury Park
Find Sid the Spider and seven other hidden creatures, collect their names and claim a prize. Ages 3 and up, £2 a trail. Details
🚂 Halloween Train | Mon 26 to Fri 30 Oct | London Museum of Water & Steam, Green Dragon Lane, TW8 0EN
A steam-hauled ride in a decorated carriage by Kew Bridge, with pumpkin crafts and a scavenger hunt. No scares, promised. Museum admission plus £1 a ride, and the ride is free in costume. Details
🎨 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
💐 Chiswick Flower Market | Sun 1 Nov | until 3.30pm | Old Market Place, W4 2DR
First Sunday of the month, with around 35 nurseries and British flower growers. Details
🎆 Chiswick Rugby Community Fireworks | Sat 7 Nov | doors 5.30pm, fireworks 7.30pm | Chiswick Rugby Club, Dan Mason Drive, W4 2SH
Bonfire at 6.30pm, fireworks at 7.30pm and live music after, with a donation to Maggie's in every ticket. Adults £12, children £8, family £30. It sold out last year, so book early. Book
🐟 Schubert's Trout Quintet | Sat 7 Nov | 4pm | St Michael & All Angels, Bath Road
The Gustav Holst Ensemble, joined by double bassist and broadcaster Sandy Burnett, plays the much-loved quintet Schubert wrote at 22. Free, with donations welcome; reserve a place. Reserve
🌼 Gold, and a rare judges' award, for Dukes Meadows
The Dukes Meadows Trust has won Gold, the top award, at this year's London in Bloom for its work on the riverside parkland. Its director, Kathleen Healy, a founder member of the Trust, also received the only Judges' Award made this year.
Judge Sarah Syborn praised the way a once-neglected park has become a well-used neighbourhood space, and said "the Trust, volunteers and residents should be rightly proud of what they have created." Next time you're down there, that's who to thank.
Source: West London Herald
⚽ The club that has never stopped playing
On 26 October 1863, eleven clubs came together to found the Football Association. Only one has played association football continuously ever since: Civil Service FC, whose home is the Kings House Sports Ground on Riverside Drive, by the river at Dukes Meadows.
On 26 September the FA's chair, Debbie Hewitt, joined club president Jim Kellett to unveil a blue plaque at the ground marking 163 years of continuous amateur football. Hewitt said the club "occupies a truly unique place in the history of our game". In 2013, for the joint 150th anniversary of the club and the FA, it was the home side in the first competitive match played in the grounds of Buckingham Palace.
It's still amateur, and its men's and women's teams welcome new players.
Source: Civil Service World
🧱 Strand on the Green's river wall: on time and on budget
The repairs to the old river wall at Strand on the Green, part of which collapsed near Compass House in December 2024, are on time and on budget, according to Hounslow Highways. The council chose a full repair over a patch-up, agreed a £750,000 budget in April, and work started in May.
The contractor is rebuilding some stretches and repairing others between Grove Park Road and Kew Bridge, including new wooden steps near Ship Alley. It should be finished by Christmas, and Hounslow Highways' Tim Hurley expects the work to last "ten or twenty years, or longer". Credit to the Strand on the Green Association, which campaigned for it.
Source: The Chiswick Calendar
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