A Tale of Two Trusts - Watermans and Chiswick Pier
Chiswick Riverside councillor Gabriella Giles reports back
Cllr Gabriella Giles
April 6, 2024
Community and Culture
The Easter weekend for many is the first time of the year where we can take stock and breathe a little after the winter. After the spring equinox, and with Saturday’s brilliant sunshine, it certainly felt like we’d made it through the winter.
I started off my Saturday at the library, where I was on duty for the councillor's surgery, and was pleasantly surprised when I found my fellow councillors John Todd and Gerald McGregor deep in conversation. We had all turned up for duty, so it was nice to have a catch up with them both in between meeting residents.
I then zoomed off on the bike to Chiswick Pier where the trust were hosting our regular boat race party. This event is a great fundraiser for the trust, and as a trustee on behalf of the council, I have helped out wherever and whenever possible. This time, I was on duty to take photos of the day, managed to tap one of the kegs kindly donated by Fullers and even managed to pour a number of pints to our patrons. And please don't worry…we didn't lose too much to wastage!
The day was a great success, we had a fantastic turnout, and it was great to see so many of our emergency services use the Pier House as their base in between operations. I managed to snap the police, the ambulance service, RNLI and our Sea Cadets in the photo below.
Chiswick Pier is halfway along the championship route, it is also the perfect viewing spot for the race. We open up the pontoon to the public, so you really do get a fantastic sight of the boats at eye-level, but I would also warn you that it can get a little rocky once the flotilla passes. We had a little incident with the steps for the canoe club breaking away from the pontoon, however, the Sea Cadets sprang into action to save the day by retrieving and restraining these to make it safe for our users.
Like most community led organisations, the Chiswick Pier Trust is a charity where we rely on donations as well as volunteers to make these days a success, so we are very grateful to all who support us. If you want to get involved, please consider becoming a member, attending one of our talks. Our next big community event - Party on the Pier - which will be on the 21st of July, and you will be very welcome! You can find more information on our website
With the Easter holiday, the rest of the week was a fair bit quieter. Thursday evening I attended my first meeting for Overview and Scrutiny. This was a preparatory meeting as the council is introducing a new way to do a deep dive on the scrutiny of chosen subjects. As I’ve not sat on this panel before, and my main exposure has been through call-ins, it was interesting to see how the panel approaches scrutiny, not just the topic, but the methodology. I’m hoping that my requests for data ahead of the scrutiny exercise will come through so that we can be fully prepared ahead of this day-long event.
The other item that has been keeping councillors busy has been the announcement of the closure of the Watermans Arts Centre. This has come as a shock to many in Brentford, Chiswick and beyond.
Much like the Chiswick Pier, the Watermans Centre is a council-owned riverside asset, where there is a trust established to run the day to day operations. However, on closer review, it looks like the setup of the two organisations are very different. There are still many unanswered questions on what happened in the run up to the 20th March announcement of the closure of the centre which is due to happen on next Thursday, 11th April.
In order to find out more, I attended the second public meeting on Saturday, where it was great to hear of the unanimous public support for keeping the centre open, and for many innovative ideas to use the space. Maybe this is all a little too late in the day, but it is so great to see the community come together with creative ways to retain a cultural centre in the borough that was built on land that was originally donated to the people of Brentford.
Way back in 2019, I wrote a document to support Hounslow’s bid to be a borough of culture, in this document I focussed solely on Chiswick, and today’s meeting reminded me that with all things, if we don't use and support the facilities on our doorstep, we will be destined to lose them.
The campaign to #SaveOurWatermans is going strong, go to www.saveourwatermans.uk to find out more on this campaign and how you can help, and sign the petition on the council website.
Local volunteers, campaigners, and politicians of all colours are working to find solutions to this problem, and it would be a shame to lose yet another venue for the creative arts. At April’s Chiswick Area Forum we heard from Hounslow Arts Centre who are also on the hunt for a new home. With all these changes, wouldn't it be nice if we could find homes so we can keep these organisations in Hounslow?
Anyway, case work continues as normal, as do meetings with residents, and I’m looking forward to some upcoming projects that I should be able to share in my next blog!
Wishing you all a safe and happy week.
Councillor Gabriella Giles
Gabriella.giles@hounslow.gov.uk
Mobile: 07966 270823
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 2024/25
Cabinet Meetings
Tuesday 16 Apr 2024 7:00 pm
Tuesday 14 May 2024 7:00 pm
6th Floor, Hounslow House, 7 Bath Road, Hounslow TW3 3EB
Council Meetings
Tuesday 28th May 2024 7.30pm - (The Annual Statutory General Meeting of the Borough Council)
6th Floor, Hounslow House, 7 Bath Road, Hounslow TW3 3EB
Open to the Public
Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Monday 13th May 2024
6th Floor, Hounslow House, 7 Bath Road, Hounslow TW3 3EB
During weekends, residents can still access council services on-line or via emergency numbers:
To inform the council of an emergency, please call 020 8583 2222
CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLOR SURGERIES
Chiswick: Every Saturday from 9.30am to 10.30am at Chiswick Library (the eight Conservative councillors take this surgery in turn).
Gunnersbury: First Saturday of the month from 10am to 11am at The Gunnersbury Triangle Club, Triangle Way, off The Ridgeway, W3 8LU (at least one of the Chiswick Gunnersbury ward councillors takes this surgery).
CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLORS and CONTACTS
Chiswick Gunnersbury (was Turnham Green) ward
Cllr Ranjit Gill ranjit.gill@hounslow.gov.uk 07976 702956
Cllr Ron Mushiso ron.mushiso@hounslow.gov.uk 07976 702887
Chiswick Homefields ward
Cllr Jack Emsley jack.emsley@hounslow.gov.uk 07977 396017
Cllr Gerald McGregor gerald.mcgregor@hounslow.gov.uk 07866 784821
Cllr John Todd john.todd@hounslow.gov.uk 07866 784651
Chiswick Riverside ward
Cllr Gabriella Giles gabriella.giles@hounslow.gov.uk 07966 270823
Cllr Peter Thompson peter.thompson@hounslow.gov.uk 07977 395810
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