On Wednesday, 21 June 2023, West Hendon Arts and Culture Society (WHACS) will be hosting a Summer Solstice Festival. This vibrant community event will take place on Damsel Walk off West Hendon Broadway (by Co-op) from 3pm to 8pm.

The Summer Solstice Festival will celebrate the diversity and community in West Hendon through a mix of both local and professional music, talented dance performances, fragrant food, and fun-filled children’s games and entertainment. This activity-packed event will have something for everyone, both big and small.

The Summer Solstice Festival is just one of the activities being delivered this year by WHACS, a local community organisation working to bring the diverse national, religious, cultural, and other communities living in the area together at events and activities.

The atmosphere will be filled with vivacious voices and spirited sounds from the festival stage.  The programme will feature music spanning the genres including vintage sounds from the 1940s and beyond, soulful ballads and folk songs, 80s hits, jazz, rock and reggae, plus African drumming and Indian classical music.

The festival market will feature tastes from around the world, with vendors offering authentic Caribbean and Indian street food, plus delicious burgers and loaded chips, scrumptious cakes and sweet treats. Family activities will abound, with a Summer Solstice themed art workshop, Chinese storytelling, fun-filled games, face painting, balloon modelling and more.

The event will also feature in the London Festival of Architecture programme for 2023, the theme of which is ‘In Common’. This month-long celebration of architecture and city-making aims to open up discussions around architecture, environment and city spaces. The Summer Solstice Festival will include an Architecture and Design workshop led by Middlesex University.

Naomi Stanford, a WHACS member, said: “I hope to see both new and familiar faces at the Festival in June. We look forward to a great day out with friends, family and neighbours. We encourage local residents to get involved in local events and activities and welcome new ideas to make West Hendon a better place to live and work. The Summer Solstice Festival promises to be a fun-packed day.”

For more information please contact Osita Udenson on 07875 588 107 or udenson@btinternet.com.

High streets are on the move again and Udenson Caldbeck Associates (UCA) is glad to be working with the Wealdstone Traders Association to hold a series of discussions that will help to shape the area’s plans for improvement.

The Wealdstone Conversations project is currently engaging the views and opinions of Wealdstone’s diverse communities about both opportunities and issues of concern in the town and its public spaces. These discussions will help to shape improvements in Wealdstone by working towards a cohesive vision, including a funding application to the Greater London Authority to develop a spatial strategy for the area and to assist in animating and activating underutilised buildings and public spaces in Wealdstone.

As part of the project, Wealdstone Traders Association will be hosting a Cultural Music Day on Saturday 2 October, which is being curated by UCA. This vibrant community event will take place from 12pm-4pm in Wealdstone Square. With a mix of both local and professional performers and a range of exciting activities, the event aims to both provide a fun day for all and an opportunity for community dialogue as part of the Wealdstone Conversations project.The Wealdstone Conversations Cultural Music Day will bring Wealdstone Square to life, showing the potential for future community events and activities.

The event’s on-stage programme will include music from Afro-funk and Highlife band Odinani, vintage sounds of the 1940s from the London Belles and songstress Pandora’s Diary, as well as a variety of performances showcasing the talent present among Wealdstone’s local groups. You won’t want to miss the staff of businesses in the high street who will be showing off their cultural dance moves. The event is free and open to all.

Unhar Gupta, Chair of Wealdstone Traders Association, said: “The Wealdstone Conversations Cultural Music Day is a great opportunity to come out and enjoy the Square with a day of music and entertainment. We are looking forward to speaking with local people and bringing the community together at this fantastic event.”

For more information please contact Osita Udenson on 07875 588 107 or udenson@btinternet.com.

Udenson Caldbeck Associates (UCA) developed the Oaklands Road Playable Street Project on behalf of Cricklewood Town Team, and successfully bid for funding from the London Borough of Brent’s Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy Fund in 2019.

The project was devised to address long-standing problems associated with the congested environment, air pollution and lack of public space in Cricklewood town centre. Completed in early 2021, it has pedestrianised part of Oaklands Road by closing off vehicular access from the Broadway to Oaklands Mews, removing high levels of illegal parking, idling, and the dangerous pedestrian crossing at the junction. Rainbow Properties has also provided a living wall on their new development in Oaklands Road, further greening the area and contributing to pollution reduction.

We worked with Airlabs, a world-leading pioneer in air quality management, who provided a study to understand the local airflow dynamics of the site and to monitor pollution using sensors installed both on the site and on Cricklewood Broadway.

A summary of Airlabs’ report is below:

Purpose

This project was to explore, by means of real time air pollution sensing, any improvement in localised air quality as a result of pedestrianisation of the end of Oaklands Road in Brent, London where it meets Cricklewood Broadway. The target for the improvement was 5%.

Background

Urban air pollution comes in different forms and has different sources, such as traffic, and may be local, come from regional origins or even further afield. Using data from accurate low cost sensors but also comparing to nearby local authority reference stations, we are able to determine causes and sources of this pollution.

Dense urban environments, such as this, can suffer from high pollution, mainly due to large volumes of local traffic and congestion. This project was conceived to create a ‘Liveable Street’ by removing general traffic and improving the urban realm. The pedestrianising started in September 2020 and the construction work was completed by the end of November 2020. This project supports Brent Council’s commitment to improving town centre environments, encouraging walking and cycling and improving air quality. The project was funded by Brent’s Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy (NCIL).

Methodology 

Concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3) and particulate matter (PM2.5 & PM10) were continuously monitored by air quality sensors at two specified locations; Oaklands Road and Cricklewood Broadway (see Figure 1) before, during and after the pedestrianising work. Due to the continual monitoring, it is possible to see minute by minute changes to pollution and the effects of ‘rush hours’ as well as the difference in air quality throughout the rest of the day, how it changes between days of the week and over the different seasons.

Towards the end of March 2020 for the rest of the monitored period, the whole area was under periodic lockdown and normal service resumption because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The pattern of pollution matches these events precisely and the ‘story’ of the local area can be told in this way. As well as this, the construction work can be clearly seen in the data through an increased but temporary volume of particulate pollution.

Results

The following list is a summary of the data from the project. A comprehensive report is also available.

• 20% reduction in NO2 from local sources at Oaklands Road – this is a positive achievement and demonstrates the benefit of removing traffic in this environment
• 13% reduction in O3 from local sources at Oaklands Road – as above, Ozone precursors are caused by traffic in an urban context and a reduction of traffic will reduce ozone
• Clear peaks in NO2 concentrations occurred at 09:00 and 18:00 at Oaklands Road – this diurnal pattern shows the effect of localised traffic peaks and where stop/start congested traffic exacerbate this
• Continuously elevated levels of NO2 from 09:00 till 18:00 at Cricklewood Broadway – whilst peaks can be seen, the main road suffers from pollution due to traffic all day
• Concentrations of PM2.5 & PM10 were generally on the threshold of the annual mean exposure limit suggested by the World Health Organisation (WHO)

Summary

The project was successful in meeting the targeted reduction in pollutants and increasing the awareness of the specific environmental context in the area under consideration. Further monitoring in the area will show how these levels change over time related to volume and type of traffic as well as assuring the community on the benefit of their ‘Liveable Street.’