West Hampstead Digest No.11 Christmas Special

Puzzle time

A change for this special Christmas edition of Digest. Rather than regurgitate everyone's tweets about Monday's snow or Friday's over-eating, Digest is following in the best tradition of Christmas publishing and giving you a crossword!

You can either download a printable version, which might be easier, or the clues and grid are below. All the answers to clues in italics are to do with the area (that's most of the down words and a couple of the across ones). Then rearrange the letters in the shaded squares to find a phrase associated with the neighbourhood in 2009.

Answers will be printed in next Sunday's Digest Review of the Year. If you'd like to send in your solution, contact @WHampstead for an e-mail address. There might even be a prize.

Across
1. Girl in chains meets locals here (3,5,5)
7. I don’t go north-east in old London bus (5)
8. A judge decrees you can call me (5)
10. Caesar spends second millennium in Norwegian town (4)
12. Only time will tell of Clannad split (4)
13. Fish's raw greeting (2)
14. Abbreviated sum of online chat (2)
17. Breathe in album from the classical/modernist tradition (5)
19. Need one of Titmuss's 51 excuses for 4 down (5)
20. Heading in that direction (2)
22. A millionth of the Greeks can't be wrong (2)
24. Slow birds get confused at night (4)
27. Sediment pressure reshapes list of soils (4)
28. Amid the wailing sir, enchanting music (5)
29. Puzzled goat on South Island (5)
30. Habito, ergo sum (4,9)

Down
1. Staging Wagner's Ring three times (8)
2. Walk slower than Pele (8)
3. Johnnys come to the bar after hours (7)
4. Blackberry maker falsely claims it falls within European standard (5)
5. Go lightly this season to avoid prick (5)
6. Kilburn icon's condition (5)
9. Posting bits long before Twitter (5)
11. Separates Frognal from Thatcher's thoroughfare (3)
15. Grind out the pathway (4,4)
16. Dwarves' Hi-Ho drags us to Kilburn panto (4.4)
18. Step up to the dining table this Xmas (5)
19. Fry et al. tell of Norse God down under (7)
21. Initially preceding Silverlink (3)
23. Route in front of Spanish square (5)
25. Tool raises money for #whampforgood (5)
26. Mates power early Met Line trains (5)

West Hampstead Digest No.10 Local news where you set the agenda

(Click here for one-page PDF version)
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow There's been one big story all week. Twitter went a bit snow crazy at the first sign of flakes on Wednesday morning. Just after 9am the first reports of NW6 snow appeared although it was 20 minutes before West Hampstead had its first snowflakes. The localised nature of the snowfall meant that some were seeing snow while others were only reading about it. It was almost 10am before Digest confirmed a snowflake sighting. Of course snow evokes many different emotions. More snow fell on Thursday evening – this time more impressively triggering reports of flickering lights and a dodgy TV reception for whampers.There was some hope of a snow day on Friday, but 'twas not to be. Of course the puppy-dog excitement of snow soon turned to discussion and complaints about gritting roads and transport headaches. #whampsnowElectioneering begins in earnest
Emerge from West Hampstead tube station and you are confronted by a large billboard declaring Tory PPC Chris Philp's battling credentials. No sooner had Chris joined Twitter than his alter-ego @notchrisphilp popped up.Thoughts as to who was behind the @not.. account flew around but as yet no obvious candidate has appeared. #whampvote

Whampcarol success despite the cold
See the blog for full write-up of #whampcarol

Photo of the week
This treat from @emprom, of a snowball in Kilburn Sainsbury’s, captured everyone’s imagination.

Whampcarol success despite the cold

Tuesday night was #whampcarol night. Clear skies meant a cold night and, with the bridge still closed due to the flooding, West End Lane was eerily quiet with minimal traffic and surprisingly few pedestrians.

Undetterred, the band (the magnificent @eastlondonbrass) arrived and together with @helenstone, @gitfinger and my fellow mince-pie maker @SarahReardon, we set up our stall. Even before we'd started playing, people were generously giving up their small change to the two charities: The Winch and the band itself, which works with kids in east London.

As the cold fingers worked their way through Christmas classics there was a regular stream of donations.

The Holly & The Ivy, "live" from West End Lane (thanks to @gitfinger).
We had both sides of the road covered so no-one could miss us and despite the quiet evening the hit-rate was high. A small cheer went up when the first £5 note was pushed into the collecting tin, but it wasn't to be the only one. After almost 90 minutes playing and with the temperature dropping we decided enough was enough and we'd leave the people of West End Lane in peace. We hurried to the Alice House to defrost, taking our table and of course instruments in with us. One table started chatting to us and suddenly we were offered £60 to play two carols right there. The bar manager very graciously agreed we could, and our pot was £60 bigger. Thank you very much indeed to that generous man. We raised just shy of £250, which was outstanding for such a quiet evening. Already there was talk as to how we could make next year's bigger and better. Thank you to everyone who took part, and especially to all the people who gave money. We really appreciate it.

Photos courtesy of @gitfinger and @helenstone

West Hampstead Digest No.9 Local news where you set the agenda

(one-page PDF version available)
Jubilee farce continues
Confusion reigns over exactly how many more closures Tube Lines needs to finish work on the Jubilee Line. Is it six weekends? Is it 28? Depressingly, no-one seems to know, and the prospect of more disruption looms large. Surely the time has come for clarity and for leadership. Sadly, both seem lacking.
Whampers, unsurprisingly, were not impressed. Reactions ranged from the sarcastic
to fingers-in-ears,
to the comically resigned,
to the angry.
Despite both TfL and Tube Lines maintaining that their working relationship has improved, there is still no coordinated message. All parties were called before the House of Commons Transport committee during the week. Not that the results were especially enlightening or positive.
An unscientific WHampstead poll asked what form people would like any additional closures to take. Weekend closures were marginally the least popular option. Of course whampers may not be representative of all users.

Many people said they would prefer a total shutdown until the work was complete. Although of course this is not a straightforward option from everyone's perspective. For many people it seems that clear communication around what work is being done when, and WHY it's taking so long would all help ease the animosity towards TfL. As @sam_elliot says above “we need some sort of elected mayor to sort this out.”
Whampgather II: Tremendous turnout
See full write-up on blog.Darker Shores: Panto for grown-ups?
Full review on blog.

Tremendous turnout for Whampgather II

Anticipation for whampgather seemed to be building early Thursday evening as locals downed tools and began heading over to The Alice House on West End Lane.

As people piled in, both the volume of the chat and the temperature began to rise.

The complimentary bottles of wine soon vanished leaving people to deal with the erratic bar staff

But one thing was for sure

As the waitress struggled valiantly to fight her way through the crowds with the tapas plates, The Wet Fish Café's André was the first to leave.

Tough call between the Prince of Darkness and #whampgather of course.

The evening wore on and friendships were formed - some seemingly closer than other (naming no names of course). No-one seemed to capture the entente cordiale between Lib Dem PPC @edfordham and Conservative deputy leader of the council @AndrewIMarshall, but I can vouch for the fact that they at least waved amicably at each other.

One whamper who couldn't make it was @DJStoney. Lured away by the promise of DJing for quasi-royalty he nevertheless kept in touch throughout the night.

And clearly realised he'd made the wrong decision.
The Alice House had a 1am licence, so there was none of the embarrassing throwing out at 11.15. By midnight though, most of the 40+ revellers had wended their way home save for a hardcore group who stayed until the end before switching to the Lower Ground Bar.
The buzz the next day was unanimously positive - at least anyone who hadn't liked it kept their mouth shut! The prize draw was carried out the next day with @NManville winning dinner for two at The Wet Fish Café (there's no point trying to talk him in to taking you... he wouldn't make it out of the house alive).
@gelle won @danusiskin's Dot-To-Date calendar.
Huge thanks to everyone who came. I really hope you all enjoyed it and managed to meet some new people. Thanks also to @gitfinger, who took photos (including the two at the top) and helped out on the evening. The next #whampgather won't be before mid/late February but there will be #whampreviews and #whamplunches before then so keep an eye out for details on those.

Review: Darker Shores at Hampstead Theatre

At several points during Darker Shores, the characters debate whether things are real because we perceive them, or whether they are real because we feel them. The 11-year-old boy next to me for last night's performance both perceived and felt the reality of this Victorian Christmas ghost story all too vividly. Director Anthony Clark was clearly doing something right.

Michael Punter's new play engages with the theatricality of ghost stories rather well. It begins by nicely blurring narration into action, thereby disrupting the audience's understanding of what exactly is real and what exactly is now. If this makes it sound pretentious, fear not. Thanks largely to Tom Goodman-Hill's outstanding performance as natural scientist and would-be Darwin refuter Gabriel Stokes, this is a play that seeks to entertain not confuse. Goodman-Hill dominates the play, even more remarkable when you learn that he was a very last-minute replacement for Mark Gatiss. The crumbling of Stokes' crisp surety in the face of the inexplicable is far more convincing and compelling than Julian Rhind-Tutt's evolution from Confederate impresario to fragile soul suffering post-traumatic stress. Indeed, in the first half, Rhind-Tutt's Tom Beauregard appears lost at sea - his elongated southern vowels struggling in quieter passages and never quite convincing as either a Doctor of Spiritual Science or as a 19th century Derren Brown. He ups his game in the second half and some sort of equilibrium is restored between the male protagonists.

The two are joined on the Gothically draped stage by Pamela Miles' doughty Mrs Hinchliffe, whose secrets are closely guarded in the folds of her housekeeper's black dress, and by Vinette Robinson as cockney sparrer voice-of-reason Florence Kennedy. Kennedy initially seems too simplistic a character, but it is clear she has a larger part to play in the tale and both women perform well, especially Miles whose part is more subtle.

Amid the trickery and illusion (of which there is plenty) the frights and scares vary considerably in their intensity. Some of the moments that should shock are sadly rather rushed with not enough dramatic build-up. The 360-degree sound effects, on the other hand, are extremely effective at bringing the audience right into the action. The first sighting of the ghost is particularly well done, and spooked my young neighbour more than a Dalek ever would (he told me this during the interval).

Although the main stage is left relatively uncluttered, the wings are full of shadows and spotlights and curtains and columns. This has the excellent effect that you start to expect something to happen out of one of these dark corners every time a spirit is summoned. Yet the final revelation is a delicious surprise.

There is much humour in the play, largely based on superb delivery and timing, but on occasion the comedy releases the tension before rather than after a more dramatic moment. And as the audience relaxes into its seats instead of perching on the edge of them, it becomes harder to ratchet up the spook factor. This conflict sadly was the play's weakness for me. It became harder to care about the characters and the resolution of the story and came perilously close to drifting into pantomime - albeit a well acted, grown-up pantomime. This was reinforced by a rather clunky exposition scene near the end that felt as if it should have been integrated more smoothly into the text.

Overall though, it is hard to carp. It was definitely a very enjoyable evening, contained some excellent performances and I would certainly recommend it for Goodman-Hill's acting alone. 7/10

Darker Shores by Michael Punter

Hampstead Theatre until Jan 16th

*Disclaimer: I received a free ticket for the play courtesy of the theatre.

Image from Hampstead Theatre website