Progress on Clitherows Island and the Guyfest Weather Watch
Brentford West councillor Guy Lambert reports back
Brentford West councillor Guy Lambert
June 5, 2026
On Friday morning I was up in the Potting Shed having a coffee and the evilly irresistible bacon brioche (wrongly described IMO as a bap) with a friend of mine. We discuss matters of Brentford and (less obviously) Armenia and Georgia. Always a pleasure being in our lovely park and having been there through the difficult period when many were telling me we were destroying it, I am proud of the park. A friend of mine had been on some course or event at the Manor and said unprompted what a wonderful job had been done with restoring it. She was also very positive about her activity there and the staff and volunteers.
Today I have an online meeting/update about the work that is going on bringing Clitherows Island - essentially the weir island at the foot of the park - back into the park. It has been neglected and partly squatted since before I became a councillor and it seems my 10 year attempt to fix this may be coming to fruition very soon.
We are often tempted to mis-spell this island which came from the old owner of the Manor. Those of us of a certain age are inclined to confuse him with a megastar of the 1950s the Clitheroe Kid
Clitheroe Kid
I will report more about the island next week when I hope I will know more. I have been complaining about not being kept in the picture about developments in my ward, though this seems to be improving a lot now. Time will tell!
I also have the rather disconcerting (but very welcome) novelty of having a ward partner who does stuff! I'm pretty sure that Craig and I will make a good ward team once we get to know each other better but a couple of times recently I've responded to a resident and found Craig had got there first, something that I had almost forgotten was possible since Lara moved on. It is great to have someone energetic and capable working in the ward.
On Friday afternoon I was due for the umpteenth time in West Middlesex to see a doctor and sort out a prescription. My cycling woes have been very limited recently but zooming across the Commerce Road traffic lights (they were green, since you asked) there was a loud noise and one of my feet was dangling in the air due to not being connected to a pedal. I came to a stop by the Northumberland Arms and looking back I could see a pedal now in the middle of the road. I retrieved it and I did not have my Evostik with me (do they still make Evostik?) so walked it back to the Brentford Bike Works. Nobody home, and the man in the Cobblers told me they were on holiday. Hmph. So I got on one of them thar Forest bikes. I confess I liked Limes better because a) they didn’t turn my bag upside down like Forest do and b) the brakes were useful rather than vestigial. Got there anyway.
Retrieved my bike on Saturday morning and felt quite bereft. The only thing was to push it to Chiswick which I expected to be slow and a bit painful. Nevertheless arranged to meet a Chiswick pal at the telephone box cafe on Turnham Green which created great controversy a few years ago as does anything novel in Chiswick Gunnersbury ward! Pal arrived also pushing a bike which he wanted to get fixed after not using it for a while. We were about to head for Fudge's when the people who run the 'cafe' insisted they would have a go at fixing mine. Really nice people, including a Greek woman playing an unfamiliar string instrument with either 2 or 3 strings with a bow. Well, they couldn't fix my pedal, but the whole thing was very heart-warming, another reason I cherish our multi-cultural country.
Fudges fixed it in 5 minutes, charged me not much, and left me with a new pedal and a spare clipped to my basket. A quick lunch in Fouberts - a proper old-fashioned Italian but the pizza I had defeated my modest appetite these days.
Then I headed for Hogarth's House (he was not there having left it in 1764 to his main crib in Leicester Square where he apparently ate a pound of beefsteak before apparently suffering a dropsy of the breast which sounds most uncomfortable and certainly led to his demise). Anyway there were others there to let me in - the people from the Brentford and Chiswick Local History Society. It was their AGM and would have been more informative had I been able to hear better. But a lovely day, a lovely place and nice people and the latest issue of the Journal which is always good to read.
On the back of the Journal is this picture from the Chippendale Collection. As far as I know I have never met Neil Chippendale but he comments on social media about Brentford matters and we had a few wrangles in the past. I heard he lives in Australia and now I know the story. He was Brentford bred and worked in the library service until 1998, married a fellow librarian in 1998 and emigrated to her native New South Wales. Neil has a collection of Brentford ephemera which has now been acquired and is now in the Local collection in Chiswick Library. Must get a look at this when I get a minute and let's get it shown in Brentford. A lovely story, and thank you Neil for caring about your town, also now my town.
Also in the journal is a recipe for Brentford Rolls. Although I have no baking talent or experience, I was inspired to buy the ingredients to make 12 of these rolls. No doubt it will be a small disaster and 'set to rise above the fire' may be a challenge but I am a trier and I like buns. Apparently, someone competent has made them already in Brentford which really ought to put me off, but it hasn't yet! Quite a lot about them provided by Sir Reginald Google.
On Sunday evening I had a restaurant meal which was fine but something somewhere disagreed with me and I was an ill boy that night and through to Wednesday. Eventually talked to my Doc who said 'there's a lot of Norovirus about'. Oh. Well I seem to be mainly OK now but not something I recommend, even for people like me who normally have cast-iron digestion!
On Tuesday I went to Hounslow House for the Market Place of Hounslow Services. I wonder if I have anything to learn after 11 years and in reality there isn't much, However the first person I ran into was someone I've had a couple of mild run ins with over the years - the man in charge of road names. It was good to meet him, and you realise when you think a name is bonkers it is rarely his decision! On the same desk there was a man with food for a geek like me I could spend a year mulling this over. STOP.
I didn't take a single picture, which was remiss of me, but I did talk to a lot of people, many of them folks I used to have a lot of contact with particularly when I was on Cabinet. It was great to catch up with people from Lampton, from Hounslow Highways, from Finance and all over the council. It is easy to forget how many of the council officers are dedicated, knowledgeable and seem to be pleased to see me. Yes, might be a bit 'official' but who cares - I'll take it even if fake.
On the way out I bumped into two that I worked closely with for some years - the head of Hounslow Highways and the council officer who runs that contract. I grumbled at them for 10 years so they're used to it, and it happens I had moaned again about the manhole outside Goddards which I describe as the Brentford New Monument because it had had plastic barriers annoying buses and cars for weeks - months actually.
The Monument back in March:
I got an immediate response once they had got back to the office and a resident sent me a picture of the remains of the Monument as it was this afternoon.
Still lovely barriers but a brand new swimming pool though I hear Donald Trump has posted on 'Lies Social' sorry I mean 'Truth Social' that the water is the wrong colour. The good news is that it belonged to Thames Water who had done naff all for months so Hounslow Highways are sending them the bill - I hope very nicely padded.
I have still been a little fragile in the stomach department so mainly taking it easy. A fair amount of casework of course and getting ready for the summer event I am hosting in Watermans Park on Saturday. This is notionally a birthday thing but my birthday was actually just after the election so I celebrate on a separate date without any flummery, cards, presents etc. I love Watermans Park and I want more people going there and celebrating it so if anyone wants to call in, I'll be there from 4pm on Saturday and delighted to see the Brentford hordes. In fact, my specific order for a warm sunny day may be being ignored by the authorities so if it's raining as some forecasts say you might find us skulking in the Watermans Centre's former car park where the architecture is stunning and it is NOT a Car Park
This evening, Thursday, my exile from Planning was reprieved and I attended the compulsory training. I'm the helpful type, so here are some things you might want to memorise to help you make planners' lives difficult.
To be fair, most people know the drill so the training on this slide may be wasted.
It's late and I'm slow these days. Tomorrow morning I am off to Hatton Fields to meet with a Brentford resident who has a heavy horse. He and his chums are doing something in Hatton involving heavies. In my priceless (I really mean worthless) vinyl collection I have this tribute album.
I doubt either Ian Anderson or his flute will attend but a boy can have a dream.
Councillor Guy Lambert
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