Then perhaps you would like to volunteer some of your time to the Samaritans…

Get in touch with Brent Samaritans on 020 8961 7636 and they can give you dates and times for possible introduction and training. Book a place in the Information Session and Selection Day on Saturday 11 September.

Samaritans offer confidential support to anyone passing through a crisis or thinking of taking their own lives. They’re on the end of the phone on 08457 909090 or available in person for people to express their feelings, helping them to talk through their options and find a way to face the future. They are not a religious or political organisation – they listen, don’t judge and don’t offer advice.

The Lexi Outdoor Cinema will be setting up camp in Queens Park on Friday 17 September for Casablanca, and in Roundwood Park on Sunday 12 and Saturday 18 for ‘Mamma Mia!”Raiders of the Lost Ark’.
BUY TICKETS HERE…

Gates open at 7pm, with the main feature on screen at sunset, about 8.15pm. 

Got your tickets yet? With live music, circus performers, costumed ushers, and onsite bar and food stalls, we can’t wait to get the ball rolling in Roundwood on Sunday 12 September…An Indian summer is on the way, so round up your friends and family, and join us for our first foray into mobile cinema (something we’ll be doing a lot more of over the next 12 months…), as we take The Lexi experience on the road, with special sunset screenings in two award-winning local parks.

Mamma Mia! Sunday 12 September, Roundwood Park

• The biggest singalong NW10 has ever heard
• Dress code: girls – coastal boho à la Meryl, boys – double linen, a la Pierce (or wear fleece – your choice)
• Live choir and interval performance by stars of the West End show
• Zippos Circus performers doing their thing amongst the crowd
• Golden Sunset Caribbean BBQ, Minkie’s Hampers available, Lexi bar on site
• BUY TICKETS NOW…

Casablanca Friday 17 September, Queen’s Park

• Live jazz band and juggling troupe to welcome you
• North African cuisine from Spice Caravan
• Minkie’s Hampers available to pre-order, Lexi bar on site
• BUY TICKETS NOW…

Raiders of the Lost Ark Saturday 18 September, Roundwood Park

• Zippos Circus performers working their magic
• Golden Sunset Caribbean BBQ
• Minkie’s Hampers available, Lexi bar on site
• BUY TICKETS NOW…

We look forward to seeing you at the biggest outdoor screenings to ever take place in northwest London. You’re more than welcome to bring your own picnics and drinks, blankets and deckchairs. And don’t forget to bring something warm and/or waterproof – just in case. The only type of weather which will prevent the screenings from taking place is a full-blown Kensal Rise tornado…

As always, all Lexi profits go to charity.  GET YOUR TICKETS HERE…

(The Screen on the Green is our logistical partner for this year’s screenings; established South London mobile cinema gurus, they’ve nothing to do with the North London cinema by a similar name…)

Art and craft workshops and playgroups for one-month-olds up to age 10 at Elmwood Tennis Clubhouse, Wednesdays 4pm–6pm. For more info or to book, ring Mary on 07790 016980 or email marykirk@mac.com

Mary Kirk has a BA in Fine Arts and Psychology and BSc in homeopathy with 12 years experience teaching art/craft to children of differing abilities. Hameeda Chaudry-Hill is a massage therapist and reflexologist and works part-time at the Royal Free in Hampstead. Both live locally and are mothers of small children...

Autumn term dates: 22 September–20 October – half-term break – then 3 November–8 December.

Art and Craft Workshop with Mary 4pm–5.15pm For small groups of five to 10-year-old children will learn techniques of felt making, paper making, drawing and hand/machine sewing etc. to make personalised bags, hangings, pillows, balls, garments, decorations and seasonal items.

Parent and Child Playgroup with Hameeda 4pm–5.15pm The play area for toddlers and babies between one month and three-years-old will be set up with wooden toys, dolls, play kitchen/home and a craft table. Singing and Story time with Mary and Hameeda 5.15pm–5.30pm Steiner inspired seasonal stories and singing can be enjoyed by all ages.

Tea Time with Mary and Hameeda 5.30pm–6pm All children can sit together to enjoy a simple, organic teatime snack. Juice or herbal tea, rice cakes with spread, dried and fresh fruits are to be provided. Please send additional packed dinner with your child if you wish!

PRICE: Five weeks: £65. Six weeks: £78 (includes all materials/sibling discount available).

Drop-in for Parent and Child Playgroup: £4 a session; five weeks at £20; six weeks at £24 (sibling discount offered).

Elmwood Tennis Clubhouse, Holland Road, London NW10 5JA

Mary and Hameeda and any other assistant helping have up to date CRB checks. Parents of children over five are welcome to stay for a cup of tea or leave their child for the session. Playgroup parents are to stay with their child. If your child is aged four then ask about which the best group is for them to join as it will depend on the individual child. Mary has been running Blossom, the former Wednesday morning playgroup for the past three years. This new twist on Blossom will still be run by Mary with Hameeda taking care of the playgroup, while Mary concentrates on art and craft with older children.

'Blu Brindle' missing chihuahua

Please help find this male chihuahua who went missing in Kensal Green!

‘Blue’ was last seen on 26 August on St Margaret’s Road and then running down Bathurst Gardens about 6pm.

He is microchipped and has a collar.

Please contact 07738 563593 or 07792 120084 with any information.

Reward for safe return!

Photo by Andrew Lamb

Lovely to see delightful designer Celia Birtwell celebrate our own favourite flower artists Scarlet & Violet and beloved deli L’Angolo in her little black book of secret addresses in this article in The Telegraph.

Don't let road rage stress you out! Make like Karma Kabs and bring joy to the streets of London.

We don’t usually do Victor Meldrew style rants over here in Park Life Towers, but doesn’t it make your heart sink when you stumble into roadrageous scenarios on our London streets?

Must grumble. Yowzers, it doesn’t take a sociologist to spot that there’s too much aggression and self-entitlement out there in society these days and nowhere is that more visible than when you’re behind the wheel and trying to negotiate the streets of NW10 and NW6, hey? Well, take heart in a new I respect the road campaign. It invites you to have a rant about the wrong-doings you encounter in your car.

Here at Park Life we’re usually focussed on celebrating positivity, peace and people and places that are high on feel-good factor… and the truth is we wish there was a li’l more of that on our roads. We’re not usually ones to get you all fired up to shout about negative stuff, unless it’s aimed at making the world a better place for all; so if you need to vent that spleen, here’s where to go: AXA Respect on the Road. Or join their Facebook group.

It’s sure tempting to nip on there to talk about the middle-aged couple who recently called me and my toddler the C word for momentarily slowing down the car to let a neighbour and her two-year-old twins cross a Kensal Rise sidestreet. (Even nice mums can get a dose of road rage: see Youtube.) Cue: ‘What world do we live in?’ type sighs. It’s times like that when you need to take a deep breath and kill all with kindness – and don’t let others poor etiquette raise your blood pressure: it’s only you that suffers. And who knows, maybe your aggressor just found out their wife’s cheating on them with their brother? Or they’re racing to hospital to get some bad news? Or maybe they plain forgot whose right of way it is. Whatever happens, don’t let others make you lose your manners. Come on, gang, let’s all work together to make our community as nice as it can be for everyone.

This sponsored post was brought to you by AXA Car Insurance to help inspire our roads to be a better place. Amen to that.

And an additional thank you to Taoist Tobias Moss and his local kitsch car service, www.karmakabs.com for the image used.

Rain in Kensington

In a land not known for its most reliable climes, it’s time to embrace Blighty’s climactic schizophrenia and celebrate all four seasons in photographic form for the British Weather Photographer of the Year competition.

As an artistic doff of the cap to all those homes they’ve insured and against the ever-unpredictable British elements, Lloyds TSB is asking for your weather-related photos and you get the chance to win £10,000 for showing off your photographic prowess. Not such a bad deal, huh? To enter, click here.

Sunshine in Queen's Park

To get the snapshot party started, pictured above left is a little inclement-inspired mobile-phone photo at the Serpentine Gallery’s Summer Pavilion, designed this year by architect Jean Nouvel. And the bouncy castle action was at Brent’s Respect Festival July 2009 in Queen’s Park.

And here’s a fun local factoid for you: classic 1990 hit Sunshine on a Rainy Day by Zoë featured backing vocals from long-time Queen’s Park resident Andy Caine, Zoë’s then boyfriend. Beat that for some ace NW6 weather-related trivia, pop pickers.

This Sponsored Post was brought to you to you to provide the rather delightful chance to bag 10 grand just for flaunting some of your finest photos.

A proper old boozer in Kilburn isn’t your obvious destination to enjoy a little fringe theatre action…

The other day we popped to the theatre above the Cock Tavern in Kilburn to see the play Subs (which runs until 7 September), and afterwards my pal surprised me with this impromptu review of the pub below...

Hey Park Life! Thought I’d send you this review of the Cock Tavern for kicks… Love, Amy

What a fascinating local watering-hole, that was. Nestled pungently between McDonalds and Argos, the Cock Tavern welcomes local friends with breezy, Dali-esque arrangements of tables, each with a delightful character from the local populace nursing his warm, aged cider between moist palms. Indeed, the Cock is very much about history, from the antique-ish, stained chairs, to the month-old cut moldering flower decorations, to the swirling carpet.

The long, inviting bar is well-stocked and a great place to swap observations, as you wait for the single, harassed, member of staff to work her way down the line of parched, animated drinkers which are an incongruous cocktail of red-cheeked locals and unwitting visitors to the tiny theatre above. Endeavouring to do what most would shy away from in terms of decoration, the Cock uniquely unites the old and new with jumble sale prints, jauntily resting alongside five plasma screens. And what it lacks in air freshener (if Jo Malone did the fragrance, I think it would be called ‘Portaloo’), it more than makes up for in location, being a mere stone’s throw from buses, tubes and an overland train station. But then you might not be heading there for the boozer part – just the bijoux bench-seated theatre above.

If that isn’t enough info about the theatre itself, let’s just say it’s pretty small, fairly hot and quite dark – and what it lacks in drama in its surroundings it should compensate for in whatever the performance is. We say, judge for yourself. Hey don’t expect the West End. But it’s a decent cultural diversion if you’re on West End Lane…

COMING SOON TO THE COCK THEATRE

Edward Bond Season 14 September–13 November

Six Edward Bond plays From six decades of British theatre:
Olly’s Prison
The Pope’s Wedding
The Under Room
The Fool Red
Black & Ignorant

…and the world premiere of a brand-new play, especially commissioned for this season.

TICKETS: £12/£10 concession; ALL PREVIEWS: £10; a limited number of £5 tickets available.

Seeing as the weather isn’t doing its job this August – cheat with some liquid sunshine and Tan Me Gorgeous, for only £20!

Summer feels like it’s over and Carnival’s just round the corner – or maybe you’re heading off to the Ibiza closing parties – so let lovely friend-of-Park-Life Ellie Long give you a bespoke BeauBronz Spray at her studio in Holland Park. A BeauBronz spray tan is usually over £40 in a salon and esteemed ex-Kensal Greener Ellie only charges £28. But, dear blog readers, Ellie is offering you this special ParkLifetastic price of £20.

Wham, tan, thank you ma’am! Paraben- alcohol- and chemical-free, 95 per cent natural using certified organic ingredients, and not tested on animals. Also odourless and quick-drying… What’s not to love? You’ll soon be a lovely light golden or deep bronze – a world away from being Tango’d or ending up a shade of Morph.