10 Magical Days on Wimbledon Common
Written by the Wimbledon Bookfest Team

The Wimbledon BookFest (4-14 October) in the Baillie Gifford Big Tent on Wimbledon Common, close to the Village, is a highly anticipated fixture on the local autumn calendar featuring a vibrant mix of speakers from the worlds of literature, the arts, politics, current affairs and sport, plus live music, theatre, comedy and an expanded programme of workshops. 

This year the festival welcomes literary stars such as Pat Barker, Sebastian Faulks, Lionel Shriver and Patrick Gale. The opening evening is headlined by broadcaster and bestselling author Graham Norton talking about his new novel A Keeper.

Festival highlights include chef and cookery writer Yotam Ottolenghi; philosopher John Gray; legendary musician Billy Bragg in conversation with Radio X's John Kennedy; sports stars Rob Andrew, Shane Warne and Brian Moore. Debates on Russia, AI, fake news, realpolitik and climate change feature in the lively politics and current affairs strand.  

An expanded comedy programme is headlined by Alan Davies, Mark Watson and Will Hislop, whilst comedian and author Adam Kay discusses This is going to Hurt, his hilarious and heart-breaking account of being a junior doctor. 

Channel 4 news presenter Cathy Newman commemorates the unsung heroines who made twentieth century Britain, whilst Bryony Gordon discusses positive mental health. Leading journalists Afua Hirsch and Samira Ahmed reflect on identity and multiculturalism and their experiences of growing up and living in Wimbledon. Wimbledon entrepreneur Tricia Cusden tells the inspirational story behind her new beauty brand. 

A vibrant children's programme features Michael Rosen, Francesca Simon, Sophie Kinsella, Jessie Burton and Radio 1 presenters Greg James and Chris Smith talking about their book Kid Normal.

Tickets are available from www.wimbledonbookfest.org.  

Event Review - Abundance Fruit Day
Written by Jil Hall, Joyce Pountain, Sue Lovell-Greene

There was another successful Fruit Day at St Marks Church Saturday 15th September. The apple press was going strong, producing litres of lovely fresh apple juice, the cake stall and honey stall (featuring Tooting honey and Martin Way honey) were busy as usual and we had the most amazing longest apple peel competition with a peel a metre long. Plus there was an opportunity for people to make their own apple pies and fun games for children to play.

There was a huge abundance of jams, jellies and chutneys in a variety of jars which were on sale; all made by our dedicated local makers. With so little fruit available this year, we were worried that we wouldn’t have enough, but our makers surprised and delighted us with their amazing choices of fruit and vegetable offerings.

The mayor, Mary Curtin, and our local MP Stephen Hammond came to visit, and we were entertained by the International Ukulele Orchestra and the Treblemakers singers. The sun shone on us and we were able to raise over £700. Many thanks to all who organised this and helped to make it such a success.

Abundance is a registered charity which campaigns against food waste and offers practical help to use local produce. Abundance Fruit Day is our annual event for selling jars of jams, jellies, chutneys, cakes, freshly-squeezed apple juice and lots more made from unwanted fruit from local gardens.

There are lots of fruit trees in the Wimbledon area, but much of the fruit falls on the ground and is wasted. Abundance helps people to access this fruit and pick it. Our main objective is that the fruit gets used. If at the same time, we can help people who might be struggling with the cost of fresh food, share skills, reduce waste and have fun doing all of this, so much the better!

The source of the featured image is the Abundance website, and the host venue is St Mark's Church, Wimbledon.

Merton Libraries Celebrate National Libraries Week
Written by the Merton Libraries Team

Merton’s award-winning libraries will once again be celebrating National Libraries Week, from 8-13 October, by offering the community a variety of events and activities to suit all ages.

To coincide with National Libraries Week the 'London Libraries Festival - World of Possibilities' will be running on 13 October and events will be hosted all across the capital. All of Merton's Libraries will be running special events in their library to celebrate. Wimbledon library will host its first ‘library lates’ event on Saturday 13 October, an evening with free talks on health and wellbeing and a free film screening. Doors open at 5.45pm.

Each library will be holding a range of events throughout the week with sessions to suit everyone. An event not to be missed takes place at Wimbledon Library on 11-12th October. The Paper Traveller, written and directed by Marie Klimis, is an immersive theatre project made specifically for libraries. The production brings a unique storytelling experience to audiences across London. Made up of a series of sound installations, pop-up books, and live performance, The Paper Traveller uses multidisciplinary practice to explore the event of becoming lost inside a book. Click here for more information on events planned for NLW.

Community Forum meetings regularly take place at venues across the borough and are a great way for you to raise issues within your area with local councillors. All issues raised are referred to the organisations responsible who report back to the forum on how they have been resolved. Visit the official website to get involved.