Young offenders and Royalty are not the two types of people likely to be getting to know each other over a cup of tea… Well, today the two came together as Princess Anne, known for her charitable work, made a public appearance at the unveiling of her plaque at the ‘Young Offenders Team’ centre in Oxford Gardens, W11. The centre aims to show the young offenders the repercussions by forms of community ‘Payback’ such as community service and to also bring young offenders to talk to the victims of their crimes, to see the affect of their crime and the wider picture. Speaking to a young ex-offender named TJ, earlier convicted of robbery, whose response to the question of what he would be doing without the Youth Offenders Team was “if YOT wasn’t around I would probably be in prison”. Instead he was doing well with football. I’d say that’s a quite a bleak outlook to have and if this kind of centre can change someone’s prospects from behind bars to being on a football pitch then shouldn’t there be more of them and more high profile individuals like The Princess showing their support to them? Does seem like it.

The type of ‘Payback’ the young person must do is decided by a panel of volunteers from the community. Dawn, a panel member in her second year of studying Youth Justice said the role was about “getting to know the person”. Additionally, Nicky Gunter, Preventions Manager described it was that both victim and offender should be given “the chance to be heard” and maybe all that is needed for young offenders is for someone to listen to them to show that not everyone expects them to go down the same path over and over again.

After speaking to many of the victims of crimes and offenders involved at the centre, the Princess made a short speech at the unveiling of the plaque where she acknowledged that the Centre had “set an example of which one or two would like to follow”.

Text by: Hannah Mckellar-Ricketts (on work experience with The Kensington Magazine)
Images and copyright: Lucy Elliott/The Kensington Magazine

Images: Left to right:

Top: HRH The Princess Royal, Patron of the Restorative Justice Council with Betty McDonald Head of Service; HRH Princess Royal.

Centre:  Mayor of Kensington & Chelsea, Councillor Julie Mills with ‘TJ’, Mr Graham Robb, Restorative Council Justice Trustee

Third line: Julie Mills; Grace Fredricks, Reparation Co-ordinator at the Youth Offending Service with Community Police Carlos Husbands and Helen Tilbury

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Lovely morning! Somewhat slushy pavements, but get to Kensington Gardens and it looked like ‘Little Switzerland’ as myGrandmother would say.

Images and copyright: Lucy Elliott/ The Kensington Magazine
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The Duchess of Cornwall visiting Trinity Hospice caused great excitement amongst the staff and volunteers. Clothes for sale were arranged and re-arranged, the floor swept, hoovered and swept again. Now they were ready.

At precisely 6.00 p.m a chauffeur driven car arrived flanked by motorcycles. Accompanied by Protection Officers she entered the Trinity House Book Shop, managed by Paul Claxton. Immediately it became very clear that she has two key skills – within a very short space of time she can put someone at ease and engage in good ‘small talk’. Paul showed her around the shop, decorated with old record covers, old magazine front covers and general ‘past ages’ paraphernalia. The shop has some wonderful first or signed editions and should be the first place for enthusiastic book lovers to visit. If you have children do please come along since it’s a genuinely child friendly book shop selling not only children’s books but also toys – and there’s a squidgy sofa too to make them feel at home.

Camilla surprised everyone by suddenly producing a bag full of books for Paul to sell in the shop, causing interjections from those watching with “Oh I’ve read that”, and “Oh I’ve got that” – no doubt, bearing in mind from whence they came, these books will go for a premium in the shop.

Next stop was the Trinity Hospice Clothing shop – designer clothes, pashmina and cashmere scarves, men’s new shirts and evening dresses can be found here. Debbie Woodall the Manageress showed The Duchess around and introduced her to staff and volunteers. The introductions very quickly became relaxed and informal “And this is so and so, she/he works on a Tuesday” “Ah so you’re a Tuesday girl”. And to the next person, “… and are you a Wednesday person then?” and so on.

Having had a good look round she noticed two celebration mugs marking her marriage to Prince Charles – unusual and rather collectible since two cups had to be issued due to the Pope’s death on the original choice of wedding date. Hence two china mugs for the same occasion, just different dates.

Just as she was leaving she spied some special Trinity Hospice bears. Immediately picking one up she declared she must have five for her grandchildren. Sadly there were only four available, but she gamely declared that one would have to go without. And more gamely, the Lady in Waiting paid for them!

Trinity Hospice is a wonderful charity which gives care to people with advanced illnesses within their own homes or at a hospice. They currently look after about 750,000 people across London. The Duchess of Cornwall is their Patron.

If you would like to support Trinity, please donate your books, records, clothes or toys to the shops in Kensington Church St. To learn more about this charity please see www.trinityhospice.org.uk

Images and copyright: Lucy Elliott/The Kensington Magazine
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During our weekend away in the Dordogne we experienced a couple of rather lovely places.  The first was Chateau de Lacan in Brive-la-Gaillarde, which although was billed as a 3* hotel, felt more. The hotel is set on the edge of the City, in a traditional stone built (small) Chateau, comprising 15 bedrooms. The bedrooms, bathrooms, dining room and sitting room are all modern in decor and spacious. We had a four course ‘Truffle extravaganza’ comprising the Black Diamond Truffle which was infinitely worthy of more than three stars (for example Sea scallops cappuccino with black truffle and Limousin beel fillet with black truffle spelt risotto and roasted wild turbot, with black truffle mashed potatoes).

Definitely worth a visit in this region is the Denoix Distillery.  Owned by Sylvie Denoix Vieillefosse and her family since 1839, this is great way to see how aperitifs and liqueurs based on walnuts, are macerated and distilled. Their speciality is L’eau de Noix Supreme Denoix – a mixture of chocolate and walnuts with an earthy characteristic – very difficult to explain, but delicious.

A must to see is Rocamadour, a mediaeval village, a short drive from Padirac. The village comprises one street with many shops and restaurants,  It’s cobbled and rather like going back in time, particularly lovely at this time of year without the ‘maddening crowds’.   Historically and today, this village is a magnet for pilgrims wishing to visit the Black Virgin and St Amadour at the church set at the top of the mountain, since the 12th century.

Later we visited Le Manoir de Malagorse in Cuzance, only a short distance from Brive Airport. This is a beautiful set of old buildings lovingly restored to accommodate couples or families. It is a testament to Anna (English) and Abel (her French husband) that they are already fully booked over the summer holidays – however accommodation is available from now to the begining of July. Rooms have been beautifully decorated with warmth and great taste. Abel who is a wonderful cook (previously having owned his own restaurant in Courchevel for 15 years)might be convinced to cook you dinner. We were lucky enough to be treated to a superb evening of (another) ‘Truffle Extravaganza’ plus superb company in their restored Manoir.  We would highly recommend this as an extremely good place to either come for holiday and have a completely relaxed time, or use it as a base for day exploration around the area.

Lucy and Margaret flew to the Dordogne by kind courtesy of City Jet (www.cityjet.com) and were guests of Chateau de Lacan (www.chateaulacan.com),  Denoix Distillery (www.denoix.com) and le Manoir de Malagorse (www.manoir-de-malagorse.fr)

Images and copyright: Lucy Elliott/The Kensington Magazine

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Firstly, and I would like to get this out of the way. Not all airports are equal. Some are more equal than others. City Airport is a case in point. None of the usual palaver of walking miles and miles once you’ve got there to try and find your gate. None of the waiting around carousels for your baggage to appear. Departing from City Airport turns out to be rather a well kept secret. You mention City Airport to people and they say, “Oh yes I used City and it was brilliant”. Well if it’s brilliant why aren’t people shouting about it? OK so they want to keep it a secret. Well I’m about to spill the beans. It took us precisely one hour to get there from Notting Hill (Friday morning 8.30 a.m.) and one hour to return to Notting Hill (Sunday 9.00 p.m.) When you get out at City Airport from the DLR the airport is there, right in front of you. Check in took about 60 seconds. Cost-wise, once you’ve added all the implausible extras from ‘no frill airlines’ you might as well have paid City Jet the same but have far less bother. Have I said enough?

City Jet fly to numerous places in France. Margaret and I flew to Brive, in the Perigord region of the Dordogne Valley. Our purpose? To hunt truffles and learn how to cook truffles and foie gras. A hard weekend. Within an hour of landing we were hunting truffles in the truffle area of Yssandon. Truffles can be found in three ways, by using a pig (somewhat unreliable as the pig will enthusiastically eat the truffle), flies (I won’t go into this here) or a dog. We met Jean-Pierre accompanied by his young dog who was definitely more interested in playing. She was quickly replaced with Pif, a 14 year old, experienced ‘truffle hunter dog’. Together we found lots of truffles. One so large that it sold on the market the next day for 180 euros. Truffles found in this area are known as The Black Diamond Truffle. They can be found from December to February and are highly prized. Collected in wicker baskets lined with the traditional red checked cloth, truffles have a very distinct scent, stronger in scent than when actually eaten. They tend to grow, as a fungi about 35 cm beneath the earth, on the roots of oak or hazelnut trees. One easy way of working out whether you might find truffles is whether there is a barren patch of earth surrounding the tree on the grass level. If it’s barren it means there are truffles since they are taking away all the moisture from the surface.

Truffles can be eaten both raw or cooked. Raw can be on sour bread with foie gras, or crushed with salted bread. Cooked could be as a brillarde – a form of runny scrambled egg or omelette with truffle – a traditional dish for all truffle aficionados. Other examples are Limousin beef fillet, with black truffle spelt risotto; roasted wild turbot with black truffle mashed potato; sea scallops cappuccino with black truffle or as a sauce with veal. To my mind the two most simple but delicious ways of eating truffle are (a) sliced truffle sandwiched between two layers of young brie, on bread or (b) truffle with foie gras and a tiny bit of truffle oil, flashed grilled. In both these examples the taste and texture of the truffle really shine.

The weekend of 14/15 January was La Fete de la Truffe held in Sarlat – a beautiful and traditional French market town. Tiny quaint cobbled streets, a traditional market square where the old and the young sample dishes of foie gras and truffles and chefs show off their culinary skills. Each truffle on sale at the market is checked for freshness and quality (if the truffle is ‘wet’ or a bit squishy, then it’s off). But there’s more to see here than just truffles and people eating and drinking. A must is the trip in the Vue du Ciel a glass lift to view the town from above. Masses of higgledy piggley roof tops in reds, oranges and browns, like a Klee painting, adorn the vista. You could imagine this was how London looked pre the Great Fire. Very close together, all shapes and sizes, turrets, flat roofs, steep roofs, etc. You really don’t expect this surprise as you ascend in the lift. Apparently it is equally beautiful at night.

As part of the Fete de la Truffe, the Academie Culinaire du foie gras et de la truffe takes place – here one star Michelin chef Daniel Chambon taught us how to make ‘Petit chou farci de foie de canard a la truffe, brunoise de legumes et de truffes’. Which, like most cookery demonstrations looked simple enough. It certainly tasted delicious. Later in the afternoon it was our turn to try and under the eye of Henry Florance, a group of enthusiastic novices (of varying degree of culinary talent) tackled a gratin of foie gras, truffles and vegetables. And for a group of enthusiastic novices, the results were surprisingly good.

A weekend in the Dordogne (Friday – Sunday) is a wonderfully easy (and stress free) escape from City Airport with plenty to do and see, and if you love truffles, go before the end of February.

Details:

How to get there:
www.aeroport-brive-vallee-dordogne.com
www.CityJet.com

What to do/see:
Vue de Ciel, Sarlat: www.sarlat-tourisme.com About 5 euros per person
Jean-Pierre Vaujour email:  jp.vaujour@wanadoo.fr / 05.55.25.22.70 (only speaks French)

Where to stay:
Manoir de Malagorse www.manoir-de-malagorse.fr
Chateau de Lacan, Brive www.chateaulacan.com
Le Pavillon Saint-Martin Hotel www.hotel-saint-martin-souillac.com

CityJet flies to Brive twice a week from London City.  Their one way fares start from as little as £79, including all taxes. To book flights visit www.cityjet.com or call reservations on 0871 666 50 50. 

Lucy Elliott (Editor) and Margaret Mervis (Travel Writer) of The Kensington Magazine were guests of the above.

Images and copyright: Lucy Elliott/The Kensington Magazine

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Great excitement as children (very special ones, as they had all written for the magazine) held their breath, counted down from ten, and then watched Julian Fellowes press the ‘detonator’ to turn on the lights.

No this wasn’t Oxford Street, but closer to home at the wonderful Milestone Hotel where locals (rather specially chosen as writers or clients of the magazine or residents) mixed and mingled as Lord Fellowes and his wife arrived to set the ‘detonator’ for the Christmas lights.  Sadly for most who’d hoped for a chat with Fellowes this wasn’t to be which was a shame since Downton Abbey has clearly been the winner on TV for the past couple of years (OK Spooks comes a close second, so for recent weeks Sunday evening was a delicious in-house entertainment of drama – taking on the country and drama – of the country taking on class).

Back to the Milestone. This is clearly a hotel who know how to party – mulled wine, mince pies, attentive service, a glorious festively decked out hotel frontage, and of course the children. Well apart from The Kensington Hotel holding classes in teaching children how to sit at the table properly having their ‘afternoon tea’ hotels in Kensington are not particularly renowned for being child friendly. However, the Milestone is an exception and surpassed themselves; children were given chocolates and their own (rather lovely) Milestone Teddy Bear. They were allowed to run around (we had one very tiny one) and the others shook hands very seriously on being introduced, and bearing in mind these were all aspiring authors, were delighted to have their photograph taken with Lord Fellowes on the steps of the Hotel.

This is the first ‘Turning on the Christmas Lights’ at the Milestone and they hope to turn this into an annual event. In the absence of anything else official in its place, the Milestone can’t fail, and this is bound to turn into one of the most sought after invites in the calender year in Kensington (particularly for the children who have written for the magazine!)

Images and images copyright: by kind courtesy of The Milestone Hotel

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This year it was the turn of St Mary Abbots in Kensington to host the civic ceremony for Remembrance Day. Hundreds of residents turned up to support the families and friends of those taking part in the march from the Town Hall to St Mary Abbots’ memorial, ranging from older members to little tots – and even little tots dressed in red sweat shirts can march (occasionally turning into a run to keep up).

Officiated by Father Gillean, Father Gareth and Father Rob of SMA, the Mayor, Councillor Julie Mills was accompanied by all members of RBKC, Honorary Alderman Richard Walker-Arnott, The Rt. Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind, Rear Admiral R H Burn, The Rt. Hon the Baroness Hanham and Sir Michael Craig-Cooper. Children behaved beautifully and the Council must be given full credit – Kensington High St. and Kensington Church St were re-designed to give pedestrians right of way, traffic was stopped for the two minutes silence, and even better – car and bus engines were asked by the police to be turned off. This is how the two minute silence should be. With proper respect given.

The sun shone on a glorious Autumnal day; the Church was packed and the sermon given reminded the congregation (specifically designed for the younger audience) that there are three aspects to Remembrance, the past, the present and the future. It was certainly lovely to see so many children take part in this important day in the year.

Images: Copyright Lucy Elliott/The Kensington Magazine
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The Kensington Hotel is a smart hotel, but one known to be child-friendly which is a great bonus when taking kids out. And what better than after a session at the Science Museum or ice skating at the Natural History Museum than to have a nice cosy afternoon tea at the Kensington Hotel, in the knowledge that your kids will know how, and indeed, will, behave.

So no more squirming with embarrassment whilst little Jonny plays merry havoc. If you are having little success teaching your own kids, then why not hand them over to Jean Broke-Smith (of Ladette to Lady TV fame) who, for an hour, will teach your children everything they will need to know (certainly until they get to adult hood). The courses, run at the Kensington Hotel, are designed to be fun and helpful to children. To know what it appropriate behaviour in a 5* hotel, and what isn’t. Of course an additional benefit is that (in theory at least) these new found skills can be transferred back at home.

So what does Jean teach children between 5 and 10? Well the basics such as how to sit at the table, not to have elbows on the table, how to say please and thank you, how not to speak with your mouthful or wave the cutlery around. How to hold a tea cup (full of hot chocolate with a tempting marshmallow in the bottom which was a little too much of a temptation for some of the kids trying out this session). Don’t get up from the table for a little wander around and don’t play with your games/phone at the table. All this sounds a lot for some of the really tiny ones there – for India (aged 5) some of this might have been a bit over her head – but she certainly knows how to hold a cup of hot chocolate! The sessions are free and are being held at the Kensington Hotel, SW7 on Saturday 12 and 19th November, followed by some more in April.

At the end of the session the children were asked if they had any questions. One bright spark (aged about 6) asked how you said thank you if you were in France and you did not speak French. “You could ask Mummy” was one response from the older sister – another response from the teacher herself, was not to worry, generally most people understood the word ‘thank you’ in whatever country you were in. The children were then shown how to leave a napkin on a seat when going to the loo, and how to leave it on the table once they had finished. So the departing scene was of 5 children very seriously folding up their napkins placing them neatly back on the table. They had finished. The hot chocolate, the sandwiches, the scones and the cakes. They might have finished and the food disappeared. But the manners will stay with them for life.

For more information on ‘Petite Etiquette’ call 020 7589 6300

Images: Copyright Lucy Elliott/The Kensington Magazine

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Kensington has always attracted celebs – with its nice houses, good shopping and cultural advantage. But now the stakes are raised with the relaunch of The Hansom Cab in the Earls Court Road. A Victorian hostelry very much in the 21st Century. Co-owned by Piers Morgan and Tarquin Gorst (also co-owner of The Punchbowl in Mayfair, the Rainbow Inn in Lewes), Rupert Morgan (brother of) will be running it. If the re-launch party was anything to go by, those who love star spotting will be in their element. Centrally placed in a residential area, this is bound to become home to many local well known faces. Last night was more a case of spot the non-celeb…. so for those of you who want to know – drinking champagne or trying out The Governor’s Beer with nibbles prepared by Marco Pierre White from the Oyster Bar or the Rib Room, were former Sun Editor, Kelvin MacKenzie, and his brother Craig, Frank Lampard and his girlfriend Christine Bleakley, Mylene Klass, Peter Jones the Dragon, Emily Maitlis, Kelly Hoppen and Nancy Dell’Olio. There were others but this is for starters….

Image: Piers Morgan and Marco Pierre White

Image: Copyright Lucy Elliott/The Kensington Magazine
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The Mayor of Kensington & Chelsea Councillor Mrs Julie Mills, together with Ruby Wax, Judith Owen and ex investment banker, Jill Shaw Ruddock launched ‘The Second Half of Your Life Foundation’ at the Town Hall.  The event was surprisingly relaxed but with a serious message. More older people than ever are living longer, but alone.  Loneliness and social isolation in the UK is at an all time high with some 300,000 pensioners not speaking to family or neighbours in a month.  This is nothing short of appalling. On the strength of her recent international best seller ‘The Second Half of Your Life’ and recognising that the over 50s should be entering the best phase of their lives, Jill decided to launch The Second Half Of Your Life Foundation.  The centre will be housed within St Charles NHS H0spital in North Kensington.  Mayor Julie Mills has selected this as one of her charities and has created a bursary programme from private donations throughout the borough to ensure the underprivileged can attend either a full morning or afternoon of activities, plus a meal for a nominal fee of £2.00. The centre is appropriately sited in North Kensington, which has the unfortunate stigma of being one of the most deprived areas in London.  Loneliness is not class based, and the purpose of the Foundation is to provide a place for all over 50s whatever their background, to come together – share a hobby, connect socially, learn new skills, and become psychologically and physically healthier. Workshops will be available on diverse subjects such as: how to set up your own business, jewellery making, Bridge, current affairs, art for fun and learning, computers (emailing, internet and social networking) and a book club.  Physical exercise, diet and mental health will also be addressed by way of lecture series and excise classes.

For a long time now I have been concerned with the lack of social integration provided in the area and The Second Half of Your Life Foundation really addresses this.  In addition to funding ( for example £50 will enable one person to enjoy 2 activities and one meal everyday for one week), they are also looking for Patrons and volunteers to help give professional advise and assistance on the workshops.  The centre will be available for men and women and once established, it is hoped to replicate this throughout other boroughs in the UK.  If the energy from those who attended the launch was anything to go by, there is little doubt this centre will not be a success and in years to come we will wonder why it took so long to simply provide something like this for our ‘older’ members of the community who still have to much to offer, and who, should be entering the best second half of their lives.

As Ruddock says, “Of course we have to age, but we do not have to grow old.  How we grow old, we can control”.

If you are interested in any of the above, please contact Jill Shaw Ruddock on jill@secondhalffoundation.com

Image:  Ruby Wax and Jill Shaw Ruddock in conversation

Image by kind courtesy: David Tett

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