DON’T FORGET ROOTS AND SHOOTS CHARITY AUCTION TOMORROW, SATURDAY 31ST AT 1.30PM
Viewing today, Friday 29th from 4pm to 8pm and tomorrow, Saturday, from 10am to 1pm
Up to 300 pieces of art, including work by such highly collectible artists as Mary Fedden, Lewin Bassingthwaite, Jack Simcock, Edward Ardizzone, Carel Weight and Lorna Binns will auctioned at Roots and Shoots Art Auction.
As well as the paintings by the well-known artists, there will also be many other beautiful and affordable pictures and everyone is very welcome. Prices are expected to start from £10 and range up to £20,000 plus.
The sellers’ and buyers’ commissions will be donated to Roots and Shoots by office equipment and supplies company EBG, which is sponsoring the auction.
Roots and Shoots, Walnut Tree Walk, London SE11 6DN.
Six official Remembrance Day services around the borough will offer Lambeth residents the opportunity to show respect to our war dead.
The services will all take place on Sunday 8 November at a range of locations, in order to allow as many people as possible to take part. Every year millions of people across the country take part in Remembrance services or mark the day with a two-minute silence.
People of all ages, religions and nationalities are invited to take part in the services to remember those who died during conflicts as well as honouring all those who have served. Services will take place in Streatham, Kennington, West Norwood, Stockwell and Brixton, and at Lambeth Cemetery.
"Those who gave their lives, and those who served, were the bravest of the brave and their sacrifice must never be forgotten, " said the Mayor of Lambeth, Councillor Christopher Wellbelove. "Please join us in honouring their memory on this most important day."
Times and places of services on Sunday 8 November:
9am – Lambeth Town Hall, Brixton Hill SW2 (meet outside Brixton Library at 8.50am for procession)
10.30am – Albert Carr Gardens War Memorial, on the corner of the High Road and Streatham Common Northside
10.30am – Kennington Park War Memorial, including a procession from St Mary’s (Newington) Church, Kennington Park Road, Newington Butts, SE11
11am – Stockwell Clock Memorial, by Stockwell Tube Station, SW9
3pm – Vincennes War Memorial, Hamilton Road, SE27
There will also be a Royal British Legion ceremony at 10.45am at the Lambeth Civilian War Memorial in Lambeth Cemetery, Blackshaw Road, SW17 0BY.
Participants are invited to muster at 10.45am for the welcome and laying of Council and Services Poppy Wreaths. The Solemn Exhortation will be read by the Standard Bearer from the local Royal British Legion.
The Last Post will play, followed by the Solemn Silence. After the Reveille and the Kohima Sentences, The Hymn 'O God Our Help In Ages Past' will be sung. There will then be a prayer for the fallen of all conflicts, and the march off.
Refreshments will be available in the Cemetery Chapel.
COUNCIL: All Nations were served with notice from Lambeth
LONDON CHURCH Immanuel House of Worship (IHW), in Walthamstow, east London, has effectively been ‘silenced’ by a court after a decision by magistrates to uphold a noise abatement notice not to play excessive sound.
IHW church has been meeting at Vallentin Road in Walthamstow since it bought the premises in 2006. After they moved in noise levels were reportedly approved by environmental officers.
However, following complaints from a Muslim neighbour, the church was sent a letter asking them to keep the noise down.
The church reduced the number and length of services, and shortened the amount of time spent singing, but complaints from the neighbour continued and the church was issued with an abatement notice on May 6.
Following the court’s ruling, IHW has sought the advice of the Christian Legal Centre over their plight and to appeal last week’s decision. CLC has instructed leading Human Right’s expert Paul Diamond to represent the church at the appeal.
Another church being helped by the Christian Legal Centre is All Nations, in Kennington, south London, who were served with a noise abatement notice by Lambeth Council after complaints from neighbours about the level of noise. This is the first complaint the church has received since it began meeting in the premises in the 1960s.
Church leaders have been ordered not to amplify its music or sermons – something which will make worship very difficult for the 600-strong congregation, some of whom are elderly and hard of hearing.
Pastor Jubiuke believes the complaints which have led to the notice have been triggered by the church’s plans to develop a disused school into a community centre in partnership with the council.
He said: “The complaint has nothing to do with the noise and everything to do with our faith. Lambeth Council are driving us out and we feel harassed.”
New Tube at Battersea is now reality as Mayor drops Crossrail levy
10:17am Tuesday 27th October 2009
A new Tube station at Battersea moved from dream to reality today after the Mayor of London revealed he would divert money from Crossrail to fund the project.
Financing the Northern Line extension was the last major obstacle to opening up Nine Elms - a 200 hectare riverside site between Vauxhall and Battersea - to developers, which have also been given the green light to build skyscrapers in the locality.
Announcing a new planning framework for Nine Elms, the Mayor issued revised guidance on Crossrail contributions, which means new developers in Vauxhall and Nine Elms will be exempt from the levy.
Instead, contributions would likely go toward funding of the Northern Line extension to Battersea, he said.
The US has already won permission to build its new embassy at Nine Elms, and there are ambitious plans to redevelop Battersea’s iconic power station and the New Covent Garden Market.
The Tube, which will be paid for by developers at a cost of at least £450m, was the “final piece of the jigsaw” the Mayor said.
Boris Johnson said: “This vision represents the final piece of the jigsaw that completes the central area of London.
“Although we are currently in a downturn, the area as it stands will, in the coming decades, deliver a substantial number of new homes and new jobs.
“The regeneration of Vauxhall and Nine Elms now is hugely significant in allowing us to support the economic growth of the whole of the capital, and, with the other major regeneration projects like the Olympic Park and Kings Cross taking shape, the prosperity and the role of our great city in the world is assured.
“More than that, this neglected area which for years has failed to fulfil its potential, and is disconnected from surrounding neighbourhoods, will become a thriving new quarter for living, leisure and business and an easily accessible destination for Londoners and visitors.”
The new district would have 16,000 new homes and create up to 25,000 new jobs, he said.
The Mayor also proposed a pedestrian and cycle bridge linking Nine Elms to Pimlico across the river and a new park for residents.
The Mayor added tall buildings would be permitted “where they are appropriate and do not compromise the setting of the Palace of Westminster”.
A spokesman at the Mayor’s office said: “The framework acknowledges that both the proposal to relocate the US Embassy to Nine Elms, and the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station and New Covent Garden Market are key to successful regeneration of the area. However, it also underlines the importance of a private sector-led extension of the Northern Line from Kennington to Battersea via Nine Elms to provide the missing public transport link to the site.”
Revised Crossrail guidance also includes proposals for a 20 per cent discount on the Crossrail levy for all new office developments along the project’s route.
Leader of Wandsworth Council, Councillor Edward Lister, said: "Nine Elms presents a huge opportunity to provide thousands of new homes and jobs in a revitalised district of central london.
“In the midst of the recession the scale of enthusiasm from investors is immensely encouraging. Today's announcement that developers will be exempted from the crossrail levy is a sign of just how committed the mayor is to kick starting regeneration and securing the vital transport improvements that will ensure the success of the whole project.”
Peter Pledger, chief executive of South London Business - which represents firms south of the river, said the exemption should also apply to other areas of south London.
He said: "I am delighted for Nine Elms and I'm also delighted that Boris Johnson sees, by the same token, the Crossrail supplement will not work for other areas of south London that need redevelopment."
First Time Buyer: Eight starters for your attention
Sound investment opportunity
Property:
This Space, Wandsworth, London
Price: From £185,000 for studios and £220,000 for one-bedroom apartments
Agent:Savills (020-7409 8756; savills.co.uk)
Agent's details: This Space is an architecturally interesting conversion of the former South Bank University building. It offers spacious studios and one- and two-bedroom apartments. The apartments have high ceilings, full-height glazing, stunning London views and underfloor heating. The scheme is near the river in an area of regeneration and where the new American embassy is set to be built, next to Battersea Power Station. The development has easy access to Stockwell, Vauxhall and Clapham North Tube stations. The Northern Line extension from Kennington to Battersea Power Station, due in 2015, should make buying here a sound investment.
First-time buyer rating:A chance to live in a high-end development with a 24-hour estate manager who acts as a concierge.
The forgotten story of ... the first ever FA Cup winners
The Wanderers, who won the FA Cup fives times in the 1870s, are back – for a good cause and a new beginning
The Wanderers, first winners of the world's oldest football knockout competition, will be remembered at a special game in Oxford on Saturday. Photograph: David Sillitoe
After what can only be described as a sustained break of a little over a hundred years, the first FA Cup winners return to action this Saturday. That's right, the Wanderers are coming out to play again, lining up against Oxford University Old Boys this Saturday at 2.30pm at Iffley Rd (Free entry!) in order to raise funds for Unicef.
During the 1870s the Wanderers dominated the FA Cup, winning it five times. Their successful run started in 1872, the season the competition was founded. Without wishing to minimise the Wanderers' achievement, their route to the final might have been harder. Drawn against Harrow Chequers in the first round, they progressed with ease when their opponents scratched. A routine 3-1 victory over Clapham Rovers followed.
Then after their quarter-final against Crystal Palace finished 0-0 they were both put into the hat for the semi-finals under the controversial rule 8. This stated: "In the case of a drawn match, the clubs shall be drawn in the next ties or shall compete again, at the discretion of the Committee. In the event of a team refusing to play again or failing to play off the tie in which it has been drawn, within the stipulated time, it shall be adjudged to have lost the match." Which clarifies nothing.
In those semis Wanderers drew 0-0 with Queen's Park and then, once again, they benefited from opponents, based in Glasgow, having to scratch due to not being able to afford the long trip to London twice in short order. During football's infancy, when it was played primarily by public school dilettantes, getting an XI out was the core skill. The great managers of the day were renowned not for anything as new-fangled as being able to turn the hairdryer treatment on and off like a tap, but for driving a hansom cab around the more stylish parts of London and picking up the team from the coming out parties (debutantes not dilettantes) which were the spine of the social season. Spotting a potential footballer as he flounced out of a party dressed in white tie and tails was one thing, convincing him to cross the river and come to south London for a game of association quite another. The most successful managers possessed not only an eye for talent but a terrific gift of the gab.
The final itself (played without crossbars, nets, free-kicks or penalties at Kennington Oval) was a minor classic. The mighty Wanderers took an early lead against a team from the Royal Engineers on the quarter-hour through MP Betts, playing under the pseudonym AH Chequer. Captain Alcock had a goal disallowed after Wollaston was "adjudged" to have handled. And they hit a post. Little wonder the Field's correspondent felt moved to write: "It was the fastest and hardest match that has ever been seen at The Oval ... some of the best play on their [the Wanderers] part, individually and collectively, that has ever been shown in an Association game."
The man of the match, had such absurdities been in place in the 19th century, would almost certainly have been the Rev RWS Vidal (Westminster), who was nicknamed "the prince of dribblers" after once scoring three successive goals from the kick-off without his opponents so much as touching the ball. It was he who, after a trademark mazy run, produced the killer ball for Betts/Chequer to latch on and score from a tight angle. Furthermore, being a reverend he had developed the happy habit of turning up on time when required. In the age of scratching, this made him invaluable.
The other hero was, of course, Captain Alcock. Described as "a man of fine and commanding presence who had a happy knack of persuading people to his way", he used these talents to convince a group of seven gathered at the Sportsman's offices that an FA Cup competition would offer as good a way of passing the time as any other. And the FA Cup was born.
Next year the Wanderers' path to the final was, if anything, even easier as under the controversial rule 9 ("The holder of the Cup shall be liable to play only the winner of the trial matches") they were awarded a bye straight into it. Despite the far from onerous schedule, the half-backs, AC Thompson and FH Wilson, and the forwards, WP Crake and TC Hooman failed to show up (even thought they were not even required to cross the river!) at the Amateur Athletic Grounds, Lillie Bridge, West Brompton, for the earlier than usual 11.30am start which had been so scheduled to enable everyone to watch the Boat Race. Priorities, priorities.
Strangely the Rev Vidal was not selected, his place going to the Rev HH Stewart. The dribbling duties fell upon the Hon AF Kinnaird, who opened the scoring approaching the half-hour. Boldly, with five minutes to go before half-time, Oxford decided to push their goalkeeper upfield on a permanent basis. A decision which was blamed for the Wanderers doubling their lead through CHR Wollaston in the 80th minute. The fact it took so long for the Wanderers to score against a team playing in a Cup final with a permanently rushing goalie suggests the mighty Wanderers were not quite as mighty as once feared.
This was confirmed with blips following in the next two years against Oxford, who twice beat them in the third round. But they rallied strongly to win the Cup in 1876, '77 and '78 beating, respectively, the Old Etonians, Oxford University and the Royal Engineer. Such was their dominance that Capt Alcock was moved to comment: "The success of the Wanderers is so closely identified with the success of Association football in its earlier days that it is impossible to dissever the Club from any attempt to follow closely the various stages which have marked the growth of the game."
It couldn't last. In 1879, CHR Wollaston was appointed club secretary and shortly thereafter the Wanderers were trounced 6-2 by Clapham in the days when no one let in six against Clapham. The following year, in a Brownian moment, they were knocked out of the Cup by a bunch of Old Etonians. And indignity upon indignity, drawn against Rangers (London) in the first round they failed to round up a team and suffered a walk-over defeat. How are the scratchers scratched.
In 1881 they failed to show up for another first-round match. And by 1882 they were reduced to playing against Harrow. In 1883, sensibly given their reduced circumstances, they folded.
Nevertheless, with five victories to their name, they remain within the top 10 most successful FA Cup sides. And on Saturday they are taking the first fledgling steps to adding to that number.
It turns out that our usual van from Elite Decoration and Construction is not available to us this time around so we are urgently looking for another Van!!
The Van enables us to collect donated items, from neighbours who have been storing them for us, on the Friday afternoon / evening, and then take leftover items down to the Shared Earth Charity Shop in Lower Marsh after the Bazaar on Saturday afternoon.
It really is too exhausting for volunteers to do this in their cars so we'd be very grateful to hear from anyone who might be able to help out with a Van.
If you are able to help us out, please give Gisella, our Bazaar Volunteer Coordinator, a phone call on 020 7820 0434 as a matter of urgency.
Plans for a possible extension to a busy Tube line and a new bridge across the River Thames were outlined today by London Mayor Boris Johnson.
The Underground's Northern line could be extended from Kennington in south London to Nine Elms and Battersea, while a pedestrian-and-cyclist bridge might be built linking Pimlico north of the Thames to Nine Elms to the south.
The schemes are part of an overall development plan for the Nine Elms areas of south London, which would include 16,000 new homes and up to 25,000 new jobs.
The plan is that over the next two decades and beyond, nearly 200 hectares of derelict and under-used land in the Nine Elms area, stretching from Vauxhall to Battersea Power Station, will be regenerated into new communities, with green open spaces.
Mr Johnson said today: "This vision represents the final piece of the jigsaw that completes the central area of London. Although we are currently in a downturn, the area as it stands will, in the coming decades, deliver a substantial number of new homes and new jobs.
"The regeneration of Vauxhall and Nine Elms now is hugely significant in allowing us to support the economic growth of the whole of the capital, and, with the other major regeneration projects like the Olympic Park and Kings Cross taking shape, the prosperity and the role of our great city in the world is assured.
"More than that, this neglected area, which for years has failed to fulfil its potential and is disconnected from surrounding neighbourhoods, will become a thriving new quarter for living, leisure and business and an easily accessible destination for Londoners and visitors."
Charity Trustees and sub-committee members required
Vauxhall City Farm
This is an ideal opportunity to become involved in one of the hidden treasures of London.Covering 1.5 acres of land, Vauxhall City Farm is home to over 80 animals and provides a chance for Londoners to meet farm animals face to face.
The mission of Vauxhall City Farm is to use the setting of an urban farm to:
1.Provide educational, recreational and therapeutic programmes;
2.Provide activities for children and people of all ages, abilities and cultures;
3.Contribute to community cohesion and regeneration;
4.Promote environmental awareness.
The farm provides free access to all for 5 days a week and heavily subsidises services and activities aimed at young people in Lambeth and other boroughs to make them as accessible as possible.Please see our website on www.vauxhallcityfarm.org to read about all of our projects.
We would welcome enquiries from people interested in becoming part of this busy and vibrant community facility with backgrounds in any of the areas above, we are specifically seeking trustees with media, educational, youth and fundraising backgrounds.The trustees meet once a month and have occasional other away days and planning meetings.
We are also seeking people with an interest in fundraising, education and youth to join our sub-committees – these committees do not have the decision making responsibilities of the trustees, but provide mentorship and guidance to farm workers, and bring their expertise to the planning and development of projects.The sub-committees tend to meet once a quarter but stay in regular email and phone contact with farm staff.
For more information please call Sharon Noble, Farm Director on 020 7582 5104 or email sharon-noble@btconnect.com
To apply please send an email or letter explaining your motivation for applying to the email above, or Vauxhall City Farm, 165 Tyers Street, London, SE11 5HS.We will send you a Trustees Skills Audit and be inviting applicants to an ‘open evening’ in late November.Vauxhall City Farm is an Equal Opportunities employer for paid and voluntary workers, and seeks to encourage diversity on its board of Trustees and all volunteers.
Please note that all trustees must undergo a Criminal Records Bureau Check.
London, Oct.25 (ANI): Even as it's been almost six decades when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, the western world is making the most of his name, as his name is being used to promote all kinds of branded items from Mont Blanc pens to restaurants.
However, believe it or not, joining this list is a chain restaurants named after Mahatma Gandhi, which has come up in the United Kingdom and could startle almost Mahatma Gandhi lovers.
The Gandhi restaurants located in different parts of London are serving non-vegetarian food and alcohol, the two entities that Gandhi detested in life
Immigrants from Bangladesh manage almost all these 'Gandhi' restaurants. Zalal Uddin can be termed as the pioneer of these 'Gandhi' restaurants in the United Kingdom. He tells that he opened his restaurant 'Gandhi's' on the Kennington Road in London 27 years ago when Richard Attenborough's 'Gandhi' film was released. That restaurant was a major hit as Gandhi was a well-known Indian all around and it was easy to relate the restaurant with Indian curries.
On serving alcoholic beverages and non-vegetarian food under the tag of "Gandhi", Zalal Uddin said that his restaurant caters to the European customers, thus alcohol has to be served.
"He wasn't a drinker and wasn't a non-vegetarian eater. We respect his wishes. We opened business in European country, we cater for the Europeans and that's what they expect you to serve here. Otherwise, we will not be doing any business. And the customers used to come and tell me that how wise of me of calling this restaurant 'Gandhi's Restaurant' and naming my restaurant after the great man. Everybody knows who was Gandhiji and they really appreciated it and it was an instant hit. Believe me, everybody used to know my restaurant as a name of Gandhi's," said Zalal Uddin, owner of Gandhi's Restaurant, Kennington Road, London.
The gourmets among who's of who in British politics, be they the Tories or the Liberals, are regulars at Zalal Uddin's Gandhi's Restaurant.
Recently when the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was having hectic parleys with his treasury bench on the credit crunch issue, a lot of Indian curries like Balti to Chicken Jalfrezi were ordered from the Gandhi restaurants.
Antony and Tim, two professionals, are regulars at the Gandhi's Restaurant and enjoy their vegetarian Thali (set plate meals) as well as Chicken Biryani, relished with beer.
"I knew he (Gandhi) was a vegetarian. I suppose, ...he was Indian, also I guess, he didn't drink alcohol. Probably not for me... I am more likely to be engaged in passive resistance than I'm to become a vegetarian or stop drinking alcohol," said Tim, a connoisseur of Indian food.
In London, there are three Gandhi restaurants and a few more in Cambridge and Kent.
Azad Miyan, also from Bangladesh and the manager of Gandhi's Restaurant on the Grays Inn Road in London said that it was the popularity of Gandhi, which prompted the naming of the restaurant after India's most respected freedom fighter.
"Gandhi was always a popular man since obviously long time ago. Even a lot of people came before in England. So Gandhi was popular before everyone came. When you call the name of Gandhi, They used to say from India. This is like Indian curry. That's what it is. ...They think putting the name of Gandhi is popular of the curry," added Azad Miyan, Manager, Gandhi's Restaurant.
However, admirers of Gandhi and followers of his philosophy don't approve of naming restaurants that sell non-vegetarian food and alcohol after Mahatma Gandhi.
According to John Rowley, one of the Trustees and Coordinator of Special Events and Projects of the Gandhi Foundation in London observed if Mahatma Gandhi were alive, he would have found it highly immoral.
Sir Richard Attenborough is the President of the Gandhi Foundation.
"Advance capitalism is extremely skilled in linking names with products which actually have no rational or appropriate link. I think people are simply intent on making a profit by associating as a word of goodness of Gandhi's name with the goodness of the product, said John Rowley, Trustee and Coordinator of Special Events and Projects, Gandhi Foundation, London.
The name 'Gandhi' which has long been associated with 'non-violence' and peace is now becoming an easy identity for branding. By Cynthia Chandran (ANI)
Two MPs cleared in expenses row - but does Love have Legg to stand on?
4:04pm Tuesday 20th October 2009
By Rebecca Lowe
TWO of Enfield's three MPs have avoided the long Legg of the law after their expenses were given a clean bill of health in an independent review.
David Burrowes, Conservative MP for Southgate, and Joan Ryan, Labour MP for Enfield North, have both been told they will not have to pay any money back to taxpayers following an investigation by Sir Thomas Legg.
Andy Love, Labour MP for Edmonton, has not yet revealed what his letter said.
Sir Thomas, a former civil servant, was given the job of examining all MPs' Additional Cost Allowances (ACAs) from 2004 to 2009 to identify claims that should not have been made.
Mr Burrowes was cleared because he claimed the £2,812 London supplement, not the ACA.
Although Ms Ryan was not requested to make any repayments, she has been asked to provide proof of mortgage payments made on her Kennington and Enfield Town homes.
Ms Ryan claimed back mortgage interest on her Enfield home from January 2004 to September 2008, before flipping her designated second home to Kennington.
Between 2006 and 2007, she claimed total expenses of £173,691 - the third highest amount in Westminster. The following year she dropped to 238th place.
A spokesman for the MP said: "Joan has gone to the bank to get the relevant information and will send it in as soon as possible."
Mr Love claimed total expenses of £146,216 between 2007 and 2008, including £1,952 for stationery and £5,046 for postage.
Mr Burrowes claimed £827 for stationery and £2,660 for postage in the same period, saying he used “a personal delivery system” instead of postage to get word to his constituents.
The Tory MP has frequently voiced his support for dropping the ACA payments.
When the expenses scandal first broke, he said: “There’s a reason we refer to ourselves as honourable and we shouldn’t have to be shamed into putting our house in order.”
LONDON — N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell says he remembers the early stages of trying to showcase American football internationally. In 1989, the league played an exhibition game in Tokyo, and the fans were not exactly locked in on the action.
“The officials threw a flag, and the crowd would clap,” Goodell said.
Two decades later, there is a greater awareness of the game itself. On Sunday, the N.F.L. will play a regular-season game in London for the third consecutive year as the New England Patriots face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Wembley Stadium. The league’s increased presence here has prompted speculation that it is considering moving a franchise to London.
“I think it should,” the Patriots’ owner, Robert K. Kraft, said. “I really believe it would be the right thing to do sometime in the next decade, that there should be a franchise here. We’ve had great support here and in Germany. We look forward to seeing what happens.”
Away from the throng of cameras, Kraft pointed out that his opinion did not reflect the N.F.L.’s, but his comments did start conversation. Goodell was more pragmatic when discussing European expansion earlier Friday morning. In a meeting with a small group of reporters, he stressed incremental expansion. That includes N.F.L. owners approving that the league play two games overseas next season instead of one.
And if they do, where will the games be played and at what point of the season? Both could be held in London, where Kraft said tickets sold out within a half-hour for the Patriots-Buccaneers game. Goodell also mentioned Manchester and Scotland as possible sites for one of the games.
While open to the idea of expanding to Europe, Goodell did not have the same fervor or timetable as Kraft.
“If we play multiple games here and we saw that reaction continue to grow with the games, then you would probably put yourself in position that you would be comfortable that it could support a franchise on a full-time basis,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to see. How far will this go down the path? No one knows the answer to that question.
“But if they continue to react in a positive way, then it may be a possibility.”
Goodell said it was unlikely the N.F.L. would host a Super Bowl here. It is rare that a Super Bowl is awarded to a stadium that does not have an active N.F.L. team, he said.
Just how much resonance a star like the Patriots’ Tom Brady has overseas is unknown. Brady said that he vacationed here about four years ago and that he was recognized on the street only by Americans.
N.F.L. players lack the global identity of soccer and basketball players, but their popularity is starting to grow.
Still, Brady is only the second-most-recognizable international icon in his home, trailing his supermodel wife, Gisele Bündchen.
“I think it helps Tom’s international cache, but I think it helps his personal being more,” said Kraft, who attended the couple’s wedding. “He’s really grounded, and I think he made a great personal decision.
“They’re quite a unique and special couple who are really not like celebrity couples. They can go into the spotlight, but they’re very private people and family-oriented.”
Brady was the only Patriots player to wear a suit on the red-eye flight to England. He said that his decision was more out of habit and superstition than wanting to look sharp upon arrival. When told that receiver Wes Welker teased him, saying that the Patriots were going to play a game, not visit the London Stock Exchange, Brady jabbed right back.
“I don’t take fashion advice from Wes,” he said with a smile.
Brady said he was skeptical of the N.F.L. ever expanding here, but did say that he hoped the league’s recognition had grown.
“Hopefully with the last few years with the N.F.L. being here, it’s created some excitement,” he said. “I know the players are really looking forward to the game. It’s a unique experience.”
Why I'm standing by Doctor Poison: Wife's amazing loyalty to the man guilty of trying to induce an abortion of his mistress's baby
By Kathryn Knight Last updated at 1:38 AM on 24th October 2009
There are any number of reactions you might expect from a woman whose husband has just been convicted of trying to poison his mistress and induce an abortion of the baby she is carrying.
Anger, certainly, at the adulterous betrayal.
Shock that the man you love - an eminent doctor no less and the father of your two small children - could be capable of such a thing. And distress at the collapse of your family life as you know it.
Loyal wife: Lowri Erin believes her husband Edward is innocent - despite his conviction for trying to poison his mistress and induce an abortion
Lowri Erin feels all of these - but they are not directed in quite the manner you might expect.
Earlier this week, her husband Edward, a respected consultant respiratory physician at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, was found guilty on two counts of attempting to poison his mistress, Bella Prowse.
By putting a series of crushed-up toxic chemicals in her Starbucks coffee and a glass of orange juice, Dr Erin had, an Old Bailey jury ruled, hoped to ensure that her pregnancy, which followed a month-long fling, would end in abortion.
It was an extraordinarily cruel act, yet far from condemning her husband, Lowri remains his staunchest defender, convinced of his innocence and adamant that she will stand by him.
Her fury, instead, is directed at 33-year-old Ms Prowse, who, she maintains, cruelly abused her husband's trust. Edward, she insists, is a 'caring' and 'loyal' man who always puts the needs of others first.
It is an astonishing display of loyalty in the face of overwhelming evidence. For during the three-week trial, the court heard that 44-year-old Erin was a serial philanderer who'd had at least two other affairs during his eight-year marriage - with his wife's full knowledge.
Affair: Consultant Edward Erin (right) and his lover Bella Prowse (left)
What a gullible fool Mrs Erin must be, you think. And yet she is by no means the downtrodden woman you might expect. Attractive, articulate and intelligent, she is a highly educated scientist who by no means lives in her husband's shadow.
Nonetheless, she remains blindly devoted and, many would say, utterly deluded.
'If I thought he was guilty, I would not be here, but I know in my heart he is not capable of what he was accused of,' she insists in her first interview since the end of the court case this week.
'I simply don't recognise the man who was described in court; this arrogant doctor. Anyone who knows him will tell you it bears no relation at all to the man he is.
'I haven't had a chance to see him yet, but the last message I got to him before he was taken to the cells was that I love him.
'I don't understand why Bella has done this to him, and why she has so much bitterness. I don't understand why she would want to do this to her own son. My husband was naive. He trusted her, and she trapped him.'
'I simply don't recognise the man who was described in court; this arrogant doctor'
This version of events - Dr Erin and his wife accuse Bella Prowse of taking the drugs herself - was firmly rejected by a jury this week.
Their verdict has undoubtedly taken its toll on 41-year-old Lowri. Pale and hollow-eyed, she says she has barely slept or eaten since, while her children - Miles, seven, and two-year-old Darcey - are too young to fully absorb what has happened.
'Last night, I had to tell my son the truth, that his Daddy had gone to prison and he wasn't going to come home for quite some time. He said: "How long is a long time? Four weeks?" How do you answer that?' Her eyes fill with tears.
There is, of course, another innocent child in this sorry state of affairs. He is called Ernie, and he is the 13-month-old son of Bella Prowse and, if she is to be believed, Dr Erin.
Dr Erin, who is awaiting sentence in Belmarsh Prison, is still waiting for the results of a DNA test taken seven weeks ago.
Even if the child is proved to be her husband's, there will be no welcome extended towards the boy from Lowri, who says simply: 'As far as I am concerned, that woman has torn our family apart.'
This messy, shameful and humiliating situation must seem a world away from her own family background, which was exactly the kind of stable, middle-class upbringing she has tried to recreate for her own children.
The middle daughter of a teacher and a secretary, who gave up work to raise their three daughters, Lowri grew up in North Wales and studied biochemistry at Cardiff University, where she graduated with first-class honours and went on to take a PhD.
It was during these further studies that, in 1990, she met Edward Erin, a high achiever from Llandough, near Cardiff. He had gained a degree in pharmacology at Kings College London before deciding to move into medicine.
At 25, he was just three years older than her, and when they met in a nightclub in Cardiff, the attraction, says Lowri, was immediate.
Edward Erin was, she recalls, polite, well-spoken and attentive. Within a year, the couple had moved into a shared student house.
'From the beginning, we were close - there were never any arguments. But we didn't live in each other's pockets either; we never have.'
During the Nineties, the couple's careers flourished. Lowri became a research scientist at Cardiff University, while Edward had started to climb the ladder of his medical career.
Together they bought a farmhouse just outside Cardiff and, as the decade came to a close, Lowri's thoughts turned to cementing their relationship and starting a family.
'I wanted children, but it was difficult for him. I think he just couldn't square it with his own family situation.'
She explains how his mother and sister, who lived at his parents' home, both had an eating disorder: 'There were times when neither of them would eat very much, but they would drink a lot.
'Both of them were hospitalised on a number of occasions, and Ed would go back most weekends to try to help out. He couldn't see how he could reconcile looking after them with our family situation. He genuinely had conflicting loyalties.'
Lowri persisted, and in 1999 she issued an ultimatum, telling Erin that she wanted an engagement ring on her finger by the end of the year. She got it just a few days before the new millennium.
No date was set - 'That was the next hurdle,' as Lowri puts it - but by autumn 2001, the issue was somewhat forced when she discovered she was pregnant.
'It wasn't a huge shock to him because he knew I had been trying for a baby, but he was terribly worried about all the conflicting responsibilities he had,' she says.
'Looking back, I think it was partly my fault. Maybe I pushed it too far.'
At Lowri's insistence, the couple married three months later in a low-key ceremony at a Welsh hotel.
Her family were there - she says they always liked Erin and remain fully supportive - but no one from her husband's side of the family attended. 'I think that says a lot,' she says. 'To me, marriage meant stability, a family unit - but to him it was a legal nicety. His parents' marriage hadn't been terribly happy and he didn't have the best role model, but he wanted to do it because he knew it was important to me.'
Moreover, her husband's conflicting loyalties, she insists, were exacerbated by his sister's death in January 2002 at the age of 34 from an illness caused by bulimia.
It was certainly a far from ideal start to a new marriage.
With their first child due within months, the Erins had moved to an apartment in West Kensington to be closer to his new job as a clinical researcher at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London. Lowri confesses she struggled to adapt to being away from family and friends.
'As far as I am concerned, that woman has torn our family apart'
'I think that year was a juggling act for both of us,' she says. 'I had moved to a new area, and Ed was struggling with the demands of becoming a new father and looking after his mum back in Wales.'
Nonetheless, when their son Miles was born in June that year, Lowri says her husband was 'delighted'. By the end of that year, though, she noticed that the times he spent away from home had become more frequent.
'Usually, if he was away, it was in Wales seeing his mum, but obviously I knew if he was there.
'I saw different luggage labels on his bag, and though he made excuses about conferences, in my heart I knew something was going on.'
After yet another weekend away in early 2003, Lowri confronted him. He confessed he had been having a sexual relationship with 'Angela', a woman he'd met through work.
What a devastating revelation for this educated woman, newlywed and with a baby - and yet she chose to forgive him.
'Of course it wasn't something I wanted to hear, but I wasn't angry. He told me it was a distraction and I believed him.
'I knew what he'd been through over the years trying to juggle his responsibilities. He could have turned to gambling or drugs, but this was his coping mechanism.
'This woman was his way of escaping from everything. She lived abroad and represented pure escapism. I accept people think it's very strange I'm talking about him like this, but they weren't there and they don't know the pressure he was under.'
And so, astonishingly, Lowri chose to turn a blind eye to her husband's extra-marital escapades.
Keep the faith: Lowri maintains her cheating husband is a good man
'I think the right term would be reluctant acceptance,' she says. 'I know it was unconventional, but it wasn't the whole time. It was very on-off. I suppose, if I'm honest, I had what I wanted. I had a child. It wasn't that he'd served his purpose, but in my own way I was happy.'
In December 2006, the couple had their second child, a daughter, Darcey. By that time, Lowri says, her husband's relationship with Angela had all but ended, but he was not to remain faithful for long.
In the summer of 2007, she noticed a couple of postcards on the doormat from a woman who signed herself 'Malin'. The tone of the messages immediately made her suspicious.
'I have no idea why she sent them to the house, but I asked Ed about her and he admitted they were involved.'
Malin Roesner, who Dr Erin met when they both worked at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, was a 30-year-old registrar.
Again, Lowri defiantly maintains she wasn't angry at the presence of another young rival in her marriage, once more seeking to justify her husband's infidelity.
'I experienced first hand what he went through following the death of his sister, and then his mother three years later. It was a horribly bleak time for him, and this woman was a distraction. He said it wasn't serious - and I believed him. It didn't last very long.'
By October 2007, when Erin was appointed senior consultant at St Mary's, he had, Lowri says, ended his relationship with Malin. 'He was the one who called it off, but she wouldn't accept it. He was still being pestered by her and getting a lot of text messages.'
Moreover, Lowri maintains her husband had declared his intention to remain faithful - however hollow that promise may have been.
'He told me: "I won't do this any more. I am going to focus on my career and my family."'
But it seems that didn't last long. As the Old Bailey heard, within two months of starting at St Mary's, and following a staff party, Erin had embarked on an affair with Bella Prowse, his secretary.
Yet once again, Lowri leaps to his defence.
'She said to him: "Let's have an affair." She wanted to nab a consultant. They all took advantage of him'
'She had said to him: "Let's have an affair." I think she knew what she wanted from the start. She wanted to nab a consultant. I think it was the same for all the women; they all took advantage of him.'
Once again, it's hard to agree. As the jury heard, in the space of just a few weeks, Erin had wined and dined his lover, paid for hotels, and had even taken her to the family holiday home in Devon. They spent New Year's Eve together, and Dr Erin professed himself in love. Put this to Lowri, however, and she appears unconcerned.
'The holiday home is just bricks and mortar. He took Angela there, too. It doesn't bother me at all. These women were separate from the home life he had with us, and he would never let them intrude.'
Lowri, in fact, was blissfully ignorant of all of this at the time. The first she knew of the catastrophe unfolding behind the scenes was, ironically enough, on Valentine's Day last year, when she opened the door to two police officers.
'They said Ed had been arrested, and they had a search warrant for the house. I was stunned. I had no way of knowing what they were talking about. Ed was in custody so I couldn't even speak to him.'
Only in the small hours, when her husband was allowed home, did the full story emerge. 'He said this woman had said he'd tried to poison her. At first I thought he must mean Malin, but then he said the name Bella.
Mystery: Bella says she didn't know Dr Erin was married until after his arrest
'I said: "Isn't that your secretary?" He said yes, and that she was pregnant, but was trying to claim he had poisoned her baby.'
Another affair, a pregnancy and, worst of all, a heinous accusation. But, as ever, Lowri was astonishingly understanding.
'The fact that she was pregnant was overshadowed so much by what had happened and the fact that Ed had been accused of something so very serious,' she says.
'My first concern was for him and our children. He was in a terrible state. He said he hadn't known her for terribly long, but she had been kind to him and he'd found it easy to talk to her. I think that's how he saw all of his relationships - as a kind of release, a therapy.
'From the beginning, I never doubted him. I absolutely knew he wasn't capable of doing what he was accused of.' Dr Erin was suspended from work with immediate effect.
'We were in limbo because at this point we didn't know exactly what the charges were going to be,' says Lowri. 'No one would tell us about the forensics. All we could do was try to create as stable a family life as possible.'
In October 2008, on one of his bailed appearances at Kennington Police Station, Erin and his wife learned that Bella Prowse had given birth to a healthy boy. The same day, Erin was charged with attempting to administer poison with intent to cause an abortion on three separate occasions.
As a mother herself, wasn't Lowri horrified at the idea that her husband might have knowingly tried to kill an unborn child?
Her response is to say that the medical background she and her husband share makes it impossible for her to believe he was culpable.
'He's got a degree in pharmacology, and he's done a research degree on these compounds. This [the poisoning] was done by an amateur who did not know what he or she was doing. It may not make sense to a layman, but anyone with a science background would know that immediately.
'We both genuinely believed that the forensic evidence would mean he was acquitted.'
Giving evidence in court, Erin claimed that his lover had concocted the mixture of drugs herself in order to frame him, because she was angry he did not wish to set up a family unit with her. However, this version was rejected by the jury and he faces a stiff custodial sentence.
There will be one person waiting for him when he finally reemerges from prison: his ever-loyal wife.
'I stand by him absolutely,' she says. 'I don't have a choice.'
THE chairman of a council’s housing department paid a visit to residents in the wake of a public scandal over lack of fire safety checks on tower blocks.
Keith Hill, MP for Streatham, took on the role as chairman of Lambeth council’s housing firm Lambeth Living last month.
The authority was revealed as having carried out fire safety checks on only two of its 112 residential blocks of six storeys or higher.
Former housing minister Mr Hill visited Brittany Point on the Ethelred Estate in Kennington on Friday.
He said: “It’s a matter of fact that Lambeth currently has the lowest level of fire risk assessment, but there has been a programme in place for the completion of the assessments.
“I think it’s a very big challenge. Lambeth Living has inherited a lot of problems.
"I don’t condone it, but I think we’ve now got the opportunity to take a fresh start.”
Lambeth Living has said that all tower blocks of 10 floors and above will have their checks completed by December.
Tower blocks of six to nine storeys will be completed by the following March and any remaining blocks of five storeys and under will be completed by 2011.
Mr Hill said the dates for the safety checks were already in place before the fatal Camberwell Fire that claimed six lives on July 3.
He said: “It would be wrong to think it’s a reaction to that.”
Brittany Point resident, Steve Rice, led Mr Hill on a tour of the block – one of three on the estate that are currently undergoing a £20million renovation.
Mr Hill said it made him feel “nervous” to see additional “fire hazards”, including exposed wires, debris and fixtures dangling in communal areas in the building.
He said: “I’m impressed by the scale of the works but there’s finishing that needs to be done.”
Officers from Lambeth Living sent staff on a blitz on October 8 to remove items placed on communal landings following fire safety instructions from London Fire Brigade.
Mr Rice said he was pleased about Mr Hill’s visit.
He said: “I think he understands things from residents’ point of view.”
AMBITIOUS plans for the redevelopment of a derelict power station have been unveiled.
Developers have submitted proposals for the £5.5billion “rebirth” of Battersea Power Station.
It proposes new shops, restaurants, offices and 3,700 new homes for the 40-acre site.
The planning application lodged with Wandsworth council yesterday was the biggest ever submitted in central London.
Developers Treasury Holdings UK said 15,000 new jobs and training opportunities would be created if the plans went ahead.
Rob Tincknell, Treasury Holdings’ managing director, said: “We are extremely confident that two years of detailed discussions mean that this master plan represents the aspirations and concerns of all the stakeholders involved, not least the Battersea community.
“It is a plan that, vitally, will finally deliver this important site’s regeneration and create a compelling and vibrant new urban quarter for London.”
Councillor Edward Lister, Wandsworth council leader, said: “We have already granted outline permission at a separate site in the area for the new US Embassy.
“These two important projects are hugely symbolic and demonstrate the scale of the commitment to this new urban quarter in the heart of London.”
The developer said there had been “excellent progress” in plans for a Northern line extension from Kennington to two new stations at Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station as part of the project.
