Met confirms Royal Parks Police WILL be disbanded, leaving Richmond and Bushy Parks without dedicated policing team
#40: Cyclists urged to slow down in Richmond and Bushy Parks, Licence to be Offended exhibition in Kingston cancelled, veterans at Royal Star & Garter care homes share memories of VE Day, Kingston Borough Business Awards 2025 winners, Kingston 2025 kicks off this Saturday with a free family event, outdoor cinema returns to Canbury Gardens, Beverley Knight as Sister Rosetta Tharpe at Rose Theatre, evening with Aggers & Tuffers at Richmond Theatre, Ham Parade Market returns on Saturday, RBKares’ Wellbeing Days, Canbury Singers May Melodies concert at St Paul’s Church, Kingston Repair Café is back, IKEA on Oxford Street, poppies return as the Tower of London marks VE Day, and more.
START WITH A SMILE: Stuff to cheer us up
🐆 Nepal’s snow leopard numbers show stable population, reveals new study: In a landmark assessment based on data compiled from seven regions, Nepal has announced its national estimate of the elusive snow leopard population at 397 individuals. This is the first robust estimate of the country’s snow leopard population and is vital for informing future strategies to conserve this threatened species.
LOCAL STORIES: Stuff you need to know
👮 Met confirms Royal Parks Police WILL be disbanded, leaving Richmond and Bushy Parks without dedicated policing team: Citing a £260 million funding gap, the Metropolitan Police has confirmed the disbanding of the Royal Parks policing team by 1 November. In a letter sent to local authorities, the Met explained the duties previously carried out by the Royal Parks Police will now be undertaken by the local neighbourhood teams. MP for Richmond Park (that includes North Kingston) Sarah Olney writing on Instagram blamed the government: “The government should have provided the Metropolitan Police with sufficient funding to have ensured that these cuts were not on the table.” Taking to the social media platform X, Leader of Richmond Council Gareth Roberts has described the decision as “a dangerous and short-sighted move that will make Royal Parks visitors less safe.”
🚲 Cyclists urged to slow down in Richmond and Bushy Parks: The Royal Parks charity has launched ‘Considerate Cycling’ campaign to encourage cyclists to be more considerate and stick to 20mph speed limit in Richmond and Bushy Parks, and other Royal Parks. The campaign follows recent research that found almost three-quarters of pedestrians surveyed in London had witnessed or experienced a near miss or collision with a cyclist. The campaign is backed by the Royal Parks charity’s new code of conduct that all cyclists entering the parks should adhere to, asking cyclists to:
Respect the park environment
Respect all park visitors
Control their speed
Know the rules – comply with the Highway Code and Park Regulations
Be seen and be heard
❌ TownSq Kingston cancels Licence to be Offended exhibition: An exhibition of satirical cartoons, Licence to be Offended, scheduled to take place at TownSq Kingston has been cancelled. Featuring various political cartoons including drawings by The Telegraph’s Patrick Blower, the event was due to take place this week with a private launch event scheduled for Wednesday 30 April. However, the resulting media storm (The Times, The Daily Cartoonist, The Spectator, The Telegraph) has meant the private launch too was cancelled. In a statement to Love Kingston, TownSq Kingston explained:
“As a workspace, our policy is to retain a politically neutral environment. Once we were more aware of the nature of the cartoons, we took the decision to allow the private exhibition event to go ahead, but that the pictures wouldn’t then remain on display in the workspace afterwards.
“However, the reaction in some of the media coverage around the issue has been wholly disproportionate, and comments made on these articles have been of a very threatening nature. The safety and wellbeing of our members and staff is our main priority, and so we took the decision to cancel the private event.”
🪖 WWII veterans at Royal Star & Garter care homes share memories of VE Day: Veterans at Royal Star & Garter Surbiton and other locations recall celebrations and festivities which took place on 8 May 1945, following Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender to Allied forces in WWII, and the end of fighting in Europe. They pay tribute to sacrifices made by those who served during the war, and reflect on the difficulties which continued after VE Day. Among those remembering VE Day was Amy, who celebrated her 100th birthday earlier this year, and was in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) during WWII. Read her and other stories here as the nation marks the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.
🏆 Kingston Borough Business Awards 2025 winners announced: The Kingston Borough Business Awards (KBBA) crowned this year’s winners at a ceremony held last week at the DoubleTree by Hilton, Kingston. The event brought together a cross-section of the borough’s business community to recognise outstanding achievement and innovation. Hosted by Kingston Chamber of Commerce, the awards highlight businesses and organisations that are shaping the future of the borough – from pioneering startups and community-driven initiatives to enterprises delivering lasting impact. Full list of winners is available here but here some highlights:
Best Charity of the Year Award – RBKares
Best Cultural Enterprise Award – South Side Theatre Academy
Best in Supporting Young People Award – Refugee Action Kingston
Growing Reputation Award – European Engineering & Consultancy (EECL)
Independent ‘Love Local’ Retailer Award – The Optical Gallery
Best Health and Wellbeing Provider Award – All Shapes Yoga
🏬 Kingston borough among 243 London neighbourhoods where Lidl wants to open new stores: Lidl is set to open 40 new stores over the next year but has ambition to open over 200 locations across the capital including Kingston borough, reports MyLondon. In addition to its HQ in Tolworth, Lidl already has a number of stores across the borough including in New Malden, Chessington and Norbiton/Kingston. But now, the popular budget supermarket chain is eyeing up more locations across the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames including Ham / North Kingston, Surbiton, Thames Ditton and Tolworth. Soon, residents across the whole borough could have their very own local 'Middle of Lidl' aisle to discover new power tools and inflatables!
LOCAL DEMOCRACY: Stuff that affects your neighbourhood
🗳️ Kingston Council – May calendar of meetings: May looks like a quiet month for meetings as of today, 2 May. Tuesday’s (6 May) Licensing Sub-Committee and Wednesday’s (7 May) Audit, Governance and Standards Committee meetings have been cancelled. Six remaining meetings are scheduled as shown below. Residents can attend these in person or watch the proceedings online – details including meeting agendas are available here.
Special meeting of Council, Council – 13 May
Annual Council on the rising of the Special Council meeting, Council – 13 May
On the rising of Annual Council, Licensing Committee – 13 May
Licensing Sub-Committee – 20 May
Blue Badge Appeals Panel – 23 May
Planning Committee – 28 May
COMMUNITY, CULTURE & EVENTS: Stuff to do, experience and enjoy
👑 Reminder: Kingston 2025 kicks off this Saturday with a free family event: Saturday 3 May sees the launch of Kingston 2025 marking the 1100th anniversary of the crowning of King Athelstan, the first king of a united England, right here in the heart of Kingston. Festivities begin at 12 noon around Kingston’s Ancient Market Place with a free, outdoor event featuring K-pop, jazz, drumming, dancing and singing, and a foot-stomping performance by Ukrainian brass band, Freedom Pulse. This will be followed by a specially written, one-off family friendly show that traces through a thousand years of Kingston’s history with a unique street performance, Athelstan Among Us, that will include music, dance, plenty of jokes and some surprises along the way.
🎦 Outdoor cinema returns to Canbury Gardens, North Kingston: Kingston International Film Festival brings outdoor cinema back to Canbury Gardens on Sunday 4 May 2025. There are three classic movies to enjoy – Chicken Run at 1.30pm, Charlie Chaplin’s Sunnyside & Buster Keaton’s One week at 3.30pm, and Grease at 6.30pm. Food and drink is available to buy or you can bring your own picnic. Blankets and camping chairs are very useful – weather is expected to get a little cooler than it has been for the last few days. More information and tickets are available here.
💃🏽 Beverley Knight stars as Sister Rosetta Tharpe at Rose Theatre: Beverley Knight is Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Godmother of Rock'n'Roll in Marie and Rosetta this May at the Rose Theatre. Featuring a wealth of joyous rock and gospel hits including Didn’t It Rain and Peace in the Valley, the show will feature live musicians accompanying Olivier Award-winning West End star Beverley Knight (Memphis, The Drifters Girl, Sylvia, Sister Act) as Rosetta Tharpe. On stage from 2 May to 24 May, more details are available here.
🏏 Invitation to spend an evening with Aggers & Tuffers at Richmond Theatre: Cricket legends Aggers and Tuffers are back for another innings as they take to the stage at Richmond Theatre this Monday 5 May, as part of their highly anticipated 2026 tour. With a collective career of over 5 decades, Aggers and Tuffers have remained connected to the sporting world as commentators and media personalities. Jonathan "Aggers" Agnew, former England international and the iconic BBC cricket correspondent and Phil "Tuffers" Tufnell, the record-breaking former England spin bowler, will have you in stitches with their outrageous tales.
🛍️ Ham Parade Market returns on Saturday, 3 May: This Saturday is the first Saturday of the month. So, it must be time for Ham Parade Market. Run by the community for the community, Ham Parade Market returns all profits to improving Ham parade and making local high street a success. Residents and visitors can enjoy a variety of fresh produce, food from around the world, hand-crafted gifts, plants and more. And you’ll be helping to keep your local high street alive!
🫶 RBKares’ Wellbeing Days are back with free health checks, fuel vouchers, haircuts and more: Winner of the Best Charity of the Year at the recent Kingston Borough Business Awards 2025, RBKares and partners present Wellbeing Days on 2 May, 6 June and 4 July at Queen Mary Hall, Kingston. On offer are free health checks, fuel vouchers, liver scans from St George’s Fibroscan team, Kingston Council’s Kingston Stronger Together benefit support, bike repairs, haircuts, mental health support from Mind and Samaritans, simcards and more including soup and cakes.
🎶 Canbury Singers May Melodies concert at St Paul’s Church, Kingston: Canbury Singers together with special guests Singing For Fun, The Pielarks and Kingston Madrigal Society will bring the magic of folk songs and madrigals to St Paul’s Church on 17 May. More information and booking details are available here.
🪡 Kingston Repair Café is back: Kingston Repair Café returns this Saturday 3 May at Kingston Library. Promoting repair as an alternative to throwing things away, the Repair Café will be in session from 10.30am to 1.00pm. Visitors can bring their broken items to fix on the spot with the help of voluntary repairers. More information for volunteers and guidance for visitors is available here.
SPORTS DAY: Stuff about enjoying your local teams
⚽ Chelsea Women FC: Chelsea crashed out of the Women’s Champions League last Sunday, disappointing fans desperate for one trophy that has yet again proved elusive. Dominant performance home and away by Barcelona and painful symmetry of losing 4-1 in each leg means Chelsea miss out again on the biggest European prize. However, the disappointment of Spain was soon replaced with joy of a sixth consecutive Women's Super League title when the Blues beat Manchester United 0-1 on Wednesday (and second-place Arsenal lost to Aston Villa). Having now secured Women's Super League title and the League Cup, the Blues are firm favourites to make the treble when they take on Manchester United in the final of the Women’s FA Cup on 18 May. Before that, the Blues have two more games starting with a visit to north London for their league fixture against Tottenham this Sunday 4 May.
⚽ Kingstonian FC: Hopes and dreams of the early part of the season came crashing down at the crunch game on Wednesday against Uxbridge – Kingstonian were nudged out of the Isthmian League South Central semi-final playoff on penalties. Uxbridge, who finished in second place in the table, won the shoot-out by 5-4 following a 2-2 draw after extra time. While there may be a feeling of ifs and buts, the Ks have had a great season and we wish them the best when they return in late summer to try again. #COYKs
LONDON CALLING: Stuff to do, experience and enjoy in the big smoke
🪑 IKEA on Oxford Street: ‘Chuck out your Chintz’ was the instruction in IKEA’s old ads, the Swedish retailer that opened its first store in Warrington, Cheshire, in October 1987. Nearly four decades later and having furnished the nation’s homes in Scandinavian inspired designs, the store that is now as famous for its flatpack furniture as it is for its meatballs, has opened a new store in the most famous shopping street in the world, Oxford Street.
WHAT ELSE? Stuff we couldn’t quite fit anywhere else but thought you’d still find interesting
🫶 The Tower Remembers: See a new special commemorative display of ceramic poppies installed at the heart of the Tower of London to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The display will see nearly 30,000 of the original poppies, made for the 2014 installation, ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’, return to the Tower, marking the sacrifices made by so many during the Second World War. Open from 06 May, to coincide with the 80th anniversary of VE Day on 08 May, until 11 November.
Pathetic cancelling the Licence to Offend exhibition - stand up for free speech!