Twickenham: December What's On

Christmas Tree, Twickenham

Can you believe it’s almost December? No? Well it is. And there’s a whole bunch of stuff going on to get Twickenham in the festive mood. No, we don’t mean skint, irritable and desparate for your guests to just flippin well leave! Just GO! “Seriously Derek, if your sister criticises my turkey legs again I swear I’m going to punch her”. No, we don’t mean that, we mean the party mood of course. When it comes to Twickenham related websites we can assure you that we’ve plagiarised the very best of the rest to bring you a few of the highlights of what’s going on over the next few weeks.

The stuff that’s been & gone is down at the bottom in case you want to know what you’ve missed.

Sat 10th Dec – Christmas Shopping event in Church Street
Discounts, offers, story time at Langton’s, music in the newly refurbished Fox pub. <a href="More and better info on all of the above: * Twickenham Town Business Association * Twickenham Town Centre site” title=”Church Street Christmas Shopping day” target=”_blank”>Details here.

Sun 11th Dec – Twickenham Library Christmas Craft Fair
10.30am – 1.30pm. Christmas stalls & gifts for a spot of hassle free Christmas shopping.

School Christmas bazaars:
Sat 26th Nov 11.30am – 3.00pm – St Mary’s Primary, Amyand Park Road
Sun 27th Nov 1.30pm – 4.30pm – Trafalgar, Elmsleigh Road
Sat 3rd Dec 11.00am – 3.00pm – St James RC Primary
Sat 10th Dec 1.00 – 4.30pm – Archdeacon Cambridge, The Green

Rugby – Big games at Twickenham Stadium
* Sat 26th Nov – Barbarians v Australia. KO 2.30pm
* Sat 3rd Dec – Heroes Rugby. Help for Heroes return with another massive fund raising event at Twickenham stadium. Full details of the Heroes Rugby Challenge are here.
* Thur 8th Dec – Varsity match. Barbours & stripy scarves take over. KO 2.00pm.
* Tue 27th Dec – High flying Quins will be playing their Big Game match at Twickenham Stadium on Tue 27th Dec against Saracens. And if you want to see more of Quins given their brilliant start to the season, check their site here.

Panto in Twickenham
Aladdin at the Mary Wallace Theatre, Twickenham.
Runs from Fri 9th Dec to Sat 17 Dec. Call the box office on 020 8744 0547 for details or check here.

Art: Orleans House Gallery – 8th Oct to 22nd Jan
OHG is currently showing Flux, Flow, Flight: Art in Motion which looks at the theme of physical movement in the visual arts, dance and performance. According to the blurb “photographic experiments, Futurism, Dadaism, Vorticism and Surrealism are all represented”. We reckon that makes it well worth a visit. Details here.

And keep a look out for Twickenham Art Circle who’ll have an exhibition of their work on display at the Stables Gallery from the end of October through to January 2012.

Other stuff you might like:
Syon Park Enchanted Woodland – to 4th Dec
Cinderella at Richmond Theatre – from 9th Dec
The Snow Queen at the Rose Theatre, Kingston
Christmas at Kew Gardens – from 10th Dec
Hampton Court Ice Rink – from 26th Nov

Annual Draw Off – Nov. NOW EXTENDED TO 25th DEC
If you wonder where all the water goes at low tide in November it’s the result of the sluices being opened at Richmond lock to let maintenance work take place. When this happens you can walk across to Eel Pie island. Details of the draw off here.

Music & Comedy:
Too many bits & pieces to list but three very different ventures going on where you might find something you like:
* Bearcat Comedy Club – top comedy in TW1 – www.bearcatcomedy.co.uk
* TwickFolk – traditional & contemporary folk – www.twickfolk.co.uk
* The Eel Pie Club – rhythm & blues – www.eelpieclub.com

Couldn’t find anything relevant? Try one of these instead:

Official & other sites:
* Visit Richmond
* Twickenham Town
* The Best of Richmond

Been & Gone:
Twickenham Lights Up – Fri 25th Nov
This is the day when stuff really gets moving and the Christmas lights get the official switch on. Church Street will be at the centre of things with a range of entertainment to get things going.
Highlights include:
3.30pm – St Mary’s Church kicks things off with some bell ringing and the Church Street market and activities begin. And they are?
* Hog roast, food stalls, mulled wine, Roaming Father Christmas” from 3.30pm (CRB checked, for the modern age, we assume), Punch & Judy from 4.15pm. (Suitably sanitised for the modern age, we assume), Harlequins players signing autographs, “Roaming” pantomime: Aladdin from 4.00pm at the Mary Wallace Theatre
4.30pm – Kneller Hall Military Band.
5.30pm – Christmas Lights big switch on by Steve “off LBC radio” Allen.

And as well as this lot, various shops in Church Street and around the town generally will be doing special stuff and offering festive discounts.

Nearby:
Whitton Christmas Lights Switch On – Thur 24th Nov. Details.
Teddington Christmas Lights Switch On – Thur 24th Nov. Details.
St Margarets Christmas Fair – Sun 4th Dec. Details.

Fri 2nd Dec – Richmond Victorian Evening
Back after a 10 year gap, Richmond town centre goes all Victorian for the night. Stalls, traditional music, carol singing, a carriage procession, entertainments, kids working down mines & contracting TB (well, maybe not those two), food & drink, shops doing festive special offers. Starts at 5.00pm and runs through to 9.30pm. Details here.

Fri 2nd Dec – Christmas Shopping at Orleans House Gallery
Your chance to do some Christmas shopping for arty and crafy stuff in the Octagon Room at Orleans House Gallery. The cafe and galleries will be open and the mulled wine will flow. 3.00pm – 8.30 pm. Details.

Arts & Crafts – Sat 3rd & Sun 4th Dec
Eel Pie Artists Open Studios – A chance to visit the artists workshops and check out some of the creativity lurking in the very heart of Twickenham. Studios open from 11.00 – 5.00pm. Drop in to take a look at Lee Campbell and Sabrina Cant who we featured on here in the summer.

More and better info on all of the above:
* Twickenham Town Business Association
* Twickenham Town Centre site