RESIDENTS JOUrNAL

RESIDENTS JOUrNAL

With the big day just round the corner, the Residents Journal caught up with some familiar local faces about their festive memories and traditions

For a musician, the festive season conjures many special associations. Im no exception: more than anything its the music of Christmas which denes this part of the year. So for me, the special spirit and atmosphere of Advent is most fully articulated by our rich carol tradition, a unique heritage which nds its most perfect expression in the annual broadcast from Kings College, Cambridge. On Christmas Day itself, Ill be with my family, Sir Thomas Beechams splendidly old-fashioned recording of Handles Messiah providing the soundtrack as we get stuck in to the food preparation. At some point, in a quietly reective moment, Ill sit at the piano and play through John Irelands beautifully little miniature The Holy Boy a personal, seasonal tradition Ive honoured for more years now than I care to remember. SimOn FeRRiS, MUSicAL DiRecTOR ThAmeS YOUTh ORcheSTRA (ThAmeSyOUThORcheSTRA.cO.UK)

Tom: Every Christmas Eve I meet up with some old school friends from Hampton for a drink and then every Boxing Day, as a family, we go to the races at Kempton. Christmas Day we usually eat at home but recently we went to The Wharf restaurant in Teddington. Philip: Its funny because you always think you do something really interesting at Christmas but when you look at it like this in written form, you realise you dont. Tom: We always have champagne on Christmas morning, with blinis. Philip: And obviously, being wine-orientated, we tend to start shing out some decent bottles. We opened a magnum last year but not a ridiculously expensive one. Weve got another one ready for Christmas dinner this year! TOm And PhiLip GeARinG, CO-DiRecTORS Of CULT WineS (wineinVeSTmenT.cOm). LeARn AbOUT The peRfecT feSTiVe wineS in OUR feATURe On p. 18

VERY MERRY
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Left: Tom Gearing Right: Philip Gearing

We will be spending Christmas at home in Barnes this year we have a new house so it will be really exciting to spend our rst Christmas there. We always have a large Christmas tree and we do everything the traditional way; I love making the Christmas cake and pudding and will be putting everything into the mixing bowl shortly. My mother is Polish and so we follow the Polish tradition of opening presents when the rst star appears on Christmas Eve, then everyone gets a stocking, which is opened on Christmas Day. I prefer to go to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, I love the nine carols and nine lessons service as it gives everyone the opportunity to sing loudly to all their favourite carols.

NicOLA HORLicK, InVeSTmenT FUnd MAnAGeR, FiLm DeVeLOpeR And OwneR Of GeORGinAS ReSTAURAnT in BARneS (GeORGinASReSTAURAnTS.cO.UK)
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RESIDENTS JOUrNAL

I can divide Christmas in south west London into two distinct parts: prekids and post-kids! Pre-kids, I was working in the West End for a glossy magazine publisher and it seemed the festive whirl of parties and lunches started earlier and earlier every year. Weekends were a time to recover from weekday excess and I used to book The Brasserie on Bellevue Road (Im showing my age!) for long girly Christmas lunches after aerobics at Holmes Place in Wimbledon and a pamper at the Lemon Tree on Webbs Road. For New Year, wed really push the boat out and would usually head off to Chez Bruce without ever having to worry about a babysitter or a highchair. Post-kids and I still seem to spend the weekend recovering from excesses, but now its the two legged variety rather than the legless sort. Christmas shopping starts early and I love to make the most of the numerous fairs that take place. I think that we do this village shopping thing so well. We usually pick up our tree from my daughters school. The turkey will be from Cleavers and most of the tasteful decorations Ive found on Northcote Road will be drowned in the tinsel that my children have bought from a Pound Shop. Well try and catch the panto in Wimbledon (Mr NappyValleyNet still talks about Pamela Anderson and her turn in Aladdin) and by the time the 25th actually arrives, Im shattered after all the school parties and nativity plays.

Christmas for me is all about family. I particularly love when we spend Christmas together with both my family and my husbands family in the south of Sweden. An incredibly charming wooden house in the middle of the forest with traditional Swedish candle lights in every window, lots of homemade, hearty food and the childrens delight at meeting Santa it doesnt get any better. When it comes to presents, I think about what each person may love throughout the winter until I nd the perfect match: from personalised cufinks, to a vintage vase or one of my brand Milli Millus limited edition bags. I think the search is as important as the nd.

When I was nine years old, my family emigrated to South Africa. From then on, Christmas Day was spent on the beach, but we still had turkey with all the trimmings at the end of the day! One of the things I missed most was the excitement of Christmas shopping on a cold, dark afternoon with the lights twinkling in the shop windows something I still love. KiRSTy RiddifORd, AUThOR (KiRSTyRiddifORdbOOKS.cOm)

I am very lucky that some of my family are close by and I often spend Christmas with my children and grandchildren. Rather than stockings for the children, we have a treasure hunt with different wrapping colours for each of our four granddaughters. We cant do this for our two grandsons as that part of the family live in Vancouver, so a Skype session is now part of Christmas for us. When it comes to food, we are totally traditional: turkey and trimmings, Christmas pudding and maybe a long walk afterwards if it is a ne day. Were so lucky in south west London to have green spaces so close by such as Richmond Park and Marble Hill, and then, of course, there is always the wonderful river and the view from Richmond Hill, as lovely now as it was 200 years ago, when J.M.W. Turner captured its beauty. CATheRine PARRy-WinGfieLd ChAiRmAn, TURneRS HOUSe TRUST (TURneRinTwicKenhAm.ORG.UK)

MiReiA LLUSiA-Lindh FOUndeR Of MiLLi MiLLU (miLLimiLLU.cOm)

Christmas is a very important time of year for me. As a child, I remember my Grandma visiting on Christmas Day and I would help her to prepare the Christmas dinner. For me, this was more fun than opening the presents. It still excites me now when I am surrounded by all of my family and I prepare and cook a full festive dinner. The meal is always far too big and features the same ingredients every year: traditional turkey stuffed with sausage meat, Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, parsnips, brussels sprouts, carrots and sausages wrapped in bacon. This year is even more special, as I will be serving my rst Christmas lunch at The Bingham you cannot beat a classic Christmas meal for bringing people together. MARK JARViS, HeAd Chef AT The BinGhAm in RichmOnd (ThebinGhAm.cO.UK)

Weve got a family home in Snowdonia, so we go up there at Christmas its really special. The year before last, when it was a really snowy Christmas, it was hellish getting up to the house as its at the end of a steep single-track road one time we got stuck halfway up with my nana in the backseat. Once youre up there though its beautiful there are icicles that hang from the gutters all the way to the oor. Our Christmases usually involve a lot of eating and drinking; we have a family friend from Norway who introduced us to a form of mulled wine called glgg its red wine, vermouth, vodka, raisins and almonds, plus a bit of blackcurrant cordial. You heat it all together, line a sieve with sugar cubes, and set re to the alcohol as you pour it through the sugar. Having a glass of that is the rst thing we do on Christmas morning. KATe HOpwOOd, JeweLLeRy DeSiGneR And OwneR Of KATe HOpwOOd JeweLLeRy (KATehOpwOOdjeweLLeRy.cOm) TO LeARn mORe AbOUT KATe And heR wORK, See OUR inTeRView wiTh heR On p. 23

SUSAn HAnAGe (AKA. AnnAbeL) fOUndeR Of NAppy VALLey NeT (nAppyVALLeyneT.cOm)

My mother is Spanish and our family probably single-handedly keeps the Spanish food export market aoat. Christmas is a special time because a superabundance of traditional, delicious Spanish sugar delights become available. Our favourites include little shaped marzipans, the almond-paste turrones and, of course, polvorones, a diet of which we were practically raised on. I shouldnt tell you what theyre made of as youd never try them but I promise they taste of happy tears of angels (pig fat). Whenever I go back to my mothers place near Christmas, every cupboard and drawer I open has been rammed full of boxes of Iberican confectionary. Thats when I get that warm feeling inside, a combination of knowing Christmas is round the corner and my stomach wincing at the memory of how much I ate last year.

IdiL SUKAn, CReATiVe DiRecTOR And LeAd PhOTOGRApheR Of DRAw HQ (idiLSUKAn.cOm)