Clubs/societies

MOST people in their 20s are only just getting their foot on the career ladder but Hayley Medwell is certainly the exception to the rule.

The 26-year-old is about to use all of her experiences in the film industry to open her own performing arts school in Uxbridge under her company, OnRoute Entertainment.

She said: "Kids can come here and learn everything about performing and the entertainment industry.

"At most performing arts schools you can only do one or two things but here you can come in and do the whole lot. You can sign up as a member and do unlimited classes."

The school, in Wallingford Road, is holding its official open day on November 2 to invite people to come in and see what they do.

It will offer courses in all different types of dance, singing, acting, post production, music, film making, music producing, creative writing classes and stunt training.

Next month, Hayley, who lives in Tudor Way, Hayes, is also planning to start a beginners course in free running.

Although the school is aimed at children and adults, Hayley is also adamant that it will be open to everyone.

She said: "We're going to hold adult classes in the evenings and I've also been approached by a young offenders group who want to come here in the day time.

"We've got wheelchair access to the school as well because we want to work with special needs children and I want to hold classes for the over 60s.

"We don't want to isolate anyone."

There will also be a careers advisor on hand at the school because Hayley is keen to encourage all her students to go into further education.

"I strongly believe that if you want to do something in life then do it. There's no stopping you. As long as you put the time and work in, you're guaranteed to get something out of it," said Hayley, who is a shining example of this.

Five years ago she took herself off to Los Angeles to study at the New York Film Academy based at Universal Studios for three months.

"It opened my eyes to the industry. I wanted to write films and direct and going there made me realise I could do it. It encouraged me and pushed me on," explained Hayley.

"I've always wanted my own performing arts school and film and production company so I could provide opportunities for others.

"Last year one of my feature films was going to get made, but that fell through. I learnt from that and took it upon myself to open up my own company.

"There are a lot of talented kids out there and no where for them to go.

"The school will give them the opportunity to find out if they want to pursue a career in the entertainment industry before they decide to go further with it at school."

For a 26-year-old, Hayley has achieved a lot on her life, but she says you have to do things when you are younger because you have no commitments.

She said: "Hopefully the school is more appealing to people because I am young. I wanted to do it now because I'm not tied down to anything. If I was older, I think I would have been more nervous about doing it. When you are young you just bite the bullet and go for it.

"My five year goal is to have schools set up across the UK and I want to get it over to the States as well.

"I'm just going to grab the bull by the horns and run with it."

On Sunday (25) Hayley and her students were given the opportunity to perform in Uxbridge town centre as part of Hillingdon BIGFest, an annual celebration of music and arts in the borough.

The school will be open to everyone and anyone from the age of five upwards and will also be open every day.

The official opening is being held on November 2 from 4pm to 7.30pm at Victory House, in Wallingford Road, Uxbridge.

"I am really grateful for the support I have received from all my team members over the last few months," added Hayley.

For more information call Hayley on 07762 745362, email her at info@onrouteentertainment.co.uk or go to www.onrouteentertainment.co.uk.

Are you interested in Poems, have you ever thought about writing your own? This is your last chance to win £1,000 in a competiton aimed at getting more people to write poetry.

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF WOMENS INSTITUTE HILLINGDON

Our first meeting after the summer break was well attended. We started with the observation of a minute's silence for our member, Tessa Pannett, who died in July.
President Celia Callard welcomed a visitor - Monica Clark's Sister Joy- From S. Africa.
Unfortunately, our scheduled speaker was unable to attend due to illness in the family, so we had a Beetle Drive, which was great fun, and enjoyed by all.
We finished the meeting with a nice easy quiz.
Next meeting is our Annual Meeting and craft display of member's work, on Wednesday 14th October 2009 at Christchurch, Redford Way, Uxbridge at 7.15pm for 7.30pm.

Lyn Hoenig

A FITNESS expert who runs self-defence lessons is hoping to find a location for one of his classes.

A DANCE troupe from Uxbridge have emerged victorious from the world championships by winning the top prize.

Futunity UK, who are based in Harefield Road, Uxbridge, travelled to Blackpool for the 2009 UDO World Street Dance Championships.

THERE is still a chance for art lovers to catch an exhibition displaying everything from ceramics to paintings.

Rachel Ware, 17, a talented ballet performer from Uxbridge, is about to embark on the next phase of her vocational training in Boston, USA.

CHERYL ANGEAR caught up with Rachel recently and began by asking her about White Lodge (the Royal Ballet lower school in Richmond Park)...

Uxbridge's gay and lesbian community is in shock after the sudden news a popular venue is set to close.

The Culvert Pub, in Cowley Mill Road, has been open in its current form for seven years and is still going strong.

The decision to close is believed to be related to the economic climate, and there is a possibility of the pub re-opening as a restuarant.

However, with gay and lesbian venues scarce in the borough, there are fears that the community may find themselves with nowhere to go.

A group has been setup on Facebook to show their support for the bar and can be viewed at http://www.facebook.com/s.php?q=culvert&init=quick#/group.php?gid=116052606629&ref=search

CAGE fighting is undisputedly one of the fastest growing sports on the planet. A club in Cowley is now ready to take on the challenge of training the up and coming fighters with their new cage - the first one in the whole of Middlesex. Charlene Mitchell talks to instructor Ian Morgan ahead of the opening of the club this weekend.

WITH mixed martial artist (MMA ) Michael Bisping leading the way for UK fighters in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) many dream of following in his footsteps.

To help these dreams come true, two well accomplished fighters, Ian Morgan and Andy Jardine, have set up their own club, Ronin MMA, at Panthers Gym, in Packet Boat Lane, Cowley.

As well as teaching MMA, the club is also very keen to train men, women and children in whichever martial art they are interested in - and they even do boxing too.

Mr Morgan, who lives in Phelps Way, Hayes, has a long history of fighting in judo and kickboxing championships all over the world, and he has even tried his hand at jiu-jitsu.

The 38-year-old said: "We don't want people to think it's all about cage fighting and getting your face smashed in. We want them to know they can come here safely and learn a sport and if they want to go into the cage they can do but not until we get them to a level where we feel they are ready for it.

"Including myself we have got seven high level instructors who all have dan grades in various martial arts. We are also affiliated with the World Association of Kickboxing Organisations (WAKO), the British Judo Association and the Amateur Boxing Association. The other guys who do grappling have also got other affiliations.

"We cover all the main sports so people can learn to become the ultimate MMA fighter.

"MMA is only for the men because we don't want to promote women into that sport but if a woman really wanted to do it then we would."

Mr Morgan runs the club with his business partner Andy Jardine, from Hounslow, who has also been running a company called Extreme Brawl for 10 years.

Mr Morgan said: "He has trained a lot of our fighters himself and now all those guys have got somewhere to train.

"We have all come together to run this one club as a team. It's quite an exceptional room now.

"There's nowhere else like this in the area for people to go. We have got a proper training cage. It's 15ft wide and we will hopefully at some point go for the much bigger training cage, but you can't do everything in the first hit when you're doing something of this magnitude. We're just going to see how well it goes first.

"We have got quite a large following already and if it does go well, which we hope it will, we will look to expand it.

"At the moment we're going to be open five days a week and there will be some weekend sessions too."

The club will be open for men and women and children from the age of five to 16.

"We want to get kids into a well grounded sport where they are going to learn something and get enjoyment out of it," explains Mr Morgan.

"A lot of children go to clubs because their parents tell them to and then they get bored, but here they can move on to another sport once they get bored of what they're doing."

The club is holding an open day on Saturday (8) and Sunday (9) from 10am to 3pm and their website www.roninmma.co.uk should be up and running by September.

A WHOPPING £1,800 was raised for a lifesaving charity by a group keen to show their support.

The chief executive of the London Air Ambulance, Andrew Cameron, came down to Uxbridge Conservative Club, in Harefield Road, last Wednesday to collect a giant cheque.

Georgina Baile, the events co-ordinator, said: "The money was raised by ticket sales to guess the name of a large cuddly tiger, twice as he was re-donated to raise more for the charity, also a well supported Charity Night was held with an auction, video horse race, request a record, raffle and lots of fun games.

"All the auction items were donated and the whole event was run by volunteers from the club."

The air ambulance is regularly sighted over Hillingdon, as it strives to reach those who may only be minutes from death, and transports them to London hospitals.

The service is part privately funded and for the rest of its operating costs it relies on charitable donations.