March 2026 update

Apr 1
3 min read

Updated: 1 day ago

More murals as community pitches in on Tolworth Roundabout

We invited the Tolworth community to help brighten up the western tunnel with new public artworks on both sides — and brighten you did. Under the guidance of Kingston School of Art’s own Tara Hughes, members of the public both young and old came out en-masse to make their mark on the Tolworth Court Farm Fields-inspired piece.

(So much so that one side of the underpass was near-completion by the end of day one on Monday 30th March.) You know the turnout is good when we start running low on our special TCB high-viz vests.

Work continued enthusiastically all the way through the week before wrapping-up on Thursday. The result? See you for yourself…

A worthy successor to Tolworth Roundabout’s lost murals of old.

A few new friends for Tolworth Court Farm Fields’ cattle arrive

With the mural well-underway, it was time to head over to TCFF, the borough’s largest nature reserve, to welcome its new residents!

Yes, it happened again: in yet another case of déjà vu, another batch of three cows has arrived at the reserve as part of our ongoing rewilding project with Citizen Zoo and Kingston Council, bolstering the herd for a total of six. (You can watch the magical moment the two groups were reunited on Citizen Zoo’s Instagram page if you fancy.)

We’re still not done with our rewilding efforts however. The new signs intended to improve wayfinding in and around the site are back at the forge while we make the final flourishes, all while preparations for the next additions to the fields’ roster get underway: pigs!

The nearly-finished signage at Surbiton Community Forge: a ruster’s work is never done.

In the words of the vastly more qualified team over at Citizen Zoo: ‘The project’s next phase will introduce free roaming Oxford Sandy and Black pigs later this year. Acting as a stand-in for Britain’s native wild boar, the pigs will disturb and rotavate the soil surface.

‘This will bring dormant seeds to the surface and helping flowering plants establish through dense scrub and dominant grasses. Their foraging behaviour is also expected to benefit birds and small mammals by exposing grubs, roots and invertebrates and by creating varied ground structure used by a wider range of species.’

The new arrivals are settling in nicely already.

Their own update on this goes into loads more detail, including how a trained group of local volunteers known as Wild Guardians take care of the herd and how we can keep the cattle where they need to be without endless fences. It might be the first time we sincerely recommend reading a press release, so head over to their website and check it out!

Kitchen Roots Community Chessington lunches move to monthly schedule

Some of KRC’s team of volunteers.

Some sad news regarding Kitchen Roots Community we're afraid.

As you may well know, KRC has been running 'pay-what-you-can' lunch services in Chessington's St Mary's Centre for well over two years now. Each Thursday, locals from in and around the community have had an accessible place to meet and eat, and we've seen an immense amount of support for the staff and volunteers in the KRC team.

But despite the best efforts of our team, we have been unable to secure or raise the additional funding we need to continue running the current service.

In order to remain financially sustainable and ensure we can continue supporting the local community where we can, KRC's Thursday lunches will instead be held once a month while we look into our options. Two of the new monthly lunches are already on the books: 16 April and 14 May.

We’ve already had lots of support from people all across the borough, and are very thankful for how patient and understanding everyone has been — from our diners and volunteers to members of the wider community.

We’ll keep you posted on any developments, but you can always find the latest on our social media accounts.