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Friends of the Union
If you would like to be added to our directory please email  michala@unionclub.co.uk
BROWSE ›Artists
Charities
Food & Drink
Holiday Homes
Lifestyle & Fashion
BEN COX • BRONMOR HOLIDAY COTTAGE
www.bronmor.com
 Loyal Union member
(and all round good egg) Ben Cox is finally opening up his gorgeous holiday cottage to fellow members. Bronmor, a charming 19th Century end of terrace stone cottage quietly
situated in the beach town of Newport on the North Pembrokeshire coast. Newport is nestled at the foot of the Preseli Hills ten miles north of Fishguard and is part of the
stunning Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The cottage is near the beach and just around the corner from Newport’s shops and restaurants. With a garden overlooking
Newport Bay and a beautiful interior with exposed stonework and beams plus an open fire, Bronmor is the perfect hideaway for gentle relaxation or exploring the dramatic
scenery and it sleeps five people.
 Great
long standing friends of the Union, John & Helen Beach & family have upped-sticks and moved to sunny Ibiza. You can rent their house for July and August
(they won’t
be there) and also the first 2 weeks in September. Their gorgeous Finca has 5 double bedrooms, including one en suite casita. 12 acres of land and woodland • Sky
TV • WI-FI Internet • Stunning views and sunsets • Very child friendly.
For Union friendly rates and availability please email Helenbeach@mac.com or see facebook
page for
more photos!
 Founding member
Louise Cross has a delightful Holiday Cottage for rent (sleeps 4) in the tiny fishing village of Mousehole, near Penzance in Cornwall. The village has several restaurants
(Fore Street Restaurant in the harbour being a particular favourite of guests), as well as a grocery shop and several gift shops/galleries. Within 10 miles of Porthurco
and Sennen beaches (surf lessons available), as well as the busy town of St Ives and the rugged coastline of Lands End. If you don't fancy the 5 hour drive from London,
you can always opt for the plane to Newquay and pick up a hire car (40 mins to Mousehole), or take the train from Paddington to Penzance from where you can take a hopper
bus or taxi or hire car (all available outside station) around the coast to Mousehole. The village itself has a small beach area suitable for toddlers and the pub (The Ship
Inn) serves cold beer in plastic glasses for those on child-care duties. For more information, bookings and prices, please see our website above.
HANNAH LEWIS • CORNISH HOLIDAY COTTAGE
 Portreath
has a lovely sandy beach popular for swimming and surfing. The town has a varied selection of shops and cafes, making Portreath one of the prettiest seaside resorts in Cornwall.
Seaside cottage has amazing views and we chose it because it is a genuine Cornish cottage offering comfortable accommodation for all the family, sleeps 4/6!
Just a few minutes stroll to the beach, harbour pubs and restaurants will make this a popular year round holiday cottage.
Here you have easy access to the South West Coastal path and within good distance of all of Cornwall's attractions.
The house has a wonderful terrace for BBQ's and with some good binoculars whale or dolphin watch until the magnificent sunset arrives. For more details please contact hannahrlewis@hotmail.com.
 We
have this wonderful place in the Var in the South of France that we are renting to special like-minded people who will appreciate the calm, beauty as well as high-speed
internet while sipping rosé.
Available for booking all year round, here is an introduction online at the link below. Union members can book directly through me and receive a Union discount! Please email alex
at pistachio.co.uk
 Situated on
a beautiful hillside location within the popular Brecon Beacons National Park, Llwyncor offers memorable views, comfort and original, stylish holiday cottage accommodation
. You are sure of a friendly atmosphere and a wonderful stay in this delightful property. For more details please use the enquiry
form on the website.
 Arno, the South African born, international photographer is known for his advertising and portrait work, which has appeared in iD, Wallpaper, Marie Claire, Harpers Bazaar,
Cosmopolitan, GQ, Chaos,The Guardian and The Mirror Groups. His portraiture is well represented in international private and corporate collections. His works are
already in the National Portrait Gallery, the collections of well-known actors and musicians, as well as represented by Amersand House and Gallery in Brussels and Corbis
Outline. Arno is now showing on the ground floor; watch this space for the announcement of his private view on his website.
Chris Gollon (born 1953, London) has enjoyed many solo museum exhibitions in the UK, public commissions and museum acquisitions including the British Museum. He has exhibited
at Art Chicago and also with Yoko Ono, David Bowie and Gavin Turk in ROOT, a crossover exhibition of contemporary music and art created by Thurston Moore
of Sonic Youth, at Chisenhale Gallery, London. In 2000 he began a nine-year commission for the Church of Engand to paint 14 Stations of the Cross for the grade-one listed
Church of St John on Bethnal Green, designed by Sir John Soane and located next to the Museum of Childhood. Once installed permanently in 2009, the 14 paintings were blessed
by Richard Chartres, Bishop of London. Award-winning novelist Sara Maitland's book Stations of the Cross (Continuum, London & New York) was published the same year.
Gollon's work is attracting increasing acclaim in the national press and media, including The Times, The Guardian and the Financial Times, BBC Radio 4 and Alan
Yentob’s BBC1 programme Imagine. in 2008, his film collaboration with JABOD entitled Kaleidomorphism One opened the East End Film festival, setting 500
of his paintings in a moving collage carefully synchronised with music by Paolo Conte and Cakexico. A new book on the artist's life and work, Chris Gollon: Humanity in
Art by art historian Tamsin Pickeral (Hyde & Hughes) and endorsed by international author Bill Bryson OBE, was published in 2010. Chris Gollon was both First
Artist in Residence and Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Study (2009), Durham University, and was invited to return as Artist in Residence at St
Mary's College in summer 2011. Chris Gollon is currently working toward a touring exhibition of British cathedrals. For latest news, visit the artist's official
information website. For information on specific recent works, visit Chris Gollon's main gallery www.iapfineart.com.
A hidden gem of the British art scene is award winning Paul Slater. His work appeals to those of us with a wicked sense of humour, a penchant for idiosyncrasy
and a love of painting.
Since graduating with an MA from the Royal College of Art in 1978, his uniquely eccentric view of British quirkiness has been unrivaled in it's wit and weirdness,
resulting in the Independent on Sunday listing him as one of the UK's top 10 leading illustrators. Slater’s paintings are also regularly exhibited, with several
solo shows at The Medici Gallery, The Royal Portrait Society and The Cutter Gallery in Florida, also The Saatchi Gallery where Paul was short-listed for
the final of the Art of Giving competition judged by Vic Reeves and Terry O'Neil. Recent projects include Slater's Mosaic for El Camion restaurant in Soho and
for those of you who have been in The Cow in Notting Hill will know his large
scale painted mural, commissioned in 1995 by Tom Conran (a collector of Paul's paintings). In the world of advertising his recent paintings of the Anchor Cows
have won him and CHI & Partners several awards for art and direction. Paul is represented by Central Illustration Agency - www.centralillustration.com
GV ART • GALLERY & EXHIBITION SPACE
www.gvart.co.uk
 GV Art have been entertaining
us with their artists at the Union for several years. Union members are invited to visit GV Art's New Gallery Space which is situated in the heart of Marylebone. The gallery
operates indoor and outdoor exhibition space spread over two levels. GV Art supports established international artists, as well as nurturing the careers of young artists
from the UK, Europe and America. Their exhibition programme encourages collaborations with the worlds of theatre, dance, and music, as well as academic exchange and community
based projects.
49 Chiltern Street London W1U 6LY, 020 8408 9800. Tuesday to Fridays 11am to 7pm, Saturdays 11am to 4pm or by appointment.
 The
Spider drawings on show at the union are part of a collection of Spider work that has been shown around
London, Kings lynn and Tokyo. The piece ‘Spiderlings’ was used for a collaboration with Helmut Lang NYC as part of their spring/summer collection 09.
I was then invited to show the drawings for a solo exhibition spread over 4 venues in Tokyo,
to celebrate the launch of the collection.
I began studying spiders because my studio is at the end of my garden , and my garden is full of them!
I am interested in the way people project their psychological dramas of fear onto these creatures and my own feelings of awe and repulsion are all used in my work.
The symbolism of the spider as the great and terrible mother lies deep in our psyche. I am interested in what evokes these powerful feelings and by getting close and drawing
out the beauty in the untouchable I achieve a better understanding.
 Currently
showing in our dining room is the work of Mauricio Ortiz, he is a well-kept secret of collectors worldwide who have been quietly acquiring his work in recent years. UK
fans include Jamie Oliver, Robert Plant, and Roman Abramovich. Mauricio recently won the Shelter House of Cards design competition to much acclaim and is proud to be a
guest artist at The Union. “To be a member of the modern elite is to regard wonder with studied indifference. Yet wonders still persist, stubbornly,
on the margins of our modern age. A wonder is something that so forcibly grabs your attention you are incapable of ignoring it. And because they don't fit into existing
categories, wonders are perfect objects for making you rethink the world. An expression of New World reality which at once combines the rational elements of European civilization,
and the irrational elements of primitive America provide a context for my work. The alchemy of these opposites often produces a hybrid. This amalgamation reveals supernatural
characteristics describing the spirit of the object, which is staged as a curiosity.” Mauricio Ortiz
 Murray Lachlan Young - Founding member and Union 'Poet in Residence' for the last 15 years - Murray is the original Rock 'n' Roll Poet. He made poetry cool by
landing a million pound contract in the 90's (now blown, sadly) - not that it was always so. In the early years he would regularly walk across town for a hot meal and a
chance to dry his socks at the Union. Now of course well known from silver screen, stage and radio; with each year his elevation to 'National Treasure' becomes more
assured.
MALET ARMS, NEWTON TONY, WILTSHIRE • COUNTRY PUB
www.maletarms.com
 Noel and Annie Cardew are old friends of the Union, now
happily well out of London and running one of the finest country pubs
in the South of England. Noel cuts a broad swathe across several counties, not least husbanding the local estate herd of deer (and butchering his own venison) and playing
demon electric blues guitar in the house band, during their annual summer 'Maletstock'. By any well established benchmark - the ‘Country Pub Landlord’s
Country Pub Landlord’. Great food, great beer, luverly boozer! There’s a pint in the pipe for any Union member who asks - just tell ‘em ‘Doc’ sent
you. 01980 629 279 ‘More beer Vicar?’
LES CAVES DE PYRENNE • WINE WHOLESALERS
www.lescaves.co.uk
 ‘Les
Caves De Pyrene’ – Independent boutique importers and wholesalers of bio-dynamic, organic and just plain outrageous wines from some of the most perverse and
off the wall artisan producers in Europeland – to know their wines is to enter a different world. The Union is thrilled to recommend a visit to their cellar door
shop at Pew Corner (near Guildford) and to be slowly working with their ‘dedicated’ rep ‘Filthy Phil Barnet’ who knows a thing or two about proper
lunching. Pew Corner, Old Portsmouth Road, Artington, Guildford, GU3 1LP 01483 538820
TAVOLA DELI • 155 WESTBOURNE GROVE, W11 2RS
 Godfather
of Modern British cooking Alastair Little and his fruity missus, Sharon, operate their excellent Italian delicatessen at 155 Westbourne Grove, where a daily selection
of expertly prepared meals are available for all those Knotting Hillbillies who can’t, or won’t cook for their dinner parties themselves. Both are founding
Union members and even had their wedding reception with us. One of them is always in shop daily and they are always happy to advise on life and death matters culinary.
0207 229 0571
 John Paul UK is Europe’s fastest growing provider of concierge, loyalty and customer engagement solutions to Corporate clients.
We offer a full range of technology-based solutions that drive unprecedented levels of customer loyalty and brand warmth.
John Paul is leading the way in the use of behavioral profiling and personalised content to achieve these results on behalf
of its clients. These techniques are shared with some of the world’s most successful new economy businesses such as Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and Amazon.
It is the adoption of this Intelligent Profiling that has driven extremely high levels of customer engagement and is proven to generate high numbers of brand advocates.
Our solutions are both web and mobile-enabled giving members a highly personalised, content-rich service whether at home, the office, or on the move.
At the heart of our offering is a full-category concierge service, available 24/7, 365 in multiple languages including English, French, Russian. The service covers
all of the world’s major destinations.
 Lucky
Seven make the finest embroidered patches and caps in the business. The patches bear the names of the fictional companies found in some of our best loved cult films and
tv shows and are worn on trucker and army caps. All caps are bespoke and are only available from the custom made cap shop online.
Little Lucky Seven are for toddlers to teenagers and are available in our own exclusive cotton army style in 6 colours. The caps have a velcro adjuster which means they fit any head
perfectly and are happily worn come rain or shine. Little Lucky Seven carries the same range of crests and embroidered patches as Lucky Seven and every cap is made to order and posted
out in its very own branded cap box.
Lucky Seven adult caps cost £30 / Little
Lucky Seven caps cost £20.
All caps with £5 postage to anywhere in the world when you order one and free postage with 2 or more.
Tel 020 8544 2782 mel@luckyseven.tv
ROOMSCAPE • NEW HOME FOR VINTAGE FURNITURE SPECIALISTS
www.roomscape.net
 Often at The Union we
get asked where do we get the groovy furniture and lighting? One of our secret places is Roomscape, which has just launched www.roomscape.net along
with a new showroom. The move from traditional shop to larger showroom with a stronger online presence, reflects the changing needs of Roomscape’s customers.Quality
at affordable prices.Sergio and Blair will be happy to meet you by appointment at Belmont Street, Camden, London, NW1 8BS, +44 (0) 7956 645 492, info@roomscape.net
 The Constant Gardener Trust was set up by members of the film crew of The Constant Gardener, to directly benefit the people in the areas of Kenya where filming took place.
The Trust provides education, sanitation and other support, and is run by volunteers, ensuring the maximum amount of money reaches the areas in which it is most needed.
We are delighted to host an annual Oscar Night Party in February each year in support of the Trust, and since we are visited far too regularly by the volunteers who
run it, can confidently say we believe THESE friends are doing a great job. For more information about the Trust, please visit the website.
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