Warm up in Church Street this December. Carole and Chris at The Cobbled Yard will be inviting customers to come and enjoy mulled wine and mince pies – as well as a 10% discount on any item in the shop before Xmas. Evenings will be every Friday/Saturday/Sunday in December. There’s a wide selection of gift ideas for Christmas. Visit them at The Cobbled Yard, No 1 Bouverie Road (behind the Daniel Defoe pub), Wednesdays through Sundays, 11am to 5.30pm.

UK search engine Touch Local organized a competition to find ‘Britain’s Best High Street’. The winner was The Promenade, Cheltenham (very posh) while our own Church Street finished in a not entirely discreditable twentyfourth position, one place in front of Lewes High Street (also very posh). But how did Chelsea’s increasingly tacky, over-priced and over-rated Kings Road (the only other London street in the top twenty-five) manage to end up fourteenth? Cue indignant letters from SW3.

After a successful season at their diamonds in Finsbury Park, the London Meteorites youth baseball teams – the Mets – have moved indoors for winter training, to Stoke Newington School on Tuesdays from 5-6.30pm. Though some players are members of the Great Britain Baseball Academy and have represented Britain in European competitions, the club is always looking for boys and girls of any ability, from newcomers upwards, for its two teams – ages 10-13 and 13-16. ‘Faster than cricket! More fun than football! More of a team game than tennis!’ says Head Coach, local resident Neil Warne. ‘Many people think it’s a complicated game, but really it’s very simple: there’s nothing quite like hitting a home run, or making the catch that wins the game.’ Contact Neil on 07770 381308 mail@multiply.me.uk .

Still on local sport. First recorded in 1866, and re-established in 1999, the Stoke Newington Cricket Club has seen England’s Ashes success swell its ranks as children have discovered the summer game, allowing the club to build on its regular sessions at Stoke Newington School (Saturday 9.15-10.30am, under-7s; 10.30am-12.30pm, ages 8-16).

Developments include Floodlit Tapeball Cricket (SNS, Thursdays, 7.30-9.00pm); monthly nights in the Library (first Tuesday, 6pm, often with guest professional players); for over-16s, the Hackney Community Cricket College at the Shoreditch campus, Monday evenings; and the installation of head coach Mikey Thompson as Cricketer in Residence at the School, teaching 4-5 hours a week. Free literacy and numeracy lessons on a cricket theme led by an experienced teacher can be arranged. Contact David Blundell on 07970 015440.

For those who can’t easily make the trek to the Farmers’ Market every Saturday – and who sometimes and the prices a bit steep – a new fruit and veg market, offering fresh produce at low seasonal prices, is now open every Thursday, from 10.30am-2.30pm at the Landfield Estate Community Hall, Stellman Close, E5 8QZ. The market relies on volunteers, so if you can help, call May on 020 8985 0830

Publicity shy local author Adam Frost (well, he wouldn’t let us plaster his author photo all over the place) has hit the jackpot with his first children’s book: Ralph the Magic Rabbit, published by Macmillan, has already been shortlisted for the Children’s Book Prize for debut novelists. The story has been read aloud to the publisher of this august organ, and he thoroughly enjoyed the tale of a sad snail called Sid and his chums and their search for Rabbit Ralph – and happiness.

Who is the only footballer to have won six European Cup medals? N16 has been in discussions with the Auld Shillelagh about setting up a regular football quiz night at the pub. We intend to launch the first quiz in early February with a £5 entry fee and teams of no more than three people. Follow our website (n16mag.com) and the Shillelagh’s ( www.theauldshillelagh.co.uk ) for details. (Answer: Francisco Gento).

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