August 2009 Archives

An ELDERLY couple celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary last week.

Jack and Dorothy Stacey from Englefield Green, have been together for 70 years and have three daughters, eight grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Ever wondered where your local news reporter is? Now you can follow him daily at website Twitter.

Your dedicated reporter, Russell Butt, (that's me) can often be found roaming around Englefield Green hunting for stories, or sometimes in the Surrey Herald office in Chertsey.

Other times I might be seen running up Egham Hill in a vague attempt to try and keep fit, while always keeping an eye out for newsworthy stories.

Green-fingered gardeners will be rewarded for their endeavours when the winners of the 2009 Best Kept Garden competition receive their awards.

The winners of the annual competition, organised by the Egham Residents Association, will be formally presented with their awards at the Egham Royal Show, which takes place on Saturday, August 29 and Sunday, August 30 at Caddey's Field, off Whitehall Lane.

The presentation, taking place on the Sunday, will also include a photo display of the winning gardens.

A man died and another was injured during a crash on Egham Hill on Sunday (16) evening.

The incident happened shortly before 7pm when the 27-year-old male driver of a silver Vauxhall Astra lost control of the vehicle whilst travelling from Virginia Water towards Egham on the A30, London Road near Englefield Green.

The owners of a delicatesson are offering the chance to win lunch for a week when someone buys their 40,000th sandwich.

The Honeychurch Deli on St Jude's Road have sold more than 39,300 sandwiches since opening two years ago.

Now they are offering a free sandwich, salad bowl, baguette or roll to the lucky customer who buys the deli's 40.000th snack.

Ever popular comedy night, Comedy in the Green returns this month of Tuesday, August 25 at 7.45pm.

The event, which takes place at the Social Hall, Harvest Road, will be compered by Mark Felgate of Nickleodeon television, with headline act Steve Williams, as seen on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, with support from Matthew Osborne and Paul Pirie.

Tickets cost £8 in advance, £10 on the door and are available by calling 01784 464132 or by emailing keith_pullen@msn.com.

The show starts at 8.30pm and will contain adult themes and strong language.

Today is called the Glorious 12th! So what glorious event are we celebrating that earns itself such a fine title? A victory in battle led by Nelson, or one of our great generals like Wellington? Well, no actually, the 'Glorious' tag is to hide the fact that on this day, pretend sane and intelligent people arm themselves with shotguns and commit bloody murder. I promise you I am not making this up. The target of the day is a bird called the Grouse. The Grouse is specially bred for this day, all its short life it has been fed and cared for so that it will be fit and able to fly towards the guns so that it can be shot to pieces. Yes, I know it is very cruel and it should not be allowed to happen, but theses people do not understand, what they are doing is wrong. To the hunters, these birds are the perfect target,slow and stupid. The hunters are known as Hooray Henry's - enough said.

The borough council's ROAR summer play sessions return to the borough, from Monday August 17 to Friday August 28.

The play sessions will be held:

Monday August 17 and 24 from 10.00am - 12.00pm The Hythe Centre Open Space, Thorpe Road, Egham Hythe.

Tuesday August 18 and 25, 1.30pm - 3.30pm, The Green, Englefield Green.

Wednesday August 19 and 26, 1.30pm - 3.30pm, The Hythe Centre Open Space, Thorpe Road, Egham Hythe.

Fridays August 21 and 28, 10.00am - 12.00pm The Green, Englefield Green.

ROAR activities are free and open to children aged five to 13 years. For more information contact Emma Parnell on 01932 425677 or email emma.parnell@runnymede.gov.uk

Arsonists torched a moped in Wick Lane in the early hours of Monday morning.

The incident happened around midnight on August 10.

Firefighters tackled the blaze with one hosereel.

How sad it would be if this in depth study of Surrey County Council was put on the back burner.The Frater report, based on years of his experience as Chief Executive. This exercise was started as a result of Surrey County Council finding itself on the receiving end of two very negative reviews by Ofsted and CSCI (now CQI) in relation to Children's Services and Adult Services. In January this year Michael Frater took the post of interim Chief Executive. His role was to help the organisation to recognise the inherent weaknesses, to restart the recovery process and prepare the ground for the new permanent Chief Executive. This no nonsense report is not your typical Whitehall ramble, it is an excellent examination of SCC. The main criticisms are focused on its leadership, culture and governance. "A particular worrying feature is a 'macho' style, a blame culture and bullying which is carried out by and experienced by Members and officers".